MSAP Exam 8th March

Clo14 · 09-02-2014 10:53pm #1

Hi All,

So the CAO has been sent but now have to deal with getting prepared for the MSAP exam. Wondering if there is anyone else out there completing it? I have no idea what to study, I'm doing the practice exam that you can pay for and really wasn't expecting it to be what it is. Questions are quite hard, initially thought it was going to be more of a personality test (where there is no wrong answer a such but it's very evident that it's not and I will probably fail it according to the answer sheet!!) but was wrong!!

I would have normally been very good at essays and should be fine with the structure etc but the topics seem to go from one kind to a whole different kind so I am very worried about the content of my essay as I will more than likely be clueless to the subject they want me to discuss.

If there is anyone out there that can help me in anyway at all, it would be much appreciated. Really setting my heart on a particular course and don't want to fail!!

:(:(

Thanks,

Clodagh

auskid · 10-02-2014 4:49pm

There will be two different types of essay...no.1 will be abstract usually creating a argument for or against a current topic topic like technology or global warming or education.....the second will be a personal style essay generally in some way related to yourself........I did it myself two years ago and my partner did it last year....I managed to finish both essays as it would be a strong point of mine..my partner only managed the first essay and one paragraph on the second but we still scored the same...It is judged on your writing standard and argument building skills not your quantity...so dont panic its only 30 minutes per essay...so i would definatly concentrate on getting one good essay written rather than two average essays just finished......as for the multiple choice section they have tended to change dramatically from year to year but basically they can be tough as more often than not at least 2 out of 4 answers will be very plausible...all in all my advice would be to do one good essay as in my opinion and judging from the scores ive seen and spoken to others about it is what they will largely base your score on.

auskid · 10-02-2014 4:50pm

also what course are you looking at

Clo14 · 10-02-2014 5:37pm

auskid wrote: »

There will be two different types of essay...no.1 will be abstract usually creating a argument for or against a current topic topic like technology or global warming or education.....the second will be a personal style essay generally in some way related to yourself........I did it myself two years ago and my partner did it last year....I managed to finish both essays as it would be a strong point of mine..my partner only managed the first essay and one paragraph on the second but we still scored the same...It is judged on your writing standard and argument building skills not your quantity...so dont panic its only 30 minutes per essay...so i would definatly concentrate on getting one good essay written rather than two average essays just finished......as for the multiple choice section they have tended to change dramatically from year to year but basically they can be tough as more often than not at least 2 out of 4 answers will be very plausible...all in all my advice would be to do one good essay as in my opinion and judging from the scores ive seen and spoken to others about it is what they will largely base your score on.

Cheers for that!! Yeah, I think I will find it hard to write an essay when I'm unsure about the subject though, I know how to write an essay the intro, your points and the conclusion but the topics as they could be anything scare me! Can I ask how you studied for it? Did you just brush up on subjects like the above? Take a couple of points and apply them to the essay question then? Thanks a million for your advice!!

Clo14 · 10-02-2014 5:37pm

auskid wrote: »

also what course are you looking at

Social work in ucc auskid! ðŸ˜႒

auskid · 10-02-2014 7:43pm

There looking for grammar , spelling structure etc...the content while important isnt everyting...I purchased the study book from acer directly when i applied for the exam....from experience and from speaking to others the best advice i will give you is to take your time on the day and dont panic...hold your nerve and youll be fine ...remember 95% of the people in the room with you will be feeling the exact same...choose your essay wisely look at all options...you will find that the titles will be very current topics so if your up on current affairs youll be fine

The bad news...As far as I know and dont quote me the social work course is very much based on the interview process and the experience in the field you have...it is all mature students and they are all in there 30,s 40,s Im doing social science and share some classes with them..it is also a professional course which means there attendance is monitored...the interview includes group sessions where they will monitor you in action within a group..I think the msap doesnt even apply to entry to social work.........

there is another way into social work if you dont have the experience....

you can do social science which is 3 years...msap applies to this...after 3 years and building up 400 hours of work experience you can do a masters in social work...you can build up the 400 hours by doing summer volunteer modules which apply to your final year credits which mean you can take less modules during the college term...

Hope this helps..ask away if you need any more info

Clo14 · 10-02-2014 7:54pm

auskid wrote: »

There looking for grammar , spelling structure etc...the content while important isnt everyting...I purchased the study book from acer directly when i applied for the exam....from experience and from speaking to others the best advice i will give you is to take your time on the day and dont panic...hold your nerve and youll be fine ...remember 95% of the people in the room with you will be feeling the exact same...choose your essay wisely look at all options...you will find that the titles will be very current topics so if your up on current affairs youll be fine

The bad news...As far as I know and dont quote me the social work course is very much based on the interview process and the experience in the field you have...it is all mature students and they are all in there 30,s 40,s Im doing social science and share some classes with them..it is also a professional course which means there attendance is monitored...the interview includes group sessions where they will monitor you in action within a group..I think the msap doesnt even apply to entry to social work.........

there is another way into social work if you dont have the experience....

you can do social science which is 3 years...msap applies to this...after 3 years and building up 400 hours of work experience you can do a masters in social work...you can build up the 400 hours by doing summer volunteer modules which apply to your final year credits which mean you can take less modules during the college term...

Hope this helps..ask away if you need any more info

Cool, that helps a lot, thanks for that!

Have been doing voluntary work and have a few Fetac courses in that area that I hope will stand to me.....but I'm 24! Those guys in their 30's and 40's will have a good bit on me!

Didn't know they did the group sessions so thanks a mil for that! Will have to blow them away in the interview by the sounds of it lol!

The attendance won't be an issue and actually glad it's a mature student course, I'm 24 going on 35 and do want to do this as a career!

Perfect, appreciate your offer! It may not be the last you hear from me!!

Thanks again,

Clodagh

auskid · 10-02-2014 7:59pm

no bother...definately put social science as your number 2 on the cao as it will also get you moving in the right direction towards social work and many other options....id be surprised if you dont get it with all your courses etc...you can do the msap now with no pressure it will only apply to other arts courses you put on your cao....also i would email the social work department for information on the application procedure and interviews ...there very helpful...best of luck with everything

sunbabe08 · 06-03-2014 12:40pm

I'm doing the exam myself on Saturday, getting slightly nervous now.

Clo14 · 06-03-2014 1:00pm

sunbabe08 wrote: »

I'm doing the exam myself on Saturday, getting slightly nervous now.

Yeah me too, it's not something that you can really study for to a certain extent!! Trying to keep positive and all but there is no way I will get all those questions done in the hour!!

sunbabe08 · 06-03-2014 3:16pm

Clo14 wrote: »

Yeah me too, it's not something that you can really study for to a certain extent!! Trying to keep positive and all but there is no way I will get all those questions done in the hour!!

honestly after looking at the practice exam and plus doing a couple in the practice class in college. i might get a few done, but i'm not gonna get them all done. the essays should be interesting part, because i am talker, so need to try to keep it short and sweet

Mola85 · 06-03-2014 11:01pm

I'm doing the exam on Saturday too. I think I'll find it strange using a pen for that length of time again.
Having done the practice essays, I feel that I am rushing and not getting my points across accurately.
Module 2 ...well that is just a 60 minute guessing game.
Hopefully it turns out to be ridiculously easy on the day and we all get offered want we want....and then some cake.

sunbabe08 · 07-03-2014 12:00pm

KNOW the feeling all to well. barely using a pen this year

Mola85 · 07-03-2014 8:52pm

Best of luck tomorrow guys

Clo14 · 07-03-2014 9:16pm

Mola85 wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow guys

Best of luck both! Going to do one more blast of practice questions and get an early night I think! Lots of coffee tomorrow morning!! Hope we all do well!!!

Lenmeister · 08-03-2014 1:05am

Ya hope you all do well, I didn't even know I had to do one until a month ago. I'm thinking the essays are going to be hard as their not my strong point, multiple choice at least you can tick something.

sunbabe08 · 08-03-2014 8:10am

it's an exam that is very hard to prepare for, i'm just hoping that my mind doesn't go blank, i'm also hoping to get something current like cyberbullying or the neck nominations

:o or would that be too leaving cert like for this exam. feck it i'm just hoping for an essay that i can relate to

Mola85 · 08-03-2014 3:11pm

How did everyone find it?

Clo14 · 08-03-2014 3:21pm

Mola85 wrote: »

How did everyone find it?

Essays were great I thought, smashed those I think but the questions were a different story!! I can't even at how I did, any of them could have been right or wrong! Got all finished anyway!! What about u?

Fi Barry · 08-03-2014 3:26pm

Hey, how did everyone do on the exams today? I posted a thread/post/forum? (ugh, new to this boards.ie). I thought it was hell-ish to be honest.

Clo14 · 08-03-2014 3:52pm

Fi Barry wrote: »

Hey, how did everyone do on the exams today? I posted a thread/post/forum? (ugh, new to this boards.ie). I thought it was hell-ish to be honest.

The questions were horrible alright, I just started to go with my gut like that's all I could do as they were fairly hard to understand! Glad it's over, heading to the pub soon to forget about it lol! U did ur best and that's all that matters!!!

Lenmeister · 09-03-2014 4:37am

Feel terrible after that, problem as always with me, not enough time! Questions were fine, but there was over 1/4 I didn't get to answer so I had to quickly mark any. Only got maybe 1/2 through the 2nd essay

It will look so stupid when they see a sentenced half finished... Doh!

sunbabe08 · 09-03-2014 9:19am

wtf was that? haven't had an exam like that in a while. the violence essy was utter crap. i'm hoping the 2nd essay will save me, because i ended up with actually having a introduction, a middle and a conclusion. i'm not a big fan of violence anyway, so that essay just went all over the place

the questions:eek: um the graph truly utterly stumped me and made my head spin.

normally i would over analyse and say i could have done better, but honestly i don't think i could have done any better

merkal · 09-03-2014 10:48am

hi guys,
i sat the test yesterday too. it was very difficult. i was dreading the essays but in actual fact they came easy enough to me when the time came. but the second part- holy crap!. i did all the practice tests and even though they were hard, they were not half as hard as the real one!! and this was the part of the test that i was actually looking forward to. i think i answered about 8 out of 35 with confidence, about 7 (all the graph and grid ones, wtf!!) were just picked at random, and the rest i answered with doubt- very very hard test.

sunbabe08 · 09-03-2014 1:40pm

i have confidence that i answered about 5 or 6 correctly. i think i might be generous. oh well, won't know for another 6 weeks

Lenmeister · 09-03-2014 11:35pm

Was anyone else struggling timewise? I was doing MSAP 1 and 3. In 3 - 35 questions over 1 hour is just under 2 minutes a question. To be able to read the whole thing, then answer 3/4/5 individual parts in 2 minutes seems very very constricted. Especially when you have to recheck the thing every time you're answering 1 part of a question. Even moreso when it involves graphs or a lot of data in charts.

Ross1986 · 11-03-2014 1:02pm

Found the essays all right to be honest, had practised the preparation of them a lot before the exam. The multiple choice was the opposite though, they really are there to trip you up deliberately.

At least it's out of the way now, best of luck to everyone!

Clo14 · 03-04-2014 8:06pm

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has received their results yet? I'm watching the post man each morning now, if it's not tomorrow they will surely arrive next week?

merkal · 03-04-2014 9:49pm

i wasn't expecting them till the end of april!! is it sooner they're due?

Clo14 · 03-04-2014 10:34pm

merkal wrote: »

i wasn't expecting them till the end of april!! is it sooner they're due?

I thought they were, I don't know why so you could be right but I was under the impression we would get it in a month, maybe I'm completely wrong, sorry if I am!!

merkal · 03-04-2014 11:59pm

ah right, just read this on the acer website

''The CAO will receive results by the 2nd week in April. Candidates receive their results soon after''.

so i guess it'll be the third or fourth week of april.

Mola85 · 04-04-2014 12:02am

Another few weeks to wait.
I guess it's best to try forget about it completely.
Distraction is key....and maybe possibly thinking up a 'plan B' other than college....those damn multiple choice questions!!!

sunbabe08 · 04-04-2014 2:01am

well i have distractions of 4 assignments by the end of april to get done. so i'm sorted on the distraction front.

Clo14 · 04-04-2014 7:07am

Mola85 wrote: »

Another few weeks to wait.
I guess it's best to try forget about it completely.
Distraction is key....and maybe possibly thinking up a 'plan B' other than college....those damn multiple choice questions!!!

Ah okay sorry should have checked that first before putting the idea in everyone's head lol sorry! Speaking of 'plan b' I've read the cao website about the change of mind option comin up in May or something but don't fully understand the whole thing, can I ask if anyone knows if u can add in other courses or is it just that u can change the order of ur choices already there! Missed the option to pay the 10e to add and am thinking that u can hardly add more for free in May? Hope that makes sense!

Lenmeister · 07-04-2014 12:44am

Yeah I haven't gotten anything. I'm just waiting for the email, that I assume they're sending! Ya I was going to change around 1 or 2 things but I think that's passed, there are numerous chances to change it as far as I remember.

sunbabe08 · 07-04-2014 9:36am

you can change around your course in may free of charge. not sure about adding them though

Lenmeister · 07-04-2014 7:54pm

Ya actually I read that earlier about being free, happy days

MiloYossarian · 12-04-2014 6:32pm

Results on 22nd April 2014.

Mola85 · 14-04-2014 10:12pm

Next Tuesday...jeepers.

Clo14 · 15-04-2014 7:41am

Mola85 wrote: »

Next Tuesday...jeepers.

How do we know it's Tuesday?....if it is, that will be an interesting day!!!!

Lenmeister · 15-04-2014 6:59pm

Keep an eye on the website, they should be sending an email anyway to let you know what the deal is.

MiloYossarian · 16-04-2014 12:16am

Clo14 wrote: »

How do we know it's Tuesday?....if it is, that will be an interesting day!!!!

Because I looked at the website and they said the 22nd, I've read some of you're previous posts. I think we're going for the same thing. If I'm correct, there's only fifteen places for mature students.

Clo14 · 22-04-2014 7:39am

So the results are in guys!!! Just logged on to the website!! Did great in my essay but absolutely horrific in the questions!!!! Arrgghhhhhh!!! 94 percentile in the essays and a lousy 31 in the questions!! That 31 brought down my overall to 67! I'm assuming that isn't great!!???

Ross1986 · 22-04-2014 9:57am

Scored in the 62nd Percentile for Module 1 and the 58th Percentile for Module 2, thought I had done better in Module 1 tbh. Scored in the 61st Percentile overall so don't think that will be enough for the course I applied for in UCC but sure we'll wait and see.

Clo14 · 22-04-2014 10:01am

Ross1986 wrote: »

Scored in the 62nd Percentile for Module 1 and the 58th Percentile for Module 2, thought I had done better in Module 1 tbh. Scored in the 61st Percentile overall so don't think that will be enough for the course I applied for in UCC but sure we'll wait and see.

I'm the same Ross, applied for social work and not sure if that's good enough! Was speakin to a guy that did the msap with me and he said that he got an a letter for an interview on like Thursday or something! Ucc obviously get the results before we do! But only thing is that he lives in the city and I live a lil bit away from it so I'm hoping that I might recieve a letter today or tomorrow........will lose all hope of it after that tho!!!

Ross1986 · 22-04-2014 10:27am

I'm going for Sport Studies and Physical Education and their only method of selection is by the MSAP results so that doesnt fill me with hope haha! I've an interview for UL though in a few weeks so that's going to get all my attention now.

Fingers crossed for you

Clo14 · 22-04-2014 10:36am

Ross1986 wrote: »

I'm going for Sport Studies and Physical Education and their only method of selection is by the MSAP results so that doesnt fill me with hope haha! I've an interview for UL though in a few weeks so that's going to get all my attention now.

Fingers crossed for you

Ahh well that's fab, best of luck with the interview!! I have one in trinity tomorrow so just have to put the msap outa my head!! But sur look u never know u could still be called aswell the percentiles are of all the peeps that sat the exam in Ireland as far as I know right? So relative to them that's the score but relative to those who went for the course in ucc u could be one of the highest!!?? I think that's the way it works if I'm not mistaken or else I'm just trying to kid myself and make the best of a rather crappy situation lol!! Either way we did our best!!!

sunbabe08 · 01-05-2014 12:04pm

all i'm gonna say on the matter is that i'm gonna have to depend on my results from fetac for this year and last year. praying to god that it will be enough, but that exam result was a disaster and i'm not the only one either

Byron85 · 08-05-2014 12:01pm

sunbabe08 wrote: »

all i'm gonna say on the matter is that i'm gonna have to depend on my results from fetac for this year and last year. praying to god that it will be enough, but that exam result was a disaster and i'm not the only one either

I'm sure it wasn't that bad! Chin up and all that!

I sat the MSAP in the year of its introduction in 2009, so it was a bit nerve racking. I thought I didn't do so great either, but a few years later and I'm now in the second year of my PhD in UCC.

Lenmeister · 09-05-2014 1:47am

Oh nice! How did you end up getting into UCC? Were you awarded a place through the MSAP?

Byron85 · 10-05-2014 10:29am

Lenmeister wrote: »

Oh nice! How did you end up getting into UCC? Were you awarded a place through the MSAP?

Yes, and I was doing a Level 5 Fetac course at the time too, so I think that might have helped.

MSAP Exam 8th March

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