The CASPer exam. It's one of the many hurdles you're going to have to pass through to get into your program of choice, whether that's medical school, nursing school, whether it's physician assistant school, or even medical residency. And before you say, what's CASPer, hold that thought. We're going to tell you exactly what it is in this video. CASPer is probably one of the most frustrating parts of the whole medical school process, probably second to the MCAT. But what if we told you... that there was a simple formula. And if you followed this one formula, you would get the highest possible mark on the Casper test. To make that a reality for you, we are making this comprehensive, all-inclusive, updated Casper guide. Some of you may know that we post about the Casper quite a lot. That's because I scored a fourth quartile, which is the highest possible score on Casper, twice. That means that the information we're providing is pretty credible. Whether you've taken Casper or not, Be sure to watch this video till the very end because we're emphasizing some tips that we've never talked about before. So we've been talking about why CASPER is so important, but what exactly isn't? As we mentioned before, CASPER is a situational judgment test which gives more insight into your personality and ethical conduct by asking you a series of questions. These can include ethical situations, questions about your life, or basically any situation where you have to use ethical decision making. This is making. It's currently separated into the typed response section where you have to type out your answers based on the question, and the video response section where you essentially have to answer the question by recording a video of yourself answering it. Now that we've gotten the basics out of the way, let's talk about the test format. So this year there are 14 scenarios, one less than last year. But before you celebrate, there's more. In the video-based section, which comes first, There are two word-based prompts and four video-based scenarios. In the type section afterwards, you're going to have three word-based prompts and five video-based prompts. These are randomized in order so you don't know if the word's coming first or if the video base is coming after. The test generally takes between 90 to 110 minutes based on whether you take the optional 10 minute break after the video section or the optional five minute break in between halfway through the type section. The video response section and the type section have different ways in which the questions are presented. For the video response section, after the scenario has been played, you're presented with two questions and you see one at a time. You're only given one minute per question. The type section on the other hand has three questions and you're given five minutes to respond to all three at the same time. The most craziest change this year is that the video response section on Casper is now marked. Right now you're either celebrating because you're a great talker or you're dreading the test because you would much rather not have to awkwardly speak to the screen. Something to note about Casper is the way it's assessed. First of all on their website they have a list of traits. If you look at those traits, that's how they mark these questions and we're going to show you how to target them later on in this video. In addition, each scenario is marked by a different marker. Therefore, if you mess up a question, you don't have to worry about how that's going to impact your next question. More on that later. We've gone over the foundations of CASPer. Now it's time to move on to what's actually on the test. The questions themselves can be divided into three types. Ethical, personal, and policy. The ethical questions are moral dilemmas, such as you see your classmate potentially using extra notes on a test. You may be presented with a question such as, what would you do? Personal questions draw on your life experiences, and they can be something like, tell me about a time where you disagreed with a superior. Policy questions ask you to evaluate both sides of a potential hypothetical scenario or a real-life policy, such as discuss the pros and cons of learning in a small classroom. Now we'll go over a step-by-step on how to answer each of the question types that we mentioned, starting with ethical questions. If there is anything that you need to know about answering these types of questions, it's to be open-minded. Consider all sides of the situation. This will get you the most amount of points. Here are a few things to help you with that. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the four principles of bioethics. We'll quickly go over them right now, but they are very crucial for this section. Autonomy is the first principle and it relates to respecting the wishes of all the parties involved. Beneficence is the second principle and it relates to ensuring well-being of everyone. Third is non-maleficence and it relates to protecting everyone from harm that is directly or indirectly related to the issue. And finally, justice relates to upholding fairness in all parties. The golden rule of ethical scenarios is to not say something illegal. I know it's obvious, but so many people do it and it's an instant red flag. Also, make sure you don't give in to inappropriate demands because you want to show them that you're someone who's not easily persuaded to do something that might be potentially unethical. Moreover, ask for help when it's needed, especially when it's out of your control, like asking the manager about a store policy that's enforced. At the same time, you show your independence and your creativity through other means. Also, be empathetic and try to put yourself in the other person's position and see how you would act if you were in that position. Here is the basic structure that incorporates all the tips we highlighted. First, we introduce the main conflict, and we say we want to gather more information about the situation at hand. Remember, we are trying to be open-minded here. Based on this information, you should create hypothetical scenarios outlining certain courses of action. Finally, we have included a sample sentence if you want to consult someone for extra help, and a conclusion if you have time to include it. Remember when Nimit mentioned that we can take advantage of how CASPER is assessed? Well, it's by using keywords that clue the examiner in on what trait you're specifically trying to show. Note words such as non-judgmental or having a private conversation. These are just some examples and there are several ways of you to enhance your answer by this simple trick. On to personal questions now. This is a great place to use a bunch of keywords. So make sure you put all of them in and integrate them into your response. In addition, like I mentioned before. Every scenario is marked by a different person. Therefore, you can use the same similar experiences that you had for a lot of the other questions. Oh my God! Wow! One thing I'd recommend is brainstorming five personal experiences and sticking with those through the CASPer exam so you save time that you might have spent thinking. And with that, here is a structure that you can use. Start by briefly describing the situation, then delve into exactly what you did in your role. Then expand on what the result of the situation was and extract a lesson you learned. Perhaps the importance of active listening. Then, take an extra step and connect it to how it'll help you thrive in your future medical career. Now finally, time for the last question type, policy questions. These are fairly straightforward, but all you must do to do well on these types of questions is follow this set structure. First, acknowledge the fact that you understand the complexities of a certain issue. For our example for legalization of marijuana, talk about how this is a highly debated issue. Second, move on to your pros and cons. You will most likely have time for 1-2 pros and 1-2 cons, so make sure you are diverse in this specific category. Lastly, conclude by stating your stance on the matter, if applicable. You don't have to mention this if you are not asked in the question specifically. One thing to note is that it's possible for a bunch of these types of questions to be bunched into one scenario. However, it's also possible that none of these question types show up in the first place. In those situations, don't panic and use your practice to come up with a logical answer. Now let's go over some advice specific to the type response section. Number one is quite obvious. Practice typing. The faster you type, the more words you'll be able to get down on the page, and the more likely you'll be able to say something that they like. Number two, manage your time well. After all, you have to divide 5 minutes between 3 questions. Our expert advice is to allocate the most amount of time to the first question because it's usually the most loaded, and then divide the rest of the time equally between the other two questions. Number 3, act as typing out your structures so that on test day, they'll come very naturally to you. The video response section is vastly different, so we have a different set of tips. Number 1. Practice like you're preparing for an interview. So make sure you're smiling, make sure you have good posture, using hand gestures, you're being confident, and you're looking right into the camera. A pro tip is to record yourself using Zoom and then playing it back to see if there's any issues with the way you present yourself. Number two, have good lighting. The last thing you want is for the examiners to not be able to see your face. Check out the description for some good lighting options that we've personally used. Number three, you don't have to take the full minute to answer the question if you don't have anything left to say. Sometimes less is better, and repetition can actually lower your score because you're not being concise enough. In the description below, we've also put some of the resources that are going to help you in your preparation. It's not an exhaustive list, but it really helped us when we were preparing. For example, PrepMatch is great to simulate the CASPer experience. Casper Sim for the Mind is great to see some representative answers because they're more realistic and online answers seem to be too long sometimes. The Casper website is the golden resource because they're going to be the most representative questions and content, and we even made our own worksheets that we'll link below. The last thing we wanted to touch on is how exactly to prep for CASPer given all this information. We've made videos on how to get a fourth quartile on CASPer using a two-week schedule which you can find right here. That means we won't be going into too much detail here, we'll give you just the general basics. Generally speaking, two weeks is ideal because you can get the required amount of preparation for both sections in this time. You also want to divide your time equally between the type section and the video response section given that both of them are marked up. Your first two days should be Spend learning as much as you can about Casper because this sets the foundation for the rest of your practice. You should also be developing your structures in this time. After that, just dedicate the rest of the time to jumping right into practice. Again, splitting your time between typed and video equally. Throughout your prep, you should schedule in about two practice tests. The first one should be done about a weekend so that you have enough time to get familiar with Casper beforehand. If you get two practice tests done in that week, you'll be golden for Casper. Just remember not to overdo it. over practice and potentially burn yourself out before casper that brings us to the end of the video we understand that this is a lot of information but it's all necessary for you to get that fourth quarter good luck and we'll see you next week