In this episode, we break down the Jack Westin daily CARS passage “Sibling Relationships” (Feb 11) sentence-by-sentence to train you how to:

Identify key ideas in each sentence and paragraph

Track repeating themes across short paragraphs

Lock in the main idea (without bringing in your own opinions)

Build a clean passage map you can use on test day

Avoid the #1 trap: letting your personal experience change your answers

We also unpack the passage’s biggest throughline: how sibling competition, family roles, and birth order connect to personality traits (first-born vs last-born vs middle child), plus terms like de-identification and finding a “niche” in the family environment.

✅ Try the passage before you listen (recommended): pause here, attempt it, then come back and follow along with the walkthrough.

📌 Daily Passage Link: https://jackwestin.com/daily/mcat-practice-passages/cars-practice-passages/sibling-relationships

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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Med school admissions is not just GPA and MCAT.

In this Jack Westin Pre-Med Admissions Podcast episode, Mark White sits down with Dr. Anita Paschal (35+ years on admissions boards) to break down how admissions committees actually read your application and what separates “qualified” from “accepted.”

In this episode, you’ll learn:

🧠 Why more applicants get denied than accepted (and what that means for your strategy)

📊 The seat math: ~52–58K applicants vs ~20–22K seats (about 40–44% acceptance)

🎯 What your personal statement must do in 5,300 characters (AMCAS)

🎬 How to write a 2–3 sentence hook that makes reviewers keep reading (think: trailer)

🧩 The recommended structure: 3–5 body paragraphs + a reflective conclusion

🚫 The most common clichés that make essays blur together (“help and serve,” “in that moment,” etc.)

👀 “Show, don’t tell”: how to prove empathy without saying “I’m empathetic”

✍️ The “I, I, I” problem and how to fix repetitive, self-focused sentence structure

🧱 Clear transitions: how to stop your essay from reading like a resume

🔁 The rewrite rule: why your personal statement should be developed over 5–6 months

🧯 Addressing weaknesses: when to acknowledge gaps (and where it actually belongs)

✅ What makes a strong opening (with a real example breakdown)

Mentioned in the episode:

✅ AMCAS personal statement limit: 5,300 characters (including spaces)

✅ A simple framework: Write → Rewrite → Review → Write again

✅ Tip: Have someone who doesn’t know you read it to spot clarity gaps

🎧 This episode is part of an ongoing series. Next up: experiences / work & activities and how to maximize impact.

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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Light and optics show up everywhere on the MCAT, especially when physics meets biology (vision). In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast episode, Mike and Molly break down the must-know foundations of light as a wave and how it behaves in optical systems so you can stop memorizing and start solving.

You’ll learn:

🌈 Light as a transverse wave and why it can travel in a vacuum

🧮 The wave equation v = fλ and what actually changes when the medium changes

🪞 Reflection basics: the law of reflection and the “angle is measured from the normal” trap

💧 Refraction and why light “bends” when its speed changes

📐 Snell’s Law (n₁sinθ₁ = n₂sinθ₂) and how to reason through relationship questions

🔁 Total internal reflection + the critical angle (and real-world examples)

🔍 Lenses vs mirrors, concave vs convex, and what “converging vs diverging” means

👀 Real vs virtual images, and the high-yield patterns (SUV for diverging systems)

🧾 The thin lens equation and magnification (and how to use them on test day)

Watch next: Vision and the Eye (how optics becomes biology) in the next episode.

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast CARS Reading Skills Workshop, Molly and Usher break down the Jack Westin Daily Passage “Cuban Crisis” (Feb 4) sentence-by-sentence to help you read faster under time pressure, map smarter, and avoid common CARS traps 🧠📚

You’ll learn how to:

✅ Spot what the author is really asking in a “question-heavy” opening

🗺️ Map each paragraph with just a few words (without over-noting)

🎯 Lock in the main idea through repetition and structure

⚖️ Track the passage’s key distinction: political vs military confrontation

📌 Handle dense historical context without getting lost

Try the passage first, then listen and compare your map to ours 👀✍️

🔗 Daily Passage Link: https://jackwestin.com/daily/mcat-practice-passages/cars-practice-passages/cuban-crisis

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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Med school admissions is not just GPA and MCAT. In this Jack Westin Admissions episode, Mark White (Academic Advisor) sits down with Dr. Anita Paschal (35+ years on admissions committees) to break down how medical schools actually screen applicants and what separates “qualified” from “accepted” 🎯

You’ll learn:

✅ The real screening order (and why your personal statement is not screen #2)

📊 What the applicant pool looks like and why acceptance rates hover around 40–42%

🧠 MCAT benchmarks: what 512, 515, 518, 521+ signal to schools

📌 Why 50% of denials can happen even with “good” MCAT/GPA

🏥 Experiences that matter most, plus target hours for clinical exposure

🧾 How to build a smarter school list with in-state vs out-of-state strategy

🗓️ A realistic timeline for MCAT, primary apps, secondaries, letters, transcripts

🔥 The big differentiator: your brand creation (your 5–6 selling points)

Dr. Anita also introduces a simple way to remember experience categories: CLASS

Clinical, Leadership, Academic (non-GPA/test), Service, Social 💡

If you’re applying this cycle or planning ahead, this is the framework you want before you chase checkboxes.

🎧 More JW Admissions + MCAT content: subscribe for new episodes

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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In this episode, Mike and Molly bridge the gap between the physics of waves and the biology of sensation. The MCAT loves the auditory system because it requires you to integrate knowledge from Physics (wave properties), Biology (structure of the ear and nervous system), and Psychology (signal detection).

We take a "bird's ear view" of the auditory pathway, breaking it down into three critical stages:

Mechanical Transmission: The outer and middle ear.

Transduction: Converting movement into electricity in the inner ear.

Neural Transmission: Sending the signal to the brain for interpretation.

👂 Outer Ear Anatomy: The Pinna, auditory canal, and the "drum" (Tympanic Membrane).

🦴 The Middle Ear & Ossicles: How the Malleus, Incus, and Stapes amplify sound.

🐌 Inner Ear Magic: A deep dive into the Cochlea and the Organ of Corti.

⚡ The Mechanism of Transduction: How mechanically-gated potassium channels create depolarization.

📍 Place Theory (Tonotopic Mapping): Why high-frequency sounds vibrate the base of the cochlea while low-frequency sounds travel to the apex.

🔊 Encoding Loudness: Understanding that loudness is coded by the frequency of action potentials, not the amplitude of the electrical signal.

🧠 The Auditory Pathway: Tracing the signal from the Cochlea → Auditory Nerve → Thalamus (MGN) → Auditory Cortex (Temporal Lobe).

🔄 Semicircular Canals: Detecting rotational (angular) acceleration in three dimensions.

🪨 Otolith Organs (Utricle & Saccule): Using "ear stones" (calcium carbonate crystals) to detect linear acceleration and head tilt.

🌊 Conductive vs. Sensorineural Loss: Why "Surfer’s Ear" differs from noise-induced damage.

🎸 Permanent Damage: Why loud concerts can destroy hair cells that never grow back.

🔌 Cochlear Implants: Why they can fix hair cell issues but can't help if the auditory nerve is damaged.

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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Struggling to find the main idea under time pressure? 😵‍💫 In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast CARS Reading Skills Workshop, Molly and Usher break down the Jack Westin Daily Passage “War on Drugs” (Jan 28) sentence-by-sentence to show you exactly how to read faster, map smarter, and avoid common CARS traps. 🧠✍️

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

✅ Pause after key sentences to lock in structure

🗺️ Build a quick passage map (without writing too much)

🔎 Track author attitude and contrast words like “however”

📌 Follow names + claims (Shoemaker, Pellow & Jangaleski, Nenspiel)

🎯 Identify the main idea: why drug education keeps showing up across paragraphs

⏱️ Make better “what matters most” decisions when reading timed

🔗 Daily Passage Link: https://jackwestin.com/daily/mcat-practice-passages/cars-practice-passages/war-on-drugs

Try the questions right after listening 🧪 There are 5 questions tied to this passage, and this walkthrough is designed to help you answer both big-picture and detail questions with confidence. 💪📚

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast, Mike & Molly dive into one of the most tested MCAT Physics topics: Waves 🌊

We break down the essentials (and the traps) so you stop guessing and start getting points ✅

You’ll learn:

🌊 What a wave actually is (energy transfer, not matter)

↕️ Transverse vs longitudinal waves (easy examples)

📏 Wavelength vs frequency vs amplitude (no confusion)

🧠 The wave equation: v = fλ (and the #1 MCAT trick)

🌬️ Why wave speed depends on the medium, not frequency

🔊 Sound waves vs light waves (who needs a medium?)

🚑 Doppler effect + how it shows up (including ultrasound)

🌈 Electromagnetic spectrum basics + speed of light c

👂👁️ How waves connect to hearing and vision on the MCAT

Next up: Hearing + the ear 👂🔔

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast episode, Molly is joined by Usher (one of our Jack Westin CARS instructors) for a CARS Reading Skills Workshop using the Jack Westin Daily Passage: “Paul Cezanne”.Together, we go sentence-by-sentence and paragraph-by-paragraph to show you how to:✅ Track contrast words like “yet” (and why the MCAT loves them)✅ Spot the most repeated idea to lock in the main idea✅ Recognize when the passage keeps returning to the same theme✅ Map the passage so questions feel easier and faster✅ Avoid outside knowledge traps (even if you know the topic)✅ Improve elimination by repeating your core ideas before reading answer choicesKey theme in this passage: Cezanne’s work feels fresh by blending Impressionist techniques with older “old master” methods (new + old = the MCAT’s favorite kind of tension).Want to follow along?📌 Read the passage is here: https://jackwestin.com/daily/mcat-practice-passages/cars-practice-passages/paul-czanne📌 If not, the passage link is in the description so you can try the questions first.🎯 After listening, go attempt the 5 questions for this passage and practice applying the main idea under test conditions.

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱📌 Free Academic Advising: https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast💻 Try our Chrome Extension (video solutions to every AAMC passage) https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8📚 Free Resources: https://jackwestin.com?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast🎓 Live Education Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast👨🏻‍🏫 Courses: https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast🙋 Tutoring: https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast📸 Follow Us On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackwestinmcat?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast👥 Join our Facebook Study Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/freemcatprep?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast

In this episode of the Jack Westin MCAT Podcast, Mike and Molly continue their MCAT brain anatomy series by tackling one of the most underrated topics on the exam: how the brain actually makes you move.

If you’ve ever thought “why are there so many brain parts just for movement?” this episode is your roadmap.

You’ll learn:

🧠 Motor cortex basics – where voluntary movement starts and why it lives in the frontal lobe

🚦 Basal ganglia as the gatekeeper – suppression vs initiation of movement, not just “on/off”

💊 Dopamine & Parkinson’s – substantia nigra, why dopamine loss causes bradykinesia, and why L-Dopa (not dopamine) works

🎭 Huntington’s disease – when the problem isn’t too little movement, but too much

🎯 Cerebellum & coordination – balance, smooth movements, and why alcohol messes it up

🔁 How these brain regions connect to motor neurons, muscle contraction, and earlier muscle episodes

📚 MCAT-style takeaways – what the test actually expects you to recognize in passages and questions

You’ll also hear:

How to think about initiation → coordination → execution of movement in a simple, testable way

How to use real life (walking, writing, sports, feeling off-balance, being sleepy) as built-in “flashcards” for MCAT physics, bio, and psych/soc

If motor cortex vs basal ganglia vs cerebellum all blur together for you, this episode will finally separate them in your head.

Want to learn more? Shoot us a text at 415-855-4435 or email us at [email protected]! 📱

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