Casper, PREview and the MMI: One Answer Framework

Casper, PREview and the MMI: One Answer Framework

Casper, AAMC PREview and the MMI all ask how you would handle a situation involving other people. Casper takes typed and video answers, PREview asks you to judge which behaviors are effective, and the MMI has you reason out loud to an interviewer. Once you have taken the test, its score is fixed. What you can still change is the spoken version.

It is easy to prepare for these as three separate jobs. Our view is that one four-step frame covers all three, because the people who run and use them describe nearly the same skills. The difference is the format, and the MMI is the only one with a person in the room asking follow-up questions.

The Acuity Insights, UC Davis and school interview pages quoted below were checked on November 7, 2026. Which schools require which test changes by cycle; our PREview and Casper requirements guide tracks that. More interview guides are in the medical school essays hub.

What Casper, PREview and the MMI each ask you to do

AAMC's own PREview pages returned HTTP 403 to our checks, so this page describes PREview only through UC Davis's wording.

School use varies. UC Davis: "All M.D. applicants are required to complete the AAMC PREview® Professional Readiness Exam" and "CASPER is not accepted as a substitute for the AAMC PREview®." Kaiser Permanente Tyson requires PREview, with a "Deadline for PREview exam scores: November 1." Wayne State "does not require CASPer, PREview or VITA", so at Wayne the MMI is the only situational read.

The same skills under three sets of labels

Line up the published skill lists and they overlap. The row groupings are ours; each cell is the source's own label.

The Virginia Tech Carilion and Idaho COM wording comes from their interview-day pages.

Our view: prepare one frame, not three. The labels differ, but every row above has a match in at least two of the three columns, five rows have one in all three, and the MMI schools describe what they rate in the same terms. Hofstra's interviewers evaluate "How you think through the situation" and "How clearly and effectively you communicate your reasoning". NYU: "Interviewers are evaluating your thought process and your ability to improvise."

The countercase: the overlap is in the labels. No source here says a Casper rater, a PREview key and an MMI interviewer score the same answer the same way. PREview also asks you to judge responses rather than write them, so typed Casper practice transfers least to it.

Does your Casper or PREview score matter after the interview invite?

What the sources say. Acuity: "Each individual program determines how and when to use Casper scores as part of their admissions process. The weight and role of your score will vary by program." UC Davis: "your score will be reviewed as part of the admissions evaluation", and "We consider the exam scores as one part of our admissions evaluation to better understand and evaluate the whole applicant." UC Davis also answers the timing question directly: an applicant already invited to interview must still take the exam.

Unknown. None of these pages says whether the score is looked at again after the interview. Programs decide, and they do not publish the detail.

Our recommendation: assume the score is in your file, and spend your time on the spoken version, the only part you can still change.

One frame, compressed three ways

Use the four-step frame from our MMI questions and sample answers page: facts (what you know and what is missing), people (who is affected), options (two or three real choices) and choice and check (what you do first, and what would change your mind). The frame is ours, and it fits what Hofstra and NYU say they evaluate. Only the compression changes:

• Casper, typed: one or two sentences per step, inside "3.5 minutes total to respond to both questions".
• Casper, video: one minute is enough for facts, people and your choice. Name the options in one clause.
• PREview: you rate responses instead of writing one. Our reading: the frame still works as a test, because a response that acts before checking the facts or the people affected skips two steps.
• MMI: all four steps out loud, in order, then a second round when the interviewer changes a fact. To fit scenario practice into a schedule, see how to prepare for a med school interview in 2 weeks.

Constructed example: one scenario, typed and spoken

Constructed example, written by us, not a real test item or applicant answer. Context (invented): you are one of four students on a public health course project. A teammate, Jordan, has missed two internal deadlines, and the draft is due to the instructor in three days.

Question 1: What would you do? Question 2: What would you do if Jordan told you they were working 30 hours a week to pay rent?

Constructed example: a weak typed answer

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant answer.

I would tell Jordan that missing deadlines is unfair to the team and that we need their part by tomorrow. If they still did not do it, I would tell the instructor. If Jordan is working a lot, I would understand, but the team still needs the work done.

It jumps to a choice without the facts or the people, weighs no options, and the answer to question 2 changes nothing.

Constructed example: a revised typed answer

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant answer.

1. The draft affects all four of us and our grade. Before deciding anything, I would ask Jordan privately what is getting in the way, because I do not know yet. I would then suggest the team split Jordan's remaining section so it is done on time, and agree who tells the instructor what each person wrote. Deciding that together is fairer than one of us reporting Jordan alone.

2. That changes the plan, not the deadline. I would ask Jordan which part they can finish in the time they have, take a larger share myself, and suggest Jordan ask the instructor about an extension for their portion. Next time I would set check-in dates at the start.

All four steps appear in both answers. The answer to question 2 changes the plan because the new fact matters.

Constructed example: the same answer spoken in a 6-minute MMI station

Constructed example, written by us. The timings below assume Hofstra's published 2-minute read and 6-minute discussion.

• 0:00-1:00. Facts: what you know, and the missing piece, which is why Jordan is missing deadlines. Say you would ask privately first.
• 1:00-2:00. People: the four teammates, the grade, Jordan, and the instructor who needs honest credit.
• 2:00-3:30. Options: split the section, report Jordan alone, or ask for an extension, and what each one costs.
• 3:30-4:30. Choice and check: split the section and agree how credit is reported, set check-ins, and say what you would do if Jordan stops responding.
• 4:30-6:00. Room for the interviewer's follow-up, such as "What if the instructor asks you directly who did the work?" Answer it with the same four steps.

Spoken, you have time to give the reasons the typed answer had to cut. If the interviewer stays silent, keep going through the steps; our MMI questions page covers neutral raters. For more scenario practice, see MMI ethics scenarios.

Turning Casper practice into MMI answers

If you are looking for typed and video Casper examples themselves, see our Casper test examples.

Questions about Casper, PREview and the MMI

Are Casper scenarios similar to MMI stations?

In content, yes: both present a situation involving other people and ask what you would do and why. The format differs. Casper allows "3.5 minutes total" for two typed answers or "1 minute per response" on video; MMI stations at the schools above run 5 to 7 minutes with a live interviewer.

What is the difference between AAMC PREview and the MMI?

UC Davis describes PREview as testing your "grasp of effective and ineffective behaviors within eight core competencies". The MMI asks you to produce and defend the behavior yourself, out loud.

Do medical schools see my Casper score before the interview?

Acuity says "Casper scores are automatically made available to the programs you select for distribution." When each program reads them is the program's decision; Acuity says each program "determines how and when to use Casper scores".

Does my Casper or PREview score matter after an interview invite?

No page we checked says it stops mattering, and UC Davis says the PREview score is "reviewed as part of the admissions evaluation". Assume it is part of your file and prepare for the interview.

Review the writing you send next

After the MMI, the next document you send a school is a letter: an update when something changes, or a letter of intent to your first choice. Get a free Quick Review of your letter of intent against GradPilot's medical school letter of intent and interest rubric, which reads whether the letter ties a feature of the school to your reason for attending and states interest the letter can support. For news since you applied, the update letter rubric checks what changed and what it adds. For the live interview side, see MMI formats by school.

proposed: "To drill follow-ups on your own, see practicing with an AI tool as a mock interviewer." (closing)

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• Acuity Insights, Casper (no cycle stated): test format, timing, skill list, rating and program use.
• UC Davis School of Medicine, AAMC PREview Exam Requirement (current cycle, no year stated): requirement, no Casper substitute, competency list, use in evaluation.
• Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Application Process (2026-2027 cycle): PREview requirement and score deadline; MMI skills.
• Wayne State University School of Medicine, Interview offered (effective July 2025): MMI stations and timing, no Casper or PREview requirement.
• Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Interview Day (no year stated): station timing and what interviewers evaluate.
• NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Multiple Mini Interview (2026 admissions season): station format and what interviewers evaluate.
• Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Interview Day (no year stated): MMI competencies.
• Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Interview Day (2026-2027 cycles): interview competencies.
• AAMC PREview pages on students-residents.aamc.org returned HTTP 403 on November 7, 2026 and are not quoted.