Articles
Direct answers to the questions applicants actually ask about CASPer, interviews and dental admissions. One question per page, dated sources, no invented statistics.
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2026-09-17 · 2 min read
What Is the 2026 CASPer Test Format?
Acuity Insights publishes the 2026 Casper format on its applicant site: 11 scenarios in two sections. Four video-response scenarios with two questions each and one minute per response, then seven typed scenarios with two questions on one page and 3.5 minutes for both. The sitting takes about 65 to 85 minutes including two optional breaks.
2026-09-17 · 9 min read
CASPer Practice Scenarios With Model Answers
Three original CASPer practice scenarios are written out below, each with a weak answer, a strong answer and the reasoning that separates them, so you can see what raters reward rather than guessing from a score you never get to read.
2026-09-17 · 8 min read
CASPer Prep Courses Compared: Five Approaches
CASPer prep courses compared by approach rather than brand: official practice from the test maker, large prep companies staffed by contractor coaches, AI practice platforms, free peer practice groups, and a single coach who has sat the test. Each is genuinely good at something different. Start with the free official practice test, because Acuity Insights states that applicants who complete it tend to perform better.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Common CASPer Mistakes
The most common CASPer mistakes are answering the situation instead of the question asked, deciding from facts you were never given, writing values instead of actions, running out of clock with the structure half built, and letting one bad scenario damage the rest of the test.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
How Long Should I Prepare for CASPer?
Most applicants need three to six weeks to prepare for CASPer, working four or five days a week, because the skill being built is producing a structured answer under a clock rather than learning content, and that only improves through timed repetition with marking.
2026-09-17 · 7 min read
How to Find a CASPer Tutor
Choosing a CASPer tutor comes down to four checks: has this person actually sat the test, will the same person coach you every session, will they show you scored example answers before you pay, and is the price in a range you can explain to yourself. The clearest warning sign is anyone promising a specific score or quartile.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
How to Prepare for CASPer
To prepare for CASPer, learn one repeatable way to read a scenario and structure an answer, then rehearse it on timed practice scenarios until the structure survives the clock, and take the official full-length practice test under real conditions.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Is CASPer Prep Worth It?
CASPer prep is worth it if you have no reliable way to structure an answer under a clock and nobody marking what you write, and it is close to worthless if you are already structured and are buying more scenarios to read.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
What Is a Good CASPer Score, and How Do Quartiles Work?
A good CASPer score is the 4th quartile, meaning you placed in the top quarter of the people who sat your test, because Acuity Insights standardizes scores within a single test instance and reports a quartile to applicants and a z-score with a percentile to programs.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
What Is Duet, and Does It Matter?
Duet is Acuity Insights' value-alignment assessment, in which you rank what you want from a program and the program's own ranking is compared against yours, and Acuity states the fee to reserve Casper already covers it for programs that require it.
2026-09-17 · 1 min read
What Is the 2026 CASPer Test Format?
The 2026 CASPer test format runs 11 scenarios: four video-response scenarios, a 10-minute break, four typed scenarios, a second 10-minute break, then three typed scenarios. Typed answers run about 5 minutes each; video answers run about 1 minute each.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
What Is the CASPer Test?
The CASPer test is an open-response situational judgment test from Acuity Insights, taken online in two sections, video response and typed response, scored by a different human rater per scenario and reported back to you as a quartile.
Interviews
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
How Do You Use the CanMEDS Roles in Interview Answers?
You use the CanMEDS roles in interview answers as a checklist for what you have left out, not as vocabulary to recite. The Royal College framework names seven roles: Medical Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Leader, Health Advocate, Scholar and Professional. Naming a role out loud scores nothing. Showing the behaviour behind it is what assessors mark.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Do I Need an Interview Coach?
You need an interview coach when nobody in your life will tell you the truth about your answers, or when the school that invited you uses a format you cannot rehearse alone. You do not need one to learn a structure or to be told your answers are good. Record yourself first, watch it, and find out which problem you actually have.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
How Do I Answer an Ethical Dilemma in CASPer?
To answer an ethical dilemma in CASPer, name what is genuinely in tension, say what you do not yet know and what you would ask, weigh the rules and the costs on both sides, then commit to one action and say what support the person gets afterwards.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
How Do I Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" in a Medical Interview?
Answer "tell me about yourself" in a medical interview with one specific thread rather than a summary of your CV: where the interest started, what you did about it that cost you something, what it changed in you, and what you are doing now.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
How to Handle an Interview Question You Cannot Answer
For an interview question you cannot answer, say plainly that you do not know, then show the assessor how you would work it out: what you would need to find out, who you would ask, and what you would do in the meantime. Silence and bluffing both score badly. Alberta states that asking for the available prompting questions carries no penalty.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
How Do I Prepare for an MMI in Two Weeks?
To prepare for an MMI in two weeks, spend the first week speaking answers out loud against a timer across the four station types, and the second week doing full mock circuits with someone who tells you what they actually heard rather than what you meant.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
How to Prepare for the McMaster Interview
To prepare for the McMaster interview, practise a full MMI circuit rather than single stations, because McMaster runs a circuit and does not publish the station count or station timing for its main MD stream. Only the MD/PhD stream's 12-station circuit is published. Practise across a range of timings, mix station types, and rehearse the whole run in one sitting.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
MMI Acting Stations: What to Do
In MMI acting stations you talk to the person rather than about them, so open by finding out what is going on, say the hard thing plainly, stay in the discomfort before you reach for a solution, and offer help that costs you something.
2026-09-17 · 8 min read
MMI Practice Questions With Answers
Three original MMI practice questions are written out below, each with a weak answer, a strong answer and the reasoning that separates them, covering the three station families applicants most often prepare badly.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
Ottawa Medicine Interview Format: What to Expect
The Ottawa medicine interview format has two parts. Every applicant must first complete an asynchronous early-phase MMI on the Acuity Insights platform, which is a gate. Selected applicants are then invited to a semi-structured panel interview of approximately 40 minutes with two Admissions Committee members and a fourth-year medical student, conducted virtually for the 2027 cycle.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
Panel Interview vs MMI: What Is the Difference?
Panel interview vs MMI is a difference in structure, not in what is being scored. A panel is one long conversation with two or three assessors; an MMI is a series of short independent stations, each scored separately. Ottawa runs a semi-structured panel of about 40 minutes; UBC runs 10 MMI stations with about 10 interviewers.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Queen's Medicine Interview Preparation: What Is Published and What Is Not
Queen's medicine interview preparation starts with an honest accounting of what Queen's publishes. It states that it uses MMI evaluation and that its later panel interview is virtual and synchronous. It does not publish a station count or station timing. Any specific number you read elsewhere is not from Queen's, and search results often return Queen's University Belfast instead.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Reapplicant Strategy After an Interview Rejection
A reapplicant strategy after an interview rejection starts with a hard fact: you were competitive on paper, so the paper is not the problem. Rebuild around the interview itself, retake CASPer because scores are valid for one cycle only, and check each school's limits before you reapply, because Ottawa states that three completed interviews ends your eligibility there.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Toronto MPI Interview Preparation: Four Interviews, Four Assessors
Toronto MPI interview preparation is different from MMI preparation because the Modified Personal Interview is four independent interviews assessed by four different interviewers, approximately 12 minutes each in person. The virtual version is four asynchronous video responses of approximately 5 minutes inside a 30 minute circuit, with 30 seconds to read each question.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
UBC MMI Preparation: How to Get Ready for 10 Stations
UBC MMI preparation has to be built around 10 stations and roughly 10 different interviewers, because UBC states that each applicant rotates through 10 interview stations. Station timing is not published on the interviews page, so practise across a range. Expect interviewers to include third and fourth year UBC medical students as well as clinicians and community representatives.
2026-09-17 · 5 min read
Virtual Medical School Interview: What to Wear and How to Behave
In a virtual medical school interview, wear the same thing you would wear in person, full outfit including the bottom half, in a solid mid-tone colour against a plain background. Behave as though the camera lens is the person: look at it, not at their face on your screen. Test the exact machine, browser and room at the exact time of day at least three days beforehand.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
What Is an MMI?
An MMI, or multiple mini interview, is an interview built from a series of short independent stations, each with its own prompt and its own assessor, so that one weak station cannot decide your whole result the way it can in a single long interview.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
What Is Snapshot, and How Do I Prepare for It?
Snapshot was Acuity Insights' short one-way recorded video interview, and it no longer appears anywhere in the company's current product lineup, so if a program still asks you to record video answers you are almost certainly being sent to Video Interviews instead.
Dentistry
2026-09-17 · 2 min read
CASPer for Dental Applicants: What Is Different
CASPer for dental applicants uses the same format as every other CASPer sitting, but the scenarios you should practice lean toward patient anxiety, cost and access to care, scope of practice, infection control and cosmetic requests, because those are the situations dental students and dentists face most often.
2026-09-17 · 2 min read
Which Canadian Dental Schools Require CASPer?
Toronto, Western, Alberta, McGill and Laval currently require CASPer for their DMD or DDS programs. UBC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan do not mention it on their own admissions pages. Montreal has removed it starting with Fall 2027 entry. Dalhousie is not confirmed.
2026-09-17 · 6 min read
Dental School Interview Preparation in Canada: Formats by School
Dental school interview preparation in Canada depends entirely on which school invited you, because the formats are not alike. Toronto states a 20 minute interview with two faculty members. Western states structured three-person panels, held virtually. Alberta states an MMI with 10 minute stations. McGill states a virtual asynchronous MMI lasting under an hour. Several schools publish nothing.
2026-09-17 · 1 min read
Which Canadian Dental Schools Require CASPer?
Toronto, Western, Alberta, McGill and Laval currently require CASPer for their DMD or DDS programs. UBC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan do not mention it on their own admissions pages. Montreal has removed it starting with Fall 2027 entry. Dalhousie is not confirmed.