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AAMC PREview Exam: Format, Scoring, Schools and 8 Practice Scenarios

The AAMC PREview is a 75-minute online test where you rate 186 responses to school and clinic scenarios. Scores run from 1 to 9, it costs $105, and 15 schools require it.

Practice situational judgment

What PREview measures

PREview is the AAMC's situational judgment test. It checks how well you tell effective from ineffective professional behavior, and it needs no clinical knowledge.

More about the exam

It is run by the AAMC, the same organization behind the MCAT and AMCAS. It started in 2020 as the AAMC Situational Judgment Test and was renamed the AAMC PREview professional readiness exam in 2022. You may also see "PREview Essentials": that is the AAMC's yearly policy guide for the exam, not a different test.

The AAMC groups what it measures into two skill areas:

  • Personal accountability: commitment to learning and growth, reliability and dependability, resilience and adaptability, ethical responsibility to self and others.
  • Relational skills: teamwork and collaboration, interpersonal skills, empathy and compassion, self-awareness, understanding others.

The AAMC says the scenarios resemble what you may meet in medical or health professions school but do not require any previous experience in a health care setting. MD, DO, podiatric and dental applicants are eligible, as are applicants to other health programs that accept PREview.

Format and rating scale

One 75-minute section with no break. Each short scenario is followed by several responses, 186 in all, and you rate each one from very ineffective to very effective.

See the rating scale
  • Very ineffective: The response will cause additional problems or make the situation worse.
  • Ineffective: The response will not improve the situation or may cause a problem.
  • Effective: The response could help but will not significantly improve the situation.
  • Very effective: The response will significantly improve the situation.

You rate each response on its own. You are not asked what you would do, and you do not rank the responses. You take the exam online on your own computer, with a live remote proctor who checks your ID and your room. Total seated time is 95 to 115 minutes. At the end, you have 10 minutes to choose whether to score or void the exam, and a voided exam still counts as an attempt.

How it is scored

A rating that matches the medical educators' key gets full credit, and one step off on the same side gets half. You get a score from 1 to 9 with a percentile rank, about 30 days after your window.

More on scoring
  • Full credit when your rating matches the key.
  • Half credit when you are one step away on the same side of the scale, such as Very effective where the key says Effective.
  • No credit when you are on the other side of the scale.

The key is the consensus of admissions officers, faculty, student affairs staff and others who work closely with medical students. Your raw score is scaled so a score means the same on every test form. Schools see what you see: the score, a confidence band and a percentile, which is rebuilt each May from the last three testing years. AMCAS applicants' scores upload automatically. Details are on the AAMC's scoring page. For the full percentile table, a worked example and how to read your report, see PREview scores and practice test.

Test dates and fees

It costs $105, and your first registration is free with AAMC Fee Assistance. The 2026 windows ran from April 15 to October 15. The AAMC had not posted the 2027 calendar when we checked on October 17, 2026.

See the 2026 windows and fee rules

Each window is two days, with appointments from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern Time. Registration closed two weeks before each one.

  • April 15 and 16, scores out May 19
  • May 5 and 6, scores out June 9
  • June 3 and 4, scores out July 7
  • June 24 and 25, scores out July 28
  • July 22 and 23, scores out Aug. 25
  • Aug. 12 and 13, scores out Sept. 15
  • Sept. 16 and 17, scores out Oct. 15
  • Oct. 14 and 15, scores out Nov. 13
  • Rescheduling: $25, up to two weeks before your appointment.
  • Canceling: more than 48 hours ahead gets a 50% refund. A no-show gets none.
  • Fee Assistance: first registration free, later registrations and rescheduling half price. Canadian applicants who qualify in the AFMC's first application period can get a voucher.
  • Attempts: 2 per testing year and 4 in your lifetime, counted from 2024.

From the AAMC's registration page and the 2026 PREview Essentials. The 2027 dates will appear on the registration page.

Which schools require it

For the 2027 application year, 15 schools require PREview, 3 accept it for a situational judgment test requirement, 16 recommend it and 39 are exploring it. Source: the AAMC's participating schools list, updated June 12, 2026.

Show all 73 schools

Requiring PREview (15)

These schools may not treat your application as complete until they receive a score.

  • George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
  • Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
  • Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
  • Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine
  • Saint Louis University School of Medicine
  • Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
  • University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
  • University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
  • University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine
  • University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
  • University of Minnesota Medical School
  • University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
  • Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
  • Utah State University College of Veterinary Medicine

Requiring a situational judgment test, PREview accepted (3)

  • Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
  • Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine

Recommending PREview (16)

  • Alice L. Walton School of Medicine
  • Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
  • Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
  • Des Moines University Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Program
  • Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
  • Howard University College of Medicine
  • Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans
  • Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
  • Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
  • Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
  • Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
  • SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University College of Medicine
  • Thomas R. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine at Belmont University
  • Uniformed Services University of Health Science F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine
  • University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

Exploring for future use (39)

The AAMC says these schools will not use scores to evaluate this year's applications.

  • Arizona State University School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering
  • Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
  • California Northstate University College of Medicine
  • California University of Science and Medicine
  • Central Michigan University College of Medicine
  • Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
  • East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine
  • Florida State University College of Medicine
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences University at Buffalo
  • Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
  • Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine
  • Northwestern University the Feinberg School of Medicine
  • Penn State College of Medicine
  • Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine
  • Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine at the University of Vermont
  • Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
  • Southern Illinois School of Medicine
  • The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
  • The Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University
  • University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
  • University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
  • University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
  • University of Central Florida
  • University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
  • University of Florida College of Medicine
  • University of Georgia School of Medicine
  • University of Illinois College of Medicine
  • University of Kansas School of Medicine
  • University of Louisville School of Medicine
  • University of Michigan Medical School
  • University of Nebraska College of Medicine
  • University of New Mexico School of Medicine
  • University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences
  • University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
  • University of Virginia School of Medicine
  • University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

The AAMC list marks where you release the score yourself in the AAMC Testing Services score reporting system: Des Moines University, Rowan-Virtua, UT Health San Antonio, Utah State's veterinary school, McGovern's regular MD program, Michigan State's early assurance applicants and UAB's pre-matriculation programs. We read the list on October 17, 2026. Confirm on each school's admissions page as well.

PREview vs Casper

In PREview you rate responses someone else wrote. In Casper you write and record your own answers, and raters score them. Our Casper vs AAMC PREview comparison puts the two side by side.

How to rate a response

Treat each response as your immediate next step, use only what the scenario says, and rate each one on its own. Decide "helps or hurts" first, then how much.

Four habits that help
  1. Ask what happens next. A clear improvement is very effective, a small one effective, no change ineffective.
  2. Talk to the person first. Going straight to a professor or a report skips the step most likely to fix things.
  3. Never hide or promise. Covering up a mistake, or promising what you cannot control, makes things worse later.
  4. Watch the middle. One step off on the right side still earns half credit. Crossing the middle earns nothing.

A rating can be used several times in one scenario, or not at all.

8 practice scenarios

We wrote these in the PREview format. They are not AAMC items, and the ratings are our judgment, not the AAMC's key. Rate every response before you open ours. Ten more are in our PREview practice test.

1. The copied sectionEthical responsibility to self and others

You and three classmates are submitting a group report tomorrow morning. While putting the sections together tonight, you notice that one teammate's section matches a published article almost word for word, with no citation. The report will be submitted under all four names.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Message the teammate tonight, show them the matching passages, and ask them to rewrite or cite them before the deadline.
  2. Submit the report as it is, because each person is responsible for their own section.
  3. Rewrite the section yourself tonight without telling anyone.
  4. Tell the other two teammates and suggest the group decide together how to raise it.
  5. Email the professor tonight to report the teammate.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It goes to the person who can fix it, while there is still time, and keeps the report honest.
  2. Very ineffective. Your name is on the report too. Submitting copied work you know about makes the problem worse for everyone.
  3. Ineffective. The report gets fixed, but the teammate never learns what went wrong, and you take on their work without a word.
  4. Effective. It shares a group problem with the group, but it adds a step before anyone talks to the person who wrote the section.
  5. Ineffective. Skipping a direct conversation escalates something the group could still fix before submission.
2. Feedback you disagree withCommitment to learning and growth

After a small-group session, your facilitator tells you that you often interrupt classmates during case discussions. You did not notice doing this, and you think you were only keeping the discussion on track.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Ask the facilitator for a specific example and what they would like you to do differently.
  2. Explain that you only interrupt when the discussion goes off topic.
  3. Stay quiet in the next few sessions so it cannot happen again.
  4. Ask a classmate you trust whether they have noticed you interrupting.
  5. Tell the course director that the facilitator's feedback was unfair.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It treats the feedback as information, and it leaves you with something concrete to change.
  2. Ineffective. It defends the behavior instead of learning about it, and it is unlikely to change anything.
  3. Ineffective. It overcorrects. The group loses your contributions and you never learn when speaking up is welcome.
  4. Effective. A second view helps you understand the feedback, though it does not replace following up with the facilitator.
  5. Very ineffective. It escalates before you have understood the feedback and damages a working relationship.
3. Two commitments on SaturdayReliability and dependability

You promised a friend you would cover their Saturday morning shift at a free clinic where you both volunteer. On Thursday, you learn that a required review session for your course has been scheduled for the same morning.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Tell your friend right away and help them find another volunteer to cover the shift.
  2. Ask the course instructor whether the review session is recorded or offered at another time.
  3. Let the clinic coordinator know about the conflict and ask how they would like the shift handled.
  4. Skip the review session and cover the shift as promised.
  5. Go to the review session and explain to your friend afterward.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It gives the most notice to the person who is counting on you and works on a solution, not just an apology.
  2. Effective. It may solve the conflict, but the clinic still needs to know there is a problem if the answer is no.
  3. Effective. It is honest with the people running the clinic, though your friend should hear it from you first.
  4. Ineffective. It keeps one promise by dropping a required obligation, without trying to solve either.
  5. Very ineffective. The shift goes uncovered with no warning, which hurts the clinic and its patients as well as your friend.
4. An upset family memberEmpathy and compassion

You volunteer at the front of a busy clinic. A patient's daughter comes up to you and says, loudly, that her elderly father has been waiting for two hours and nobody has told them anything.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Acknowledge how frustrating a long wait is and offer to ask the front desk where her father is in the queue.
  2. Ask a staff member to come and speak with her.
  3. Tell her that the wait is not your fault and that you are only a volunteer.
  4. Promise her that her father will be seen in the next ten minutes.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It recognizes her feelings and gives her something real, within what a volunteer can do.
  2. Effective. It brings in someone who can answer her questions, but on its own it does not acknowledge her.
  3. Ineffective. It may be true, but it defends you instead of helping her, and it is likely to make her angrier.
  4. Very ineffective. You cannot know that. A broken promise will make the situation worse in ten minutes.
5. Last year's examEthical responsibility to self and others

A week before a major exam, a classmate offers to share a copy of last year's exam. The professor told the class at the start of the course that past exams are not to be shared.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Decline, and tell your classmate you are worried that sharing it breaks the course rules.
  2. Decline and say nothing more.
  3. Take the copy but only use it to decide which topics to study.
  4. Share it with your study group so that nobody is at a disadvantage.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. You stay honest yourself and give your classmate a reason to reconsider, without escalating.
  2. Effective. You protect your own integrity, but your classmate may go on sharing it with others.
  3. Very ineffective. Using it at all breaks the rule the professor set, whatever the reason.
  4. Very ineffective. It spreads the problem to more people and puts all of them at risk.
6. The teammate who gets talked overUnderstanding others

You are on a student research team. One teammate, who is newer to the group and speaks more quietly, is often talked over in meetings, and their suggestions are rarely picked up.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. In the next meeting, invite them to share their view on the topic being discussed.
  2. Ask them privately how meetings have been going for them.
  3. Suggest the team share an agenda before meetings so everyone can add points in writing.
  4. Present their ideas yourself in meetings so the ideas get heard.
  5. Leave it alone, since they have not complained.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It makes room for them in the moment where the problem happens, without speaking for them.
  2. Effective. It shows care and helps you understand their view, though meetings stay the same until someone acts.
  3. Effective. It gives every member a way in, though it does not change how people treat each other in the room.
  4. Ineffective. The ideas get airtime, but the teammate's voice and credit do not.
  5. Ineffective. Nothing improves, and the team keeps losing good ideas.
7. A failed first quizResilience and adaptability

You fail the first quiz in a course you need, even though you studied for many hours. The quiz is a small part of your grade, and the next one is in three weeks.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Meet with the instructor to go over what you missed and how to study differently.
  2. Ask classmates who did well how they studied.
  3. Contact the school's academic support office.
  4. Study twice as many hours using the same methods.
  5. Decide the course is not for you and drop it.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It finds the cause and changes the approach, with help from the person who knows the material best.
  2. Effective. It brings in new methods, though their methods may not fit what you got wrong.
  3. Effective. It uses support that exists for this, though it is less specific than reviewing the quiz itself.
  4. Ineffective. More of an approach that did not work is unlikely to change the result.
  5. Very ineffective. It gives up on a required course after one small setback.
8. The mislabeled samplesReliability and dependability

You work part time in a university research lab. You realize that last week you mislabeled several samples that are part of an ongoing study. Nobody else has noticed.

Rate the effectiveness of each response.

  1. Tell your supervisor today, explaining what happened and which samples are affected.
  2. Suggest a second check on labels to the lab, after you have told your supervisor about the error.
  3. Wait to see whether the error affects the results before saying anything.
  4. Relabel the samples yourself from memory without telling anyone.
Show our ratings and why
  1. Very effective. It is honest, it is fast, and it gives the person responsible for the study what they need to fix it.
  2. Effective. It helps prevent the next mistake, but the current samples still need to be dealt with.
  3. Very ineffective. Every day of waiting can spread the error into more of the study, and it hides your mistake.
  4. Very ineffective. Your memory may be wrong, and a silent fix leaves no record of what changed.

Study plans: two weeks or one

Learn the format, take the AAMC's two free practice exams a few days apart, then its $20 Scored Practice Exam. With one week, do the same steps closer together.

See both plans

Two weeks

  1. Days 1 and 2: read the AAMC's Examinee Preparation Guide, then rate the AAMC's two sample scenarios and our 8 above.
  2. Days 3 and 4: Practice Exam 1 in one 75-minute sitting, then read the rationale for every response where you crossed the middle.
  3. Days 5 to 8: sort your misses by competency and work on the one or two habits behind most of them.
  4. Days 9 and 10: Practice Exam 2, timed, reviewed the same way.
  5. Days 11 and 12: the Scored Practice Exam for a scaled score and percentile.
  6. Day 13: check your computer and room against the AAMC's test day requirements.
  7. Day 14: rest.

One week

  1. Day 1: the preparation guide and our scenarios.
  2. Day 2: Practice Exam 1, timed, and the review.
  3. Day 3: work on your most common misses.
  4. Day 4: Practice Exam 2, timed, and the review.
  5. Day 5: the Scored Practice Exam.
  6. Day 6: check your computer and room.
  7. Day 7: rest.

Pace matters: 186 responses in 75 minutes is a little over 24 seconds each, reading included. The materials are on the AAMC's preparation page.

AAMC PREview is a registered trademark of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Confetto is not affiliated with or endorsed by the AAMC. Casper is a registered mark of Acuity Insights. Confetto is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Acuity Insights or Casper. Practice scenarios are original and written by Confetto.

Frequently asked questions

Is PREview the same as Casper?

No. PREview is the AAMC's exam: you rate listed responses on a four-point scale, and your ratings are compared with medical educators' consensus ratings. Casper is run by Acuity Insights: you answer in your own words, on video and typed, and human raters score you. Some schools use one, some the other, and a few accept either.

Do I need clinical experience to do well?

No. The AAMC says the scenarios are similar to what you may meet in medical or health professions school but do not require any previous experience in a health care setting.

How long is the PREview exam, and is there a break?

The exam itself is 75 minutes with no break. The AAMC puts total seated time, including check-in with the remote proctor, at 95 to 115 minutes.

How many times can I take PREview?

Up to 2 times in one testing year and 4 times in your lifetime, counted from the 2024 testing year. A voided or unfinished exam counts as an attempt.

When do PREview scores come out, and how do schools get them?

About 30 days after your testing window, on the release date the AAMC lists for that window. If you apply through AMCAS, your score uploads to your application automatically. Schools outside AMCAS, and a few programs the AAMC list marks, need you to release it yourself in the AAMC Testing Services score reporting system.

Does a school that is exploring PREview use my score?

Not to decide on your application. The AAMC says exploring schools may look at scores, but only to decide whether to use the exam in a future cycle.

Is PREview Essentials a different test?

No. The AAMC PREview Essentials is the AAMC's official policy and procedure guide for each testing year (the 2026 edition took effect in January 2026). The exam itself started in 2020 as the AAMC Situational Judgment Test and was renamed the AAMC PREview professional readiness exam in 2022.