CASPer Test Tips: Here's What You Need To Know (2024)

CASPer, or “Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristic,” is a test required by certain medical schools used to assess your personal and professional reasoning skills. The test is designed to measure certain core competencies specified by the AAMC including teamwork, cultural competency, ethical responsibility, communication, and resilience. Evaluation formats like CASPer have grown in importance for medical school admissions as schools seek to assess applicants beyond academic metrics and extracurricular achievements—demonstrating strong interpersonal skills and pre-professional competencies has become a new benchmark for pre-meds. This blog is focused to give you CASPer test tips!

In this CASPer medical school blog post, we present:

• Medical schools the require the CASPer test
• How to Prepare for the CASPer test
• 5 CASPer test tips to ace your exam – including the CASPer PPRDJ Framework
• CASPer Practice Questions
• Important resources for medical school applications

The CASPer test is currently offered for the following allopathic medical schools in the U.S.:

How long is the CASPer test?

The CASPer test consists of 12 sections, 8 video responses and 4 typed responses, each followed by three questions.

You have 5 minutes to respond to the 3 follow-up questions, and the test runs for a total length of approximately 90 minutes. There is an optional 15-minute break in the middle of the test.

In the CASPer practice questions below, you can practice both a video response and a typed response.

How to prepare for the CASPer test

If a medical school you are applying to requires CASPer, then you should register for a CASPer test date at least three days before when you plan to take it. Keep in mind that certain schools will not review your application until all required materials (primary, secondary, MCAT, LORs) are received, which could include your CASPer test score. So do not delay your application timeline with a late CASPer score! According to the official CASper FAQ, your score is made available to programs 3 weeks after taking your test.

Because CASPer is administered online on your personal device, it is important to check your system requirements to ensure no technical difficulties occur during testing. We also recommend students take the official sample test provided by CASPer sometime before taking their real test. Get in the habit of the unique type of question format. There is usually a main

Finally, to maximum your chance of doing well on the exam, you should take additional practice tests and practice questions online and strategize with our 5 CASPer test tips listed below! Make sure to get great quality of sleep and enough rest the night before! The CASPer, similar to a medical school interview day, can be tiring. There is not a lot of time to answer each question and you need to have resilience to go question by question without breaks in between. And, you have to give quality answers!

From our experience, students who do extremely well on the CASPer test are students who have strong interview skills. This means that they are articulate and have strong interview skills. On the video responses, the applicant comes off as personable, approachable, and empathetic. They will have good eye contact, as if there is somebody on the other side of the screen (even though you will be speaking into a blank screen without a live person there). Finally, strong applicants can reason through challenging situations and clearly discuss how they will solve problems.

The CASPer test is similar to Multiple Mini Interviews, especially virtual Multiple Mini Interviews.

Therefore, what we recommend to our students who work with us through our medical school application packages is to take the Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course BEFORE taking the CASPer.

The Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course is helpful because of our 4S Framework.

The Mastering the MMI course was created by Dr. Rachel Rizal. Through the course, she will teach you how toconsistently and thoroughly answer your CASPer questions. Because you will have a great approach in answering CASPer questions, the CASPer grader will be impressed with your communication skills and critical thinking skills!

1) Structure – You will have an organized framework for your CASPer answers.

2) Spirit – Sound energetic and approachable while recording your CASPer responses!

3) Story – Learn how to include personal anecdotes and stories. This is a super high-yield CASPer tip we have below, as part of our CASPer test tips.

4) Stamina – Don’t get fatigued by the end of your CASPer exam!

Special Note: If you are a “Diamond” or “Diamond Plus” medical school application package student, the MMI course is included in your package. Therefore, please ask for Dr. Rizal and Dr. Mediratta for the early access code.

The MMI Course will prepare you for Ethical and Situational Scenarios on CASPer

Many CASPer questions have ethical issues from real life. See examples below. CASPer questions may also ask you about challenging situations or difficult situations that you could encounter in real life.

Dr. Rizal’s MMI course will teach you how to address ethical issues, including patient scenarios.

Use the Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course as a foundation to do well for your CASPer.

Then, do more CASPer practice questions below!

Everyone’s personal situation is different. But, our Cracking Med School Admissions teamstronglyadvises students to take their CASPer exam once they have finished at least half of their medical school secondary applications.

Why? Not all medical schools require the CASPer.

And, we think it is much more important to submit QUALITY secondary application essays.Therefore, we have our premed mentees work on their secondary applications first.

Exceptions and other options:

• If a majority of the medical schools you are applying to require the CASPer test, then take the CASPer test earlier on in the application cycle. We recommend taking it after your AMCAS/AACOMAS/TMDSAS is submitted.
• Another good time to take your CASPer
• If you are burned out from secondary essay writing and you need a break, then you can study for your CASPer and other tests like the Situational Judgment Tests (SJT). We know, it’s not a true break. But, you will use a different part of your brain! Some premedical students we know like studying for exams rather than writing essays.

5 CASPer Test Tips to Ace Your Exam

#1. Prepare a general framework to guide your answers

Having a framework prepared helps provide a starting point to structure your answers to open-ended questions characteristic of the CASPer exam. While your response should not be formulaic or rehearsed, introducing structure ensures your point is made in an organized and logical manner. A concrete framework can even help you flesh out your answer!

Remember, these is no wrong answers to CASPer questions. But, having a framework will help you have more organized video responses that are easy to follow. Thus, you will ultimately score higher!

Sample Prompt: You are studying with members of a study group when an argument breaks out between your fellow group members. Karl and Dan are confronting Kayla about her lack of contributions to the group. They feel that she is free loading off the group’s efforts while not doing her fair share of work. Kayla retorts that she has been under a lot of stress and they are being fair to her. It seems like she is about to leave the meeting in frustration. You have not participated in the interaction thus far, and now the group is looking for your advice. What do you do?

High-Yield CASPer Test Tip: One popular framework is PPRDJ, which stands for: problem, perspectives, responsibility, decision, justification. Consider applying this framework to the previous sample prompt:

• Problem: the group is not going to succeed with animosity toward one another, or if members of the group are not equally contributing.
• Perspectives: while Karl and Dan are justified in their frustration, they may be missing important information about why Kayla is not contributing.
• Responsibility: as a member of the group, I have a responsibility to help ensure good relations between group members. But at the same time, I want to make sure that everyone is doing their fair share of work.
• Decision: I would address the group by expressing empathy toward everyone’s frustrations but ask them to compromise for now so that the rest of the study session can still be productive. Afterwards, I would speak with Kayla in private and offer to speak about any stress she is under. I would encourage her to communicate her concerns to other members of the group so that they understand where she is coming from.
• Justification: In doing so, members of the group can ensure everyone is contributing equally without discounting extenuating circ*mstances for individual group members.

#2. Seek nuance and multiple perspectives

One particularly important CASPer test tip is to seek nuance and multiple perspectives when evaluating situations. As the above example highlights, there are often multiple conflicting interests and no clear answers to many prompts. If there was, there would be no point testing you on it! The CASPer exam is intentionally designed to force you to confront ambiguity and recognize multiple points of view.

When doing so, be sure to explicitly highlight how you are recognizing multiple perspectives in your answer. Your grader cannot give you credit unless you demonstrate your appreciation of a situation’s complexity. This can be as simple as weighing pros and cons of different options before making your decision or including language that suggests you will gather more information before acting. Having strong communication skills are important – articulate your thought process.

Showing different perspectives can help display empathy, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

#3. Answer the question and explain your reasoning

One common mistake CASPer test-takers make is failing to actually answer the question. Don’t get so caught up in a framework and/or exploring multiple perspectives that you forget to actually answer the question! It is important that your answer ultimately addresses what you will do and how you will do so.

Finally, you should explain your reasoning! Other than the above framework, one helpful way to do so is to cite medical ethics. Make sure you are familiar with the concept of autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence, and are comfortable applying them to different ethical situations. Your application should not be abstract or philosophical, but rather connected to the situation at hand.

#4. Tie-in personal anecdotes and experiences

One CASPer test tip to differentiate yourself by providing a unique answer is to bring in personal anecdotes and experiences. Have you faced a similar dilemma in an extracurricular or personal experience? How did you handle that situation? What would you do differently? The most compelling answers draw upon personal experience to substantiate your reasoning with a degree of humanity and substance.

List out all of your extracurricular activities and brainstorm relate anecdotes to bring up during your CASPer. What was the situation and what did you learn? This exercise can also help you strengthen your interview answers later on in the application cycle!

#5. Stay calm

Above all, it is important that you remain calm. Your demeanor can say a lot about your personal characteristics. For example, if you seem flustered, your interviewer might think that you are an anxious individual who cannot think or communicate under pressure. As a physician, you will be asked several questions and be in stressful situations. Therefore, you should stay calm during your CASPer exam.

With only 5 minutes to answer questions, CASPer moves at a pace that can fluster many test-takers. Keep a level head and do your best to get your thoughts down on the computer. Don’t spend all your time on one question! If you do badly on one section, shake it off and move on. Remember: CASPer responses are not graded on grammar or correct spelling! The substance and reasoning behind your answers is more important than your prose (though effective prose can certain elevate the overall strength of your response).

Now that you know the CASPer tips, it’s time to apply it to CASPer practice questions!

Here are some CASPer practice questions.

For each CASPer practice question, use the PPRDJ CASPer framework and our other CASPer test tips above to ace each CASPer test question. If you want, you can also time yourself!

CASPer Practice Question #1:

You are speaking to your friend and colleague, Kate, about your company’s internal discussions regarding maternity leave policies. These discussions seem to be leading to a reduction in paid time off, a direction with which you both do not agree. The next morning, the content of the discussions is leaked to the press, generating backlash and causing panic within the administration. Kate tells you that she is the person who leaked the information.

1. What do you think of Kate’s decision?
2. How would you respond?
3. Briefly describe a situation in which a decision was made that you did not agree with.

CASPer Practice Question #2:

Your roommate, Jessica, asks you to take care of her dog during her week-long business trip, and you agree. You have been under a lot of stress at work these past few weeks. A few days into Jessica’s trip, her dog appears sick with symptoms of excessive fatigue and diarrhea. Before she left, Jessica had told you that her dog has a severe intolerance to bananas. You realize that you fed the dog bananas over the past couple of days. You have an important work deadline coming up tomorrow.

1. Would you or would you not tell Jessica? Why or why not?
2. How would you balance your commitments to work and to Jessica in this situation?
3. What steps would you take to prevent accidents like this from occurring in the future?

CASPer Practice Question #3:

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius

1. How do you interpret this quote?
2. Describe a time in your life during which you persevered.
3. Did you learn anything from this situation that can be applied to your desired career? Explain your response.

CASPer Practice Question #4:

Two of your friends, Sana and David, work in different technology companies. When your friend group spends time together, you notice that David makes many disparaging comments about Sana’s company. You observe that Sana is uncomfortable but does not verbally respond to these comments.

1. What are the various things you would consider when determining how to respond to this situation, if at all?
2. Would you speak to Sana or David—if so, what would you say?
3. What quality do you believe is most important when handling competing personalities?

CASPer Practice Question #5:

Think of a time when you had to solve a difficult problem.

1. Briefly describe the situation.
2. Reflecting back on this situation, is there anything you would have done differently?
3. What did you learn from this experience?

CASPer Practice Question #6:

The rise of “Instagram face,” or “a single, cyborgian face among professionally beautiful women,” has been widely documented in the media. Moreover, the number of cosmetic surgeries has dramatically increased over the past two decades, by more than 273% among men and 429% among women.

1. How do you think social media usage has affected this increase in cosmetic procedures?
2. In your opinion, what are the benefits of social media usage?
3. What are the societal benefits and drawbacks of the aforementioned widespread increase in cosmetic surgeries?

Need more CASPer Practice Questions?

Want even more CASPer practice questions? As we stated above, one of the best ways to prepare for your CASPer medical school test is to take our Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course. We see many parallels with CASPer and MMI.We strongly suggest students to prepare for their CASPer exams (it’ll also be early prep for medical school MMI interviews!) through our Mastering the Multiple Mini Interview course.

After you secure a good framework and stories to include in your CASPer questions, get more practice through our 252 Multiple Mini Interview questions. We specifically suggest doing the Teamwork questions without a partner, Situational Scenarios, and Patient Care scenarios.

You can also take MMI-style (CASPer-style) practice tests in our practice questions blog post or MMI schools blog posts. There are a total of 5 MMI-style practice tests. If you want to master CASPer, you should create 3 follow-up questions for each scenario. And then, practice the questions like a video scenario and a writing scenario.

If you have any questions, contact our Cracking Med School Admissions team below!

How is CASPer graded?

The CASPer test is unique in that you never get to see how you did, so the grading process is largely unknown. We’ve had re-applicants email us and say that the first time they applied, they were the 1st quintile after applying the PPRDJ techniques and CASPer test tips from our blog post here. However, during their re-application cycle, they tried the same techniques and received the 3rd, 4th, or 5th quintiles (lower score). That doesn’t seem correct or fair to us! However, sources online suggest that your responses are scored by regional graders, each of whom is assigned to a single question to avoid bias. Your final score is converted to a percentile used to compare between applicants. So unfortunately, there might be variability in scoring, which is unfortunate for premedical applicants.

What if you don’t get a high CASPer test score? We would not worry too much about it! Obviously, it isn’t great. BUT, rest assured that we’ve heard several students get several medical school interviews each application cycle even if they scored in the middle to lowest quintiles.

Also, remember that not all medical schools take into consideration your CASPer score during their application review when evaluating your application.

It is difficult to say how important your CASPer score is for medical school admissions, but you should do your best and maximize your chances as with most things related to admissions process. Set yourself up for success by following our high-yield tips and preparing for the CASPer test!

Medical School Application Resources

If you’re applying this year or next year, be sure to check out our other blogs with important information:

• How to ask for strong letters of recommendation
• How to stand out in your medical school application
• How to write a personal statement for medical school
• AMCAS Work and Activities Description Examples