How to Ace the CASPer Test - Sample Questions and Answers Included

today we're going to talk about strategies to prepare for the casper test you're a hard-working pre-med student with competitive stats impressive extracurriculars and a well-balanced medical school list as you prepare to apply to your dream schools you realize a few of them require the casper test for admission it's different than anything you've faced before the mcat you handled now this how can you study for it what are the best strategies to impress adcoms and earn your white coat if you're feeling intimidated by the casper test you're not alone fortunately we're here to help i'm dr shirak shamasyan medical school admissions expert at in academic consulting in this video we'll discuss why some schools require the casper test and how adcoms evaluate your scores most importantly we'll give you three unique sample casper scenarios for you to practice on to get the most out of this video make sure you're sitting down able to type taking your time and giving us your full attention we'll have you pause the video after each scenario to answer the practice questions then we'll compare responses this type of preparation is the best way to help you excel in the casper and increase your chances of getting accepted to medical school what is the casper test casper stands for computer-based assessment for sampling personal characteristics and was developed at mcmaster university in canada its main purpose is to assess qualities like professionalism ethics communication and empathy all important traits for a successful physician to have traditional med school application components like your personal statement secondaries letters of wreck and admissions interview aren't effective at measuring those four traits so the casper is used to offer adcoms a more reliable assessment of their applicant's personal qualities you're probably wondering which medical schools require casper currently over 45 allopathic and 12 osteopathic med schools do including prestigious schools like baylor university of north carolina chapel hill and the university of washington we've included the entire list in our supplementary guide how to prepare for the casper test there's a link in the description box below when and where should i take the casper test casper is offered at least once a month you enroll online and the test fee is twelve dollars for u.s students with an additional twelve dollar charge for each school you send your results to you can take the casper test on any computer with internet access just be sure you have a quiet distraction-free environment so you can focus since some med schools want your casper scores before they review your application we suggest you take the casper in april or may of your application year ideally before you submit mcas med schools will receive your results within three weeks of your test date to make sure you're on the right track to submit all your medical school applications and give yourself the best chances of getting in check out our related guide that explains the ideal medical school application timeline there's a link in the description to that as well what is the format of the casper test casper takes about 90 minutes to complete you'll complete 12 different sections eight include video based scenarios and four include word-based scenarios for each scenario you'll be given three open-ended questions to answer and five minutes to answer them you'll see what we mean when we get to practice scenarios in a minute be aware that most questions won't be related to medicine so your medical or scientific knowledge won't come in handy here instead competence in the areas of professionalism ethics communication and empathy is what will help you excel how is the casper test scored each of the 12 sections is scored by a different rater this helps level the playing field since some raters might be more strict than others in other words you can rest assured that you won't have an overly hard radar scoring your entire test the raters give each section a single numerical score from 1 to 9 with 9 being the best score and what are the raiders scoring don't worry they're trained not to focus on your spelling and grammar after all you only have five minutes for each scenario to type out your responses you don't have time to decide if you should be using whoever or whomever instead the raiders score the content of your answer how are you displaying professionalism ethics communication and empathy in your responses that's what they want to know you might be feeling nervous about answering three questions within five minutes and it makes sense because the time flies perhaps even faster than you expect the good thing is the rater considers the entire section as a whole not each individual question so if you write a strong response to the first question but don't have enough time to address the next two questions in depth you could still get a high score for the section provided your first answer demonstrates professionalism maturity and an understanding of the important ethical issues at hand should i study for the casper test situational judgment tests like casper aren't testing content knowledge in other words it's not like the mcat where you need to memorize and recall specific facts so while you can't study for a casper in the traditional sense there are ways you can prepare for it first test and improve your typing speed the more words you can type in five minutes the more thorough your answers will be second review medical ethics this will help you approach the casper test scenarios using the right ethical lens the university of washington provides an excellent ethics overview there's a link in the description box below how to approach casper practice scenarios and questions now we'll go over three practice casper scenarios two video based and one word based for the video scenarios go ahead and watch the clip then pause the video once the questions appear on the screen set a timer for five minutes and do your best to answer the questions as soon as the time goes off stop typing immediately then continue playing this video to see how your answer compares with ours have you identified the same ethical and professional issues don't expect our answers to perfectly match this exercise is meant to help you get better at recognizing the key components in each scenario alright let's go do you see that what two rows down i think lawrence is cheating i can't believe it he totally is i can see him looking off sarah's exam and copying her answers well this is the hardest class of the year he's probably worried about keeping his grades up for med school applications yeah but this is anatomy shouldn't we actually know this material if there were going to be doctors i mean i sure think so but i don't know if i want to get involved with lawrence's business what about you what do you think we should do what about you what do you think we should do question number one what will you do in this situation question number two imagine you knew the neighbor was knowingly letting your classmate cheat how would that change your answer if you were the professor and learned your students had been caught cheating what would your actions be pause the video and start your timer now how did it go five minutes isn't much time is it all right let's look at the key issues presented in this scenario first as a pre-med student you have a duty to uphold the integrity of the medical profession doctors should hold themselves to high ethical standards and refuse to take unethical shortcuts you can't ignore this behavior in someone trying to become a physician second you have a duty to show loyalty and compassion for your classmates encouraging their personal and moral growth so how do you balance these conflicting responsibilities before we give you our answers let's go over the qualities you should demonstrate in your responses what do you think they should be we find it important to show commitment to medical ethics as well as empathy towards your classmate you want to display your professionalism in how you approach this tricky situation and you'll want to prove your ability to balance multiple perspectives now let's look at our answers question number one what would you do in this situation here's what we would have written after the exam ends i would pull my classmate aside and speak with him in private i would let him know i saw him cheating on the test and intended to inform the professor but i changed my mind and want to give him the chance to come forward first and admit to the professor he cheated if my classmate was willing to confess to cheating but was worried about the resulting sanctions i would offer to help him prepare to plead his case before the academic conduct committee i would support him in composing and rehearsing a statement and apology regardless of the outcome and what sanctions are administered i would remind him of the importance of honesty and choosing the moral path what was your response did you demonstrate empathy commitment to ethics or professionalism pause the video to compare our response with your response and think what you wish you could add or subtract to your answer in hindsight as you can see this answer demonstrates a commitment to ethics but also compassion and support for the offending classmate and we try to give him a chance to do the right thing by telling the professor himself allowing him an opportunity for growth question number two imagine you knew the neighbor was knowingly letting your classmate cheat how would that change your answer here's our response if the neighbor was complicit in the cheating i would encourage them both to come forward and admit their actions to the professor cheating or allowing a classmate to cheat diminishes the integrity of the medical profession and disrespects the many students who work hard to achieve success honestly pause the video to review your response to this question again this answer shows the balance between upholding the medical profession and supporting your classmates it also shares our opinion on why cheating is harmful to medicine as a whole question number three if you were the professor and learned your students had been caught cheating what would your actions be here's our response i would ask the students to give explanations as to why they cheated while no mitigating circumstances can excuse cheating i would want to present comprehensive pictures of the incident and the students to the conduct committee if the students were remorseful and had previously cleaned records i would advocate for a course of discipline emphasizing student growth and learning rather than suspension or expulsion casper questions like to put you in someone else's shoes how did you do acting within this position of authority pause the video to evaluate your answer our response displays a desire to gather more information before acting remember that just like a physician gathers additional information before making a diagnosis you'll want to prove you won't act rashly and potentially miss out on a detail that would have changed your understanding of the situation this is a strong theme to demonstrate in many of your casper responses casper practice scenario number two business partner conflict i've got to talk to you about dave what's going on well when the three of us first opened the restaurant together everything was great right yeah i thought it was me too but recently dave has been acting off he keeps dropping the ball what do you mean here's one thing he's supposed to be in charge of talking to our investors but i just found out he hasn't been doing that at all one of our investors is actually pulling out because they're tired of being kept in the dark who knows who else might be ready to bail oh no that's terrible i have to admit i noticed dave hasn't been following through on some little things and i've been picking up his slack but i didn't know it was this serious it is and this has been going on for months now the restaurant's future is at risk i think we need to force him out of the partnership what do you think what do you think how would you approach your partner about his inconsistent performance question number two imagine your partner shares his mother's health is failing and that's why he's been distracted and failed to follow through on his responsibilities would this change your reaction question number three conflict avoidance often causes greater conflict do you agree or disagree with this statement you can pause the video and start typing now alright welcome back so what did you identify as the key issues in this scenario we recognize conflict resolution as one of the most important components more specifically the need to approach conflict with maturity and empathy using strong communication skills to find a resolution and what qualities do you think are most important to demonstrate in your responses we identified compassion a desire for understanding and the ability to problem-solve successfully as the best qualities to display did you hit any of those in your answers remember it's okay if we took different approaches or our answers sound different but you want to be mindful of the qualities you show on your responses how are you proving that you'll be an effective and ethical physician all right let's get into our answers question number one how would you approach your partner about his inconsistent performance here's our response when approaching my partner my first priority would be to listen refrain from judging and fully understand his perspective if my partner revealed barriers affecting his involvement i would help him find ways to remove those barriers if he instead expressed dissatisfaction with the business i would arrange a partner meeting to speak honestly and search for solutions rather than cast blame i would consider the possibility of bringing in a third party if discussions became heated or unproductive i would hope we could find a satisfying solution and move forward as business partners take a moment to read over your response and pick out the qualities you demonstrated pause the video while you do that our answer shows our desire to understand our partner and gain more information before making any decisions does that sound familiar it's the same approach we use for the last scenario because it's important we also demonstrated our ability to think through and prepare for many possible outcomes question number two imagine your partner shares his mother's health is failing and that's why he's been distracted and failed to follow through on his responsibilities would this change your reaction here's our response i would express my concern for his mother and share my wish that he had told us earlier so we could have supported him working with my partners we would reassign roles and duties we might consider allowing the partner to take a temporary hiatus from business matters while handling his mother's affairs a few weeks later i would follow up with both partners to see how the new arrangement is working and if it needs further refining pause the video again to compare our answer with yours what qualities did you demonstrate in your response we first showed compassion and empathy then a desire to find the solution that's agreeable to all parties we identified the importance of clearly establishing expectations with teammates can you imagine how difficult your job would be as a physician if your nurses had different expectations of their roles than you did establishing expectations is crucial so is following up later to see if your solution is working well or needs readjustment question number three conflict avoidance often causes greater conflict do you agree or disagree with this statement here's our response i agree that avoiding conflict doesn't erase or solve the problem in most cases it only makes things worse only by handling conflict maturely and empathetically can we understand another person's perspective and find common ground leading to an agreeable solution for both parties if the conflict is avoided resentment festers and eventually ruins the relationship this question was a little more personal was it more difficult to share your own opinions and values than solve problems for the characters go ahead and pause the video to examine your response our answer displays an appropriate and professional understanding of conflict as a future doctor you're bound to experience conflict with colleagues or even with patients it's important to prove you're not afraid of handling conflict and have the ability to approach it in a mature way casper practice scenario number three quote about being a physician we want to give you an example of a word-based scenario you'll likely come across a single quote as the source for one of your casper sections given without context some students actually find these harder to answer since you're not giving characters or a narrative to respond to so let's give it a try observation reason human understanding courage these make the physician martin h fisher question number one what does this quote mean to you question number two discuss the importance of courage in medicine question number three describe a time in your life when you had to make a courageous decision what did you learn from the experience pause the video and spend five minutes answering these questions this scenario is quite different from the others how did you do did you find it harder or easier these questions allow you to get personally and share your experience in the medical field whether it was from working volunteering shadowing or being a patient yourself since these questions are more subjective the important thing here is to demonstrate your understanding of a physician's role and what it takes to be an excellent doctor question number one what does this quote mean to you here's our response this quote reminds me that being a doctor requires more than knowledge and logic we learn to observe symptoms and use reason to make diagnoses but that's only half the work we need to build relationships with patients based on human understanding so they trust us when we recommend the medical course of action and we need the courage to act morally and ethically when situations become ambiguous or difficult a physician missing any one of these traits would be ineffective this quote will mean something slightly different to everyone how does your answer address the quote and represent the role of a physician pause the video to consider your response our answer highlights the importance of compassion empathy and ethics for a physician remember these are a few of the primary qualities the casper test is measuring so you want to take every opportunity to include them in your answers question number two discuss the importance of courage in medicine here's our response a physician's courage is called upon every day it takes courage to inform a patient or their family of bad news it takes courage to answer hard questions with honesty courage is needed when performing a difficult or new procedure it's courageous to adhere to ethical standards when it means questioning an unjust organizational policy every medical professional i know regularly displays courage to their actions pause the video to review your response compared to others this answer uses specific examples to show familiarity with a physician's role you want to call upon your experiences and interactions with doctors when responding to this type of question which physicians do you look up to how do they show courage there's the material for your answer question number three describe a time in your life when you had to make a courageous decision what did you learn from the experience here's our response my parents and i did not see eye to eye on which college i should attend i had my heart set on an out-of-state school with a strong science program but they wanted me to stay closer to home we had many difficult conversations where i listened to their concerns and tried to calm their fears eventually they left the decision to me while i respected their input i chose the out-of-state school because it offered stronger pre-med options it was hard to go against my parents wishes but i knew it was the right choice and i learned to trust my instincts what qualities did you demonstrate in your story pause the video to identify them it can be hard to think of a personal story on the spot but the casper does like to ask these describe a time in your life questions be mindful when choosing your story that you don't reveal anything that puts you in a negative light for example don't use a story showing you handling stress poorly or struggling to work with others these qualities would be concerning in the future physician on the other hand demonstrating strong communication skills and your desire to understand another person's perspective is always a strong approach if you've enjoyed these three practice scenarios and sample responses head to our supplementary guide to find several more a few more practice attempts will get you ready to tackle the casper with ease there's a link in the description box below there you have it everything you need to prepare for the casper test if you continue practicing using the strategies we've outlined you'll improve your odds of performing well on the casper test and making your medical school dreams come true if you found this video helpful give it a thumbs up and subscribe so you don't miss out on new videos and if you'd like to learn more about the med school admissions process click the link in the description to get our free comprehensive guide how to get into medical school the strategies in the guide are the same ones our team uses to routinely help students get into schools like johns hopkins mayo ucsf and many others alright thanks again for watching see you next time you

Channel: Shemmassian Academic Consulting

Views: 157,936

Keywords: CASPer Test, Medical School Admissions, Premed Advice

Id: Pmv-HrQ7Q6E

Length: 21min 21sec (1281 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 24 2020