How important are Caspers and how do you prepare for them? I have done a few sample questions online and gone over some MMI online questions, but is it really necessary to get feedback on them(which you can only do through those expsenive $1000 online courses) since you could be using improper logic? My casper is next month. The thing that seems a little frustrating is that you don't get any feedback on casper so you don't know how you are doing. Any thoughts on this?
How important are Caspers and how do you prepare for them?
- Thread starter hugh2012
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Speaking from my own experience along with those of many friends that have taken the CASPer, there really is no serious preparation for it and you shouldn't worry about it. Do the free practice questions they have available, and maybe flip through some general medical ethics principles, but do not stress about preparing for it or how difficult it is. Its aim is to assess if you are both ethical and empathetic, and that's not something that preparing a ton will really do in my opinion. I personally do not love the CASPer test because I think it's fairly difficult to assess people's answers objectively, but that's just my opinion.
SO... take free practice questions to get a feel for it, think of situations from an empathetic and ethical standpoint. You will be fine, PLEASE do not pay for a course, that'd be a huge waste of money (unless you're super unethical and devoid of any empathy).
SO... take free practice questions to get a feel for it, think of situations from an empathetic and ethical standpoint. You will be fine, PLEASE do not pay for a course, that'd be a huge waste of money (unless you're super unethical and devoid of any empathy).
Did you get interviews from the Casper schools? I am wondering since 8 of the schools I am applying to require Casper.
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Honestly, it's a crapshoot. Not a lot you can do to study for it... I'd say just consider multiple perspectives and be sure to stay open minded throughout the whole thing. Don't make any hard conclusions about anything also sympathize with all situations (Even the guys that they're making out to be the bad guy!)
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Yes, I applied to several that required it and interviewed at Central Michigan University.
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My advice is same as this person’s. I got interviews at Rosalind Franklin and at Medical Colleges of WI (think they took it too). No interview offer at Central Michigan, but many factors go into it. I am a WI Resident
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Advice I saw online for it was to give balanaced and not extreme responses, tell both sides of a conflict.
It’s similar to some MMI questions so however you see to prep for that can be good too. For MMI I really liked the course grinder videos (free on YouTube)
It’s similar to some MMI questions so however you see to prep for that can be good too. For MMI I really liked the course grinder videos (free on YouTube)
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I'm going to try to gain some credibility from you on this, so please excuse my bragging in the next few sentences, I don't mean to come off as cocky. The school I decided to attend had CASPer only and no secondaries. I think the reason I got such an early interview was partly due to my CASPer, as I come out to the average LizzyM for that school and my extracurriculars were meh. I presented a bunch of mock CASPer answers in front of other people, and they've mostly agreed that I probably came up with the best solution and that my answer was outside the box, so I think I did relatively well on the test (Although I wish we got to see the scores).
They're somewhat important to the schools that require them. Most schools don't even ask you for them. That being said, unless you do absolutely horribly and act like a psychopath throughout your CASPer, it probably won't break your application (It might not even break your application if you do act like a psychopath).
Practice problem solving and mediation. I was a resident advisor and in a lot of leadership positions in college, so personally, I didn't need to give it a lot of preparation. If you're good at solving petty conflicts between friends and coworkers, you'll be fine.
If you really want to put work into it, I believe there are some medical questions on the CASPer (I took it forever ago so I don't really remember). But it wouldn't hurt to read up on the 4 tenets of medical ethics (Two of them are basically the same, so its not too much work) and use that to justify your answer in case a medical question comes up.
Edit: If you really really want to prepare for the CASPer, look up Kohlberg's 6 stages of Moral Reasoning, and try to apply them to your answers. Try to stay around stage 5 of reasoning.
No. If you're paying more than the cost of the test and sending it to the schools, you're paying too much for the CASPer.
FlavivirusProteases Key to doing well on the CASPer: Don't be a Dick. Watch a few samples so you can get a feel of where the argument is going, and brainstorm during the video. Let the graders know how each person feels in the situation. Come up with a good compromise. Don't worry about spelling.
They're somewhat important to the schools that require them. Most schools don't even ask you for them. That being said, unless you do absolutely horribly and act like a psychopath throughout your CASPer, it probably won't break your application (It might not even break your application if you do act like a psychopath).
Practice problem solving and mediation. I was a resident advisor and in a lot of leadership positions in college, so personally, I didn't need to give it a lot of preparation. If you're good at solving petty conflicts between friends and coworkers, you'll be fine.
If you really want to put work into it, I believe there are some medical questions on the CASPer (I took it forever ago so I don't really remember). But it wouldn't hurt to read up on the 4 tenets of medical ethics (Two of them are basically the same, so its not too much work) and use that to justify your answer in case a medical question comes up.
Edit: If you really really want to prepare for the CASPer, look up Kohlberg's 6 stages of Moral Reasoning, and try to apply them to your answers. Try to stay around stage 5 of reasoning.
No. If you're paying more than the cost of the test and sending it to the schools, you're paying too much for the CASPer.
FlavivirusProteases Key to doing well on the CASPer: Don't be a Dick. Watch a few samples so you can get a feel of where the argument is going, and brainstorm during the video. Let the graders know how each person feels in the situation. Come up with a good compromise. Don't worry about spelling.
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There is a lot of misinformation on CASPer getting thrown out there so hopefully this will help clarify things.
CASPer is a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) that is NOT a pass/fail test like USMLE or MCAT. It is an assessment that RANKS large volumes of applicants based on their personal and professional qualities.
With the USMLE or MCAT, if you answer correctly, it doesn't matter what other people answered. With CASPer, responses are graded using a known Likert Scale. Your answer may be acceptable but that may still translate to a LOW/UNACCEPTABLE rank on the test because you are being evaluated AGAINST each other. In general, if you do not rank within the top 1/3, your application will not move on to the next round of review.
Doing well on CASPer is NOT a CRAPSHOOT. There are often no direct medical questions on CASPer and being yourself won't help you when you only have 5 minutes to type your answers. With only 5 minutes, it is next to impossible to "explore both sides" and responses that do so may be scored lower than those that do not. The best preparation for CASPer is NOT TO TAKE a prep course or pay for USELESS CASPer prep course videos. The best preparation for CASPer involves creating a study plan 5-6 weeks prior to your test date, reviewing your personal experiences, documenting examples from your life that show evidence to CASPer benchmarks and ultimately taking timed full length practice tests that are spaced apart to train your body and mind to adapt well to CASPer related content and themes. Weaknesses of SJTs like CASPer include the fact that responses can be improved through practice effects. Use this to your advantage to do well on CASPer. For those of you that believe CASPer is immune to practice effects, (ie. responses cannot be "faked" on SJTs), please see the research which shows otherwise.
As more schools adopt CASPer, it's weighting goes from being experimental to making the difference between getting an interview and ultimately receiving an acceptance. This is already the case for Canadian schools where CASPer has been used since 2010.
References:
Whetzel, D. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2009). Situational judgment tests: An overview of current research. Human Resource Management Review, 19, 188-202.
Nguyen, N. T., Biderman, M. D., & McDaniel, M. A. (2005). Effects of response instructions on faking a situational judgment test. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 13, 250-260.
Cullen, M.J., Sackett, P.R., & Lievens, F. (2006). Threats to the operational use of situational judgment tests in the college admission process. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 142-55.
Ebo K. A Osam (2014) The Adaptation of a Situational Judgement Test to Measure Leadership Knowledge in the Workplace, Western Kentucky University
CASPer is a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) that is NOT a pass/fail test like USMLE or MCAT. It is an assessment that RANKS large volumes of applicants based on their personal and professional qualities.
With the USMLE or MCAT, if you answer correctly, it doesn't matter what other people answered. With CASPer, responses are graded using a known Likert Scale. Your answer may be acceptable but that may still translate to a LOW/UNACCEPTABLE rank on the test because you are being evaluated AGAINST each other. In general, if you do not rank within the top 1/3, your application will not move on to the next round of review.
Doing well on CASPer is NOT a CRAPSHOOT. There are often no direct medical questions on CASPer and being yourself won't help you when you only have 5 minutes to type your answers. With only 5 minutes, it is next to impossible to "explore both sides" and responses that do so may be scored lower than those that do not. The best preparation for CASPer is NOT TO TAKE a prep course or pay for USELESS CASPer prep course videos. The best preparation for CASPer involves creating a study plan 5-6 weeks prior to your test date, reviewing your personal experiences, documenting examples from your life that show evidence to CASPer benchmarks and ultimately taking timed full length practice tests that are spaced apart to train your body and mind to adapt well to CASPer related content and themes. Weaknesses of SJTs like CASPer include the fact that responses can be improved through practice effects. Use this to your advantage to do well on CASPer. For those of you that believe CASPer is immune to practice effects, (ie. responses cannot be "faked" on SJTs), please see the research which shows otherwise.
As more schools adopt CASPer, it's weighting goes from being experimental to making the difference between getting an interview and ultimately receiving an acceptance. This is already the case for Canadian schools where CASPer has been used since 2010.
References:
Whetzel, D. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2009). Situational judgment tests: An overview of current research. Human Resource Management Review, 19, 188-202.
Nguyen, N. T., Biderman, M. D., & McDaniel, M. A. (2005). Effects of response instructions on faking a situational judgment test. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 13, 250-260.
Cullen, M.J., Sackett, P.R., & Lievens, F. (2006). Threats to the operational use of situational judgment tests in the college admission process. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 142-55.
Ebo K. A Osam (2014) The Adaptation of a Situational Judgement Test to Measure Leadership Knowledge in the Workplace, Western Kentucky University
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If you have your thoughts in order by the time the video is done you absolutely have time to analyze both sides of the argument in 5 minutes. Lets see, I type around 90 WPM, that means that at maximum efficiency I can write a 450 word answer. Obviously, that wont happen, so lets knock that down to 300. That's still 100 words per answer, which is a solid paragraph of writing.
It only takes one sentence to explore each side, you don't have to zero in on everyone's exact feelings and give a dissertation on them.
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Appreciate your feedback but MOST people cannot type 90 WPM. The average is 40 WPM if that. Also, a lot of applicants struggle with organizing their thoughts SIMULTANEOUSLY as they are watching the video as most are focusing on the details of the video.
It's not recommended to start formulating thoughts/answers to the questions while the video is playing because you could miss subtle but key details shown in the video. Realistically, most applicants spend the first 30 sec after the video has finished playing, formulating their answer.
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Since they should know prior to taking the test that it is a timed test that involves typing, one would think they would try to improve their typing speed. It isn’t that difficult to increase your typing speed in a short amount of time.
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Mavis Beacon helped me with that.
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I dreaded that program like no other when I was young. Now it's a blessing
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I dreaded that program like no other when I was young. Now it's a blessing
I feel so old when I talk to my niece and nephew. They are going to be starting 8th grade. When I was in 6th grade, computers were not super common in people’s homes, so we had computer and typing classes we had to take in school. They don’t do that anymore because most kids have plenty of experience with computers by then lol.
Where do you get full length practice exam? There are no free full length and all of they you have to buy and many don’t give feedback so 1. How do you know if you are doing something wrong or answering something poorly cause you don’t even get feedback from testmakers? 2. How do you know which practice exams are worth it?
I’m taking mine next month and I’ve looked at free questions . I already prewrote my secondary so I have a lot of instances where I had to answer questions where I dealt with conflicts in group, displayed empathy, had to resolve ethical conflict. I can also type 90 wpm and looked over mmi questions. But for the Casper, how do I know if I’m answering things properly bc for mmi they say talk about both sides pros and cons and take one side and basically display empathy, no harm to patients, etc. (so for Casper I should never talk about both sides but rather take a side and elaborate?)
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Hi Hugh,
>>Where do you get full length practice exam?
There are a number of providers with practice full length CASPer tests. You can visit the CASPer test subforum on SDN. CASPer Test or do a google search for "practice casper test".
>>1. How do you know if you are doing something wrong or answering something poorly cause you don’t even get feedback from testmakers?
You can take the official 3 station sample test from Altus Assessments at takecasper.com and then compare your answers to our model answers for these stations, free of charge. If your answers are comparable to our model answers then chances are you're on the right track for the station.
>>2. How do you know which practice exams are worth it?
We only suggest paying for a practice exam if the company provides you with a sample test you can try out first to evaluate their testing interface and content. Don't pay for any test that uses a different testing interface or question style that differs from the real test. If the company does not provide a sample test to try out, that is a big red flag.
Good luck!
