CASPER Score

[guineapiglover]

Hi there,

I just received my CASPER score and got in the 3rd quartile. I know that this score is relative to the scores "in my cohort", but I'm wondering what that means exactly. Is it relative to everyone who took the test on the same day? Or all people who have received the same test questions? Will OVC only see that I'm in the 3rd quartile or will they see a different score?

With all this in mind, I'm wondering whether this score is something to worry about. I would normally be happy with this, but I know that the other applicants are high achievers and being in the 4th quartile would obviously be ideal. 

Thank you!

[Deleted]

That's a good question and another part of why this hush hush Casper test is less than ideal.

Your quartile is relative to all the test takers from your session (i.e., same time and same date).

What actually happens is your Casper is graded, and from your score and the score of all the other test takers in your session, they calculate a Z-score (which is just the difference between your score and the mean score, divided by the standard deviation of test scores). This Z-score is what is sent to OVC.

Since Casper scores are more or less normally distributed, this Z-score also corresponds to a rank percentile (e.g., Z = 1 corresponds to the 84th percentile). For whatever reason, Altus refuses to release Casper scores to applicants, so we're stuck with quartiles to give us an idea of how we did, but institutions do receive the actual Z-score.

Third quartile is above average, so I don't think you should worry too much. Also, Casper only counts for 25% of the pre-interview score. I would imagine that a third quartile score would be pretty "neutral" to your application since most OVC applicants may score a bit above average as well, so if you have a strong academic average you shouldn't stress too much about it!

Of course this is all just speculation, since we don't receive scores, and OVC doesn't publish any stats about Casper.

Good luck!

[guineapiglover]

Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you for relieving my stress!

It doesn't seem right that the courses I shed blood, sweat and tears for all year only account for 75% of my academic score, while a 90 minute Casper test (that is geared towards pre-med students, might I add) accounts for a whopping 25%. Perhaps the admissions committee should rethink this.

[Deleted]

You're welcome! I think you should be proud of a third quartile score, it's not an easy test.

Yes I was thinking the same thing. I put years of hard work into my veterinary experiences and my academic average. But in 90 minutes, I could mess it all up if I'm not at my best for Casper.

For having written it as well, I also just find it to be a stupid test. Ethical and social situations are complicated and very personal. Writing down some half answers to their scenarios in 5 minutes is not reflective of any useful skill. In the real world, there is actual context and time to carefully think about things.

I really think Casper is a scam, and that strong lobbying has gotten it accepted by many schools as a convenient way to rank applicants, even though it doesn't measure anything. And schools go along because it's free for them and they can claim they're measuring non-academic skills.

My theory is that Altus knows that it's not a real indicator of soft-skills, and that questions are marked based on sets of keywords and a specific answer format. That's why they don't release scores: they know that if test-prep companies had access to that data, they would be able to easily figure out how to optimize responses and Casper would quickly become obsolete. With quartiles, there's still enough range that it's hard to say exactly which answers get the best scores.

[redrose]

Hello!
So I write my CASPER on January 27th, and I saw that you mentioned that you received your quartile already.
Out of curiosity, how long after you wrote did you receive your quartile rank for your test?
Thank you!

[Deleted]

I think Casper is graded and sent off to schools within 2 weeks, but we only get to see our quartiles 4 weeks after our test date.

I got the email saying I could go check my quartile at 7am, exactly 4 weeks after my test date so I imagine it's automated and you'll get yours at 7am on February 24th.

[Question]

Hello, I was just reading this thread and considering you have all written Casper already, I was wondering if you know if we need to do the Snapshot interview part? I can't find anything about it on the ovc website. Thanks in advance!