MSAP EXAM

Hunchback

I thought the essay prompts gave plenty of scope and variety, but i thoroughly agree that section 2 was extremely difficult. i too had purchased the sample papers and this years exam was substantially more difficult then they were. as mentioned, the 'diamond' diagram seemed completely impenetrable to me, i could NOT grasp it, so i left it blank, came back to it at the end of the exam, and answered the questions based on common sense and a bit of guesswork, and actually just totally ignored the graph itself. i am not overly confident on how my results are going to go as there was a significant amount of guesswork going on.

Hunchback

just briefly aswell,
i asked a supervisor if it was acceptable to write the essay part of the exam in pencil, and she said yes i absolutely could if i preferred ( i was fully aware the front page was NOT to be filled out in pen, pencil ONLY ). exactly seven minutes through the exam the lady on the stage with the microphone says "make sure your essay is in pen, pencil will not be accepted". this was categorically the first mention of it. my hand shot up and i complained to the supervisor lady and she said " i'm so sorry" twice, and then just walked off. by the time i re-wrote what i had in pen, ten minutes of the half-hour were gone and so was my concentration.
really annoyed by this. i prolly should have just completed it in pencil and then left a note saying that an official said it was permitted. i hope i haven't scuppered my chances

jackthelad321

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

just briefly aswell,
i asked a supervisor if it was acceptable to write the essay part of the exam in pencil, and she said yes i absolutely could if i preferred ( i was fully aware the front page was NOT to be filled out in pen, pencil ONLY ). exactly seven minutes through the exam the lady on the stage with the microphone says "make sure your essay is in pen, pencil will not be accepted". this was categorically the first mention of it. my hand shot up and i complained to the supervisor lady and she said " i'm so sorry" twice, and then just walked off. by the time i re-wrote what i had in pen, ten minutes of the half-hour were gone and so was my concentration.
really annoyed by this. i prolly should have just completed it in pencil and then left a note saying that an official said it was permitted. i hope i haven't scuppered my chances

Jesus that's awful, I know exactly how offputting any distraction is. I probably lost a minute three times when phones went off. It only lasted 10 seconds or so each time but the effect is that you lose time regaining your focus.

I don't know about scuppering your chances, it's certainly the last thing you needed in a tight exam that hasn't any time for messing around with nonsense like that.

I seriously hope it didn't affect your chances much, I know I would have been enraged had that happened to me, but I have a short temper. Still, I suppose if your essay score isn't as high as you had hoped you can put it down to the mistake of the invigelator and not your mind. I came out feeling like a moron, and I only had myself to look at.

After a few days though the sting of the exam has faded and I am somewhat optomistic again;when i came out of the exam I felt tipsy-drunk, but that type of drunk you feel when your having a terrible time.

Hunchback

jackthelad321 wrote: »

Jesus that's awful, I know exactly how offputting any distraction is. I probably lost a minute three times when phones went off. It only lasted 10 seconds or so each time but the effect is that you lose time regaining your focus.

I don't know about scuppering your chances, it's certainly the last thing you needed in a tight exam that hasn't any time for messing around with nonsense like that.

I seriously hope it didn't affect your chances much, I know I would have been enraged had that happened to me, but I have a short temper. Still, I suppose if your essay score isn't as high as you had hoped you can put it down to the mistake of the invigelator and not your mind. I came out feeling like a moron, and I only had myself to look at.

After a few days though the sting of the exam has faded and I am somewhat optomistic again;when i came out of the exam I felt tipsy-drunk, but that type of drunk you feel when your having a terrible time.

Where did you sit the exam Jack, if you don't mind me asking? i sat it in galway, i don't know how many people were there exactly, but i do know according to the galway examiner that applications for mature student places are down on last year, probably attributable to the hammering that grants etc. have taken in the budget.

btw i emailed the people at acer(MSAP) and they said that my situation was most regrettable, but ultimately there is nothing that they can do regarding my mark. which i expected, but it's a tiny bit dissappointing anyway.

were you able to make head or tail of that diamond shaped diagram?

jackthelad321

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

Where did you sit the exam Jack, if you don't mind me asking? i sat it in galway, i don't know how many people were there exactly, but i do know according to the galway examiner that applications for mature student places are down on last year, probably attributable to the hammering that grants etc. have taken in the budget.

btw i emailed the people at acer(MSAP) and they said that my situation was most regrettable, but ultimately there is nothing that they can do regarding my mark. which i expected, but it's a tiny bit dissappointing anyway.

were you able to make head or tail of that diamond shaped diagram?

Lousy, but as you said that's to be expected.

Complete guesswork for the diagram, as well as parts of others. I found the preparation material far easier, though i still made mistakes aplenty.

I was near to the back. I remember 3 phones going off, with invigelators scrambling for the jackets or bags. That ticked me off, just that people wouldn't bother turning their phones off. mind boggles.
good news on turnout i guess, and he harder people foung it the better. maybe there is still hope

Know your annoyed about the essay but maybe you did beter than you thought. Hard to accept it but it might still all be ok. maybe your luck leveled out and you ticked all the correct boxes in the guesswork in sec. 2
EDIT: no, diagram messed me up. and .... ahh feck it tis done now.
EDIT: 2, I was in Galway also. Yer wan reading out the instructions didn't instill confidence in me.

Confused2011

Hey everyone I just logged into my cao application there and my msap scores are there!

This is what it said!

CAO was provided with the following data with your ACER score. If you have received
a better valid score then you should forward them to CAO immediately.

The CAO have no information explaining these scores. Any further information
should be sought from ACER.

Should I take that as my score? Thanks

[Jackass]

I guess!! I got mine too...

I don't know if it's good or bad

This page helped: http://msap.acer.edu.au/results/hpat-ireland-scores

Anyone care to share? I got 125 - from what I can tell that's pretty good, but still doesn't stop me being nervous as hell about it!

Confused2011

Well done jackass! I got 104 not sure if it's enough especially when it doesn't show the percentile ! I really thought I did terrible especially in the written section I just went blank! I suppose all we can do is wait and see!

cajun

108 for me guys. I'm going for UCC Arts. 2009 cut-off mark was 87. Anybody know what the cut-off was for 2010? I'm sure there were a lot more applicants for 2010 and 2011 so it should be higher.

I'm not happy with my result but it could have been worse.

[Jackass]

Confused2011 wrote: »

Well done jackass! I got 104 not sure if it's enough especially when it doesn't show the percentile ! I really thought I did terrible especially in the written section I just went blank! I suppose all we can do is wait and see!

Thanks! To be honest, I hadn't a clue what I was doing in the second half of the exam, so might have got lucky ticking a few of the right boxes!!

Where do you find out the cut off points for entrance to UCD?

Wow, Economics in UCD is my first choice, would be absolutely ecstatic if I got in to that!

Confused2011

Well done Cajun! I'm sure I saw on a previous thread that last year arts ucc was 100 but I could be wrong!

Jackass I think you have to contact the college that's what other posters were saying on last years msap thread hope that helps!

cajun

Confused2011 wrote: »

Well done Cajun! I'm sure I saw on a previous thread that last year arts ucc was 100 but I could be wrong!

Jackass I think you have to contact the college that's what other posters were saying on last years msap thread hope that helps!

Oh, I hope you are wrong That seems like too close for comfort. It went up 13 in a year.

Good luck with your applications, guys.

Confused2011

Ya sorry the poster was referring to the cut off for social work which means I probably will be kissing my first choice good bye! Have a look at last years result thread I can't post the link I'm on my phone!

Mona Olsen

Score 1 - 137
Score 2 - 144
Overall - 141

I guess that's really good right?
I didn't expect to do that well so fingers crossed!!

Hunchback

overall i got 120, which is 80%. i'm not delighted but it should be enough for arts in nuig, i think? btw, are the MSAP points requirements for various courses available anywhere?

jackthelad321

Mona Olsen wrote: »

Score 1 - 137
Score 2 - 144
Overall - 141

I guess that's really good right?
I didn't expect to do that well so fingers crossed!!

That's incredible!

Hunchback

agreed, thats an abolutely rockin' score Mona, hats off to you

Mona Olsen

Anyone know what we're scored out of?
My friend just got scores of:
Score 1 - 117
Score 2 - 158
Overall - 138

I thought we were scored out of 150?

Mona Olsen

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

agreed, thats an abolutely rockin' score Mona, hats off to you

Thanks - I really thought my essays were terrible so wasn't expecting anything like that!

jackthelad321

Mona Olsen wrote: »

Anyone know what we're scored out of?
My friend just got scores of:
Score 1 - 117
Score 2 - 158
Overall - 138

I thought we were scored out of 150?

As did i. Maybe she scored perfect on section two, and the number of questions went into 158.? though that seems unlikely doesn't it!

i can't remember the questions but Jesus she did brilliant as well. I got 118, made a balls of the second section was guessing 10 questions or so at the end... needless to say it didn't pay off. Oh well, it's better than i expected considering the horrid feeling in my stomach afterwards over the next day opr two...i had thought i was going to be lucky to get 100

EDIT: i don't know why i'm presuming your friend is a 'she' but I am!

jackthelad321

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

overall i got 120, which is 80%. i'm not delighted but it should be enough for arts in nuig, i think? btw, are the MSAP points requirements for various courses available anywhere?

I'd be quietly confident if i were you; luckily arts take in a good number of mature students so with a score like that i would honestly think you have done enough.

cajun

CKonetheonlyone wrote: »

overall i got 120, which is 80%. i'm not delighted but it should be enough for arts in nuig, i think? btw, are the MSAP points requirements for various courses available anywhere?

How do you know it was 80%? Have you received an email from them? I thought people were getting their results from the CAO website which doesn't have the percentile mark. Well done on your score by the way

I'm more worried now with my score of 108, as it seems people are doing pretty well (some amazing). Biting nails time

voxbot

Hey,

Does anyone know where to get the MSAP results from? I haven't received an email and I logged into my cao thing and no sign of anything..

Thanks!

cajun

voxbot wrote: »

Hey,

Does anyone know where to get the MSAP results from? I haven't received an email and I logged into my cao thing and no sign of anything..

Thanks!

Voxbot, I think we all got ours on the cao website. It was on my cao application at the end. Did you try there? I don't think the emails are out yet.

declan_k

Can someone shed some light on my scores?

section 1... 98

section 2..... 102

overall....100

cant understand why they havent given us the percentile

is overall 100 good enough for arts in ucc?

voxbot

cajun wrote: »

Voxbot, I think we all got ours on the cao website. It was on my cao application at the end. Did you try there? I don't think the emails are out yet.

Thanks so much, sorry I was in a bit of a panic and couldn't see them!

Ok... so, I got:

Score 1: 136
Score 2: 144
Score 3: n/a
Overall Score: 140

What the flip does that mean?!

cajun

voxbot wrote: »

Thanks so much, sorry I was in a bit of a panic and couldn't see them!

Ok... so, I got:

Score 1: 136
Score 2: 144
Score 3: n/a
Overall Score: 140

What the flip does that mean?!

It means it's a very good score. Well done!

Hunchback

cajun wrote: »

How do you know it was 80%? Have you received an email from them? I thought people were getting their results from the CAO website which doesn't have the percentile mark. Well done on your score by the way

I'm more worried now with my score of 108, as it seems people are doing pretty well (some amazing). Biting nails time

sorry, my bad. you are absolutely right. i also got my results from the cao website , which doesn't give the percentile result. i was simply, and mistakenly just getting a percentage out of a hundred by taking my mean score, dividing by a hundred and fifty and multiplying by a hundred. what a dunder-head i am this obv. is just a percentage, and not the percentile, which is crucial, and which i assume we will have to wait until the weekend or perhaps the following monday to be emailed!!!

voxbot

cajun wrote: »

It means it's a very good score. Well done!

Thank you! Good luck to everyone else, this is turning out to be a really stressful process..

cajun

declan_k wrote: »

Can someone shed some light on my scores?

section 1... 98

section 2..... 102

overall....100

cant understand why they havent given us the percentile

is overall 100 good enough for arts in ucc?

It's average as far as I can see declan but to make you feel a small bit better, in 2009 a score of 87 was good enough to get into Arts at UCC. I've been ringing UCC to see what was the cut-off point last year but they're not answering. Hopefully it doesn't change that much score wise. don't give up yet, you are still in with a chance as there are 100 places on offer and not everybody here is going for that course. Good luck, man