RACGP CASPer guide

How to prepare for RACGP CASPer without sounding like a robot.

For AGPT and FSP doctors who already understand difficult people, conflict and pressure, but need to show that judgement clearly inside the CASPer format.

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What RACGP CASPer is actually testing

RACGP calls the assessment its selection assessment or National Entry Assessment. It is delivered by Acuity Insights and referred to by Acuity as the Casper Test. The assessment is designed to evaluate how you reflect on and respond to interpersonal and professional dilemmas using critical reasoning and social interpretation.

The listed competencies are collaboration, communication, empathy, fairness, ethics, self-awareness, resilience, problem-solving and motivation. These are the same broad CASPer skills medical applicants practise. The difference is the expected maturity of the response.

Important: RACGP states that the assessment does not test clinical knowledge. Even when a scenario feels professional, the scoring target is still human judgement, not clinical management.

Why the doctor version feels different

A doctor brings more lived experience than a school-leaver or medical applicant. That helps only if the response shows the maturity behind the experience. A thin answer from a doctor can read worse than a thin answer from a younger applicant, because the marker reasonably expects more nuance.

By the time you apply for GP training, you have had at least 6+ years to learn empathy, difficult conversations, hierarchy, stress, feedback, apology, uncertainty and professional accountability. RACGP CASPer is asking whether that growth is visible when you are under time pressure.

What good preparation looks like

Practise everyday scenariosRACGP CASPer is not clinical viva practice. Generic interpersonal scenarios are still highly relevant.
Rewrite your default voiceMove away from compressed clinical phrasing and toward clear human reasoning.
Get response-level feedbackThe fastest improvement comes from seeing exactly where your answer lost nuance.
Train timed judgementCASPer rewards calm prioritisation, not memorised ethical slogans.

A simple preparation sequence

  1. Read the official RACGP and Acuity pages so you understand the assessment, not the rumours around it.
  2. Do three untimed everyday scenarios and notice whether you default to management, judgement or advice too quickly.
  3. Move into timed practice only after you can explain competing perspectives clearly.
  4. Review your answers for human texture: who is vulnerable, who has power, what is uncertain, what could harm trust?
  5. Use tutoring or group classes if you keep sounding too clinical, too vague or too scripted.

What to avoid

  • Do not memorise model answers. CASPer scenarios change, and rehearsed answers are usually obvious.
  • Do not prepare as if it is a clinical exam. That trains the wrong reflex.
  • Do not write as if you are documenting a ward plan. CASPer needs the reasoning, not just the action.
  • Do not assume that being a good doctor automatically makes the answer score. You still have to show the judgement on the page.
Want to test your default style? Use the practice tool for timed CASPer reps, then compare whether your answers sound human, nuanced and specific.
Open practice tool
Sources: RACGP AGPT Selection Assessment, RACGP FSP, Acuity Insights Casper.