2 questions about CASPer

[openstage]

1. Will the CASPer test results hold up your secondary app being reviewed? Can it be taken later this summer without impacting your apps?
2. Has anyone actually used a prep test service like the following? Official CASPer SIM™ practice CASPer® Tests | APE Advisor Prep® Worth it or waste of $$?

(BTW -I know about all the sites offering Medical Ethics & topics info)

Thanks

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[electropartyogram]

1. Depends on the school. I would take it sooner than later if you can.
2. The only resource I would seriously recommend, outside of advice on SDN and reddit, is www.typeracer.com.

(Good to know medical ethics, interpersonal relations, work-life balance, social situations)

 

[brownie814]

There is really no need to invest in any test prep for the CASPer! You just need to type as quickly as possible and justify your approach to each scenario as much as possible.

 

[BOAO523]

I would take casper as quickly as possible. Prep for it should take you 1 to 2 nights at most. 2 keys to victory:
A) type speed
B) Reasonable, morally/ethically sound response to questions

What my gameplan was which should do the trick: 1) Go on youtube (or any other resource or take the practice test) to see how the test is run/how questions are asked. 2) Go to Ethics in Medicine | UW Department of Bioethics & Humanities and ask yourself 15-20 of these as they would be asked on CASPER and practice responding quickly.

*****For most people this is a very easy test requiring about 500x less effort/anxiety than the MCAT. Just give normal answers and you'll be fine.

 

[Cornfed101]

There was nothing about medicine or patients or even science when I took it. It wasn't even on their practice exam. They've never given me a role as a doctor. So don't worry about that bioethics page too much. There's youtube videos on how to solve the problems. Take the free CASPer practice test on the casper website to make sure your computer is fine and to nail down a timing strategy.

You need to be able to understand both sides of the ethical dilemma before reaching a conclusion in the responses.

+1, zero topics on mine related to medicine

 

[deleted972488]

At least two of the 12 scenarios were medically related for me, but if you're applying to medical school they're asking things you should already know intuitively.

 

[jecki46]

Can u complete Casper and indicated schools before you have applied to those schools? Willresults get to those schools? I haven’t submitted AMCAS yet but want to get Casper out of the way.

 

[deleted972488]

Can u complete Casper and indicated schools before you have applied to those schools? Willresults get to those schools? I haven’t submitted AMCAS yet but want to get Casper out of the way.

Yes

 

[rdyotz]

I would personally focus more effort on getting AMCAS submitted rather than taking CASPER. If you submit today, you are looking at about a month before it gets certified. There will likely be 3 CASPER test dates over the course of the next month. Granted, dealing with AMCAS all day can be taxing and so CASPER might be a welcome relief. CASPER claims it will take up to 3 weeks, but usually is quicker than that, and if you wait a few weeks to take it, it won't be holding you up. AMCAS verification will hold you up, and then filling in secondaries will hold you up.

You can complete CASPER now and not actually choose which schools to send it to if you want. That way you can be sure you are actually submitting AMCAS to those schools before paying the CASPER cost to send it there.

My post definitely seems poorly constructed, so use CARS to help ascertain what I was getting at.

 

[Etude No. 1]

CASPER claims it will take up to 3 weeks, but usually is quicker than that, and if you wait a few weeks to take it, it won't be holding you up.

Any idea of how long it takes on average? I'm taking it tomorrow and have some secondaries from schools that won't count as complete until CASPer is received (e.g. UM, Hofstra).

 

[Seihai]

Any idea of how long it takes on average? I'm taking it tomorrow and have some secondaries from schools that won't count as complete until CASPer is received (e.g. UM, Hofstra).

For the people who took the late June date, the CASPer scores haven't yet been released. I'd expect it to take the full three weeks for all test dates moving forward.

 

[jecki46]

I would personally focus more effort on getting AMCAS submitted rather than taking CASPER. If you submit today, you are looking at about a month before it gets certified. There will likely be 3 CASPER test dates over the course of the next month. Granted, dealing with AMCAS all day can be taxing and so CASPER might be a welcome relief. CASPER claims it will take up to 3 weeks, but usually is quicker than that, and if you wait a few weeks to take it, it won't be holding you up. AMCAS verification will hold you up, and then filling in secondaries will hold you up.

You can complete CASPER now and not actually choose which schools to send it to if you want. That way you can be sure you are actually submitting AMCAS to those schools before paying the CASPER cost to send it there.

My post definitely seems poorly constructed, so use CARS to help ascertain what I was getting at.

I should clarify. i submitted AMCAS already and am waiting for verification. But I did not yet add every school I'm applying to, waiting for a final MCAT score. So the lengthy verification time is not the issue. But now I'm just waiting for the MCAT score so I want to get this casper nonsense done. CASPer apparently sends to the schools after exam is scored, so I was concerned if no file is open at said school for the student yet, will that be ok? THat's what I was asking.

 

[rdyotz]

Ah, that makes more sense. Yes, you can take the CASPer now, with or without selecting schools on CASPer or on AMCAS. The first CASPer date for this year was May 14th, meaning everyone that took that had the info sent to schools before they could even submit AMCAS apps and well before schools received the primaries. So you are ok taking it now.

 

[vi0linm0nster]

Does anyone know whether the practice full length test on CASPER is about the same difficulty as the real CASPER? Taking it tomorrow and starting to get nervous!

 

[907914]

Does anyone know whether the practice full length test on CASPER is about the same difficulty as the real CASPER? Taking it tomorrow and starting to get nervous!

There really is no ‘difficulty.’ They are moral and ethics based questions.

 

[vi0linm0nster]

There really is no ‘difficulty.’ They are moral and ethics based questions.

Well difficulty in terms of deciding what to do. For example some of the practice problems are pretty obvious like you shouldn't lend money to someone who's going to use it to gamble etc

 

[907914]

Well difficulty in terms of deciding what to do. For example some of the practice problems are pretty obvious like you shouldn't lend money to someone who's going to use it to gamble etc

There are some ambiguous ones, but so long as you are clear and maintain internal consistency in your reasoning then you should be good.

 

[907914]

Well difficulty in terms of deciding what to do. For example some of the practice problems are pretty obvious like you shouldn't lend money to someone who's going to use it to gamble etc

But that to cannot really be answered as what is moral ambiguous to one person may not be to another.

 

[vi0linm0nster]

How long is a typical response? I only have a couple of sentences based on the practice full length..

 

[907914]

How long is a typical response? I only have a couple of sentences based on the practice full length..

Yup, around 3 sentences. My formula was basically “this is what I saw, this is what I would do, this is why I would do it” and move on. Short, sweet, fantasteek.

 

[Alexander Brosef]

I'd recommend at least watching some videos so you can get the gist of what they're expecting from your answers. But as long as you can justify the moral reasoning behind your responses, typing speed will be your biggest obstacle.