Admissions for medicine at Ucd

WeeBushy

Not really though, you prepare yourself for everything in life, job interviews, presentations, marraige (hopfully ) etc.

Getting yourself acquainted with what will be asked of you just makes sense.

Sitting there going to 10 preparatory courses, studying and memorising past paper answers etc is obviously no good, but coming prepared is essential.

tony007

ironclaw wrote: »

Your still studying for a test that shouldn't really be studied for. Its meant to test you as a person not on your preparation. You'd be effectively lying to yourself and your abilities. By all means look at past papers, get a feel for the exam but as for studying or grinding, thats stupid.

Beyond the rote learning of the leaving certificate, life has exams one can't study for. A real job isn't going to have past papers to reference. "Thinking outside the box" is something the leaving certificate fails to teach and its something no one can learn or teach.

But by your own admission, it isn't an aptitude test. If preparation for it helps, then it doesn't test your aptitude.

ironclaw

tony007 wrote: »

But by your own admission, it isn't an aptitude test. If preparation for it helps, then it doesn't test your aptitude.

No, I didn't say that.

By all means look at past papers, get a feel for the exam. Thats good preparation. But don't do the papers or look at "preferred solutions" Mates of mine did courses as far away as Edinburgh that showed candidates how to score highly. Thats utter lunacy. I'm a firm believer in that "if its meant to be, its meant to be" As such I laugh at these 600 point candidates who write to the papers come the CAO rounds because they didn't get medicine. Theres a reason for it. As much as people give out, the CAO is fair. It rewards hard work.

partyatmygaff

tony007 wrote: »

But by your own admission, it isn't an aptitude test. If preparation for it helps, then it doesn't test your aptitude.

What sort of aptitude test could people not prepare for?

The three sections of the HPAT are as follows

1. Verbal reasoning
Practicing questions like this and learning general techniques for mentally organising data helps a great deal in this section.

2. Interpersonal
Reading English novels and short stories and attempting to read between the lines will help a great deal in this section.

3. Non-verbal reasoning
Easily the most preparable of all the sections. Practice makes perfect.

tony007

ironclaw wrote: »

No, I didn't say that.

By all means look at past papers, get a feel for the exam. Thats good preparation. But don't do the papers or look at "preferred solutions" Mates of mine did courses as far away as Edinburgh that showed candidates how to score highly. Thats utter lunacy. I'm a firm believer in that "if its meant to be, its meant to be" As such I laugh at these 600 point candidates who write to the papers come the CAO rounds because they didn't get medicine. Theres a reason for it. As much as people give out, the CAO is fair. It rewards hard work.

No, it rewards people who are able to store up largely pointless information in your brain and then transfer it onto the exam paper. How is that ''fair''? It's stupid. And I think you should do the papers as it helps improve your timekeeping skills. You are stuck for time in the exam. And I agree that going abroad is lunacy.

tony007

partyatmygaff wrote: »

What sort of aptitude test could people not prepare for?

The three sections of the HPAT are as follows

1. Verbal reasoning
Practicing questions like this and learning general techniques for mentally organising data helps a great deal in this section.

2. Interpersonal
Reading English novels and short stories and attempting to read between the lines will help a great deal in this section.

3. Non-verbal reasoning
Easily the most preparable of all the sections. Practice makes perfect.

Exactly. So preparing for it doesn't mean you are cheating the system. You are preparing for it, that's all

partyatmygaff

tony007 wrote: »

No, it rewards people who are able to store up largely pointless information in your brain and then transfer it onto the exam paper.

A lot of medicine is just memorising endless amounts of information and then learning how to apply that knowledge to medical situations.

Raphael

tony007 wrote: »

No, it rewards people who are able to store up largely pointless information in your brain and then transfer it onto the exam paper. How is that ''fair''? It's stupid. And I think you should do the papers as it helps improve your timekeeping skills. You are stuck for time in the exam. And I agree that going abroad is lunacy.

Depends on the subject. Rote learning is no use at all in things like Technical Drawing or Maths.

And the point ironclaw was making is that the CAO system rewards hard work. Which it does. Anyone who works hard enough can rote learn the material, it doesn't mean their smart, but no ones arguing that it does mean that.

tony007

partyatmygaff wrote: »

A lot of medicine is just memorising endless amounts of information and then learning how to apply that knowledge to medical situations.

Yes, but the information is largely necessary. With the lc, it isn't.

tony007

Raphael wrote: »

Depends on the subject. Rote learning is no use at all in things like Technical Drawing or Maths.

And the point ironclaw was making is that the CAO system rewards hard work. Which it does. Anyone who works hard enough can rote learn the material, it doesn't mean their smart, but no ones arguing that it does mean that.

So what if it rewards hard work? That shouldn't be the aim of the leaving cert exam.

Raphael

So that's what the previous poster said. And you said "No it doesn't it requires hard work!" No one's saying that it should, people are just saying that it does.

tony007

Raphael wrote: »

So that's what the previous poster said. And you said "No it doesn't it requires hard work!" No one's saying that it should, people are just saying that it does.

True, I'm wrong when it comes to that. It does reward hard work.