* Everything HPAT and Medicine for 2011 *

Jaafa

Sunny!! wrote: »

thank god i thought it was only me:D. I love section B:)

Yeah same here but I hear its a lot harder in the actual test. Oh well we'll see how it goes.

foglight

Anyone any hints on the rationale for some of the sample questions
Section 3 no. 109 ( Stars) or 104?

Jaafa

foglight wrote: »

Anyone any hints on the rationale for some of the sample questions
Section 3 no. 109 ( Stars) or 104?

For section 3 I've noticed that even though there may be 3 or more things changing from one picture to another (eg: color, shape etc) some of them are completely random while others form a pattern.

So its best to pick one thing that is changing (eg: color) and see if that has a pattern, If not move on to the next thing and so on. Sometimes 2 things will change together and form a pattern together. Hope you get me there. :P

goosey93

I have done the two practice tests. The timing didnt seem to be much of an issue for me? was finished the sections with 10-15 minutes 2 spare. Anyone know if there is any good practice material online?

JamJamJamJam

Anybody know what's considered to be a good mark in each section?
I know that the questions are weighted, but ignoring that, how are people getting on in each section of the practice tests? Being able to put it in perspective would be comforting (or possibly distressing, but I'll hope for the former..!)

kellogscoffey

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

Anybody know what's considered to be a good mark in each section?
I know that the questions are weighted, but ignoring that, how are people getting on in each section of the practice tests? Being able to put it in perspective would be comforting (or possibly distressing, but I'll hope for the former..!)

James? :P Was my answer unsatisfactory? :P

Patri

Definitely a bit scared now! Just see myself in the test centre looking at a question with some graph or something and knowing I got many like it wrong before. Leaving cert stress is consuming me right now.

JamJamJamJam

kellogscoffey wrote: »

James? :P Was my answer unsatisfactory? :P

Hahaha! Fancy seeing you here :-P I didn't get your answer I'm afraid :-(

kellogscoffey

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

Hahaha! Fancy seeing you here :-P I didn't get your answer I'm afraid :-(

I'd nearly be better off just shouting the answer up the road to you :pac: I was saying that each section is marked out of 100. There's no set marks going for any question though. For example, section 1 has more questions than the other sections, but its only worth the same overall. Them more people answer a particular question, the less marks its worth, in general. Noone really gets "Full Marks" as such like, you're just trying to do better than everyone else :cool:

JamJamJamJam

kellogscoffey wrote: »

I'd nearly be better off just shouting the answer up the road to you :pac: I was saying that each section is marked out of 100. There's no set marks going for any question though. For example, section 1 has more questions than the other sections, but its only worth the same overall. Them more people answer a particular question, the less marks its worth, in general. Noone really gets "Full Marks" as such like, you're just trying to do better than everyone else :cool:

Oh sorry, I probably didn't phrase that very well! I mean...
Say if I got 20 questions right in the first section, would that be considered okay, or would closer to 30 or even 40 be required to be a 'good' mark in that section?
And I was wondering the same for the other sections.

I guess it's kind of hard to know, but I have no idea how I'm doing in the practice tests!

jumpguy

JamJamJamJam wrote: »

Oh sorry, I probably didn't phrase that very well! I mean...
Say if I got 20 questions right in the first section, would that be considered okay, or would closer to 30 or even 40 be required to be a 'good' mark in that section?
And I was wondering the same for the other sections.

Not really sure of that, I got 25/44 in practice test 2 though. :-/ 30 would probably be a fairly good score.

Sorry for the double post!

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

Think you may be wrong there, I remember talking afterwards about section 1 and we all had the same first question, last question, second last and all that (from what we could remember after coming out). Its important to write down your question book number on your sheet so they can be sure that you handed it back up, otherwise your score is not valid.

That's what good ole Mr. Prep guy said, maybe he was wrong. Money well spent, eh? >.<

I definitely think section 3 is kinda improvable, to an extent. When I first tried it I was awful at it. Like, dire. I seem to have gone from absolutely dire (I'd be grateful to hit 10 like) to somewhat less dire (around 15/16). You can really pick up strategies and stuff and get used to the questions.

My section 2, meanwhile, fluctuates insanely. I'm doing brilliant one minute, getting 30 and beyond, and then the next I'm getting less than 25. Frustrating. And it's the same with my section 1, although I seem to be averaging out a raw score of about 24-26.

I'm not *really* confident my HPAT will go well tbh, but that hasn't really affected my nerves. I'm not too worried anymore if I get medicine or not. I've done my best for the HPAT and as practice has shown me, a shítload of it is down to luck. If it goes well, it was meant to be, and if it doesn't, then it wasn't. I'll go and do some other course, and if I get the burning desire to pursue medicine later on in life, I'll do a postgrad in it.

Life is (hopefully) long, we're all very young and have barely scratched the surface, there's 1000s of things you can be happy doing, not just medicine. Give the HPAT your best shot, but not getting it doesn't mean your life is over. It just means you won't get into med this year. Which sucks, but it's by no means the end of the world.

Mr. Bean.

Did anyone else find the practice test 2 significantly more difficult than practice test 1, in particular section 1 & 2?

Musefan

jumpguy wrote: »

Life is (hopefully) long, we're all very young and have barely scratched the surface, there's 1000s of things you can be happy doing, not just medicine. Give the HPAT your best shot, but not getting it doesn't mean your life is over. It just means you won't get into med this year. Which sucks, but it's by no means the end of the world.

This is very good advice. After the HPAT results in 2009, I was so disheartened, because I knew that I had just fallen the tiniest bit short of the points I thought I needed for medicine in the college I wanted (I was right- unlucky number 8).

I met the mother of a friend outside my school (her daughter and I had come in to speak to our careers teacher about how he thought we would fare). She was a G.P herself, and gave me some excellent advice. She told me that medicine was exactly what she had wanted to do when she was my age, but she admitted that from the minute her kids were born that she knew taking care of them was what she wanted and it totally put a life in medicine in perspective for her. Just goes to show that all of us who want things, can encounter something we want more, even if we dont think it's possible.

theowen

Just thought I'd say, you can definitely go up in the HPAT if you repeat. Lots of people in my current Med class went up by crazy numbers e.g 130 to 180, 150 to 220 etc. LOTS of people go up, lots and lots.

partyatmygaff

Mr. Bean. wrote: »

Did anyone else find the practice test 2 significantly more difficult than practice test 1, in particular section 1 & 2?

Just a tad. Section 3 was a bit easier though...

Toastghost

I'm using a school identification card so what do i fill it in with ????

Mr. Bean. wrote: »

Did anyone else find the practice test 2 significantly more difficult than practice test 1, in particular section 1 & 2?

I've didnt find sec 1 or 2 harder but i did need the full 65 mins for sec 1 when in paper 1 i was done with a good 15 mins to spare.

On that note does anyone have the answers for the 2nd test paper? I cant find my practice booklet but i have my answer sheet so i need to correct it can anyone pm me just the answers?

Also anyone have a decent way of preparing/practising for the final q's of sec 3 ? the which best suits the middle of the sequence ones???/

As i'm clueless on how to do them and its hazardous to my score as on non-verbal reasoning I was near perfect until those questions.

Patriciamc93

Toastghost wrote: »

I'm using a school identification card so what do i fill it in with ????

I don't think you can use a school id card........... think it is only passport, drivers license or a letter from your school with id or some authority....

but i could be wrong

jumpguy

Toastghost wrote: »

I'm using a school identification card so what do i fill it in with ????

They will only accept a valid passport, driver's license OR a letter of certification that it is indeed you sitting the test from your school.

A student ID card will not do.

lctake2

theowen wrote: »

Just thought I'd say, you can definitely go up in the HPAT if you repeat. Lots of people in my current Med class went up by crazy numbers e.g 130 to 180, 150 to 220 etc. LOTS of people go up, lots and lots.

The same happened with my class, at least 2 people went up amounts like that.
My best advice is that you get to read all the questions. I didn't get all of the questions done, well I answered all but didn't get to work all out, but ones that I knew would be tricky I skipped and left until the end so that I got to do all the questions that I thought looked easy. If you work start to finish attempting each one chances are that you won't get to time to see ones that the end that you would have gotten done in a couple of seconds.
Don't panic if section 2 seems hard, I think it's a lot harder than the practice tests but since it's harder for everyone so it shouldn't make a huge difference

Coco pop

definitely go up !! but like trinity are uping their place so they might go down ! but defo going up in general id say

jumpguy

Question for ye, are we allowed bring a stop-timer into the exam? It's not a watch like, it's just a digital timer you can wear around your neck (for jogging, etc).

I actually just can't wait to get this over and done with now... >.<

partyatmygaff

jumpguy wrote: »

Question for ye, are we allowed bring a stop-timer into the exam? It's not a watch like, it's just a digital timer you can wear around your neck (for jogging, etc).

I actually just can't wait to get this over and done with now... >.<

Fairly sure you can't. Just use a watch. Don't burn yourself out with worry. I'm just trying to clear my mind in preparation. In a few hours we'll be back here talking about how the exam went.

HPAT Website

"What can I take to the test centre?

You will need to take your Admission Ticket, appropriate identification document (ID), pencils, and eraser. Bottled water is also permitted. All other items are not permitted in the test room."

kellogscoffey

jumpguy wrote: »

Question for ye, are we allowed bring a stop-timer into the exam? It's not a watch like, it's just a digital timer you can wear around your neck (for jogging, etc).

I think you can yeah

At least. we'd better be able to, or sh1ts goin' down... :pac:

clartharlear

A stop timer? Seems like you'd end up spending too much time keeping track of the time! There will be questions that you can do in under a minute, and there will be questions that it's worth spending 2 minutes on. I'd recommend checking your watch maybe every 10 questions (5 in sect 3) in order to keep track of time, but not get too hung up on it.

partyatmygaff

What's everyone doing for their final preparations? I want to practice some more but i've done both practice papers countless times already =/ I can't even study anything else (Despite having mocks next week).

figiii

good luck everyone

isiris

what is everybody doing in case they dont get enough points from the hpat? starting a year in college and then repeating it , doing plc course?

Mr.Fun

BEST OF LUCK

I HOPE ALL OF YE GET ON GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!1

jumpguy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Fairly sure you can't. Just use a watch. Don't burn yourself out with worry. I'm just trying to clear my mind in preparation. In a few hours we'll be back here talking about how the exam went.

HPAT Website

"What can I take to the test centre?

You will need to take your Admission Ticket, appropriate identification document (ID), pencils, and eraser. Bottled water is also permitted. All other items are not permitted in the test room."

Screw it, I'll ask at the door and if they say I can't I'll hide it or something (10€). It'd be great to have it instead of my stupid analogue watch. /lazy <_<

partyatmygaff

jumpguy wrote: »

Screw it, I'll ask at the door and if they say I can't I'll hide it or something (10€). It'd be great to have it instead of my stupid analogue watch. /lazy <_<

I really wouldn't risk it. I know how much you want medicine. Imagine if something as stupid as that got you booted out of the exam hall.

If you ask them and if they refuse and you still bring it in and get caught you'll be removed from the exam for sure as they'll see that as defiance.

If you don't ask them and just defiantly use it without mentioning it to the people supervising the exam the worst they'll probably do is confiscate it if not just let you get on with using it.