Let’s Talk CASPer

Session 163

This premed has questions about Casper and how it factors into your application.

Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A is brought to you by Blueprint MCAT. Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

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[00:27] Question of the Day

“How does the timeline of taking the CASPER test factor into how the primary application gets verified?”

[00:56] Primary Application Verification

The primary application verification for all three application services is the personal statement, activities, at least one school selected that you’re applying to, and all the basic demographic information. There are also some specifics with like TMDSAS, they have a required extra essay and an optional extra essay, or any sort of disadvantaged essay that you want to include. Then transcript information goes on there as well.

Letters of recommendation can be done post-verification. You can change those and they can be updated later. You don’t even need an MCAT score to get your primary verification done.

[01:53] Casper Timing

Think of Casper timing as part of a secondary application. Focus on that primary application. If you can fit Casper in, then great. And if you can’t, that’s okay too. And so, consider it as just an extra secondary essay you have to do.

The frustrating part about this process is it completely depends on the school. It depends on how the school is using it for its admissions decisions. They may not be using it at all. They may require it for data gathering. They may be using it to screen for interviews. Or they may use it to screen post-interview to determine if they want to accept you.

At the end of the day, think about it in terms of secondary timing just in case one of those schools you’re applying to is going to use it for an interview invite.

[03:45] Test-Taking Tips for Casper

Q: What do you think would be the best way to prepare and practice for the Casper and still touch on some of those core constructs that they may be looking for?

A: I strongly advise against frameworks when it comes to answering questions. Therefore, you don’t need to prepare for Casper. It might sound completely ludicrous to think that. But you just need to go and think through the situation.

'When you use frameworks from those expert Casper people out there, you are no longer being yourself, and you're forcing yourself into this box.'Click To Tweet

Avoid using frameworks.

Casper is very similar to how we do MMI prep. You don’t need to prepare for the MMI, you need to understand it. To do well in the MMI doesn’t mean doing all the practice and using all the framework. It means going in and using your brain to think through a scenario that you probably haven’t seen before.

As human beings, we have brains that are capable of processing a ton of information coming up and critically thinking about these different situations being thrown at us. We have the ability to think through those things on the CASPER and the MMI, which are created by the same people. And you don’t need a framework for that.

'A framework hinders your ability to be yourself, to be thoughtful, and to think critically. It's what hurts students on Casper and the MMI.'Click To Tweet

Use bullet points.

The question could be like you’re given a scenario about you finding a wallet in the store, and what do you do with it? Instead of taking all that time to write these full sentences and paragraphs, write them in bullet points. Bullet points can help you out with regard to laying out some of those ideas.

Think big picture.

You don’t have to go through each scenario so you need to back up a little bit and get a little bit higher level. Think big picture about the issues that are at hand, the things you want to talk about, and the consequences to those.

'Stay a little bit more superficial, but go through the thought process.'Click To Tweet

As you go over the sample tests that they have, just understand what it looks like, how it works, and then just trust yourself. Human beings are put into scenarios, all day, every day.

You’ve practiced for this your whole life so you don’t need to prepare for that. You just have to remember what you did and potentially think about what you wish went better.

Just be yourself.

Casper is obviously working off of some sort of rubric and you don’t know what it is. It could be empathy, compassion, communication, skills, collaboration, etc. But who cares? Just be yourself. Be a normal human being. Care about people. Then tell them what you think.

[17:49] Shadowing and Clinical Experience

Our student also had some questions about whether or not what he did was shadowing since he didn’t get to see the patients. He also defined shadowing as following a doctor and observing what they do in the clinic.

But the goal of shadowing is to understand the physician’s life. You’re not going home with them to see what they’re doing at home. But what does work look like?

Our student also explains being involved in recruiting patients for her clinical study. He would be doing chart review and obtaining informed consent. He is aware those are not clinical but he’s wondering if there’s a spot in the application where it might fit in.

The Activities section has 18 different categories for activities. This ranges everywhere from paid/clinical, volunteer/clinical, paid/nonclinical, volunteer/nonclinical, research, poster presentations, and awards. There are also spots for hobbies, intercollegiate athletics, etc.

And so, he could put this in any of those categories there. Whether he lists it as paid or nonpaid, there really are no rules around that as long as you’re not lying about stuff. In his case, he could probably call it volunteer/nonclinical.

[22:09] Resilience on the MCAT

Our student took the MCAT times. The first time, he got a 504, the second time he got a 512. Then finally he took it again and got a 517. And so, his best piece of advice to people who are taking the MCAT is to be resilient.

'You can improve it. It just takes some practice and some time. You don't have to be a genius, just stay resilient.'Click To Tweet

Our student also recommends doing CARS every day. It’s not like the science sections where you study biochemistry for one day, then physics the next day. You have to do a few hours of CARS every day. Spend as much time reflecting on the CARS as the actual passages.

Finally, no matter what prep materials you’re using, you have to do all the AAMC practice tests.