This is part 2 of our 5-part series on medical school interviews. The goal of these interviews is to give medical schools a holistic sense of who you are: to round out the quantitative and written of your application—including your GPA, MCAT scores, essays, and recommendations —with a more personal sense of your potential to succeed in medical school and as a physician.
This series covers the four types of interviews and assessments for medical school: the Acuity Insights and AAMC PREview assessments, as well as traditional and MMI interviews. For information on the other posts in this series, see our overview post here.
In recent years, some medical schools have begun requesting or requiring assessments of interpersonal competencies to accompany a candidate’s application materials, before selecting prospective students to advance in the admissions process towards interviews. Most such med schools ask applicants to complete one or both parts of the Acuity Insights assessments, which we described in a previous post. A smaller but growing number of medical schools require or recommend the AAMC PREview™ Professional Readiness Exam, formerly known as the AAMC Situational Judgment Test, which is similar to Acuity Insights’ Casper test in its aims but different in format.
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Overview
The PREview Exam is designed to measure respondents’ “knowledge of effective and ineffective behaviors across nine professional competencies for entering medical students:” Interpersonal Skills, Cultural Awareness, Cultural Humility, Empathy and Compassion, Teamwork and Collaboration, Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others, Resilience and Adaptability, Reliability and Dependability, and Commitment to Learning and Growth. For more details on these competencies, see the AAMC’s Summary of Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students here. It should be noted that these skills constitute all the Pre-Professional Competencies identified by the AAMC except for Oral Communication (since it’s a written test) and omit the Thinking and Reasoning Competencies and Science Competencies (presumably because they are captured in the MCAT).
The PREview Exam seeks “to look beyond academic metrics to assess and evaluate professional competencies,” as the AAMC puts it. “When combined with other elements of the admissions process, the PREview exam provides a more complete picture of applicants and helps schools identify applicants who demonstrate these premed competencies.”
Structure
Like Casper, you’ll take the AAMC PREview test on your own laptop or home computer, and you will be presented with a series of hypothetical text-based scenarios. Unlike Casper, there will be no scenarios presented via video; you’ll respond to all scenarios from the point of view of a medical student; and the test will be proctored live (yes, by an actual human being!).
Also, while Casper asks respondents to come up with original answers to questions about each scenario, PREview offers a series of multiple-choice behavioral responses to each scenario and asks test-takers to rate the effectiveness of each on a four-point scale (Very Ineffective, Ineffective, Effective, Very Effective). Here’s an example from the AAMC site:
You are pursuing a two-week volunteer opportunity at a well-regarded local clinic. When you receive your course schedule, you realize the volunteer opportunity would conflict with your weekly required lab. This is the only time that the lab is offered this semester, so you are not able to make up the lab. Participation in the lab will count toward your grade.
After reading a scenario like this one, you’ll be given a series of possible responses to the situation—like “Skip your lab for two weeks to attend the volunteer opportunity” and “Ask your lab instructor to identify a solution that will allow you to attend both”—and asked to rate the effectiveness of each.
Scoring & Timing
Your ratings will be compared to those of medical educators; an exact match gets full credit, while a close match gets partial credit. Your total score on the exam will range from 1 to 9. See the percentile ranking table below, which is based on 51,157 AAMC PREview tests taken during the past two years, and is in effect for May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025. The mode is a score of 6, and a total of 55% of test-takers received scores of 5, 6, or 7. Only 10% of test-takers scored above a 7.
The AAMC PREview test is administered less frequently than Casper; the 2024 testing calendar offers 14 testing dates from March through September. The test costs $100 and takes 75 minutes to complete.
Our Tips
To prepare for the test, familiarize yourself with the log-in procedure (see this helpful video and the AAMC’s own Examinee Preparation Guide) as well as the test format (see the AAMC’s sample questions). Take a practice test, which the AAMC offers here.
Beyond that, there isn’t any “studying” you can do in the traditional sense; this test aims to assess your intuition and judgment, not your knowledge. So relax, get a good night’s sleep, and do whatever else you can to enable clear thinking on test day!
Applying to medical school is a complicated process, and interviews are no exception. We encourage you to read through the rest of our blog posts on med school interviews. Feel free to contact Collegiate Gateway if you would like guidance on any aspect of the med school application and admissions process. As always, we’re happy to help!
