HPAT

lala00

Hi

Does anybody have an idea of what the combined score for medicine will be next year. Does anybody under 500lc points really have a chance?

Has anybody started practising questions

Thanks

Piste

Well nobody *knows* what the scores will be , but seeing as most people who apply will be aiming for the 600 to maximise their chances of getting in I'd say you'd need at least 55o to get in, but this is just my guess, it could very well go down, so even if you don't think you're in with a shot still apply anyway!

I looked at the practise questions on the HPAT site and they seem alright, ordered a book of sample questions from the site too.

enda1

I thought next year there was an aptitude test entry system? Something like 400/450 points I heard, no?

Piste

The score that will be considered for entry is a combined score of Leaving Cert and the HPAT. You can score a max of 300 points in the HPAT and a max of 560 in the leaving Cert. The Leaving Cert points get jigged around a bit, you can score up to 550 points normally, than for every 5 points over that you are awarded 1 point (this is only for the purposes of Medicine, if you apply for science and get 600 points then this score isn't adjusted) so if you score 555 you have 551 points, if you score 560 you have 552 points and so on. This levels the playing field somewhat as someone who scores 500 in the LC and 270 on the HPAT would get 770 points and someone who scored 580 in the LC but only 200 in the HPAT would get 756 points so the person who got the lower LC points would get a place over them.

I think where you got your 400/450 figure from was the minimum LC points requirement, for all Universities they will only take in students with a LC score of 480 or more, this does not mean you will definitely get a place with 480 points, if demand is high and many people score highly in the HPAT and LC they will award places to them, and you may find that the actual minimum points for getting in are around 530.

Cokehead Mother

enda1 wrote: »

I thought next year there was an aptitude test entry system? Something like 400/450 points I heard, no?

You now need 480 points to matriculate for medicine. Before it was 2HC3/4OD3 or whatever.

The new system is still the same in that the people with the highest points get the places but it'll now be out of 860 points and 300 of those will be one's results in the aptitute test. 600 LC points will be counted as 560, 590 as 558, ... , 555 as 551 and then from then on 550 = 550, 545 = 545...

I would assume scores in the high 200s would be rare, or else the test'd be pretty pointless. I think you'd probably get in with 510 + 300 but getting 300 would probably be damn near impossible.

bythewoods

The minimum's 480- but if you get this you'll probably stand very little chance.
The cut off point, ie, 550 is the lowest you should aim for in the LC tbh.
I got that last year and was still STRONGLY advised to repeat.

The HPAT exam is going to be made by the same company who makes the DATs according to some article I was reading... and there's some fundamental similarities. Seemingly.

cautioner

Sweet. 98th percentile in the DATs right here :pac:

Adventure

775* , i'd say will be the threshold.

Piste

I think 775 is a bit high, that's assuming people get 560 points in the leaving cert (which will really be 600) AND 215 in the test, which is supposed to be quite hard. I don;t see that being the absolute minimum anyway.

lala00

Hi again, well I got 560 last year = 552,no point repeating so am on a gap year, with it being the first year of Hpat its hard to have an idea of any preparation if any is needed for it.
Anybody done the ukcat? do you think it will be similar I think the time limit will be one of the main issues, Also I doubt anyone will get over 250 in the aptitude test

Good luck to everyone with the lc

bythewoods

I saw an advertisement in the Independent some day last week...
Th' Institute's doing a HPAT course- it'll be on for 2 sundays in January (And it'll probably be pretttttty pricey...)

Going there would go against many, many, MANY of my beliefs... but I'm still rather tempted.

bythewoods

And as for the UK CAT- i missed the registration date- absolutely RAGING! Anybody know if i can still apply for medicine in the UK? Grrrr....

Gambra

I doubt anyone under 550 will have a chane to be honest never mind 500!! like i did the ukcat test and there pretty similar and its really intense!!

Cokehead Mother

Wait, so the HPAT is "pretty intense" but apparently everyone in medicine will have at least 290/300 in it?

Piste

bythewoods wrote: »

I saw an advertisement in the Independent some day last week...
Th' Institute's doing a HPAT course- it'll be on for 2 sundays in January (And it'll probably be pretttttty pricey...)

Going there would go against many, many, MANY of my beliefs... but I'm still rather tempted.

I've heard about this, and really I think it's just a money making scheme. The dean of medicine at UCD was talking to my careers teacher aout this and apparently said the HPAT was chosen because it's virtually gridnproof. Studies showed that there was little difference in scores between people who sat the HPAT for the first time, repeated, or took grinds, so it seems like a bit of a waste of money to me. Now if you want money well spent you could invest in a book of sample HPAT questions which would be much more valuable.

bythewoods

Thanks for that link, I'm just after ordering a book of the sample questions. So hopefully they'll be some help to me!
Can't believe they're being sent from Australia! What a joke.

Yeah, I'm not sure about The Leeson Street thing. It does seem a little bit like another one of the Institute's money rackets.
However, there's a chance it'd put me at some sort of an advantage and I'm so desperate to get medicine this year I'd jump on any opportunity.
Even though, of course, I don't deserve to be put at an advantage! And it'd be a lot of effort since I live nowhere near Dublin...
I think I'll make a few phonecalls, get a bit more information on it.
I'll post up anything relevant!

By the way, there isn't an interview for medicine being brought in this year, is there?
I didn't think there was but a fellow medicine hopeful was trying to convince me there was one...?

Piste

There was talk of introducing an interview at some stage, but at this stage it'd be far too late to introduce them for people doing the LC in 2009.

cautioner

Got my sample paper in the post today. The first 2 sections I'm quite capable of, Section 3 I have yet to sit down and give a proper lash but I think I should be able make a decent enough stab at it. I'm very hit-and-miss on non-verbal reasoning though. I sometimes grasp the patterns in a flash and sometimes can't figure simple ones.

bythewoods

Yeah, mine arrived today too. I only had the chance to glance through them though...
Nothing like I'd expected tbh. Section one's handy enough. Haven't really looked through section 2 but it seems handy as well. And as for the non-verbal reasoning.. I'm thinking that'll be my downfall. It's grand like, but easy enough to mess up or make mistakes in, especially with the time limitations and the possibility of getting flustered.

And yeah, it does seem pretty grind proof methinks. Don't know what the Institute would be able to give grinds on for it..
Like, how exactly do you show someone how to master non-verbal reasoning or w/e? I imagine they'd just end up telling you how long to spend on each question or something..

Piste

When did you order yours? I ordered mine 8 days ago and it's not here yet

bythewoods

I ordered mine on Thursday night I think...
I was shocked they got here so fast actually.

Also, when i looked at the address I was surprised they got here at all...
Even though I entered my full address the county and country weren't printed... and I live in a small, crappy town...

Piste

Aw I ordered mine last Monday

Fad

Piste wrote: »

Aw I ordered mine last Monday

My friend ordered his two weeks ago, I think, and it still hasn't arrived.

pureirishsugar

still waiting on mine

from people who has got it already do you think people are going to score high in it?

Piste

Turns out mine arrived days ago but the envelope was buried under loadsa crap. The logic and abstract reasoning parts are quite difficult I thought, especaiily since I ran out of time doing them both, but I found the human reasoning section so easy I think I could use time from that to do the harder stuff from logic and abstract reasoning.

bythewoods

I think some people will be able to score high in them, but I can't exactly see very many people getting full marks.
It's tricky like, some of the questions would really throw you.

Is it basically an IQ test? Similar to the DATs? I'm not at all interested in doing it, just curious as to what it is.

bythewoods

It's not as DATs-y as I'd hoped tbh
The non-verbal reasoning's pretty much the same as that of the DATs, from what I can remember anyway..
But the other bits? Not so much. Not so much at all.

lala00

I got my book aswell, sec 3 is really hard, for example q82 where is the pattern? other 2 sections seem ok...
Also I think each section is timed seperately.

Piste

Q 82

1)Two vertical lines with a horizontal line between them, looks like H

2)The two vertical lines are rotated 90 degrees and the horizontal line is rotated 45 degrees, lookz like a Z

3)The two vertical lines are rotated another 90 degrees and the line between them is rotated 45 degrees again making all three lines parallel, looks like lll

The Pattern: We can see each time the two outer lines are rotated 95 degrees and the line between them is rotated 45 degrees anti-clockwise so the solution is to rotate the two outer lines of lll 90 degrees and the middle line 45 degrees anti-clockwise, giving the next shape as a sort of backwards Z (you can see the two outer lines are now horizontal and the middle line has been rotated 45 degrees)

Adventure

just to remind everyone that registration begins tomorow:pac:

lala00

piste thanks for the explantion of the HPAT abstract q

Piste

No probs! That section was pretty difficult, some of the stuff was just like "wtf?"

Adventure

Well registerd just there........... it never asked me for my CAO number?

lala00

I registered as well and they didn't ask anything about cao numbers after saying on the website it was needed
Anyone know if you did the leaving last year is your cao no the same?

Piste

Oh phew, I thought I musta missed the bit about my CAO number. Didn't ask me for it either. Yeah as far as I know you keep the same cao number from your last year.

Adventure

lala00 wrote: »

I registered as well and they didn't ask anything about cao numbers after saying on the website it was needed
Anyone know if you did the leaving last year is your cao no the same?

No. You have to re-apply again , ie. get a new CAO number.

Adventure

Right, e-mailed hpat-ireland, apparently the initial registration forms were missing the 'cao number' part. they told me to email them my number and they will add it. for anyone who's registration lacked the cao part , emial them now.

bythewoods

Thanks Adbenture.

I was wondering what the story with that was tbh!

Piste

Heh I just got an email from HPAT there saying there was a glitch. Was a bit worried something had gone wrong alright!

cautioner

So I finally got around to sitting down and actually doing the sample test. Got full marks in Section 2 but only got 75% overall Not very encouraging. How'd you all do?

Piste

Yeah got about the same...I'm hoping either the real test will be easier or that everyone will just do worse.

shamoono

Hi guys,
I received the HPAT practice papers about two weeks ago and they're a little bit of help. They only have something like 35 questions per section. Considering to go to the HPAT course in the Institute but there is also another that will be taking place in RCSI. I think the one in RCSI is going to be much more help because of the material you are given. You can check it out here:

http://www.****.edu.au/hpat-ireland.asp cost around 350uro.

Anyway if you get like 280 points in the HPAT, how many points do you think you will need to get in the Leaving Cert. to get in?

bythewoods

The cost of the HPAT preparation course in Th'Institute is €350 as well which seems extremely steep imo. They're giving out some workbooks and stuff as well apparently.
Seems like a total waste of money.

Piste

Yeah seems like a waste to me too. The test is designed to be grind-proof.

Piste

Piste wrote: »

Yeah seems like a waste to me too. The test is designed to be grind-proof.

Is it basically an intelligence test?

Piste

Yeah kinda, it doesn't meausre all-round intelligence, just emotional reasoning, logical thinking and those things with shapes where you have to select the next in the series.

Piste

Piste wrote: »

Yeah kinda, it doesn't meausre all-round intelligence, just emotional reasoning, logical thinking and those things with shapes where you have to select the next in the series.

Oh right right, so it just measures characteristics that would be beneficial in somebody who wants to study medicene?

Piste

Yeah pretty much, it's to give a more accurate selection criteria for who would be suited to medicine and should get into the course than the leaving cert alone.

shamoono

Yup it looks like it's grind-proof. How many people do you think are going apply for medicine in Ireland this year?

Adventure

There was around 2,500 1st choice cao applicants las year, so..... 3,000 this year maybe??