Formerly known as the AAMC (Association ofAmerican Medical Colleges) Situational Judgment Test, the PREview Professional Readiness Examination is intended to assess test takers’ competencies in soft skills such as service orientation, social skills, teamwork, and reliability and dependability. Officially, the eight “pre-professional competencies” evaluated on this standardized assessment are:

-      Service orientation

-      Social skills

-      Cultural competence

-      Teamwork

-      Oral communication

-      Ethical responsibility to self and others

-      Reliability and dependability

-      Resilience and adaptability

-      Capacity for improvement

Similar in scope to CASPer (Computer BasedAssessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics) exam, the PREview exam presents examinees with a series of theoretical ethical dilemmas and will ask the examinee to rate the effectiveness of each response to the dilemma on a Likert Scale, with 1 = very ineffective and 4 = very effective. However, the biggest difference between the CASPer exam and the PREview exam is that the latter is proctored live.

Basic Overview

There are a total of 186 questions on the exam covering a total of 30 ethical dilemmas. The total length of the exam session is 95-115 minutes. Students are given a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the exam. An official practice exam is available here. There are an unspecified number of experimental questions that will not count towards your cumulative score, but may be used on future examinations. A sample scenario is included in the official AAMC Examinee Preparation Guide.

While there are scenarios that take place in health care settings, knowledge of medicine or hospital protocols is not required. The exam specifically is intended to measure interpersonal and professional skills, not medical knowledge. In terms of scoring, the total score and the percentile scores will be made available to examinees. The highest score one can receive on the AAMC PREview exam is a 9 and the lowest score is a 1.

From June to October 2021, 11,214 pre-medical students took the PREview exam and those who scored the following scores fell into the following percentiles compared to their peers:

1 = 7.72%

2 = 14.92%

3 = 27.86%

4 = 43.36%

5 = 60.98%

6 = 79.87%

7 = 93.68%

8 = 98.51%

9 = 100%

-      Source: Summary of AAMC® Situational Judgment Test Scores

The exam is currently being offered betweenJune and September 2022 from 8 AM to 1 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Only one attempt is allowed per academic year. The registration fee for the exam is $100.00 USD. However, students are eligible to apply for the AAMC Fee Assistance Program. To reschedule your exam, students will need to pay an additional $25. To cancel the exam, students will be offered a 50% refund, but must contact YardstickMeasure support in order to receive the refund: Phone: 1-855-772-8678(available 24/7). In order to register for the exam, you will need to certify that you have read and agreed to the conditions outlined in the official AAMC guide linked here.

The exam can be taken at a location of your choosing (personal bedroom, library, cafe), but you must use a desktop or laptop computer to begin the exam. Phones and tablet devices are not permitted. In order to make the exam process more efficient, it is recommended to verify in advance if your testing device meets the AAMC’s workspace and computer requirements as well as download the ProctorU Extension to access the live, remote exam proctor prior to the exam.

Students who are applying to the following list of participating medical schools must opt into taking the AAMC PREview exam. Even if you are undecided about attending any of the listed schools below, you should still consider applying for the exam before the school’s application deadlines. If, however, you are not taking the exam for your application to medical school, you can email askpreview@aamc.orgto request permission to take the exam at least four weeks before the registration deadline.

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For more information about the AAMC PREview exam, please visit this link. Good luck!

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