GPA 3.9, MCAT 510. I’m really disappointed in myself. From all the practice and prep I did, I really thought it went better, but I guess not… This is my 3rd time applying. I’m really sick and tired of annoying my references every year about my rejections, I’m tired of letting down my family and feeling like I’m never enough. I don’t know what to do with myself anymore. If I don’t get into this cycle, should I just apply abroad?
Second-year BCSE student here and I am going crazy. I do not study a lot but the time I do, most of it is spent doing assignments that I would say half of the time does not help directly with the exam and only cause burnout. Not only that but the only real vacation I feel like we get is summer since Christmas is right before q2 exams. As I said, I am not a good student but the stress of this uni is sometimes too much. Huge respect for the people who are on schedule with everything and also doing other activities.
This makes me intensely happy and almost surprised because I thought the paper was so qualitative I wasn't even sure.
Thanks team, I remember reading through the post here religiously.
All the best for everyone who'll now need to start preparing for part 2!
Cheers!
CASPer gets a lot of (justified) hate on here, and it's very annoying that it's such a sketchy test that is often weighed so heavily. I was pretty grateful that they started releasing quartiles this year, but it has become pretty obvious unfortunately that quartiles are not a useful measure for med school applicants. I recently came across this paper:
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cmej/article/view/72121/55428
It shows that for the 2018 and 2019 application cycles at Dalhousie, the average CASPer Z-score for traditional applicants was 0.35, which is equivalent to a 73rd percentile...
Since the same CASPer test is used for many other degrees which are much less competitive than med, it's pretty obvious that the test taker pool is not at all representative of the med applicant pool.
Unfortunately, this means that a 4th quartile CASPer really probably only suggests that you're in the top 50% of med applicants, and 3rd or below likely means you are below average...
Hopefully one day Altus decides to start releasing more accurate scores, but I wouldn't hold my breath...
EDIT: you can look at the programs that use the same CASPer test as med schools by looking at the distribution options:
https://preview.redd.it/8oyyoiqjrac81.jpg?width=1046&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0184b2e135d1f6b3c018a1b0466082d8a04f2dd7
Curious to know for future reference!
Hey guys,
I had a few people ask me for advice on Casper, and I thought I would make this post to share a few tips that I found helpful during the exam.
Pre-exam prep:
- I didn't even look at prep until a few days before the exam. I compiled some tips I've seen on reddit amongst other things I felt would help me on test day.
- I made sure to do the practice test- this is honestly a crucial step. It gets you familiarized with the platform and in the right mindset for the actual test. I didn't find youtube videos or other testing prep useful the first time, so I didn't even look at it this time around.
- I wrote out a list of sample scenarios I could use for the actual test - ie. time where I resolved a conflict, had an issue with a co-worker, ethical dilemmas etc. Go over this list a few times. This prevented me from having to spend too much time thinking about examples during the test.
Scenerio tips:
- Acknowledge that the situation is complicated for everyone involved. This shows that you're trying to keep various perspectives in mind. You're assessing the situation clearly and objectively.
- Create contingent situations if you have time to write them out. For example, say that if that person were to go with a certain option, the result would be blank. Clearly delineate your thought process as best as you can.
- Communication is a KEY WORD. I used it a lot during the test, stating that I would have an honest conversation with them about things, keeping the line of communication open. Avoiding any part of the dilemma won't get you any points.
- Always respect their boundaries, personal space and autonomy. You don't want to overstep your role in the situation.
- Make sure to pick an answer/stance and stick with it. Try not to be indecisive or neutral. Offer a solution! That's what they're asking you to do.
Test-taking tips:
- Take majority of the day to relax and de-stress. The first time I took it, I reviewed and did prep the whole day which was not a good idea. This time I didn't look at any prep on the day of, just lightly reviewed my examples page.
- Take a few seconds after the prompt or video to think about what you just read/saw. Since it doesn't go to the questions right away, you can take some time to solidify the details.
- READ ALL THREE QUESTIONS BEFORE ANSWERING. This might seem like common sense, but when the adrenaline is pumping, you just want to start typing furiously as soon as you hit the first question. Thi
Poll time!! Please select average of the 4 quartiles you scored. Thanks!!
How’d you do it? Got first quartile I don’t know where I went wrong. I did not study for it btw.
Im an IMG and im thinking on taking on the USMLE, but unfortunately, my grades through med school werent the best due to health reasons, from what Ive read the class ranking isnt as inportant as other factors, but still Im worried it could play against me and ruin my chances of matching, Im in the lower end of my class unfortunately, and Id like to match in internal medicine
Is 3rd quartile casper good for Ottawa and queens w/ these other stats + really unique and professional EC’s? GPA: 3.98, CARS: 124, Casper: 3rd quartile
Hi everyone, I live in Ontario and was wondering what my chances were with my stats. I’m in this anxious/weird limbo where I know I’m a very average applicant so I don’t know if I should feel hopeful and proud of myself or not.
Embarrassingly, this was my 5th time writing the MCAT as I kept getting 122-125 for cars so the 127 was the best I could do on my 5th try. My Casper score is in the 4th quartile.
Really appreciate all your insight and good luck to everyone!!
PLEASE SEE EDIT 2.0 - A MISCONCEPTION HAS BEEN CLARIFIED
Listen, I get that Canvas is weird and most professors don't set it up right so USUAL analysis of grades is complicated, but... I feel like professors don't get that we can see the grade distribution graphs, or think we don't understand what they mean? Especially when we try to argue that an assignment or test or whatever it was either was poorly made or poorly graded.
Because it makes me so angry looking at the graph and seeing the second quartile start at 0. Not even seeing the lowest quartile, because that means AT LEAST 25% of the class got a 0. That... Isn't right m'dudes. I don't care if the "average" is still a B, the median is hardly a C and that is more telling of how the class did so don't say the class did well overall.
Edit 2.0 Coincidentally, right after I made the below edit, one user has explained very well where my misunderstanding of the second argument was. https://www.reddit.com/r/WPI/comments/qwsnty/grade_quartiles_in_canvas/hl7zqxm?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 This, for reference. Because of the way especially mobile makes it appear to be using the "Low" and "High" as a label, my brain was still assuming it was referencing those on each end. This user did well at explaining with visuals how Canvas is indeed funky. Why Canvas does this, I have no clue.
For quick reference: The quartiles are not in fact quartiles, but shown as if they are... For whatever reason. Poor planning on their part, but I digress. Instead, the "first" quartile is the difference between a 0 and the lowest grade, last between the highest grade and the max grade, and the seperation between the second and third is the mean. angry statistics noises But it is not in fact the professors fault here. Still would like it if more professors actually showed the grade distributions, but this is more acceptable.
Edit: There's been a lot of comments and a lot of people calling bs on what I'm saying. To respond to a few bits:
Firstly, I'm responding because I genuinely am willing to take the L if I get a response that does line up with the information I have seen. I KNOW the data doesn't logically line up. I don't know why, I'm just stating what I'm seeing about the lower quartile, and I have not seen a response to accurately explain why it doesn't logically line up that isn't disproven by later points, hence why I'm still taking this stance.
Secondly, yes the B, a
... keep reading on reddit ➡Basically title
Anything is possible for all us apathetic pre-meds out there! Hope this gives hope to other 1st quartile scorers out there.
more of a vent but I could use some advice from 4th quartile people... I read the BeMo book, read up on bioethical issues + read a lot of cases, and did A LOT of timed practice the week before my test. I got through 2-3 questions in each scenario and there was maybe 2-3 questions in the entire thing that I thought I screwed up on... I honestly do not understand where I went wrong :(
If the boxplot showed lines at -3,-1,+1,+3 standard deviations instead of at Q1-1.5xIQR, Q1, Q3 etc then it would map to the standard normal distribution (which is typically based around standard deviations)
It would also make it easier to apply the empirical rule when visualising the data.
Or is this a historical thing?
So we have people writing the Casper on different days. My question is when for example an applicant gets the quartile result, is that score reflection of their raw score among the people who wrote Casper on that date? If thats the case, is it possible that their raw score could potentially put them in a better/worse position when all the applicants are added to one pool?
As the title says I got my score back today and saw I scored in the first quartile :(. I took my MCAT this summer and got a 515 with a 128 CARS I also have a 4.0 with the OMSAS grading scale. I think my downfall with CASPer was that I am a very slow typer and as a result wasn't able to answer the CASPer scenarios as much as I would have liked to because of the time limit. It would suck to have put in thousands of hours of studying to get high marks in my undergraduate and then hundreds of hours this summer for the MCAT only to have my chances ruined by an awful 1.5-hour exam.
Does anyone have any input on my situation here? Is this something adcoms would take into consideration?
P.S Screw you CASPer.
Basically the title. I feel devastated and swear I’m not a terrible person. Is this one test seriously going to break my chances at 3/5 Ontario schools I applied to?
I'm dealing with a sample of 80 incomes that I want to divide into quartiles. Is having ~20 people in each quartile good enough for running statistical tests? Is there a recommendation for how many minimum entries should be in a quartile?
Not very accurate but interested to see the results
I applied to 2 schools this cycle that require the Casper exam. One of them I have already received a rejection from, the other I have received an interview invite from.
As always, n=1, but I think that we are still in a phase where the Casper exam is being used more for internal data than anything. Don't let a low score on this exam discourage you from applying to schools that require it, we are likely still just guinea pigs.
This exam cannot be studied for. It is unfortunately making pre-med students even more neurotic. We are all probably still in the guinea pig stage for most schools, data to look at later to see how Casper scorers of all ranges perform in med school.
It's like they won't accept responsibility for their own lives' failures and want to redirect blame to the others instead of focusing their energy on bettering themselves. We recently had a violent racist arrested in my city, he failed in every category listed above... Yet he blames minorities for all of his problems and then trolls interracial couples on the internet, threatening torture and violence. Fuck.. Can we build a wall and keep these knuckle-dragging racists out?
I felt like crying after seeing my first quartile CA$PER score and I stressed for weeks over it. This past week I was accepted into a school that required CA$PER. I wanted to give some hope to others who were in a similar boat. You are more than your words per minute and you are not a psychopath!!!! Schools will see what you all see in yourself please don't stress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I applied to two school that required the Casper exam, I was rejected by one in September and accepted into another this past Friday. We are likely still in a guinea pig phase for at least some schools. If you’re like me and scored low, keep you’re head up because you’re not a sociopath.
So I just got my CASPer back and got 2nd quartile. I swear im not crazy, I just type super slow and have adhd lol.
I am sure mcmaster is ot of the picture since my CARS is low and my CASPer is terrible. But will my CASPer ruin my chances at Queen's and Ottawa? Anyone know how much it is weighted ?
Stats: GPA 4.0 , 516 (127 cars) MCAT
- a sad applicant
rlly have no idea lol
Im an IMG and im thinking on taking on the steps, but unfortunately, my grades through med school were very defficient because of health reasons, from what Ive gathered, its not the most important factor for matching, but it still has some kind of importance, and Im worried it will play against me, My objective is to match in internal medicine, how hard would it be?
