What’s the difference between Casper vs. PREview? Here’s everything you need to know about these two potentially required situational judgment tests for medical school applicants.
Casper, the “Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics,” is a situational judgment test administered by Acuity Insights that’s used by nearly 50 medical schools. Its growing popularity inspired the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) to develop and administer its own situational judgment test, the PREview Professional Readiness Exam, to assess these same skills in premeds.
However, Casper and PREview are far from the same test, and depending on which schools you are applying to, you may need to take both, or you may not need to take either.
Keep in mind that if you are applying to residency, you may need to take a Casper test then as well. PREview, on the other hand, is only a potential requirement for those applying to medical school.
Casper vs. AAMC PREview: Main Differences
Casper is a computer-based situational judgment test that measures who you are beyond your hard skills and grades. The test was developed in 2010 in Canada to assess a student’s interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, professionalism, ethics and ethical decision making, empathy, and bedside manner.
PREview is also a situational judgment test that was developed in the past few years by the AAMC. PREview has a multiple choice format and, currently, the test is only required by a handful of medical schools.
| Differences | Casper | PREview |
| Test Type: | Video and typed responses | Multiple choice responses |
| Test Length: | 90-110 minutes | 90-115 minutes |
| Test Cost: | $85 USD, which includes distribution of scores to 7 schools. Any additional school will cost $18. | 1-time cost of $100. Unlimited distribution of scores to medical schools. |
| Test Results: | Provided only to schools | Provided to students and schools |
| Participating Schools: | Approximately 50 MD and DO schools, as well as residency programs. | Required by 6 schools, recommended by 7. |
| Administered By: | Acuity Insights | AAMC |
Difference #1 — How the Tests Are Formatted
Both Casper at PREview are a similar length and require similar preparation but the format of the tests is quite different. For Casper, you’re required to answer questions in a live video submission as well as a typed section. PREview is a multiple choice test.
Casper Test Format
Casper is broken down into two separate sections.
First is a video response section, which asks participants to verbally respond to four video-based scenarios and two word-based scenarios. Each scenario is followed by two questions. You have 1-minute to answer each question in a video recording. Once the one minute is up, your answer is automatically submitted. You cannot edit, go back, or change your answer.
Second is a typed response section that asks you to type your responses to five video-based scenarios and three word-based scenarios. Each scenario is followed by three corresponding questions. You have five minutes to type your responses to all three questions. After the five minutes is up, you are automatically advanced to the next scenario.
You cannot go back and change your answers. If your timer runs out or you submit your answers before your allotted five minutes are up, your responses are saved and uploaded automatically.
In total, including an introduction and 2 breaks, the Casper test takes 90-110 minutes to complete.
To learn more about how Casper is scored, read our guide: How the Casper Test Is Scored.
PREview Test Format
The PREview exam is made up of a series of 30 hypothetical scenarios that students may encounter in medical school. The scenarios are based on real-life situations in healthcare, education, and other settings. The questions are developed for premeds, so no healthcare or clinical experience is required to score well on the test.
Students are asked to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral responses to each of these scenarios in a multiple choice format.
Each scenario is a short paragraph that outlines a potential problem students may face. The scenario is followed by a list of potential items (responses) that describe the actions you could take in response to the dilemma. Students must rate the effectiveness of each response using a 4-point scale:
1 = very ineffective, 2 = ineffective, 3 = effective, and 4 = very effective.
While the number of items (responses) that follow each scenario will vary, there are a total of 186 questions on the test.
Difference #2 — Constructs vs. Competencies
Casper test questions are based on 10 constructs that test a student’s soft skills.
The 10 Casper Constructs Are:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Empathy
- Equity
- Ethics
- Motivation
- Problem solving
- Professionalism
- Resilience
- Self-awareness
The AAMC’s PREview exam is based on their new and improved premed competency model. It includes professional, science, and thinking and reasoning competencies.
Professional Competencies:
- Cultural Awareness
- Cultural Humility
- Commitment to Learning and Growth
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Empathy and Compassion
- Resilience and Adaptability
- Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
- Reliability and Dependability
- Interpersonal Skills
The Science Competencies:
- Human Behavior
- Living Systems
Thinking and Reasoning Competencies:
- Critical Thinking
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Scientific Inquiry
- Written Communication
AAMC’s PREview exam covers a broader range of personality traits and skills, including commitment to growth, human behavior, quantitative reasoning, and scientific inquiry. The scenarios you encounter on the test will have a broader range of circumstances and will require test-takers to apply interdisciplinary thinking.
Difference #3 —The Number of Participating Schools
Although PREview expects many more schools to adopt its new situational judgment test, so far, only a handful of schools require it. As of February 2024, 6 schools require a PREview test and another 7 recommend students take it.
View the full list of required and recommended PREview schools in 2024.
In comparison, Casper is currently required by 48 medical schools and another long list of residency programs.
View a full list of schools participating in Casper in 2024.
One school so far requires a situational judgment test of your choosing. That school is Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. In the future, more schools may allow students to choose which situational judgment test they want to take to fulfill this requirement.
Difference #4 — How Test Results Are Issued
Your Casper score is automatically submitted to the medical schools you’re applying to about two to three weeks after you take the test—but you are not able to see your results. Instead, about a month after you take the test, you will receive a “quartile,” which indicates how you performed on the typed response section in relation to the other applicants who took Casper.
The quartiles break down like this:
- 25% of applicants score in the first quartile (0-24 percentile)
- 25% of applicants score in the second quartile (25-49 percentile)
- 25% of applicants score in the third quartile (50-74 percentile)
- 25% of applicants score in the fourth quartile (75-100 percentile)
Landing in the first quartile means the raters (people evaluating your exam) felt that 75% of your peers provided answers that were more empathetic and complete than yours. Landing in the fourth quartile means the raters regarded your typed answers to be better than 75% of your peers.
PREview works a bit differently. About a month after completing the test, you, together with the participating schools you selected, will receive a single score ranging from 1 (lowest) to 9 (highest). This score is based on how closely your effectiveness ratings align with those of the medical educators who helped develop the PREview’s scoring key.
Your total score is accompanied by a “confidence band,” which shows the ranges in which your total score lies. Since some questions will naturally be more ethically complex than others, confidence bands were designed to help signal “the lack of precision of test scores.” They are meant to discourage distinctions between test-takers with similar scores.
Along with your total score and confidence band, a percentile rank will also be reported. Similar to Casper’s quartiles, percentile ranks of scores represent the percentages of examinees who earned the same or lower scores than you did.
Difference #5 — How Much the Test Costs
Casper costs $85 USD, which includes distribution of your results to 7 schools of your choosing. An additional $18 USD is charged for each additional program you want your results sent to.
PREview costs a 1-time fee of $100 USD, which includes distribution of your results to an unlimited number of participating programs.
If you only need to submit your Casper score to 7 or fewer schools, Casper is the cheaper option. For 8 or more schools, PREview becomes cheaper, but expect both of them to run you around $100.
Situational Judgment Test Resources
If you determine that you need to take either or both of these situational judgment tests, we have comprehensive guides available for both Casper and PREview.
- Read our complete Casper Test Guide for the best ways to prepare for Casper, detailed study strategies, Casper dos and don’ts, and frequently asked questions.
- Read our comprehensive AAMC PREview Guide to learn more about test logistics, how the test is scored, and frequently asked questions.
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