*Everything HPAT and Medicine 2015*

sleepyheadh

BBHenry wrote: »

What year are you in? Also really want to just go straight into first med, apparently you have to do the six year course in ucd though

Just finishing 2nd year.

Theboybang

Anyone know the official situation about what happened at the trinity test centre? I heard they were cancelling the last 3 questions for the whole country but surely that's completely unfair because they mighn't have been your last 3?!

Does anyone have any info?

Thanks!

JSweeney

Im a 6th student in Dublin and Im hoping to study medicine in September but I am afraid that I might not get the level of points that I need. I am wondering what are my options if this is the case. Cheers.

ronivek

Repeating would be by far the best option assuming you have a reasonable expectation of putting the work in to get the points; and that you can achieve a decent score in the HPAT.

Doing a primary degree with a significant biology and chemistry component you could sit the GAMSAT once you graduate; but that will be very expensive.

You could work for a few years and try to get in as a mature student but that process is incredibly frustrating with a lot of competition for very few places.

There are also options to apply to the UK or further afield but I don't know much about studying Medicine outside of Ireland.

Are you absolutely sure Medicine is what you want? That might be the first thing to look into.

sleepyheadh

JSweeney wrote: »

Im a 6th student in Dublin and Im hoping to study medicine in September but I am afraid that I might not get the level of points that I need. I am wondering what are my options if this is the case. Cheers.

Was in your situation not so long ago. My advice would be to definitely repeat. Everything is just that little bit easier the second time around, you are more comfortable with the material and the exam situation.

Once you get into medicine you quickly realise that the vast majority of the Irish people in your course will have repeated at least the HPAT if not the Leaving.

But don't give up just yet. I kinda did that. You can still improve your leaving score and depending on how it turns out you could be looking at a completely different circumstance.

Oh and just to add, I know my advice is dependent on you being able to repeat. I know everyone can't have the luxury of another year, or another try.

Shotgun11

Hi I just have one quick question. I did the HPAT last year and got 61st percentile and 158 overall. Someone I spoke to then, told me that they got 90th percentile and 181 overall. That is a difference of 29 percentiles equalling 23 points. If you take that theres 110 questions on the HPAT and 300 points on offer you get that, on average(not taking into account that section 1 and 2 are worth twice as much as section 3) that each question of the 110 is worth roughly 2.7 Leaving Cert Points. 23 divided by 2.7 = 8.5. I know that as you get closer to the 100th percentile mark far more points are needed to go up in percentile, but for 60th-90th, would it be right in saying that getting just 8.5 questions would do the job to make up the difference?

Gallagher1

Shotgun11 wrote: »

Hi I just have one quick question. I did the HPAT last year and got 61st percentile and 158 overall. Someone I spoke to then, told me that they got 90th percentile and 181 overall. That is a difference of 29 percentiles equalling 23 points. If you take that theres 110 questions on the HPAT and 300 points on offer you get that, on average(not taking into account that section 1 and 2 are worth twice as much as section 3) that each question of the 110 is worth roughly 2.7 Leaving Cert Points. 23 divided by 2.7 = 8.5. I know that as you get closer to the 100th percentile mark far more points are needed to go up in percentile, but for 60th-90th, would it be right in saying that getting just 8.5 questions would do the job to make up the difference?

In theory, yes. However it is widely speculated that ACER don't mark questions equally in a given section i.e if next to everyone gets a question correct it will carry different marks than a question that only 10% of students get correct. I think it's got to do with fitting everyone into a bell curve so saying '8.5 questions will make the difference' might not be accurate even though it looks logical enough.

Even at that, getting an extra 8 questions right in the HPAT is a lot more difficult than it appears :pac:

imsocool chillininda pool

you could not be more wrong - i'm sorry to be harsh but the difference between 61st and 90th is probably much larger. i'd say closer to 20 questions. some questions could be worth 10+ marks while others 1 mark - it depends on the ones you are getting right. and odds are you are getting the ones right that everyone else is too ie. the 1 mark ones. on the flip side, the difference between the 90th and 100th percentile could be 2-3 q's! getting a few big ones right make a massive difference - we think.
with HPAT you can make calculations all day long about the likelihood of you getting in - i know, i did it - but you just need to practice and practice!
Hope it's all going well with all of ye - Best of luck

Kirby2k07

That's why the Hpat is such bull****, in some cases the difference between 65 and 85 can only be a couple of questions, literally two questions that could be guessed, separating success from failure.

ThatsTheShtuff

I'm currently a Leaving Cert student, dreaming of studying Medicine.
However, as I'm sure the majority of students are, I am highly doubting i will manage to get myself a place in Ireland, considering the high standards here.
My first 5 places on my CAO are Medicine, in order: Trinity, UCD, RCSI, Cork, Galway.
I'm also worried my HPAT will let me down, but I have no idea how it went yet.


Failing to get into a course in Ireland, does anyone know anything about studying abroad?
I haven't applied anywhere, is it too late?
Are there any courses abroad that don't require entrance exams?

I'd love to hear some feedback

etherealfairy

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

I'm currently a Leaving Cert student, dreaming of studying Medicine.
However, as I'm sure the majority of students are, I am highly doubting i will manage to get myself a place in Ireland, considering the high standards here.
My first 5 places on my CAO are Medicine, in order: Trinity, UCD, RCSI, Cork, Galway.
I'm also worried my HPAT will let me down, but I have no idea how it went yet.


Failing to get into a course in Ireland, does anyone know anything about studying abroad?
I haven't applied anywhere, is it too late?
Are there any courses abroad that don't require entrance exams?

I'd love to hear some feedback

Poland:

I really don't know much about it but I think there are interviews in Poland on June 25th meaning applications need to be in by mid-June. Also have no idea if it's legit, but assuming it is. Have no clue what you're supposed to send but this is their email:

study[@]medicalpoland[.ie]

spurious

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

Failing to get into a course in Ireland, does anyone know anything about studying abroad?

http://www.medschool.uj.edu.pl/ is a well-respected university and course.

One of the Hungarian universities has an English language course too.

etherealfairy

I absolutely hate wantingto study Medicine

The pressure, the expectation in some cases, the extremely fine line between success and failure, the knowledge that I want this more than anything else thus I would be ecstatic should I get it and therefore devastated should I not.

Keeping my head up for now and what will be will be.

Good luck with the LC everyone, I've no doubt you'll all do splendidly!!

ThatsTheShtuff

etherealfairy wrote: »

I absolutely hate wantingto study Medicine

The pressure, the expectation in some cases, the extremely fine line between success and failure, the knowledge that I want this more than anything else thus I would be ecstatic should I get it and therefore devastated should I not.

Keeping my head up for now and what will be will be.

Good luck with the LC everyone, I've no doubt you'll all do splendidly!!

You have basically just summed up my life!!!
I feel exactly the same. I can't see myself doing anything else with my life,
so not only does everyone around me have high expectations,
but whats almost worse is the expectations i have for myself!
I feel like the HPAT is gonna let me down at the end of the day,
but trying not to think about it for now, just gonna focus on the exams!
At least I'll know my fate by the end of June, and whether i can cross the dream off my list.
It's scary stuff, I hope for both of us that it's good news Best of Luck!

Beca19

Hey guys just wondering if anyone here did the BMAT for entry into certain UK unis or the IMAT for Italy?
I was looking at past papers and even though I do bio phys and chem (I'm in 5th year now) a load of the questions don't seem to be on the LC syllabus. So yeah wondering if it's worth my time giving either of them a shot or are they too hard? Not too pushed about the BMAT cos I don't necessarily need it but I'd definitely consider sitting the IMAT.
Thanks!

vladd25

Beca19 wrote:

Hey guys just wondering if anyone here did the BMAT for entry into certain UK unis or the IMAT for Italy?
I was looking at past papers and even though I do bio phys and chem (I'm in 5th year now) a load of the questions don't seem to be on the LC syllabus. So yeah wondering if it's worth my time giving either of them a shot or are they too hard? Not too pushed about the BMAT cos I don't necessarily need it but I'd definitely consider sitting the IMAT.
Thanks!

You can surely try to take the IMAT. Even if you are not very familiar with the academic question, you can still get a decent score by solving the logical reasoning question which are much easier than any other exam HPAT, UKCAT etc. Also, I checked with one of the unis, the med school in Milan, and they told that the last score accepted last year was only 35 so you won't need to do all the question correctly.

Beca19

vladd25 wrote: »

You can surely try to take the IMAT. Even if you are not very familiar with the academic question, you can still get a decent score by solving the logical reasoning question which are much easier than any other exam HPAT, UKCAT etc. Also, I checked with one of the unis, the med school in Milan, and they told that the last score accepted last year was only 35 so you won't need to do all the question correctly.

Okay great thanks! what's that 35 out of? I don't know much about Italy tbh do they just base it on your grades and the IMAT? And did you apply?

ThatsTheShtuff

I know it's kinda depressing thinking about not getting the course you want,
but with the (strong) possibility that i fail to get Medicine, does anyone have any advice about other medical-based courses out there, what else do ye have on your CAO, that is related to medicine?

I'm struggling to fill my CAO, and in the case that i need to take Medicine off once i get my HPAT results,
I'll probably find it very hard to replace the 5 places on my CAO that Medicine take up!

So far, i have courses like Biomedical Science, Radiography, Radiotherapy (low number of places), Human Health and Disease, and maybe Genetics!

Any suggestions would be great

vladd25

Beca19 wrote:

Okay great thanks! what's that 35 out of? I don't know much about Italy tbh do they just base it on your grades and the IMAT? And did you apply?

No, I haven't applied yet as the application process is to open in the summer July or August not sure, but I know the the exam is on 16th September 2015.

I am not sure what the structure of the exam is gonna be this year, but last year there were 60 questions (30 non academic and 30 academic) each worth 1.5 points. Therefore, the maximum score is 90, but bear in mind that if you give a wrong answer 0.4 points for each one are going to be deducted from your score. So, don't count on quessing a lot of questions cause you might lose more in the end.

The admission process is based solely on the IMAT score. The are six unis in Italy with medical programmes in English. When you apply you are asked to put them in order of preference and you are going to be assigned to one of them considering your IMAT score that must be high enough to make the cut off.

I made a mistake in my previos post. Last year, the cut off was 35 at Pavia, a university near Milan, but not at the one in Milan. I know it seems a bit low, but this is what the admissions officer told me.

vladd25

ThatsTheShtuff wrote:

So far, i have courses like Biomedical Science, Radiography, Radiotherapy (low number of places), Human Health and Disease, and maybe Genetics!

Regarding the medically related courses, what is the best Biomedical Science course in Ireland?

ThatsTheShtuff

vladd25 wrote: »

Regarding the medically related courses, what is the best Biomedical Science course in Ireland?

UCD, the points for it are nearly as high as Medicine.
It's basically Medicine without the practical stuff, apparently.
They share a lot of their lectures with Medical students, from what I have heard.
Galway is supposed to be pretty good!

vladd25

ThatsTheShtuff wrote:

UCD, the points for it are nearly as high as Medicine.
It's basically Medicine without the practical stuff, apparently.
They share a lot of their lectures with Medical students, from what I have heard.
Galway is supposed to be pretty good!

I looked as well into the Biomed course at UCD, but I found out that the degree doesn't have the accreditation required so that you could to work in hospital labs after graduation. Maybe, I misunderstood but I ve seen other people on the internet saying that this course isn't really good.

Slow Show

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

I'm struggling to fill my CAO, and in the case that i need to take Medicine off once i get my HPAT results,
I'll probably find it very hard to replace the 5 places on my CAO that Medicine take up!

Even if your HPAT doesn't go as well as planned, there's no harm leaving Medicine on your CAO. A lot of people last year complained of taking it off 'cos they thought it was hopeless, when they would have gotten in, when points dropped hugely from what was considered the norm!

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

UCD, the points for it are nearly as high as Medicine.
It's basically Medicine without the practical stuff, apparently.
They share a lot of their lectures with Medical students, from what I have heard.
Galway is supposed to be pretty good!

vladd25 wrote: »

I looked as well into the Biomed course at UCD, but I found out that the degree doesn't have the accreditation required so that you could to work in hospital labs after graduation. Maybe, I misunderstood but I ve seen other people on the internet saying that this course isn't really good.

UCD seem to have a lot of choice and variety in their course. Having the highest points doesn't say a lot though! In Galway, Biomed is more along the lines of General Science than Medicine. Both are good if you want to do the GAMSAT afterwards. I know that the Biomed course shared between UCC and CIT, and the course in DIT, have the accreditation necessary to work in hospital labs, whereas with the others you have to jump through more hoops.

Str96

Beca19 wrote: »

Hey guys just wondering if anyone here did the BMAT for entry into certain UK unis or the IMAT for Italy?
I was looking at past papers and even though I do bio phys and chem (I'm in 5th year now) a load of the questions don't seem to be on the LC syllabus. So yeah wondering if it's worth my time giving either of them a shot or are they too hard? Not too pushed about the BMAT cos I don't necessarily need it but I'd definitely consider sitting the IMAT.
Thanks!

I did the BMAT and can tell you it's very much a time pressured exam. Most universities are only interested in the scores for section 1 and 2. A good score in section 3 is a bonus for the most part but won't make or break an offer. The aptitude qs from section 1 overlap with some of the techniques used for the hpat and regular practice of the bmat past papers should help.

You're going to need to cover organic chem to deal with section 2. A good solid GCSE textbook should be useful although personally I bought the a-level textbooks for bio, chem and physics from Oxford Press and studied the relevant chapters. They did come in handy for my interview as well I have to admit.

The same type of qs appear in section 2 and can be solved but it's the sheer time pressure that makes it so difficult. You'll have to learn when to abandon a q that is simply going to take too long. The qs aren't meant to be direct but rather an extension of the knowledge you've gained from school. The calibre of applicant you're up against is very high so the questions aren't going to be simple recalling ones from the LC but rather more abstract and requiring thinking outside the box.

You need to get a certain score in section 1 and 2 to warrant an interview at UCL or Imperial (check the websites for these unis). Oxford use the BMAT to cut off the majority of applicants and only interview around 25% I think. Cambridge are a bit more open minded and use the BMAT as part of the overall application when selecting for interview. They interview around 80% of applicants to their courses (although this may be lower for medicine given the large number applying).

You've plenty of time to study for the BMAT. I only decided to sit it in mid September and gave myself little time to prepare! Still got interviewed and gained a lot from it so it's worth it. Good luck

Beca19

Str96 wrote: »

You've plenty of time to study for the BMAT. I only decided to sit it in mid September and gave myself little time to prepare! Still got interviewed and gained a lot from it so it's worth it. Good luck

Thanks for the post, very helpful! Did you get any offers in the end?

vladd25 wrote: »

I looked as well into the Biomed course at UCD, but I found out that the degree doesn't have the accreditation required so that you could to work in hospital labs after graduation. Maybe, I misunderstood but I ve seen other people on the internet saying that this course isn't really good.

The bit about accreditation is true, apparently only the medical science degrees from ITs let you work in a hospital lab. My sister didn't get medicine last year and is in 1st year biomed in UCD, if you've any questions I can get her to answer them for you
She repeated the HPAT this year and if she gets enough points in total this year, she'll be able to skip premed and go straight into first year med and she won't lose out on the grant, so it's a decent back up plan if you think you'll get the LC points but not the HPAT points.

EoghanIRL

^^ how does it work that you don't miss out on the grant? I was almost certain that you only get the grant for first year once?

Beca19

EoghanIRL wrote: »

^^ how does it work that you don't miss out on the grant? I was almost certain that you only get the grant for first year once?

Because premed is technically the first year and and first year med is the second, biomeds do a lot of the same modules as premed so the college (alledgedly) will let people skip premed and go straight to first year. So as far as the grant goes they're just moving to a different course in its 2nd year.

ThatsTheShtuff

Beca19 wrote: »

Because premed is technically the first year and and first year med is the second, biomeds do a lot of the same modules as premed so the college (alledgedly) will let people skip premed and go straight to first year. So as far as the grant goes they're just moving to a different course in its 2nd year.

is it not a case of if she's *offered* a place in medicine,
or is it just for granted that if she gets a good HPAT, she's in?!
if it's that straight-forward, then I'd see it as a very good back-up plan for me!!

Beca19

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

is it not a case of if she's *offered* a place in medicine,
or is it just for granted that if she gets a good HPAT, she's in?!
if it's that straight-forward, then I'd see it as a very good back-up plan for me!!

No hahah you're right she had to reapply to the CAO but if she gets an offer for UCD medicine, she gets to skip premed and keep her grant (hopefully)

vladd25

Beca19 wrote:

No hahah you're right she had to reapply to the CAO but if she gets an offer for UCD medicine, she gets to skip premed and keep her grant (hopefully)

Let me get it straight. If you don't get into med the first time round, you can go to biomed at UCD and then if you get affered a place for medicine you could transfer and still get the tuition fees covered and everything? Does it apply for other courses that include a lot of medically related schiences as well?