CASper Test

Question 1

Overall structure of situation questions

Answer 1

1. State the complicated problem and your role
2. Gather more information and reserve judgement
3. Use if/then statements to take action (could be talking to someone else or encouraging someone else to talk)
4. Follow-up and see how solution is working

Question 2

What are the six types of questions?

Answer 2

1. Conflict resolution
2. Giving advice to friend in difficult situation
3. Professional boundaries vs. helping out
4. Moral code
5. Policy-based / opinion questions
6. Personal examples

Question 3

How should you approach giving a friend advice in a difficult situation?

Answer 3

often give strategies, like recommending to talk to a 3rd party person

listen to them to gain more info

support their decision and encourage them to seek help themselves

follow-up

Question 4

Ex: should you give money to friend with an addiction?

Answer 4

Need to weigh the pros and cons and ultimately make a decision

Pro: help your friend in short term and avoid hurting their feelings

Con: could be enabling in the long-run and might be better to direct them to resources

Question 5

How should you approach professional boundary questions?

Answer 5

Need to balance helping someone’s well-being and maintaining a professional relationship/boundaries

Get more information before deciding (unless physical danger)

Offer third party resources if applicable

Offer support and guide them to action

Follow-up

Question 6

How can you start answers to situational type questions?

Answer 6

This is a complex relationship that requires me to balance XX with XXX

Question 7

How should you deal with conflict resolutions with a group?

Answer 7

Acknolwedge that this is a complex situation and you need to balance your loyalties to all group members and reserve judgement

Gather more information in private and welcoming space

Use “if/then” statements to make a decision

Follow-up and see if solution addresses needs of everyone

Question 8

What is a good thing to explictly state?

Answer 8

You should state that you need to RESERVE JUDGEMENT and GATHER MORE INFORMATION before making a decision

Question 9

How should you approach moral code questions?

Answer 9

Identify the issue of needing to uphold moral code

Gather more information and reserve judgement

Determine a potential impact of not doing the right thing

Often times you can offer for others to do the correct thing themselves

Question 10

What is a way to end morally complicated questions?

Answer 10

If this is true and the worst scenario is true, I should talk to HR about how to resolve this situation and perhaps open a formal investigation

Question 11

How do you answer policy-based // give your own opinion questions?

Answer 11

State the issue
Give nuances or say that intent matters
Could also give pro + cons
Ultimately make and defend your position

Question 12

Personal example: Difficult situation for you

Answer 12

Serving as a TA that had to ensure the successful completion of a lab with approximately 30 students. At first, I was overwhelmed by the questions they had.

I remedied this problems by learning how to remain composed to calmly think through solutions to their problems and when to ask for help

I familarized myself with resources to help me find answers in lab and also talked to my lab supervisor about problems to anticipate in each lab to remedy them before they occur

Question 13

What would have you done differently when working through initial challenges with TAing?

Answer 13

I would have reached out to other TAs in the class to see if we could have communicated with each other problems that we experienced in lab and offered support to each other

Question 14

Personal example: Conflict resolution

Answer 14

Roommate keeping the room dirty

Talked to her calmly and asked what was going on. She opened up that she was stressed by school

Worked together to come up with a schedule that worked around her schoolwork.

Followed up that this worked for her

Question 15

What would you have done differently in roommate situation?

Answer 15

I would have talked to my roommate more quickly instead of letting my emotions build surrounding the event. I think confronting the problem head-on could have helped us both relieve stress about the messy room

Question 16

Personal example: Sacrifice

Answer 16

While I was studying for the MCAT and working over the summer, I had to balance achieving my academic goals with spending time with my family

Talked to my family about my stress and was open about my goals

Decided to not go on week-long vacation but schedule time into my weekly schedule for family time to spend time with them and maintain a work-life balance

Question 17

What would you do differently in sacrifice example?

Answer 17

Would have communicated with them earlier instead of letting my stress build

Question 18

When were you a leader?

Answer 18

Talk about being a leader of the lab and having to teach the students and prioritize their learning

Question 19

What was something you learned about being a leader?

Answer 19

Had to learn when to ask for help

Had to learn to remain composed

Question 20

Time you hesitated to make a decision

Answer 20

Lab partner freshman year showed up to class less and less and seemed overwhelmed whenever I talked with her

I hesitated to see if she needed help or was having personal issues because I didn’t want to overstep and wanted to maintain professional boundaries

Eventually I weighed my options and talked to her in private and non-judgementally about her situation with the intention to offer support if she needed it

She said that she was overwhelmed by schoolwork and I suggested that she talk to the TA or professor. I also recommended a study group and follow-uped

Question 21

What was a time you had to overcome an obstacle to success?

Answer 21

I was the TA for a lab where I had to make sure that 30 students successfully completed the lab

One day, the lab was not working for any of my students. To solve this problem, I remained calm and talked with the student lab supervisor about our situation in lab

We worked through our options together and decided to contact our professor to let them know of our issues in lab. The professor was off campus, so we decided to prioritize student learning over accuracy and told the students to procede with the lab to the best of their ability and not worry about accuracy. We contacted the professor again about the results of the experiments

Question 22

How would you have acted differently when lab was failing?

Answer 22

At first I was overwhelmed by the situation and became slightly panicked in front of the students.

Next time, I would have remained more composed in front of the students from the beginning to reassure them that everything would be okay.

Question 23

What was an example of a time you failed?

Answer 23

I was unprepared to an interview and did not get the job I interviewed for

Next time, I should have researched the company and prepared interview questions before the interview. I also should have asked a friend to do a mock-interview with me to prepare myself

From this failure, I learned the need to always be well prepared in professional situations

Question 24

What is a good general opening?

Answer 24

This is a complex situation that requires me to reserve my judgement and gather more information. As a ROLE, I would balance XX and XXX.

Question 25

In questions that it gives you a role and says “what would you do if you were the boss, professor, etc.?” what should you do first?

Answer 25

State your role and state what things you need to balance in this complex situation

Question 26

What is something you should explictly say when you are dealing with someone in a vulnerable/difficult situation?

Answer 26

Say that you are RESPECTING THEIR BOUNDARIES and PRIORITIZING THEIR BEST INTEREST

Question 27

What should you do in questions that ask “what is going through your mind” ?

Answer 27

You should look at both sides of the conflict

Often want to care about well-being of someone but do not want to make assumptions/overstep boundaries

Then you can say it is difficult to see what is going on and need to seek more help

Question 28

In cases where you would basically “tell on” or “report” someone, what should you always do first?

Answer 28

Try to have the person that was wrong come forward themselves and if they won’t, then you will

Question 29

Why should practicing professionals always act professionally?

Answer 29

They are a trusted members of the community and patients need to trust professionals with their healthcare decisions

Question 30

What was a time you stood up to an authority figure or supervisor?

Answer 30

High school’s lack of a mental health policy –students were penalized for taking space for their mental health

While I criticized this, I also worked with school administrators to come up with a better policy

Got input from the students

Ultimately came up with policy that treats mental health like physical health

Question 31

What is your example for conflict resolution?

Answer 31

Messy freshman year roommate that you communicated directly to instead of letting resentment build. Found out she was stressed with school. Worked together to build a cleaning schedul;e

Question 32

What is something that you need to demonstrate in your answers?

Answer 32

an understanding of the situation at hand –– what you need to balance or why this is hard

Question 33

What is something that you should avoid in your answers?

Answer 33

Avoid rambling, instead create a coherent and articulate response

Question 34

What is one way to avoid difficult and harmful situations, such as cyberbullying?

Answer 34

explain why this situation is difficult and then say that you should take preventative actions to stop it before it happens

oftentimes preventative actions are comprehensive education

Question 35

What should you say for psychological impacts?

Answer 35

Just say how something makes people feel

Perhaps they feel afraid or experience feelings of inadequacy

Question 36

What are ways to be an advocate?

Answer 36

Offer someone a safe and open space to talk about their feelings and problem

Offer support in a positive and non-judgmental way

Question 37

What is an example of a time you were an advocate?

Answer 37

Advocated for Esteban by offering him physical safe space, supporting him in talking to RA, and offering him non-judgmental emotional support

Question 38

How should you approach “what factors” questions?

Answer 38

You should talk about focusing on the extent/severity of the situation

You should talk about following the advice of others maybe

Or just make sure that you are actually giving factors

Question 39

What is a time that you had to pick one person over another?

Answer 39

Grandfather was ill when I was supposed to have a debate tournament

Had to do self-reflection on what was important to me in that moment, talk to others, and openly communicate my decision with everyone involved.

Question 40

What should you explicitly say when describing a complicated personal problem?

Answer 40

This was a complicated problem because I had to balance XX with XXX

Actually say this!

Question 41

What is a good word to use when talking about policy questions?

Answer 41

Pragmatic solutions!

Question 42

What would you say are the three biggest problems facing the United States?

Answer 42

1. Climate change (need to switch to renewable energy sources)
2. Healthcare system (need to guarentee that everyone has equal access to healthcare, many avoidable deaths in the US)
3. Immigration (need to find a pragmatic way to allow immigrants into the country to contribute to the social, cultural and economic well-being of the country)