HPAT

shamoono

Oh, can somebody tell me how the percentiles work? Also are the questions like given 1 mark for every right answer OR various marks depending on how good your answer is?

Cheers

Piste

Perecentiles work like this: 99% percentile means you are in the top 1% of people who sat the test. 70% percentile means you are in the top 30% etc.

The exam is divided into three parts with each part given equal weight, ie. 100 marks for each section. So what I assume they do is find your percentage in each section and that becomes your score for the section. So if you got 60% on section 1, 85% on section 2 and 40% on section 3 you would get 185 points.

At least that's how I think it works!

Piste

Perecentiles work like this: 99% percentile means you are in the top 1% of people who sat the test. 70% percentile means you are in the top 30% etc.

The exam is divided into three parts with each part given equal weight, ie. 100 marks for each section. So what I assume they do is find your percentage in each section and that becomes your score for the section. So if you got 60% on section 1, 85% on section 2 and 40% on section 3 you would get 185 points.

At least that's how I think it works!

shamoono

Piste wrote: »

Perecentiles work like this: 99% percentile means you are in the top 1% of people who sat the test. 70% percentile means you are in the top 30% etc.

The exam is divided into three parts with each part given equal weight, ie. 100 marks for each section. So what I assume they do is find your percentage in each section and that becomes your score for the section. So if you got 60% on section 1, 85% on section 2 and 40% on section 3 you would get 185 points.

At least that's how I think it works!

Thanks for the info Piste.

amacachi

Percentile goes by how well you did compared to the others doing the test. It almost certainly won't be a linear correspondence between the percentile and the point outs of 300 though. Realistically no-one on here has a clue how it's going to work out.
Also I'd've thought there'd be more marks going for some questions than others.

shamoono

Hopefully, there would be more marks going for some questions than other.
Because, I actually found the real thing harder than the actual ACER practice test, thought it would be something equivalent to it.

Purple Funk

You'd have to be in the top percentile to get 260? I didn't think it would be that low. I thought top might be >285 or so.

I know the HPAT or something like it was employed in Australia. Anyone know what the results have been like therE?

cautioner

According to one of my friends who did a revision course, the top percentile last year in Australia was ~230 points, I think. Quite possible I misunderstood.

Synods

Did hpat in Galway on Saturday, did anybody else on level one find bleeping from somebodies digital watch REALLY irritating??

Definitely agree section2 was harder than the sample paper, still fairly ok though....
Felt honours maths students were at an advantage on section1
Oddly enough i seemed to find section3 easy...........which is either a really good sign or a horrifically bad one!!:eek:

whadabouchasir

Synods wrote: »

Felt honours maths students were at an advantage on section1

The question with the aces in it was very similar to the probability questions in HL maths.

Synods

and the sequence questions too.... and the finger ratio question....
Generally thought there were a few vague links between leaving cert courses and section1 questions eg tropism q and biology, etc.

spurious

deex wrote: »

but the school is closed for midterm break and i cant find the ACER address.

Just because students are out doesn't mean the school is closed. At a minimum someone will be there to take in post.
Contact your school on Monday.

amacachi

Synods wrote: »

and the sequence questions too.... and the finger ratio question....
Generally thought there were a few vague links between leaving cert courses and section1 questions eg tropism q and biology, etc.

I think anyone who wants to do Medicine should be doing higher maths or at least capable of answering those questions. It's not like they required any prior knowledge of either series in fairness.

Was surprised at the tropism thing coming up, but it was explained so I don't see how those not doing biology were at a disadvantage.

cautioner

It could be all the difference. If a Biology student familar with tropisms managed to save 30 seconds on that question by not having to read and re-read the table then I think could be quite an advantage, especially considering a lot of people were pressed for time in Section 1. You never know.

amacachi

cautioner wrote: »

It could be all the difference. If a Biology student familar with tropisms managed to save 30 seconds on that question by not having to read and re-read the table then I think could be quite an advantage, especially considering a lot of people were pressed for time in Section 1. You never know.

Aye, that's the trouble with these tests though. If it's set up to be as close as it sounds like it is set up, it could well come down to a lucky guess as to whether a lot of people get in or not.

OH-MY-CANDLE

Don't mean to burst anyones bubble but the hpat is going to make it so much more difficult to get in to medicine.. there has been such a HUGE number of applications as opposed to previous years, people are applying who have no interest in medicine what so ever because they think they could be in with a shot... the competition for places this year will be fierce between the people who get crazy points and then the people who excelled in the HPAT

amacachi

OH-MY-CANDLE wrote: »

Don't mean to burst anyones bubble but the hpat is going to make it so much more difficult to get in to medicine.. there has been such a HUGE number of applications as opposed to previous years, people are applying who have no interest in medicine what so ever because they think they could be in with a shot... the competition for places this year will be fierce between the people who get crazy points and then the people who excelled in the HPAT

I doubt many people who excelled in the HPAT wouldn't have been competing under the old system anyway.

cautioner

I don't think it will be definitively easier or harder to get med with the new system. It'll be easier for some compared to last year's system, much harder for others. There's always been fierce competition for Medicine.

OH-MY-CANDLE

my mum is a lecturer in one of the medical schools... and this is the general consensus with most of her colleuges around the country the

Crystler

Anyone else feel it was severly understaffed, unorganised and not great conditions to do the exams? And my goodness! there were alot of people, but then again expected that much since there was about 3000 people or so taking it. They really should improve the whole test taking system in the RDS (not sure if other exam situations were similar). Here's what I think they should have improved on for the test taking... the test was decent, but there is no way to tell if you did well or not, since they only have the answers and what not.

1. Started about 40mins after it should have. registration started an HOUR late.
2. The queue to get INTO serpentine hall (which was actually the restaurtant? I think, I've only been to the main hall in the RDS and Serpentine hall during one of my sisters performances), but i just found that extremely odd, that they made us line up... but there were 2 queues and also one looked like it ended all the way to the main entrance to the RDS... thank god it ended just on the road, safety procedures a no-no i take it!

3. I was talking to about the first crowd of people (who arrived a tad early about 8:45 or so. And we were just sitting and walking up and down serpentine hall going wtf? are we in the right place and ended up going to the security guard a few times to ask if we were in the right area.... Hello HPAT! 1 measly sign doesn't help out a bunch of nervous/panicky people!

4. I had to go to the toilet during section 1 ... well beforehand after she went 'okay you are now under exam conditions' (now not to sound mean but anyone else think your main lady had a v.disproportionate body?) took me a few mins for me to get anyones attention... had to rush through a few questions to make up for time lost.

5. Finding your seat also! It doesn't really matter which freaking row number your supposed to be at, cause they don't give you any clue as to which row is which? I was like okay... so by rows do they mean from the top and count up or from the back and count up? I think most people just wandered around and noticed that columns went up in roughly about 50's-100's and counted their way to their seats.

6. Just for my curiousity? Anyone else find the generators buzzing noise really disturbing during the exam? or at least before? I kinda tuned it out since it's just there, might as well deal with it. When they noticed it was 'cold' more like freezing (got to love layers!) they turned on the air-conditioner, and it just spewed cold air for awhile...

7. Seemed really rushed to get set-up, invigilators running around, for a while i thought they looked much more panicked than the rest of us.

Overall, for a first time run at the exam, it was good... first time going over regulations and such... They should really pick up the act for next year's group. I agree with 'Piste' with the whole 'Why did they take up our booklets?' I was talking to my friend who was taking it in trinity. and we assumed, they used it for study, since I presume everyone wrote on their booklet to work stuff out? I know I did, since it is the first time it was applied in ireland, they'll need material to study (anyone else notice why they asked us to take down our booklet number?) That's why I think that's the reason.

I've always been bad in section 3... especially the 'find the middle one' I just used v.kid like tactics, like this bit moves 2 times while this bit moved one (you know those 'in series' things you do in junior school maths? like find the link in this series and find the last number 1->2->4->7->11 etc...

Sudoku helped alot in the missing sequences and for the 'in the middle one' I removed anyone with opposites and then the one without an opposite is the one you need, but i can't be certain if I just screwed up majorly in section 3 or not.

I felt really bad during the exam, cause everyone was all like oh 'good luck' and whatever, I had a few friends with me going in, met up with, etc... and I just couldn't wish them luck or anyone for that matter, since HPAT is one of those tests where you wish to do well in, and everyone else to do really badly in. I just felt sick with myself for not wishing everyone luck :S but I wouldn't change it anyways.... I WANT medicine so badly :S

Just posted this little rant as seemed like the best place to kinda just dissect and breakup such exams.

Piste

Heh I agree with you completely! It was just so badly put together

MrPain

my theory for why they collected the booklets is so there wont be 3000 odd floating about next year so they can make as much money as possible by charging people next year for them.

Crystler

What do you mean MrPain? about 3k booklets floating around? Do you mean as practise papers? (no use in having papers to practise on without any answers for them). Anyone else after the 2 hours and 30min exam find that you couldn't walk properly/ walk in a straight line? I must have bumped into 2 or 3 desks till i could feel my legs properly... but then again the english and maths papers are longer... so can't say much about that.

MrPain

Crystler wrote: »

What do you mean MrPain? about 3k booklets floating around? Do you mean as practise papers? (no use in having papers to practise on without any answers for them). Anyone else after the 2 hours and 30min exam find that you couldn't walk properly/ walk in a straight line? I must have bumped into 2 or 3 desks till i could feel my legs properly... but then again the english and maths papers are longer... so can't say much about that.

Yeah I meant as practice tests for people sitting the HPAT next year.

shamoono

I didn't find the whole "BEEP" thing with the digital watches annoying.
OR the fact that the supervisors kept on walking around.

But the whole thing of not getting about 5 minutes to take a piss in between each section is a pain in the ass. I found myself running to and from the toilets during section two.

Piste

Crystler wrote: »

What do you mean MrPain? about 3k booklets floating around? Do you mean as practise papers? (no use in having papers to practise on without any answers for them). Anyone else after the 2 hours and 30min exam find that you couldn't walk properly/ walk in a straight line? I must have bumped into 2 or 3 desks till i could feel my legs properly... but then again the english and maths papers are longer... so can't say much about that.

Yes I had that too! Now I'm not the most graceful of girls at the best of times but Saturday was awful, I kept tripping and bumping into things!

Does anyone know if when we get our results we'll get a breakdown of the marks we got in each section?

Synods

If you consider that 2500 had medicine on their CAO last year and that 3000 people applied for hpat this year you cant really agree that competition will be THAT much greater this year...... and supposing you will only really be in with a shot if you score 550+ in the LC (and only 1500 score above that on average each year) you could argue that -assuming there's approx 500 medicine places in ireland- everyone who scores 550+ applying for medicine will have at least a 33% chance of getting in?
Cant really imagine there will be huge differences between hpat scores anyway...these things are all standardised!!

Fad

Synods wrote: »

If you consider that 2500 had medicine on their CAO last year and that 3000 people applied for hpat this year you cant really agree that competition will be THAT much greater this year...... and supposing you will only really be in with a shot if you score 550+ in the LC (and only 1500 score above that on average each year) you could argue that -assuming there's approx 500 medicine places in ireland- everyone who scores 550+ applying for medicine will have at least a 33% chance of getting in?
Cant really imagine there will be huge differences between hpat scores anyway...these things are all standardised!!

Well about 4 or 5 people in my school did the HPAT without much ambition of doing medicine. Id imagine there's more people like this.

cautioner

For some reason my "Thank" buttons have disappeared, so I'll just post it. I completely agree with Crystler. RDS was a shambles.

Synods

Fad wrote: »

Well about 4 or 5 people in my school did the HPAT without much ambition of doing medicine. Id imagine there's more people like this.

Ya i agree with ya there alright....that even increases the chances even more if you take that into consideration!

On another note, I was fairly amazed to hear of a few of last years students who were lucky enough to get medicine yet decided to put themselves through the hpat system because they wanted to change university!! If these people fail through the hpat method are they still sure of their place on their old course?