HPAT and Medicine 2016

CookieCat97 · 13-08-2015 12:05pm

alaskayoung wrote: »

Have you made a HPAT Ireland account? Can't post a link because you have to sign into your own. Sign in, go to the practice material section and the free download of Practice Paper 1 should be available. There are others available for purchase too.

I know this post was ages ago but I'm only reading it now! Thanks for that info!

CookieCat97 · 13-08-2015 12:55pm

So I've been doing some research on prep courses and it seems from a lot of people I talk to, say that because it's an aptitude test that you will score according to your aptitude....however prep courses help you optimise your aptitude (aka they make sure you can get the highest you're ABLE to get) and because timings a big issue, people tell the more practice material you get the more accustomed you are to the format of certain sections and questions. :pac:
This girl I talked to told me that there are so many practice questions on med-entry that you are never left idle online

I was looking at the distance package with med-entry and it all seems to all be online which is when I came up with an idea! (I don't know if it's allowed or not so someone please pull me up if you think it's not allowed or if there might be a 'flaw' in the plan) but I was thinking of doing that and maybe teaming up with one or two other prospective med students and we could share an account online, like sharing a username and password kind of thing (which means splitting the price=more affordable) and it also means we kind of have a support buddy to help each other out during the year!

so what do you guys think about it? do you think it would work? would anyone be interested in teaming up with me?

kb98 · 13-08-2015 1:31pm

When do we have to register for hpat?

CookieCat97 · 13-08-2015 2:30pm

kb98 wrote: »

When do we have to register for hpat?

As far as I know I think it's in November

Medicine2o15 · 13-08-2015 3:14pm

I'm a repeat student, did the hpat last year with very little prep and got 85th percentile, this year I did med entry and the weekend course and put a lot of work into it and ended up with 77th percentile. The leaving cert went well for me this year, jumped from 525 to 605 so hopefully should still get medicine.

Beca19 · 20-08-2015 3:06pm

So anyone else sitting or already sat the UKCAT?:)

WorthlessPeon · 21-08-2015 1:22am

Beca19 wrote: »

So anyone else sitting or already sat the UKCAT?:)

Was strongly considering it so I can apply for Belfast, are you?

Consonata · 21-08-2015 4:48pm

Are the ACER practice papers realistic though of what you will be getting on the actual day, because from what I've heard they prove to be a very poor comparison. But maybe that school of thought is being pushed by the various prep course providers.

Gallagher1 · 21-08-2015 5:07pm

Consonata wrote: »

Are the ACER practice papers realistic though of what you will be getting on the actual day, because from what I've heard they prove to be a very poor comparison. But maybe that school of thought is being pushed by the various prep course providers.

The question types are realistic of what could be asked but the actual exam is a lot harder(especially in S1 and 3). Practice test 2(I think) is the best representation of the exam but even at that I would only rank it 7/10 in terms of difficulty in comparison to the exam itself.

Also, section 3 was a hundred times harder this year than any of the ACER exams.

Consonata · 21-08-2015 5:16pm

Gallagher1 wrote: »

The question types are realistic of what could be asked but the actual exam is a lot harder(especially in S1 and 3). Practice test 2(I think) is the best representation of the exam but even at that I would only rank it 7/10 in terms of difficulty in comparison to the exam itself.

Also, section 3 was a hundred times harder this year than any of the ACER exams.

So:

Section 1 = Patterns and Puzzle solving

Section 2 = Emotions and Reading Comprehension

Section 3 = Mathematical problems

Is this about right?

Doctorhopeful · 21-08-2015 5:53pm

Consonata wrote:

So:

Section 1 = Patterns and Puzzle solving
Section 2 = Emotions and Reading Comprehension
Section 3 = Mathematical problems
Is this about right?

Section one - comprehensions and problem solving

Section two - interpersonal understanding and reading emotions

Section three - pattern solving

Consonata · 21-08-2015 10:11pm

Doctorhopeful wrote: »

Section one - comprehensions and problem solving

Section two - interpersonal understanding and reading emotions

Section three - pattern solving

Thanks! I would love to get a poll within the other HPAT thread to see how many people would agree that the prep courses are useful. I'm not willing to drop €425 euro if it isn't worth it and I would get the same help from buying a few Ebooks from ACER. Anybody could give me advice on this?

alaskayoung · 21-08-2015 10:46pm

Consonata wrote: »

Thanks! I would love to get a poll within the other HPAT thread to see how many people would agree that the prep courses are useful. I'm not willing to drop €425 euro if it isn't worth it and I would get the same help from buying a few Ebooks from ACER. Anybody could give me advice on this?

My advice would be to stick to the ACER tests, familiarize yourself with the style of questions, layout & timing and after that try to put it out of your mind as much as possible. I think one of the most damaging things a person can do to their hpat is obsessing about it in the months leading up to it when in my opinion it's out of your control. If you have it built up to a huge deal, you will not be able to think clearly and to your full potential on the day.

I sat the hpat in 2014 having done a fair amount of prep in the months leading up to it, that particular course and others. It was constantly on my mind and as a result on the day I was absolutely terrified. Scored 78th percentile, not terrible but by no means wonderful either.

I sat the hpat this year and did absolutely zero preparation. I actually wasn't even going to sit the exam in the weeks leading up to it and only the night before was like fxck I've got nothing to lose. Scored 91st percentile.

Did my aptitude change over the year? No. Did my extensive preparation prepare me the first year? I'd say it HARMED my score a great great deal. The reason I did so well this year was because I went in, under absolutely no pressure, no build up, no crazed preparation in the months leading up to it, no obsessing about it. I could just sit there calmly and just do my best on the day, as it was designed. Hpat prep is an absolute joke. The companies making huge money off this idea of studying for it are the ones who have people convinced otherwise.

Put the hpat out of your mind. Focus on the leaving cert, that is the exam you can optimize your potential in with extensive study. Try to relax about the hpat, you have the ability to do well in it or you don't and unfortunately as scary and difficult that is to accept, that is the truth. Panicking about it is only going to damage your thinking ability and impair your judgement on the day. It is an aptitude test, treat it as such.

Doctorhopeful · 21-08-2015 11:33pm

Consonata wrote:

Thanks! I would love to get a poll within the other HPAT thread to see how many people would agree that the prep courses are useful. I'm not willing to drop Ã¢Â‚Â¬425 euro if it isn't worth it and I would get the same help from buying a few Ebooks from ACER. Anybody could give me advice on this?

personally, i didn't use a prep course and got 98th percentile. However, Gallagher1 used a prepcourse and got 97th percentile, so both methods work, you just have to find which is for you. I think they're a big waste of money but what can you do :P

OMGeary · 22-08-2015 12:17am

Consonata wrote:

Thanks! I would love to get a poll within the other HPAT thread to see how many people would agree that the prep courses are useful. I'm not willing to drop â‚¬425 euro if it isn't worth it and I would get the same help from buying a few Ebooks from ACER. Anybody could give me advice on this?

I started med entry at Christmas of last year, and would do one of their practice exams every weekend, like spend 3 or 4 hours on a Saturday morning doing the test then going through all the answers seeing why they were right or wrong. I also did their 2 day course. I ended up getting 94th percentile. Tbh I always scored very high on section 1. But with practice my section 2 and 3 got higher. I found it useful but it really is all about practice and finding out the tricks and ways to approach every type of question. I think this is particularly true with section 3. So yeah I think prep course is good, but if you can get your hands on lots of practice material that will help alot

Gallagher1 · 22-08-2015 12:18am

alaskayoung wrote: »

My advice would be to stick to the ACER tests, familiarize yourself with the style of questions. It is an aptitude test, treat it as such.

1) We both seem to agree that familiarisation is important. I just preferred the endless amount of questions that a certain company offered. This is what helped me and is what I personally would recommend. You seem to think prep courses themselves are bad. Anyone who thinks that by doing a course will get them X in HPAT is deluded. The day course where they 'teach' you to do stuff is by and large bol1ocks I'll straight up admit maybe apart from one teeeeeny aspect with S1. The practice exams they gave us online were useful however.

2)No true aptitude test should allow someone to double their percentile rank in a second sitting. And trust me, stress was not a factor in my lower first round score.

Doctorhopeful wrote: »

personally, i didn't use a prep course and got 98th percentile. However, Gallagher1 used a prepcourse and got 97th percentile, so both methods work, you just have to find which is for you. I think they're a big waste of money but what can you do :P

The 'classes' can be a waste of money but if you look at buying access to the online exams and drills only, it works out cheaper than the ACER papers per question, and the questions are oftentimes better too :pac:

But yeah, different people will have different things that work for them. I know of people that have scored unbelievably high without prep and I know of people who have scored 212 doing a lot of prep. There is no magic equation to this exam.

Bazinga_N · 22-08-2015 12:34am

Beca19 wrote: »

So anyone else sitting or already sat the UKCAT?:)

I was planning to but I only discovered today that I'd need to apply within the next month and do it in October the latest :eek: I'm not so sure now as I've done 0 prep for it! I'll have to discuss it with my careers teacher in the first week to see what she thinks I should do. €110 is quite expensive too! It'd be great to be able to apply to Belfast and Scotland though

Consonata · 22-08-2015 11:19am

Bazinga_N wrote: »

I was planning to but I only discovered today that I'd need to apply within the next month and do it in October the latest :eek: I'm not so sure now as I've done 0 prep for it! I'll have to discuss it with my careers teacher in the first week to see what she thinks I should do. €110 is quite expensive too! It'd be great to be able to apply to Belfast and Scotland though

Yeah, it's good prep in itself for the HPAT I would argue. It would be nice to have the fallback to Scotland just in case the HPAT doesn't go my way. Is there any real difference in the format of the paper from the HPAT?

Bazinga_N · 22-08-2015 3:57pm

Consonata wrote: »

Yeah, it's good prep in itself for the HPAT I would argue. It would be nice to have the fallback to Scotland just in case the HPAT doesn't go my way. Is there any real difference in the format of the paper from the HPAT?

I agree Belfast and Scotland would be great and it'd be great prep for the HPAT too. I've done a bit of research online and it seems most people don't do courses for it and just practice online and with a specific book (600 UKCAT Practice Questions or something like that) and get on okay. I'd nearly be willing to give it a go!

I'm not sure how my JC grades would do for UK entry though as apparently a lot of schools over there take them into consideration :eek:

WorthlessPeon · 23-08-2015 1:26am

I'd be sorted with the JC grades but Belfast will only give you an offer with the condition that you get 5 A1s and 1 B2...which means 605 points lads! A half decent HPAT and those LC points would get you into any med college here

23-08-2015 11:22am

Honestly Id say for the UKCAT just do the online practice paper (maybe 2) and just go in and go for it. If its only a fall back then there shouldn't be much pressure and a few of the sections might give you an idea to how you're doing in terms of HPAT and it'll give you a feel for the whole aptitude situation. You get the results on the day so even then if you decide you don't think its good enough/change your mind then you don't have to do the rest of the application

tl;dr - if you don't mind spending the money on it Id 100% recommend it

Beca19 · 24-08-2015 11:47pm

Bazinga_N wrote: »

I agree Belfast and Scotland would be great and it'd be great prep for the HPAT too. I've done a bit of research online and it seems most people don't do courses for it and just practice online and with a specific book (600 UKCAT Practice Questions or something like that) and get on okay. I'd nearly be willing to give it a go!

Late reply but yeah I was planning on prepping in June/July and sitting it in August but then my job got in the way so I did nothing haha.. I actually ordered that book today so I'll give it a go in october

Not all of them are GSCE heavy I don't think maybe research what ones lean more for UKCAT/personal statement/predicted grades? I think I'll apply for Queens (though 5A1s seems eh, not exactly likely) Edinburgh, Aberdeen and then not sure? I'd love to apply to King's College London but the fees

Bazinga_N · 25-08-2015 2:56am

Beca19 wrote: »

Late reply but yeah I was planning on prepping in June/July and sitting it in August but then my job got in the way so I did nothing haha.. I actually ordered that book today so I'll give it a go in october Not all of them are GSCE heavy I don't think maybe research what ones lean more for UKCAT/personal statement/predicted grades? I think I'll apply for Queens (though 5A1s seems eh, not exactly likely) Edinburgh, Aberdeen and then not sure? I'd love to apply to King's College London but the fees

You're grand! I've actually decided to give it a go in October too! Ordered the book today as well

Yeah I've been looking into the JC results and I've found most places just look for JC results if you don't have Physics/Biology at LC or they require a B in JC maths and English or something which I have, so I should be fine! I'm thinking of going for Queens, Edinsburgh, St. Andrew's and either Dundee or Aberdeen :pac: not sure yet!

Beca19 · 25-08-2015 8:16pm

Bazinga_N wrote: »

You're grand! I've actually decided to give it a go in October too! Ordered the book today as well Yeah I've been looking into the JC results and I've found most places just look for JC results if you don't have Physics/Biology at LC or they require a B in JC maths and English or something which I have, so I should be fine! I'm thinking of going for Queens, Edinsburgh, St. Andrew's and either Dundee or Aberdeen :pac: not sure yet!

Aw sound so

would you pick any of them over Ireland or is it just a backup? Btw the online practice kit on the website is pretty good!

Bazinga_N · 25-08-2015 8:18pm

Beca19 wrote: »

Aw sound so would you pick any of them over Ireland or is it just a backup? Btw the online practice kit on the website is pretty good!

I'm actually not sure yet :eek: I really like the thought of going abroad for university (I know the UK isn't exactly very abroad but you know what I mean :pac: ). I guess I'll make my decision later in the year when I see what offers I get

kb98 · 25-08-2015 10:07pm

Do all the UK medicine courses required chemistry?

Bazinga_N · 25-08-2015 10:20pm

kb98 wrote: »

Do all the UK medicine courses required chemistry?

I don't think all but I'm sure most of them do require Chemistry! A lot require Chemistry and Biology it seems.

Search for Medicine on UCAS and see the entry requirements for each of them

kb98 · 26-08-2015 9:09am

Bazinga_N wrote:

Search for Medicine on UCAS and see the entry requirements for each of them

Bazinga_N wrote:

I don't think all but I'm sure most of them do require Chemistry! A lot require Chemistry and Biology it seems.

Yeah I looked up some of them and nearly all required chemistry it seems

Consonata · 26-08-2015 11:56am

kb98 wrote: »

Yeah I looked up some of them and nearly all required chemistry it seems

Are the requirements cast iron or can some be made up in the personal statement do you think?

Bazinga_N · 26-08-2015 3:21pm

Consonata wrote: »

Are the requirements cast iron or can some be made up in the personal statement do you think?

Well they'll find out what subjects you did because you'll need to give your grades in your UCAS application. Your referee has to give a set of predicted grades at first and then when you get your offers you might get a conditional offer which means you'll get your offer if you get the predicted grades when the results come out. So there's no way around the entry requirements I think.

**HPAT and Medicine 2016**

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HPAT and Medicine 2016