Every year, I hear medical school applicants struggle with how to prepare effectively for the Casper, an open-response situational judgment exam required by some med schools and formally known as the Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics. I encounter the same concerns: How do I best prepare for Casper? Can I improve my Casper score? With the prep that I am doing, how do I know if I will score better on the Casper exam?
As someone who is always innovating in the admissions space, I recognized the need to help med school applicants prepare for the Casper exam. Especially in the past year, I have been amazed by the improvements in artificial intelligence, specifically by large language models and their application towards education.
I wondered, “Can I leverage AI to help premeds better prepare for the medical school Casper exam?” That was how CASPer Edge was born.
How CASPer Edge Helps Medical School Applicants
CASPer Edge is the first AI-driven test preparation program designed to help med school applicants get ready for the Casper exam. CASPer Edge has three main components: the CASPer Edge Course, the CASPer Edge Scenario Bank with individualized feedback and the CASPer Edge Practice Tests with individualized feedback.
Our physician team at Cracking Med School Admissions created all the CASPer Edge content, practice questions and scoring rubrics. We designed CASPer Edge with the goal of helping students stand out and score in the highest quartile for the Casper test by giving individualized feedback.
The CASPer Edge Course consists of video tutorials that teach tips to answer test questions. A strong performance depends on learning how to thoughtfully analyze difficult situations and clearly communicate responses under time pressure.
In the course, students first learn how to identify what type of scenario is presented to them. For example, is the scenario an ethical scenario or a conflict scenario? Then, students master tips to answer specific types of scenarios. For example, if a student were given a scenario about an angry individual, the course teaches specific techniques to handle difficult situations.
[Read: Navigating Ethical Questions in Medical School Interviews]
The CASPer Edge Scenario Bank pairs extensive practice with individualized feedback. Most students who prepare for Casper run into the same problem — even if they manage to find sample CASPer scenarios online, they never know whether their responses are actually strong.
The scenario bank includes more than 100 original questions designed completely by doctors. After completing each scenario, applicants receive detailed, personalized feedback through the program’s AI-powered feedback loop simulation, which highlights strengths, pinpoints areas for improvement and suggests strategies to refine future responses. No-cost practice questions from the scenario bank are available at CASPer Edge Free Practice.
Nothing fully prepares students for Casper as effectively as experiencing the exam under timed testing conditions, and CASPer Edge practice tests simulate the pressure of the real exam.
Similar to the scenario bank, the practice tests give students individualized feedback for each question at the end of the practice test. The practice tests give students a big-picture sense of their preparedness and a detailed roadmap for refinement.
[Read: How to Start Preparing for Medical School Applications in College]
How To Use CASPer Edge
The tool, which launched in May, is designed to guide students step by step through developing skills and test-taking strategies. Students can start with the course to learn strategies for approaching specific scenario types and then practice with the scenario bank and use individualized feedback to identify strengths, address weaknesses and practice timing strategies.
Finally, students can apply everything they learn to the practice tests, which help students with pacing and stamina across different scenario types. Students can continue to do refined practice with the scenario bank.
After completing the CASPer Edge program, med school applicants have practiced extensively before sitting for the official Casper test. Access fees for the tool range from $38 to $149.
[Read: The Medical School Admissions Cycle.]
Developing CASPer Edge And Why AI Is Helpful
I enjoyed creating CASPer Edge because I learned a lot about developing AI-powered education tools that are robust and consistently helpful. Throughout CASPer Edge’s development, I continuously asked myself, “How is this different or better than a premed using a large language model like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude?”
CASPer Edge was not built overnight. It took a lot of work to make sure that the LLM was trained through our Cracking Med School Admissions test strategies rather than the LLM guessing what makes a strong response. We spent several years studying the CASPer exam in depth, learning directly from hundreds of students about their test-day experiences and refining strategies that consistently provide strong responses.
Over time, we have identified techniques and strategies for strong Casper responses. All of this expertise was the foundation for CASPer Edge, and we used all of this knowledge to train the LLM that powers the tool’s AI feedback.
AI enables CASPer Edge to give individualized feedback at scale. Before, premeds could look at sample questions online, paired with generic examples of weak versus strong responses. There were no resources that gave instant feedback based on the student’s specific answer to a question. With CASPer Edge, students can use detailed, individualized feedback to see exactly what they did well and what needs improvement.
I’m excited to continue innovating in the education sector and look forward to developing more cutting-edge programs that help aspiring physicians get accepted to their dream medical schools.
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CASPer Edge: AI-Powered Test Prep for Premed Students originally appeared on usnews.com
