You Missed Your CASPer Test: What Happens and What to Do Next

Your fee is gone — Acuity's Terms of Use make assessment fees non-refundable and specifically exclude forgetting a scheduled test. Your application cycle probably is not. Because you never started the assessment, you can usually still reschedule for a $20 fee, provided dates remain for your test type and your programs' score distribution deadlines have not passed. Open your Dates and Fees page and check that second condition first — it is the one that closes the door, not the missed sitting itself.

First: which situation are you actually in?

“I missed my CASPer test” covers three different problems with three different answers. Find your row before doing anything else.

Can you reschedule after missing the date?

Usually yes, and the evidence is in how Acuity prices it. Its rescheduling policy sets the fee at $20 when you reschedule “within 30 days of your test date or after it” — a policy that anticipates rescheduling after the date has passed rather than treating it as impossible.

This appears to sit awkwardly beside Acuity's Terms of Use, which state that you can only reschedule prior to having started the online examination process. The two are consistent once you read “started” literally. If you never logged in and began the assessment, you have not started it, so rescheduling remains open. If you began the test and abandoned it partway, you have started it — and the Terms are explicit that once begun, you cannot stop and complete it later.

What rescheduling costs

Acuity's current published structure is straightforward:

• 31 or more days before your test date: free.
• Within 30 days of the date, or after it: $20.
• Fee waivers: may apply for verified technical or medical issues, or through approved assistance programs.

The base test fee and the per-program distribution fee vary by test type, region and cycle, and Acuity does not publish a single number in its help centre — you see your own figures on the Dates and Fees page in your account. Our CASPer test cost breakdown explains how the pieces fit together.

Why the reschedule button may be greyed out

Acuity lists three reasons rescheduling is unavailable, and only one of them is about you:

1. No dates remain for your test type and the programs on your distribution list within that cycle.
2. A program's final testing window has passed. One expired program can block the whole action.
3. You already completed that test type in the cycle, and cannot reserve a second one.

The second reason is the one that traps people, and it has a specific fix: Acuity says you must remove programs whose score distribution deadline has passed before rescheduling becomes available. That is a real decision, not a formality — removing the program means you are no longer sending it a CASPer score this cycle. Confirm with the program before you remove it if the requirement is genuinely still open on their end.

If you missed the final test date or distribution deadline

This is the hardest version of the problem, and the route runs through the program rather than around it. Acuity's process splits by region:

• Canadian programs: contact Acuity support through the chat bubble on AcuityInsights.app or at support@acuityinsights.app, with the missed date, the affected programs and your reason. Acuity says it will then advocate with the program on your behalf.
• Programs elsewhere: contact the program directly to request consideration for an exception.

In both cases the decision belongs to the program, and there is a procedural detail worth knowing: the program must formally notify its Acuity Insights representative for an exception to take effect. An email from you saying the program agreed is not sufficient. If a program tells you it will make an exception, ask them to confirm it with Acuity directly.

If an exception is approved, Acuity says results are distributed manually within 24 hours, and distribution fees may apply. Acuity also states plainly that exceptions are not guaranteed and are usually granted only in extenuating circumstances such as medical or family emergencies.

What about a refund?

Acuity's Terms of Use are unusually specific here. Assessment fees are non-refundable and valid only for the then-current admissions cycle. Refunds are available in limited circumstances — health or compassionate reasons such as the death of a family member or an emergency medical procedure — and require documentation from a qualified professional.

The Terms explicitly exclude several situations from refund eligibility, and one of them is forgetting a scheduled test. Others include changing your mind, no longer needing the assessment, selecting the wrong program, language or cycle, and no longer being considered for admission.

One further detail that catches people at exactly the wrong moment: an account with an outstanding payable balance will prevent your results from being sent to the programs you select. If you reschedule and incur a fee, clear it well before your distribution deadline.

Numbers you will see quoted that do not match Acuity

Several widely-read prep pages carry rescheduling and cancellation figures that do not match Acuity's current published policy. If you are cross-checking this page against others, these are the discrepancies to be aware of:

Policies change between cycles, so the point is not that any particular site is careless — it is that a fee decision is worth checking against Acuity's own page rather than a summary. Everything on this page links to its source below.

Making sure it does not happen twice

Most missed sittings are not carelessness. They are a time-zone error, a confirmation email in a spam folder, or a test date booked months ago and never re-checked. Three habits prevent nearly all of them:

1. Put the distribution deadline in your calendar, not just the test date. The deadline is the real constraint; the test date is just one way to meet it.
2. Confirm the time zone on the Dates and Fees page. Your account lets you filter by time zone, and a test booked in the wrong one is the most common near-miss.
3. Rebook with room to spare. If you can choose a date more than 31 days out, rescheduling stays free if life intervenes again.

For choosing the replacement date sensibly, see CASPer test dates and the best time to write CASPer. The step-by-step account walkthrough is in how to reschedule a CASPer test.

Bottom line

Missing a sitting costs you the fee, not usually the cycle. Check your distribution deadlines first, reschedule in your account and expect the $20 charge, and only escalate to an exception request if a final date or deadline has genuinely passed. Then use the extra weeks — an unplanned second date is more preparation time than most applicants get.