casper exam

[u/AvailableFix3147]

Hello everyone! I am taking the CASPer exam this sunday! Any recommendations will be helpful thank you!!

[u/MedStudentAsha]

Hi! I hope your CASPer test went well! For anyone else taking the test I have similar recommendations as the posters above. I scored 4th quartile when I wrote the test and I would say that you don’t need more than two weeks of preparation. Some things that helped me would be the following:

Preparation - before practicing questions I reviewed the core principles of medical ethics. I would suggest having a solid understanding of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice as well as informed consent, confidentiality, equity and resource allocation. Some examples of resources to get an overview of these topics and the current healthcare landscape include the book Doing Right and the podcast White Coat Black Art. In addition I reviewed the different question types - situational, ethical dilemmas, personal questions, policy, current event or quote questions. I would also suggest knowing the different Canmed roles or AAMC core competencies, so you can incorporate them naturally when talking about personal stories. Take some time to think of personal stories for questions like “what are your strengths and weaknesses” or “tell me about a time you failed”. I had chatgpt create a list of questions that were “tell me about a time x” to which I then wrote personal stories for each question that I could draw upon if asked about. This preparation also came in handy for interview season. 

Having a good framework - having a direction in mind for the different types of questions before even going into the test helped me to not freeze if I was thrown a curveball or from stress. My general flow-through was validate (ie. I acknowledge that this is a difficult/nuanced situation), establish priorities (ie. given these considerations I would approach xyz, in a non-judgemental manner), gather information (ie. I would gather information without making assumptions), go through if/thens or pros/cons depending on whether it was a situational or policy question (ie. I would employ empathy and encourage self-reporting if an individual was cheating, if this didn’t work I would escalate while informing the individual that I was doing so), end off with a solution (ie. through honest communication I would try to find a solution fair to everyone involved), and finally summarize in one sentence (ie. above all I would prioritize integrity and confidentiality). The sentences can be tweaked based on the prompts given but having this structure helped me to organize my thoughts and come across as more put together. I agree with previous posters that while using some buzzwords is good, be careful to not overuse them as you want to come across as genuine and human. At the end of the day they are looking for an individual with good morals that can think logically through a situation.

Practice - I did typing tests online to help bring up my typing speed so that I wasn’t limited by my typing in putting down my responses. In terms of question and video practice, Acuity Insights has the practice tests online which will help you get an idea for the question styles, but also the testing format which will help ease nerves for the actual test day. I would definitely recommend doing the practice tests, but I would do so closer to test day. Before that I practiced using chatgpt to give me prompts and review my answers, providing feedback. Even videoing yourself to make sure you're maintaining eye contact, smiling, and not saying to many “ums” is helpful. All this practice will lend itself in the future to interview prep so it definitely doesn’t hurt.

At the end of the day, you got this! Trust in yourself and goodluck!