By Elizabeth LaScala, MD, PhD
Whether you are applying to residency, medical school, veterinary school, or even some undergraduate programs, you may be required to take a situational judgment test as part of your application. What’s a situational judgement test? Read on!
Preparing for the SJTs:
PREview: The AAMC offers free preparation materials, including practice tests and a comprehensive guide. To prepare for PREview, become fluent in the nine professional competencies and review all AAMC’s preparation materials in depth. Less than 1% of test takers report using private company materials, so preparing with what AAMC offers should be sufficient.
Casper: Acuity Insights’ free preparation materials include one full-length sample test and practice scenarios / example prompts. Test takers should also become familiar with Casper’s ten competencies. Acuity cautions that individuals who use third-party materials perform worse than those who use Acuity’s resources.
Important Casper tip: Avoid editing for spelling and grammar. You can even write in bullet points. Examiners are trained to overlook cosmetic mistakes, so while your writing should be comprehensible, you should not waste time editing. Similarly, do not worry if time runs out and answers get cut short.
Situational judgment tests (SJTs) assess professional and personal characteristics that admissions committees incorporate into holistic admissions processes. There are two main situational judgment tests to be familiar with – PREview and Casper. Both examinations are taken online and assess a unique set of competencies. There are Fee Assistance programs available for both PREview and Casper.
What should I know about PREview?
The AAMC PREview Professional Readiness Examination is a multiple-choice style test in which test takers rate the effectiveness of provided behaviors in the context of a given situation. PREview assesses AAMC’s professional competencies for entering medical school. PREview is only required for these select medical programs. PREview scores are provided as integers on a scale of 1-9 with a percentile rank and confidence band. Scores are determined by comparing the test taker’s responses to medical educators’ consensus ratings, where a higher score indicates selected answers were more closely aligned with those of the medical educators. The mean score of test takers is a 5 (52nd percentile rank). AAMC provides a complete overview of everything to know about taking PREview. The test is 75 minutes, it’s offered March through September, it must be taken within the same year as one’s application cycle, and it can only be retaken once within a cycle.
What should I know about Casper?
The Casper is an open-response SJT recommended or required by select undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, including these MD programs and these veterinary programs. Casper has two sections with seven scenarios each: video response and written response. Test takers are provided with a scenario and asked to respond, in either video or written form, to 1-3 timed questions about how they might handle each scenario in a given role. Casper, along with several other less popular SJTs, is offered by Acuity Insights. Casper measures ten competencies including collaboration, communication, empathy, equity, ethics, self-awareness, resilience, professionalism, problem solving and motivation. Acuity Insights provides a complete overview of everything to know about Casper here.
Each scenario is scored by a different grader, and scores are provided as quartiles. Graders are trained against certain biases, but generally speaking, test takers should maintain appropriate attire and professional appearance for video responses. Casper is 90-110 minutes and is offered May through October (although dates vary by program). It must be taken within the same year as one’s application cycle, and it cannot be retaken within a cycle.
How much do these exams matter for my application?
The quick answer is that we do not know. Casper was first used in the United States in 2015 and PREview was released in 2020. These SJTs are relatively new, and there are limited data available about how SJTs are used in the admissions process.
From what is known, higher scores on both tests correlate with higher matriculation rates. For example, the AAMC reports that acceptance rates to at least one medical school are significantly higher among those with higher PREview scores than those with lower PREview scores. AAMC research studies suggest that PREview scores add information not characterized by other evaluations including MMIs and traditional interviews, and this information can help highlight applicants with alternative strengths. For Casper, participating medical schools report that Casper scores are predictive of MMI performance. Additionally, longitudinal studies demonstrate that Casper scores are predictive of personal and professional qualities in doctors in residency. Yet, it is still unknown what matriculants’ mean scores are for both PREview and Casper.
Committees may use the predictive nature of SJTs to pick applicants who will thrive, not only as students but as professionals, in their programs. As admissions committees for many programs increasingly value well-roundedness, the importance of strong scores on SJTs should not be underestimated. The average objective statistics for matriculants, particularly among medical schools, matter more and more, so strong SJT scores can help an applicant stand out within an increasingly competitive pool.
Preparing for the SJTs:
PREview: The AAMC offers free preparation materials, including practice tests and a comprehensive guide. To prepare for PREview, become fluent in the nine professional competencies and review all AAMC’s preparation materials in depth. Less than 1% of test takers report using private company materials, so preparing with what AAMC offers should be sufficient.
Casper: Acuity Insights’ free preparation materials include one full-length sample test and practice scenarios / example prompts. Test takers should also become familiar with Casper’s ten competencies. Acuity cautions that individuals who use third-party materials perform worse than those who use Acuity’s resources.
Important Casper tip: Avoid editing for spelling and grammar. You can even write in bullet points. Examiners are trained to overlook cosmetic mistakes, so while your writing should be comprehensible, you should not waste time editing. Similarly, do not worry if time runs out and answers get cut short.
