medhopeful.com Posted July 12, 2010 Report Share Posted July 12, 2010 Since casper is so new, we decided to do some research on it and found some interesting info. We wrote up our thoughts and analysis on it. Hope it helps! http://www.medhopeful.com/archive/casper-mcmaster-computer-based-assessment-for-sampling-personal-characteristics-resources-and-thoughts/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemesis Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 I stumbled upon your blog over a year ago, and I just wanted to say: keep up the good work! I'm surprised you didn't join this forum sooner...surely you were aware of its existence, before now? Since casper is so new, we decided to do some research on it and found some interesting info. We wrote up our thoughts and analysis on it. Hope it helps! http://www.medhopeful.com/archive/casper-mcmaster-computer-based-assessment-for-sampling-personal-characteristics-resources-and-thoughts/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful.com Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 Thank you, nemesis! Always great to hear that people like our blog! Haha, yep..we were on premed101, before we joined together officially as medhopeful - under individual aliases though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediMaster Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 BUMP! Anyone complete the trial CASPer run today? Opinions? I thought it was pretty straightforward. I even had about 1 min to 45 secs left over in each section after having written down my responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkelton Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 BUMP! Anyone complete the trial CASPer run today? Opinions? I thought it was pretty straightforward. I even had about 1 min to 45 secs left over in each section after having written down my responses. REALLY?! I thought that time was extremely tight. How long were your responses? I had maybe 5-7 lines per questions and I felt like I typed until the time-ran out and it switched to the next part. The questions were definitely straightforward. Other than the time constraint I thought it was good. I would personally prefer an individual timer per question (maybe 1 minute and 45 seconds) instead of the overall 5 minutes to answer 3 questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apixaban85 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 BUMP! Anyone complete the trial CASPer run today? Opinions? I thought it was pretty straightforward. I even had about 1 min to 45 secs left over in each section after having written down my responses. Yup I just completed it. The first two videos were quite amusing I must say I'm assuming the last video is more indicative of what we'd be finding on the actual CASPer test? Though the first one did ask some good questions on humor! I was a BIT crunched on time for the last question though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigo Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 The questions posed definitely covered a wide ground of topics. I'm not sure if 5 minutes per 3 questions is enough to allow applicants to highlight their strengths in showing their personality (just because you could only write a few sentences per question), let alone allowing this to account for 46% of the first formula. One thing's for sure though - it'll definitely be hard to prep adequately for this type of evaluation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j8848 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 I agree about the timing. It did seem pretty tight, especially the questions towards the end, which could be more indicative of what they will actually be like test day. Because you only have about 1-2 min per question you pretty much have to write the first thing that comes to your mind and then move on. Also because the timer was at the top of my screen when I scrolled down to the third question I could not see it anymore. Makes me think I will try to use a computer with a larger screen for the actual test day. Does anyone know how these questions will be marked? Are they going to look at spelling grammar and flow or are they mainly looking for you ability to formulate your opinion and critical thinking etc. Generally I like casper. It is pretty creative and a great way to test peoples decision making and critical thinking on the spot. oh and ps. I initially used safari for my browser and had some technical difficulties and was told to switch to firefox or IE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediMaster Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 REALLY?! I thought that time was extremely tight. How long were your responses? I had maybe 5-7 lines per questions and I felt like I typed until the time-ran out and it switched to the next part. The questions were definitely straightforward. Other than the time constraint I thought it was good. Yeah I dunno..maybe I'm a super fast typer or something. I was shocked that there was a character limit in the response box! Especially for the ethical dilemma with the surgeon..I wanted to write more and I had the time but not the space which was disappointing. I feel like they aren't looking for "pick me, im special" responses. Its nearly impossible to highlight what's unique about you in these responses because the questions are so specific. Definitely a different outlook on the applicant than what the ABS provides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
small_town_girl Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Did anyone else have issues with the character limit? I didn't see anything anywhere that stated what the limit was, and I reached the limit a few times, not knowing that there was one, so I had to waste time going back to cut down the answer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apixaban85 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 I agree about the timing. It did seem pretty tight, especially the questions towards the end, which could be more indicative of what they will actually be like test day. Because you only have about 1-2 min per question you pretty much have to write the first thing that comes to your mind and then move on. Also because the timer was at the top of my screen when I scrolled down to the third question I could not see it anymore. Makes me think I will try to use a computer with a larger screen for the actual test day. Does anyone know how these questions will be marked? Are they going to look at spelling grammar and flow or are they mainly looking for you ability to formulate your opinion and critical thinking etc. Generally I like casper. It is pretty creative and a great way to test peoples decision making and critical thinking on the spot. oh and ps. I initially used safari for my browser and had some technical difficulties and was told to switch to firefox or IE. Try pressing F11 that may help a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkelton Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 The questions posed definitely covered a wide ground of topics. I'm not sure if 5 minutes per 3 questions is enough to allow applicants to highlight their strengths in showing their personality (just because you could only write a few sentences per question), let alone allowing this to account for 46% of the first formula. One thing's for sure though - it'll definitely be hard to prep adequately for this type of evaluation. The inability to prep is what the adcom essentially wants right? They don't want to see the overly edited autobiographical questions that don't even represent the candidates true abilities by the time its gone through so many hands for editing. Its like an MCAT that you can't study for so everyone is on an even playing field. Now that I think about it, 46% is a good weight to place on this because it is the most objective way to compare everyone and make sure that what they submit is truly 100% their work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indigo Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 The inability to prep is what the adcom essentially wants right? They don't want to see the overly edited autobiographical questions that don't even represent the candidates true abilities by the time its gone through so many hands for editing. Its like an MCAT that you can't study for so everyone is on an even playing field. Now that I think about it, 46% is a good weight to place on this because it is the most objective way to compare everyone and make sure that what they submit is truly 100% their work. Point taken. However, I guess what I'm getting at is that allowing a few sentences determine one's personality is not really going to be an adequate proxy, especially if given 5 minutes. I suggested at the end that they consider giving more time to applicants (perhaps 10 minutes per section), but not too much to give the same desired effect of not wanting answers to be fully prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostLamb Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Time management is part of the game. They want to know what your immediate opinions and thoughts are, and if you can balance your time to get through all the answers satisfactorily. I agree, it was a tight 5 minutes, but with a few tweaks (like knowing the character limit) it will do. I believe 10 minutes would give you the time to actually look things up to put together an answer. In five, you have to show you can think off the top of your head and write a cohesive response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogirl Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 I'm just relieved that my internet didn't stop working in the middle of it and the fire alarm didn't go off. Those are my biggest worries about the actual thing! But as far as the thing itself, I agree that it would have been nice to have just a couple more minutes of response time, and I said so in the survey at the end. I think 7 minutes would have been perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emdee Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 are they having multiple trails? ...because I signed up for it, and Wendy said she would get in touch with me this month, and I haven't heard from her yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShootingStar Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 What was the video / questions asked right before the surgeon one? My friends came over right at that time and I missed the entire section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prion Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Was there character limits? I was doing this at work and so didn't read the instructions completely. And I hope the type of scenarios/questions in the first two sections were just for for testing purposes - I had very little to say about them. Not sure why they are relevant assessment of any of my personal qualities for meds tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rext Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 What was the video / questions asked right before the surgeon one? My friends came over right at that time and I missed the entire section. I believe it was either the restaurant section or the second comedy section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful64 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 The CASPer trial didn't work for me I accidentally hit the 'backspace' while I was typing right at the moment the timer ran out. I was taken to the next screen for a split second, then back to where I was before (the 3 questions about the surgeon). of course, all my answers to those questions were gone, so I just clicked next. but it took me to a screen that said "Thank you! You answers have been submitted and you have completed all of the work!" I tried logging out, moving to a different computer, trying another browser but none of those worked. I'm not sure why it thought I had finished, when I had only watched about 3 videos (in the instructions, it said there were supposed to be 8). So I'm really sad that I wasn't able to reap the full advantages of doing the trial run. I hope they fix it for the real one! I'm gonna be real nervous/careful I don't do such a thing again. I really hope they have another trial run, so I can complete it properly and actually finish it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j8848 Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Even though the first two videos may not have had questions similar to what we are tested on...its interesting to know that you did not even have to watch those videos to able to answer all of the comedy questions. Would be an interesting distraction if they did that test day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemesis Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Damn, missed out on this trial by a few minutes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 just don't do that for your wedding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anna8 Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 I missed it too. Is it possible to sign up for it again (given that they'd run it once more)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gryphon Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 Those first 2 videos were definitely not indicative of what will be tested on the real deal...especially going by what Wendy said in her email... "Most of the videos will be “dummy” videos (i.e. cartoons) with 1 or 2 being typical CASPer-type videos which will not be used in this admissions cycle, just to give you an idea of the type of videos that will be used." So, I would say Larry, Curly and Moe definitely fall into the 'dummy' category, lol Also, I was a little disappointed to see that the surgeon video was the same one they showed at the info/Q&A session... was definitely hoping for some other examples of what to expect! oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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