CASPer test?

[deleted969405]

Anyone else feel like they did terrible on the CASPer test? I tried to take everyone's perspective, but I feel like I could have explained more. I also only had like 30 seconds to read and responses to the last problem in ~50% of the prompts, so I only wrote about ~1 sentence. Anyone else feel this way?

And how important is CASPer to admissions? I know it varies for each school, but they mainly use it to screen or when applicants are at the cusp of acceptance correct? If that's the case, if I get an interview from one of the CASPer schools, that probably means I didn't do horrible on it right? Mainly just worried cuz 5 minutes is not enough time for me to answer 3 situational based questions. Hell, I'd might even rather take the MCAT again.

EDIT: Also, does anyone else feel lightweight disrespected when CASPer says that we can't interpret their scores which is why they don't release them? Like if you give me the mean, median, and standard deviation, I can interpret my score.

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[Orville]

I just took it and I feel pretty much the same way. Most of my answers were very brief and unpolished. My guess is that as long as you didn't come off as an unbalanced psycho you're fine. I would love more info on how it's scored and how schools use it to make decisions though.

 

[deleted969405]

I just took it and I feel pretty much the same way. Most of my answers were very brief and unpolished. My guess is that as long as you didn't come off as an unbalanced psycho you're fine. I would love more info on how it's scored and how schools use it to make decisions though.

I really hope so. The problem is that it is curved, so we are graded against everyone else which is complete BS. It should be either "Do you have empathy (high score)", or "Do you not have empathy (low score)", not "How much empathy do you have against everyone else"? Compounded by the fact that I feel like I did rather poorly, I don't feel too good on this.

EDIT: Good thing only 9/34 schools on my list require this, but most of them don't have a secondary so I'm kinda screwed in that sense 🙁

 

[mmchick]

I answered about 1-2 paragraphs per question. Everyone gets the same amount of time, so most people practice with a few scenarios to test out their type speed and develop a strategy. There are tons of resources online and strategies people have shared (i.g. formulas to consider in particular questions, ways to cut down and abbreviate to save time, typing practices to increase your speed need-be). You essentially should’ve been able to state a position and justify it while addressing other viewpoints per question.

They don’t release scores because a simple number wouldn’t tell you much about how you did, even compared to others. They don’t want people thinking that just because their score is below average, you should interpret that as you bring some sort of unethical person. Could’ve gotten a low score for a number of test-related or task completion issues. Also, I’m sure it’s a way to screen out people writing them and complaining about their scores or demanding a re-examination as I’m sure many neurotic pre-meds would do.

 

[deleted969405]

I answered about 1-2 paragraphs per question. Everyone gets the same amount of time, so most people practice with a few scenarios to test out their type speed and develop a strategy. There are tons of resources online and strategies people have shared (i.g. formulas to consider in particular questions, ways to cut down and abbreviate to save time, typing practices to increase your speed need-be). You essentially should’ve been able to state a position and justify it while addressing other viewpoints per question.

They don’t release scores because a simple number wouldn’t tell you much about how you did, even compared to others. They don’t want people thinking that just because their score is below average, you should interpret that as you bring some sort of unethical person. Could’ve gotten a low score for a number of test-related or task completion issues. Also, I’m sure it’s a way to screen out people writing them and complaining about their scores or demanding a re-examination as I’m sure many neurotic pre-meds would do.

Unfortunately, you can't change your typing speed within a few weeks. I've been typing my entire life, and am a medical scribe (so I type a lot), and I only type "above average". And i don't think premeds would ask for a re-examination, I've never heard of any demand that from poor MCAT scores.

And yes, for every problem I tried to state that I understand both perspectives, give my judgement, and provide reasoning for that judgement for at least 1 of the 3 questions. But because of the time I spent writing that, I was only able to give an average answer to the other question, and a poor answer to the last question.

 

[sundayko]

I felt the same way after taking the test, too. I type pretty fast, but still found myself struggling to articulate my ideas and write a well-rounded response that showed I was taking in multiple perspectives. It's still kind of frustrating to think about even now, but it's out of my hands. I've just tried to put it out of my mind and focus on secondaries.

 

[deleted969405]

I felt the same way after taking the test, too. I type pretty fast, but still found myself struggling to articulate my ideas and write a well-rounded response that showed I was taking in multiple perspectives. It's still kind of frustrating to think about even now, but it's out of my hands. I've just tried to put it out of my mind and focus on secondaries.

Sorry for reminding you about it again! After reading around, I think everyone is having this problem, so I think you're idea of just forgetting about it and moving on to secondaries is good!