HPAT not the panacea apparently in new report

take everything

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/hpat-scores-for-medical-school-entry-down-for-second-year-1.2258868

Interesting article in today’s Times saying that section 3 of HPAT (the interpersonal stuff) is the part that is most susceptible to an improvement in scores by retest.

In other words the touchy feely bits (the rounded doctor bit) can apparently be learned more than the non-touchy feely bits. Which kinda undermines the narrative its introduction was meant to explore.

Also, apparently a third of medical school entries are now hpat retests.

What do all ye (supposedly) older nerd doctors and newly minted people person doctors think.

his_dudeness

The touchy-feely stuff can be forced.

From a personal point of view, I am not a chatty person, very comfortable in my own silence, but I can put on an act of small talk for patients to get them engaged.

It's a skill that can be learned.

ronivek

Section 3 is non-verbal reasoning; not interpersonal skills.

Taco Chips

I've never been a fan of the HPAT. Even the idea of it "improving the interpersonal skills" of students being admitted is a fallacy. A 24 year old graduating college is going to be a very, very different person to an 18 year old entering. College shapes people, matures them. In medical school there is so much emphasis on communication and patient advocacy anyway. These are skills that are going to be learned along the way so it's unfair to expect LC students to have them. I can see some merits in that I don't think admission should be solely based on CAO points but the HPAT isn't the answer to that.

Most importantly though I think its just evolved into another layer for exam prep companies to harvest cash from students trying to improve their scores. The most popular of the prep courses is around €300-400! Nuts. Just another barrier for those with a lower income to overcome.