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WHAT IS CASPER?

 

CASPER is a situational judgment and personality evaluation test, meaning it evaluates how you can solve problems, resolve conflicts, be ethical in difficult situations, and reason and explain your decisions. Basically, it is an online test that asks Multiple-Mini Interview (MMI) questions via the internet, where you have to watch videos/read a prompt and respond to the questions. If you are unfamiliar with MMIs, definitely do some research on them because MMIs are very prevalent in the dental school admission process. We have trained many students comprehensively for both CASPER and MMI preps in the past years and here is free handy information for those looking to self-prepare.

 

Dental Schools that accept CASPER - Temple, UCSF, UCLA, Indiana. (subject to change www.theddsproject.com) 
 

 

WHAT IS THE FORMAT FOR CASPER? 

 

Mode - Online. Divided into 2 parts. 

 

Part 1 

Part 1 is the situational awareness, ethical judgement, professionalism and problem-solving portion of the CASPER test.

Questions/Scenarios - 12-15

Timing - 1.5 hours long

 

The scenarios will be presented in a mixture of video formats and word readings.  Each scenario will then be followed by 3-4 sub-questions. You will have 30 seconds to think and prepare for EACH sub-question, following which you will have 2 minutes to present your answer. Your answer will be recorded as a video or you may occasionally be prompted to type your answer instead of a video recording.

 

Part 2 

SNAPSHOT

The snapshot portion of the exam is shorter and can be taken anytime ranging from right after taking the part 1 exam to within 14 days of taking part 1. The questions asked here are generally similar to personal interviews and are aimed at getting to know the candidate personally. 

 

Questions - 2-5

Timing - Each question will give you 30 seconds to prepare and 2 minutes to present your answer. The answer will be recorded as a video.

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Example question - What is one quality that you think is most important for your profession and how are you suitable for it?

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GRADING AND RESULTS

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The score ranges from 1-9, 9 being the best. It takes 2-3 weeks following completion of Snapshot to get your result.

 

Students however ONLY receive their quartile scores, but not the 1-9 raw scores or the z-scores. 

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When you take the CASPer test, you are evaluated in comparison to your peers who took the same test type on the same test date and time as you. This means that your score is relative to the performance of everyone else who was taking the same CASPer test form at the same time as you. Every student’s score is sorted into one of the following quartiles:

 

- 1st quartile includes applicants whose score is in the 0-24 percentile in comparison to their peers

- 2nd quartile includes applicants whose score is in the 25-49 percentile in comparison to their peers

- 3rd quartile includes applicants whose score is in the 50-74 percentile in comparison to their peers

- 4th quartile includes applicants whose score is in the 75-100 percentile in comparison to their peers.

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 To simplify, if you scored in the 4th quartile, it means that you scored higher than at least 75% of your peers who took the test at the same time as you. On the other hand, if you scored in the 1st quartile, you scored lower than 75% of your peers.

 

Each scenario of a test is scored by a different rater. The group of raters reflects the diversity of the population. The grading is done regionally. Meaning that if you live in the North East US then you will have graders from that area. Each grader only gets assigned one question to grade, to avoid implicit bias.

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TIPS TO BE WELL PREPARED

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  • Use a device with a good camera and audio recording.

  • Learn how to type fast.

  • Read up on how to make ethical decisions. Have a baseline understanding of how to resolve conflict, mediate problems, and find solutions while being ethical. Learn how to confront authority figures who are not open to criticism, how to resolve a fight between friends, etc.

  • Do not make strong statements or assumptions about a character/person presented to you even if they seem to be in the wrong. Be diplomatic in your approach while answering.

  • ​Practice MMI questions with friends or people who have had experience with the exam. If you still do not feel confident in your answers, seek professional help. It works. 

  • Be attentive during the exam. Once the scenario is shown to you in video or word format, you will not be able to go back to it again while the questions are shown.

  • Be confident while answering. Even if you start getting second thoughts halfway through your answer, stay unfazed and stick to what you started off with.

  • Keep a week of time to prepare for the exam at the least. You may not need a week to prepare, but it is recommended.

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Free Practice questions 
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 https://www.caspertest.com/casper-sample-questions/

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How to Register?

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Visit the link here. https://takealtus.com/dates-times/

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