Part I: The Rules of the Game · Chapter 2
The big idea: Two sections, video first and then typed, eleven scenarios in all, each on its own short clock. You answer in your own words.
Carry it into the test as: Every scenario is a fresh, fast, self-contained task. Read it, run your method, answer every part, move on.
Every part of Casper is built from the same unit: a scenario followed by questions. The scenario is a short situation, sometimes a paragraph of text you read, sometimes a brief video clip you watch. Then come questions that probe how you think about it: what you would do, why, who is affected, how you would handle a complication. You answer in your own words. There are no options to choose from and nothing to look up.
That is the whole mechanic, repeated across the test. There is no reading trick and no specialized knowledge. The difficulty is producing clear, reasoned answers, fast.
The current Casper has two sections, taken in a fixed order, covering eleven scenarios in total.
The video-response section comes first. It has 4 scenarios. Each scenario has 2 questions, shown one at a time, and you have 1 minute to record a webcam video answer to each. You speak your response out loud, and you cannot edit it.
The typed-response section comes second. It has 7 scenarios. Each scenario shows you 2 questions at once, and you have 3.5 minutes to type your answers to both. This is where most of the test’s volume lives.
A few practical details:
(Acuity Insights changes these details between cycles. The format moved from fourteen scenarios to eleven recently. Always confirm the current structure when you register.)
The timing is strict and local. The 3.5 minutes for a typed scenario belong to that scenario only; you cannot save time from a fast one to spend on a slow one. The minute to record a video answer is a minute, and then it submits. This shapes your whole approach: you are not writing a polished essay, you are getting a complete, structured answer down inside a tight, fixed window, every time.
That is why a method matters so much here, and why we drill timing directly in Chapter 13. When the structure of your answer is already automatic, the clock stops being the enemy.
Two things take the pressure off. First, you need no healthcare or specialized knowledge. The scenarios are written so that any thoughtful person can engage with them. Second, most scenarios are ordinary: a disagreement with a coworker, a friend who asks an awkward favor, a group project where someone is not pulling their weight, an uncomfortable moment with a stranger. A handful may be set in a clinic or a workplace, but the point is never your expertise. It is how you reason about people and obligations. That is exactly why this book builds your judgment on everyday examples first.
