CASper Test Flashcards
Overall structure of situation questions
- State the complicated problem and your role
- Gather more information and reserve judgement
- Use if/then statements to take action (could be talking to someone else or encouraging someone else to talk)
- Follow-up and see how solution is working
What are the six types of questions?
- Conflict resolution
- Giving advice to friend in difficult situation
- Professional boundaries vs. helping out
- Moral code
- Policy-based / opinion questions
- Personal examples
How should you approach giving a friend advice in a difficult situation?
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
Ex: should you give money to friend with an addiction?
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
How should you approach professional boundary questions?
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
How can you start answers to situational type questions?
This is a complex relationship that requires me to balance XX with XXX
How should you deal with conflict resolutions with a group?
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
What is a good thing to explictly state?
You should state that you need to RESERVE JUDGEMENT and GATHER MORE INFORMATION before making a decision
How should you approach moral code questions?
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
What is a way to end morally complicated questions?
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
How do you answer policy-based // give your own opinion questions?
State the issue
Give nuances or say that intent matters
Could also give pro + cons
Ultimately make and defend your position
Personal example: Difficult situation for you
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
What would have you done differently when working through initial challenges with TAing?
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
Personal example: Conflict resolution
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
What would you have done differently in roommate situation?
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
Personal example: Sacrifice
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
What would you do differently in sacrifice example?
Would have communicated with them earlier instead of letting my stress build
When were you a leader?
Talk about being a leader of the lab and having to teach the students and prioritize their learning
What was something you learned about being a leader?
Had to learn when to ask for help
Had to learn to remain composed
Time you hesitated to make a decision
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
What was a time you had to overcome an obstacle to success?
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
How would you have acted differently when lab was failing?
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.
What was an example of a time you failed?
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
What is a good general opening?
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.
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?
State your role and state what things you need to balance in this complex situation
What is something you should explictly say when you are dealing with someone in a vulnerable/difficult situation?
Say that you are RESPECTING THEIR BOUNDARIES and PRIORITIZING THEIR BEST INTEREST
What should you do in questions that ask “what is going through your mind” ?
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
In cases where you would basically “tell on” or “report” someone, what should you always do first?
Try to have the person that was wrong come forward themselves and if they won’t, then you will
Why should practicing professionals always act professionally?
They are a trusted members of the community and patients need to trust professionals with their healthcare decisions
What was a time you stood up to an authority figure or supervisor?
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
What is your example for conflict resolution?
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
What is something that you need to demonstrate in your answers?
an understanding of the situation at hand –– what you need to balance or why this is hard
What is something that you should avoid in your answers?
Avoid rambling, instead create a coherent and articulate response
What is one way to avoid difficult and harmful situations, such as cyberbullying?
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
What should you say for psychological impacts?
Just say how something makes people feel
Perhaps they feel afraid or experience feelings of inadequacy
What are ways to be an advocate?
Offer someone a safe and open space to talk about their feelings and problem
Offer support in a positive and non-judgmental way
What is an example of a time you were an advocate?
Advocated for Esteban by offering him physical safe space, supporting him in talking to RA, and offering him non-judgmental emotional support
How should you approach “what factors” questions?
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
What is a time that you had to pick one person over another?
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.
What should you explicitly say when describing a complicated personal problem?
This was a complicated problem because I had to balance XX with XXX
Actually say this!
What is a good word to use when talking about policy questions?
Pragmatic solutions!
What would you say are the three biggest problems facing the United States?
- Climate change (need to switch to renewable energy sources)
- Healthcare system (need to guarentee that everyone has equal access to healthcare, many avoidable deaths in the US)
- 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)
