Admissions test comparison

CASPer vs AAMC PREview for 2026–27 Applicants

CASPer and AAMC PREview are separate situational-judgment tests, and one does not automatically replace the other. Your school list—not personal preference—decides whether you need CASPer, PREview, both, either one, or neither. CASPer asks you to produce timed video and typed answers; PREview asks you to rate the effectiveness of listed actions.

What is the main difference between CASPer and PREview?

CASPer measures how you explain your judgment; PREview measures how closely your effectiveness ratings align with a medical-educator consensus key. That difference changes the task, pacing, scoring, preparation, and kind of pressure you experience.

How do you know whether a school requires CASPer or PREview?

Read the school's admissions page for your exact entry year, then cross-check the relevant test operator. AAMC says participating schools can require PREview, recommend it, accept it to satisfy a general SJT requirement, or collect it while exploring future use. Those statuses have different consequences.

1. Finalize a realistic school list rather than checking tests in isolation.
2. Record each school's exact policy and entry cycle.
3. Check AAMC's frequently updated participating-school page for PREview.
4. Check the school and Acuity listing for CASPer's exact test type and code.
5. Record the last accepted test date and expected score-release timing.
6. Email the admissions office when the school and operator pages conflict.

Do not rely on a static total such as “X schools require PREview.” AAMC explicitly says its participation page is updated as programs notify it. Our current CASPer medical-school guideuses the same school-by-school verification approach.

Can a school require both CASPer and PREview?

An applicant can need both across a school list, and no universal rule prevents a program from setting its own SJT requirements. Never infer that CASPer satisfies PREview or that PREview satisfies CASPer. Treat them as separate unless the school explicitly publishes an either/or policy for your cycle.

The safest spreadsheet has separate CASPer and PREview columns. Mark “required,” “recommended,” “accepted,” or “not used” rather than a single yes/no. A recommendation can still influence your scheduling decision even when it does not determine application completeness.

How is the CASPer format different from PREview?

CASPer requires original responses under short production limits. The standard current format has 11 scenarios: four video-response scenarios followed by seven typed-response scenarios. Each video question allows one minute; each typed scenario gives 3.5 minutes for two questions together.

PREview presents hypothetical situations from medical or health- professions training. For each possible response, you select one of four ratings: Very Ineffective, Ineffective, Effective, or Very Effective. You are judging listed actions, not writing what you personally would do. The exam allows up to 75 minutes, while AAMC advises reserving 95–115 minutes for the full appointment.

That makes the motor demands different. CASPer can expose slow typing, incomplete spoken answers, and poor time allocation. PREview can expose inconsistent rating standards and failure to distinguish a merely helpful action from the most effective one. See the current CASPer formatbefore mixing practice resources.

How does scoring differ between CASPer and PREview?

CASPer uses human raters and returns an applicant quartile; PREview awards credit based on agreement with a medical-educator consensus key and reports a 1–9 score with a confidence band and percentile information. The numbers are not translations of each other.

Acuity says CASPer responses are anonymized and independently rated, with typed and video performance combined into one overall result. AAMC says a PREview rating receives full credit when it matches the key and can receive half credit when it is one level away but remains on the same effective or ineffective side of the scale.

Discordant results are therefore possible without a contradiction. One test rewards clearly expressed reasoning under production limits; the other rewards calibration to the effectiveness key. Read the CASPer scoring and quartile guiderather than trying to convert a PREview percentile into a CASPer band.

Which test costs more, and can you retake it?

PREview has the clearer fixed 2026 price: AAMC lists $105, including unlimited score distribution, and $25 each time you reschedule; applicable taxes can be added. CASPer pricing varies by region, test type, and number of program distributions, so use Acuity's live Dates and Fees page instead of an old blog price.

AAMC permits two PREview attempts in a testing year and four across a lifetime. CASPer generally permits one attempt per test type in an admissions cycle. This is not an argument to schedule PREview as a disposable first attempt: AAMC says scored exams from 2020 onward are included in future AMCAS applications, while a voided exam still counts as an attempt.

How long are CASPer and PREview scores valid?

CASPer is cycle-specific and type-specific. Acuity says the score is valid only for one admissions cycle and one test type, so reapplying in a later cycle requires a new test even if the program is unchanged.

PREview scores have a longer reporting life. AAMC retains score reports indefinitely and AMCAS can include historical scored exams, but a medical school controls how old a score it accepts. Verify the school's policy rather than interpreting indefinite storage as indefinite admissions validity.

Does CASPer prep help with PREview?

The reasoning foundation transfers; the response technique does not. Both reward careful reading, stakeholder awareness, respectful communication, information gathering, proportionality, and avoiding unsupported assumptions. Those habits can be trained together.

How should you prepare if you need both tests?

Build common judgment first, then separate the final simulations. Spend the early phase reviewing situations and explaining why an action helps or harms. In the final one to two weeks before each test, use only its real interaction: recording and typing for CASPer, rating complete action sets for PREview.

1. Map deadlines: include score-release dates, not just test dates.
2. Diagnose separately: complete official samples for both formats.
3. Train shared judgment: review stakeholders, uncertainty, and proportional action.
4. Split execution drills: do not use PREview multiple-choice work as CASPer production practice.
5. Simulate separately: complete each operator's official full practice material.

If CASPer is required, a timed CASPer diagnosticcan show whether written coverage or video delivery needs more work. Use AAMC's own scored and unscored preparation products for the PREview interface and key. CasperCoach does not simulate or score AAMC PREview.

Is CASPer or PREview more important than the MCAT?

Neither test universally replaces the MCAT. AAMC explicitly says PREview does not replace it, and CASPer measures a different part of the application. Each school decides how it uses academics, knowledge testing, SJTs, essays, and interviews. Review our CASPer vs MCAT comparisonand MCAT-and-CASPer requirement guidebefore treating any one score as the whole application.

Bottom line: which test should you take?

Take every test your target schools require, consider recommended tests in the context of time and cost, and do not register for an unneeded exam merely because another applicant did. Check policies for the 2026–27 cycle, preserve the source links, and train each format on its own terms.