Casper FTW

[coolbond]

Okay I know a lot of people are upset with casper and the way its implemented (lot of people having glitches and all)

 

however, if you take a minute to consider, you will realize this is much better than the ABS for the sole reason that now i know that people who get interviews would all be someone who are genuinely deserving unlike with the ABS where anyone who could get someone good to write got interviews

 

I personally dont know how i did on casper (just wrote mine) but i think mcmaster does deserve credit for the implementation of this novel idea.

 

I know that change is always met with resistance at first but i feel we should give the system its due credit

 

I felt like sharing this because all the talks so far have been mostly negative about the system.

 

while this system is nowhere near perfect and can use our feedback to make it better, it is much much better than the alternative of having an ABS

 

just my 2 cents

[thatonekid]

I agree for the most part, except for the people being genuinely deserving getting an interview. You could always get someone else to do CASPer for you. Also, I found that the questions were fairly predictable and it would be easy to coach someone to give the "correct" answer for the scenarios.

 

Overall, I liked it better than the ABS question method.

[une17]

I think it's a good idea too, but I felt my answers were extremely stunted and an extra minute or two could have made a world of difference. Being a slow typer doesn't help my cause and I'm going to be rooting for Casper as a Beta test this year.

 

If they are so worried about outside help, maybe they should get us to write these things at a prometric testing centre or something? That way we could have an extra two minutes per section to give a more representative response, without fear that we're simply getting outside help...

[tarbear]

I feel like if they were to have people go to a test centre to do them, then they would need to offer more testing times. This would mean they'd need to vary the questions more so that people don't tell each other what was on the test. That would be way too much work for them to come up with all those different questions and try to make them even across the board. That's probably why they're doing it this way.

[Femto]

Okay I know a lot of people are upset with casper and the way its implemented (lot of people having glitches and all)

 

however, if you take a minute to consider, you will realize this is much better than the ABS for the sole reason that now i know that people who get interviews would all be someone who are genuinely deserving unlike with the ABS where anyone who could get someone good to write got interviews

 

I personally dont know how i did on casper (just wrote mine) but i think mcmaster does deserve credit for the implementation of this novel idea.

 

I know that change is always met with resistance at first but i feel we should give the system its due credit

 

I felt like sharing this because all the talks so far have been mostly negative about the system.

 

while this system is nowhere near perfect and can use our feedback to make it better, it is much much better than the alternative of having an ABS

 

just my 2 cents

 

I agree. In my opinion, this is a good start to finding a way to distinguish applicants. In 1:40 per question, you get a sincere and instinctive answer, which is a good representation of yourself (you could argue that premise, I guess).

 

Obviously there are some things to work out, which I am sure they will do, but I honestly feel more comfortable and confident in the application process with CASPer than I would have with getting 2 1/2 months to answer some "compelling" questions.

[ruij]

I liked it! It was actually ALOT of fun!!!

...well, except I signed up for the 8:30am and then realized that it was eastern time meaning I had to wake up at 5:30am but then I can't even change it since my classes conflicted with all the other slots...and as expected, I woke up at 6:15, freaked out, pulled myself together, butchered a few questions and reached the 100% completion page with half a minute to spare.

But it was fun! LOL!

[aqm]

OMG it was like a roller coaster ride.

 

Fun right from the beginning to the end.

 

The 5 min limit made it even more challenging.

 

Long wait till Feb.

[preppy038]

definitely fUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnnnnn

haahhahahahaha

 

 

except I think all of us know we screwed up in some parts... (if not fine, go to some other thread)

 

the time was short and it was challenging and fun.

[metukah]

did everyone get 4 "personal" (non-video questions)?

I had 9 videos and 3 personal ones...

[ramsey]

For those who are successful in all of this...still must go for an interview at McMaster right? Or is the whole point of Casper to avoid McMaster holding interview for future McMaster candidates?

[nuD]

I found CASPer a lot of fun. Thanks to some of the panicking in the CASPer fail thread, I was prepared for some beastly quick thinking, so I wasn't caught off guard

[larva]

I just finished and can't even remember the breakdown of videos/personal questions!

 

I agree with most that it was fun, but very limited for time. I did mention in the feedback that I feel the current time constraint puts those who do not type fast at a disadvantage.

 

That being said, I have no idea how I did, but feel that overall it is a unique and effective assessment tool. I'm still shaking my head at a few of my answers, but that is what the blinking red clock will do to a brain...I'm a pilot and we don't like blinking red lights!!

[Noodle]

My casper experience was......well, I don't know. I had fun answering the questions.....but my videos kept freezing (I reloaded and thanked my lucky stars nothing bad came of it), I got to see some videos twice and I got the same set of questions twice. But it was fun, more or less. I never got the survey at the end, despite that the computer told me I was done the test (so no 100% casper for me). The help-desk people were really friendly, which was pretty cool.

[Turkelton]

I thought it was a great experience. Although I should add that I didn't have any problems. I definitely would have hated it if the videos were freezing and if the system was glitchy.

 

My heart was racing and I was just typing my life away, but overall I too think that its WAY better than those bogus ABS questions. Adding a minute here and there is not really gonna make a difference. 5 minutes of time allows you to write the first thing that comes to your head, and I believe it is the most honest representation of who you are. There is no luxury of time in the real world, especially not in a career like medicine.

 

I really hope people who had problems are getting good service from tech support, because I would be losing my mind if my application was discounted due to technical issues. Mac is taking a huge step forward with this innovative application procedure. All schools should do it, but perhaps make it weighted less - maybe 15-20% instead of 46!!

[Doc_of_Day]

I think Casper is a good idea but it requires a lot of improvements for it to serve as a good tool for evaluation. Honestly, I didn't think the ABS was that bad.

[Fatso]

I had a real blast with this, it was probably the most entertaining aspect of the application process (first time applying). I thought the videos were surprisingly well done, albeit quite cheesy. I would have preferred to see more of those and fewer discretes (which I found a couple to be worded quite awkwardly and gave you less time to answer).

 

I didn't come across any technical glitches but I feel for those who did. No idea how well or poorly I did, and I guess I won't find out unfortunately.

[shin]

yay. finished my casper test. I didn't have any problems technically (no freezing or glitches). But i hope my answers were representative of me.

 

oh well. sit and wait time.

 

good luck everyone

[irsr]

This exam could have been fun if I did not have technical problems. Questions were interesting and I enjoyed them, but Gosh, the technical glitches were ugly.

[thatonekid]

For those who are successful in all of this...still must go for an interview at McMaster right? Or is the whole point of Casper to avoid McMaster holding interview for future McMaster candidates?

Yes- you still have to go to Mac to do an MMI. CASPer is being used to replace the ABS pre-interview, not the actual interview itself.

[ruij]

I had a real blast with this, it was probably the most entertaining aspect of the application process (first time applying). I thought the videos were surprisingly well done, albeit quite cheesy. I would have preferred to see more of those and fewer discretes (which I found a couple to be worded quite awkwardly and gave you less time to answer).

 

I didn't come across any technical glitches but I feel for those who did. No idea how well or poorly I did, and I guess I won't find out unfortunately.

 

AGREED! Definitely the most entertaining out of all my med apps!

[LostLamb]

it was a lot of fun and no technical glitches on my part...maybe it was a good idea to go with IE in the end.

I hate the fact that now we wait...hopefully i will forget about it and get distracted with school! Have a great couple of months, guys!

[joba17]

Okay I know a lot of people are upset with casper and the way its implemented (lot of people having glitches and all)

 

however, if you take a minute to consider, you will realize this is much better than the ABS for the sole reason that now i know that people who get interviews would all be someone who are genuinely deserving unlike with the ABS where anyone who could get someone good to write got interviews

 

I personally dont know how i did on casper (just wrote mine) but i think mcmaster does deserve credit for the implementation of this novel idea.

 

I know that change is always met with resistance at first but i feel we should give the system its due credit

 

I felt like sharing this because all the talks so far have been mostly negative about the system.

 

while this system is nowhere near perfect and can use our feedback to make it better, it is much much better than the alternative of having an ABS

 

just my 2 cents

 

I could not agree with you more! I personally was very excited to find out that McMaster was using CASPer this year ( and I hope that all glitches aside, they still able to use it rather than the ABS). I definitely struggled with the time limits and getting my thoughts across, but ultimately I think it will be an excellent way to ensure that interview candidates are individuals who can relate well with others, rather than those who look fantastic on paper but have no social skills.

Also I think it really is an advantage for anyone who might have a bit of a weaker GPA, but has all of the characteristics to make an excellent physician!

[kawalac]

I think Casper is a good idea but it requires a lot of improvements for it to serve as a good tool for evaluation. Honestly, I didn't think the ABS was that bad.

 

I definitely agree with this. Great idea, but really bad implementation.