If you’re searching for AAMC PREview questions and answers, you’ve come to the right place. In this exam, candidates rate proposed responses to scenarios, and their answers are compared with ideal ratings previously provided by medical educators.
In theory, as a situational judgment test, this exam assesses competencies not reflected in standardized test scores. By knowing these 8 competencies and using our strategies, you can improve your performance. As so many medical schools in the US and Canada use this exam, AAMC PREview prep is advisable.
In this article, we will cover the AAMC PREview exam, rating strategy, and several example questions, recommended answers, and rationales to ensure you get a great score.
Disclaimer: PREview is a registered trademark of the AAMC. BeMo and AAMC do not endorse or affiliate with one another.
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How to Answer AAMC PREview Questions
Let’s do a brief overview of what this test is and how it operates.
The AAMC PREview is an online exam designed to assess a candidate on eight core competencies:
1. Service orientation
2. Social skills
3. Teamwork
4. Cultural competence
5. Reliability and dependability
6. Ethical responsibility to self and others
7. Resilience and adaptability
8. Capacity for improvement
Therefore, much like the CASPer test, AAMC PREview is an assessment of your non-cognitive skills.
Want to learn how to prepare for your AAMC PREview? Watch this video:
PREview consists of 30 written scenarios, each followed by several possible responses which you must rate based on effectiveness (very ineffective, ineffective, effective, and very effective). The same effectiveness rating can be given to multiple responses to a single scenario.
You respond to each prompt as though you were a medical student, using only the information given. Make no assumptions beyond what you are told. So, if a scenario asks for a response to failing a test that you need to graduate, don’t assume that this cannot be the case and that there must be additional tests you could take to make up your grade. Only respond to the scenario as presented.
When scoring, don’t compare your rating for one response to your rating for another response. Each response item stands alone. In other words, you aren’t ranking the responses from least to most effective. You’re just rating how effective or ineffective each item would be.
The Four-Point Scale
If you're wondering how AAMC PREview is scored, it's based on how close your rating was to that of a medical educator. You get full credit for selecting a rating that is identical to the medical educator’s rating and partial credit if your rating is close.
Answer Strategy
Review the definitions of the AAMC 8 core competencies and make sure you understand them first before you attempt any PREview question. We recommend you review these every time you practice to internalize them and properly prepare for the AAMC PREview exam.
Steps
1. Read each scenario twice and pay attention to the specific wording of each scenario. Before you read the responses, identify the competencies highlighted in the scenario.
2. Identify the most pressing issue(s). Pressing issues are the problems that must be solved and the desired outcomes.
3. In so doing, you should also identify the parties who are involved and may be impacted by the situation and/or the response to the situation.
4. Read each response and rate the effectiveness using the BeMo diagnostics outlined below:
Example AAMC PREview Questions with Rated Answers
The following are actual AAMC PREview questions and rated answers, with rationales based on our BeMo diagnostic. Our diagnostic will cover the core competencies, pressing issues, and parties impacted in order of priority.
PREview Question 1
You are pursuing a two-week volunteer opportunity at a well-regarded local clinic. When you receive your course schedule, you realize the volunteer opportunity would conflict with your weekly required lab. This is the only time that the lab is offered this semester, so you are not able to make up the lab. Participation in the lab will count toward your grade.
Core Competencies: Reliability and dependability, Resilience and adaptability
Pressing issue: 1) Fulfill your academic obligations and ensure your grades are not negatively impacted, 2) Give yourself valuable professional experiences.
Parties impacted: Yourself
Answers
PREview Question 2
You are assigned to a small group in your clinical skills course. One of your group members has recently struggled with their assignments. The group member is often late to sessions, prepares materials of poor quality, and needs numerous reminders to complete tasks. Your group receives a new assignment that is due in three weeks and will be graded based on the group's overall performance.
Core Competencies: Teamwork, Service orientation, Reliability and dependability
Pressing issue: 1) Ensure your team collaborates and performs well on the assignment, 2) Help the struggling group member to succeed.
Parties impacted: Your team, the struggling team member
Answers
PREview Question 3
During class, your professor observes you participating in a role-play exercise with one of your classmates. You are acting as a doctor, and your classmate is acting as an angry patient. The role-play is tense but stays on course. You think you performed well, but after class, your classmate gives you unexpected negative feedback that you missed several opportunities to comfort the patient and calm the situation. You are now expected to attend a debriefing session with your professor.
Core Competencies: Capacity for improvement, Social skills
Pressing issue: 1) Constructively use the feedback you received to improve your clinical skills, 2) Maintain a positive and professional relationship with your classmate.
Parties impacted: Yourself, your classmate
Answers
PREview Question 4
For the past few days, you have been checking up on several patients, including one who is recovering from surgery. The patient has been in the hospital for a week and has not received any visitors. The patient is friendly, cheerful, and enjoys sharing stories about their career as a photographer. However, you are finding it difficult to politely end your conversations so that you can spend enough time with other patients with whom you were assigned to meet.
Core Competencies: Service orientation, Reliability and dependability
Pressing issue: 1) Ensure that you meet the patient’s supplementary need for company, 2) Ensure that other patients receive sufficient care.
Parties impacted: Patient (photographer), other patients, yourself
Answers
PREview Question 5
While viewing a classmate’s social media profile, you notice that your classmate has made negative comments about treating a recent patient. Your classmate describes the patient and the patient’s condition in detail, which violates patient privacy regulations.
Core Competencies: Ethical responsibility to self and others
Pressing issue: 1) Correct the error, protect the patient’s privacy, fulfill your legal obligations, 2) Educate the classmate about the privacy violation.
Parties impacted: The patient, the medical school, your classmate
Answers
Source: Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
Check out this video for more tips!
1. Are SJTs good tests?
Not particularly. In theory, situational judgment tests assess competencies not reflected in standardized test scores, but they cannot truly assess your potential to become a physician. This is because many such tests make various assumptions: they are not coachable, there are no right or wrong answers, and they assess “inherent” traits. While they claim to help eliminate bias, the very idea that certain individuals have innate qualities that cannot be learned points to the expectation that some candidates will “not have what it takes.” At BeMo, we believe the opposite and have the receipts to back it up; our students consistently perform better on the AAMC PREview using our strategies. We even provide a Score Increase Guarantee.
2. Is the PREview test effective for determining who will make a good physician?
Not really. There is more to being a physician than rating possible responses to scenarios. Being able to develop your own response, for example, would already be more effective, as that would test your actual responses, not your evaluation of a given set of possible responses.
3. Is this test important?
Yes and no. The AAMC PREview exam is considered important for admissions purposes and might determine entry into your institution of choice. However, it will not decide whether you are a good physician or have potential in health care.
4. Can I explain my answers on the test?
No. You just rate the responses; you don’t justify them.
5. How long does the PREview test take?
The actual AAMC PREview exam lasts 75 minutes, and if you require more time, you must apply for accommodations from the AAMC.
6. Does it cost money?
There is a $100 flat fee.
7. Can I retake the exam?
Only if there was a technical problem. You are only allowed one PREview testing in a year.
8. What are the system requirements for taking the test?
AAMC PREview is compatible with most desktop and laptop computers. You need an internet connection with recommended download speed of 1.5 Mbps and upload speed of 1 Mbps, webcam with at least 640 x 480 resolution, Windows 10 (10 S mode is not supported) or Mac OS 10.13 (or higher). For full specifications, be sure to read the instructions sent to you once you have registered.
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