CASPer Test Preparation

Overview

CASPer Test: Situational Judgment Test (SJT) for medical and allied health professional applicants.
Developed by: McMaster University researchers.
Purpose: Assesses interpersonal skills like professionalism and ethics.
Controversy: Disagreement on the effectiveness of test preparation.

Common Belief: SJTs are immune to the effects of coaching.
Literature Review: Mixed evidence on the benefits of preparation and coaching.
Study Mentioned: High-stakes assessment in Belgium showed coaching could improve scores by 0.5 standard deviations.

For Preparation: Some studies indicate that students who prepare or receive coaching perform better.
Against Preparation: Altus Assessments argue that closed-ended tests differ from CASPer’s open-ended format.
General Issues: Difficult to generalize findings from psychology lab studies to high-stakes exams.

Understand Policies: Important as doctors to be fair and judicious with resources.
Interpreting Ethical Scenarios: No black-and-white answers; justification matters.
Read All Questions First: Gives clues about the answers and helps structure responses.
Test Format: Avoid unrealistic, overly lengthy responses.
Show Motivation: Clearly state reasons behind your decisions.
Open to Perspectives: Acknowledge other viewpoints even if you choose not to act on them.
Mental Shortcut: Decide your stance and then acknowledge the alternative perspective.

Interview Questions: E.g., resilience and problem-solving scenarios.
Twelve Characteristics: Use CV/resume to map out experiences corresponding to these attributes.

Reuse Stories: Each station is marked by different raters, so same stories can be spun differently.
Support: Reach out for questions or further information.