Career Planning Advice
Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) are designed to assess judgment, character, and skills in various professional situations, such as conflict management, service, and dealing with ethical issues. In the context of family medicine, it assesses four attributes identified as important to a resident. These attributes are professional integrity, teamwork, adaptability, empathy and compassion.
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Applicants applying to Canadian programs may be required by specific program requirements to complete assessments in the language of the program to which they are applying. Altus Suite is a multi-part assessment that gives each applicant the opportunity for programs to get to know them better, earlier on in the admissions process, by demonstrating their unique competencies and attributes that showcase who they are, beyond their grades. Altus Suite consists of:
- Casper – a situational judgment test that assesses 10 non-cognitive skills in test-takers, such as ethics, empathy, problem-solving and collaboration. Some programs require this open-ended online assessment. It asks what you would do in a situation that presents a dilemma, and, most importantly, to explain why. This makes it possible to identify the behavioural tendencies of candidates who aim for professions involving human relations. Please note that after passing the Casper test, you cannot remove a program from your distribution list; this can only happen before the scheduled test date. However, you can add programs to your distribution list even after taking the test, as long as the results are accepted.
- Snapshot – a short automated video interview that assesses the communication skills as well as the motivation of candidates for the profession.
Together, these standardized screening tools help paint the most complete picture of you, so programs can see beyond your grades. Note that if you are applying to programs offered in both English and French, you could complete Altus Suite in both languages. However, you will not be allowed to send your French and English Altus Suite results to the same program. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact .
The CPro-MF - called Professional Choices in Family Medicine
Some programs require this situational judgment test designed specifically for family medicine residency selection in Canada. In fact, in these programs, all applicants, including Canadian medical graduates (DCM) and medical graduates from outside Canada and the United States (IMD), are required to take the test for their application to be considered complete.
Here is the secure online platform called HR Avatar ®: and a .
For more information, attend an information session about the CPro-MF towards the end of the year in French or English. The CPro-MF team presents information and answers questions about test development, test format and scoring, as well as practical considerations such as recording and remote monitoring. If you wish to attend, consult the  or watch.