I've taken two full-length AAMC practice tests so far, scored 504 (127/123/127/127) and 506 (127/124/128/127). The CARS section is clearly my weak spot and that 123-124 range is going to be a problem. I've got exactly 12 weeks before my test date and I'm not working during this time, so I can realistically do 8-9 hours a day five days a week. That's roughly 480 hours of remaining study time if I'm disciplined about it.
My plan is three days of content review and practice passages per week focused on biochem and CARS, two days of full-length tests with complete review, and Friday afternoons for weak-topic deep dives. The 480-hour estimate might be optimistic once you factor in how long proper FL review actually takes — each test with thorough review is realistically an 8-hour day on its own.
The jump from 506 to 515+ is about a 9-point gain which feels large. I've seen people report 10-12 point improvements over 3 months but they're usually starting from lower baselines where content gaps explain most of the deficit. At 506 I probably don't have huge content holes — this is more about processing speed and passage strategy.
CARS specifically: I've tried the 7-minute rule and it doesn't work for me because my reading pace varies too much by passage density. What actually seems to help is doing 10-passage sets daily instead of mixing question types. Consistency of exposure matters more than any single strategy trick.
Your psych/soc section at 127 is already strong so protecting that while improving CARS is the right priority. A lot of people make the mistake of grinding their strong sections and losing ground elsewhere while trying to raise one score.
515+ in 3 months from 506 is achievable but the ceiling depends on what's limiting you. If it's content, you can fix it. If it's reasoning speed and test-taking stamina, that takes longer to develop. Eight hours a day is a lot — don't underestimate how much your performance degrades when you're genuinely fatigued.
Take the third AAMC full-length around week 8 and save the Sample test for week 11. Those are the most predictive of your actual score. Third-party tests are useful for volume but the AAMC scoring algorithm is different and the question style matters for calibration.
The CARS daily passage sets approach is what worked for me. I did 9-10 passages every morning for six weeks straight and went from 124 to 128. The key was reviewing every wrong answer in detail and identifying whether I misread, misidentified the question type, or actually didn't understand the passage logic.