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*Everything HPAT and Medicine 2013*

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    #572
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    If you were definitely gonna get 550 I'd say hpat I guess. But the hpat is over a whole 3 months before the LC so you wouldn't really be thinking about it like that.


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    #573
    little sis...
    Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭little sis...


    ^ what did you get in the LC last year if you don't mind me asking :rolleyes:


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    #574
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    0mega wrote: »
    For people who have done the ME day courses, what were they like and what did they consist of? I have mine this week.

    I was hungover and missed the morning of day 1 :rolleyes: I know, commitment right?

    He outlined the course, went through how to use the LMS, the exam, a student who did ME and was in NUIG (I did it in Galway) two years previous scored 100th percentile and came in and spoke to us. Then he started into S1 and S2. We got some homework, it was just a little booklet of like 20 sample questions.

    On day 2 the guy who scored 100th percentile came in again at the start, we did an hour more S2, then S3 and the mock.

    He put up questions on the projector and came around and asked us all what we thought the answer was and if we were right we had to explain it, or draw our conclusion out on a whiteboard. He made some effort to involve us, like in S2 we read the dialogue out allowed and were encouraged to act it etc.

    I thought the mock was pretty decent quality. Overall it's alright like, I don't think the day courses work really, it's not like going to grinds or revision classes for the LC material, you just can't learn hpat skills like that. The real benefit of ME is the practise material.

    Bring pens, paper, water all that stuff anyway, but they provide everything you need really.
    little sis... wrote: »
    wait, so we need to be scoring over 181 (which is actually brilliant IMO) to get medicine?? obviously depending on your LC result but thats crazy.....

    Ahh the score doesn't really matter, 181 probably would have been an awesome score when the hpat was first brought in a few years ago. This year it was only 83rd(ish) or something for me I think. Can't really remember for sure.
    weirdspider wrote: »
    Well a perfect leaving cert last year (565 points) required 172 points in the hpat for the lowest course in NUIG (737 points) so you'd need to be scoring around the 70th percentile.

    Yeah I only got 550.


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    #575
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    little sis... wrote: »
    ^ what did you get in the LC last year if you don't mind me asking :rolleyes:

    five fiddy :)


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    #576
    Slow Show
    Registered Users Posts: 4,248 ✭✭✭Slow Show


    Heh, I can now say that I've been in the same room as fewtinsoffroth, what a life.


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    #577
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    Suprised you're not still starstruck.


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    #578
    little sis...
    Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭little sis...


    fewtinsoffroth wrote: »
    five fiddy :)

    Well hopefully you'll get it this year, you deserve it! :)


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    #579
    JDOC1996
    Registered Users Posts: 445 ✭✭JDOC1996


    What are you guys 2nd choices in case you don't get medicine? Do you plan on repeating or going down the graduate rout if you don't get it?


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    #580
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    Haven't gotta clue what I'm gonna do this year. Probably just do Science somewhere and yeah do the grad route if I have to. Considering Psychology too cause it's only 3 years. Or if I get HEAR this year I might have the points for Dentistry which I'd actually enjoy. A lot of people go for physiotherapy/radiography/rad therapy/ pharmacy/occ. therapy but none of those really appeal to me. I'll probably add in Audiology and podiatry though.

    You?


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    #581
    jos360
    Registered Users Posts: 153 ✭✭jos360


    So the 2012 version of this thread helped me a lot last year and I'm in RCSI med this year (595 LC and 187 HPAT). I never really contributed much to last years thread so I feel I owe some advice. (I'm also really bored at work so I'm just going to rant a bit).

    1) Don't pick your colleges based on points! The college you go to will decide a lot of what happens to you in your career, but by no means will going to a higher CAO points college. The colleges are very different, and choosing one that doesn't suit you will make your 5-6 years there hell. RCSI suits me perfectly and thus I'm getting through it doing about an hour of study a day and cramming for exams. If I were in TCD I'd fail first med hands down. If you have any questions about the different teaching and exam styles, feel free to PM me, but you should be able to find the online.

    2) Drop this stupid Institute Of Education mindset that by sharing your secrets with someone else will let them get ahead of you. Work with people in your school and online. The idea that you almost want to sabotage other people is ridiculous. Yea the exam is effectively standardised against your peers, but by helping others you can expect to be helped back. The tips you'll get from other people like you are worth much more than what you'll take form ME.

    3) Should you focus on the LC or HPAT and when should you start the HPAT? The answer is different for everyone. My approach was to keep my LC just below the 550 mark (in summer and xmas exams) and devout the rest of my time to the HPAT. Then when the HPAT was over, you have over a term to get the LC up to scratch, which is more time than you would think. The one thing I would say is not to start the HPAT too early. It's not the same as the LC where the more time you pour into it the better you can book learn the notes off. If you start too soon, you wont be enthusiastic and sick of shading in boxes by the time the exam comes around. By too early I mean starting early 5th year or even TY.

    4) Go back and read point 1 again, it's important!

    5) While it's probably not best to be doing full timed HPAT exams until near exam time, when practising the HPAT, try do long sessions. There's no point being able to do amazingly well for 45 min. So start those 2-3 hour blocks from the get-go.

    Works starting to get busy so this is going to have to be the end of my rant. Let me know if you have any questions.

    PS. I'm not rereading this so please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes.


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    #582
    little sis...
    Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭little sis...


    ^^ so hows medicine in RCSI? :D


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    #583
    jos360
    Registered Users Posts: 153 ✭✭jos360


    little sis... wrote: »
    ^^ so hows medicine in RCSI? :D

    It's good :)


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    #584
    JDOC1996
    Registered Users Posts: 445 ✭✭JDOC1996


    fewtinsoffroth wrote: »
    Haven't gotta clue what I'm gonna do this year. Probably just do Science somewhere and yeah do the grad route if I have to. Considering Psychology too cause it's only 3 years. Or if I get HEAR this year I might have the points for Dentistry which I'd actually enjoy. A lot of people go for physiotherapy/radiography/rad therapy/ pharmacy/occ. therapy but none of those really appeal to me. I'll probably add in Audiology and podiatry though.

    You?

    Yeah I wouldn't mind dentistry either, It'd be quite like med I'd imagine.


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    #585
    CookieMonster.x
    Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭CookieMonster.x


    JDOC1996 wrote: »
    What are you guys 2nd choices in case you don't get medicine? Do you plan on repeating or going down the graduate rout if you don't get it?
    No idea. So far I have the 5 medicine courses down but nothing else. I will probably repeat if I don't get it this year (which is looking increasingly likely) as its all I've ever wanted to do. I really couldn't picture myself doing anything else. I will probably end up putting maybe radiography or something down. None really appeal to me to be honest! Plus I don't think I'd want I start a course for a year to hopefully get medicine the next year and have to pay fees.
    So I really hvent a notion!


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    #586
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    Yeah taking the year out is something I wish I had considered seriously when I was in leaving cert last year, as opposed to doing a course for the sake of it.


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    #587
    Slow Show
    Registered Users Posts: 4,248 ✭✭✭Slow Show


    Pharmacy or a year out, we'll see - I don't think repeating the LC will be the problem, I'm not gonna get 625 or anything like it but I'd be very disappointed not to break 550 so repeating the LC for the sake of a few points...I dunno. If it was a case of getting less than 550 though I'd definitely repeat. Right now I don't think I'd accept Pharmacy, but who knows what my mindset will be in eight months time? In an ideal world I'd do a course I'd enjoy for a year and repeat the HPAT but I can't justify the fees. On the year out I'd work, give the HPAT another shot, go abroad maybe, and apply to UCAS. None of the above sounds particularly attractive at the moment though, just wanna get in clean and simple, but life isn't really like that sometimes. :p


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    #588
    KristineKJ
    Registered Users Posts: 145 ✭✭KristineKJ


    Someone needs to work on section 1 and 3. 100% on section 2.....shall not mention the other two...gahh.


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    #589
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    does anyone know if there is negative marking in the real exam as there was in the mock ME.? thanks.im new to this


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    #590
    0mega
    Registered Users Posts: 850 ✭✭✭0mega


    amicus wrote: »
    does anyone know if there is negative marking in the real exam as there was in the mock ME.? thanks.im new to this

    Yes, there is but it doesn't make much of a difference, it's always been in place and when you guess the probability of getting the answer right cancels out the marks you lose when you guess incorrectly.

    It's kinda complicated, but nothing to worry about. :) PM me if you have any questions.


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    #591
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    0mega wrote: »
    Yes, there is but it doesn't make much of a difference, it's always been in place and when you guess the probability of getting the answer right cancels out the marks you lose when you guess incorrectly.

    It's kinda complicated, but nothing to worry about. :) PM me if you have any questions.
    amicus wrote: »
    does anyone know if there is negative marking in the real exam as there was in the mock ME.? thanks.im new to this

    Just on that, it says in the ACER booklet "No marks are deducted for a wrong answer". ACER say that there is no negative marking. However the guy from ME said this isn't true and they actually apply the negative marking scheme that 0mega talks about above.

    So, whoever you wanna believe.


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    #592
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    fewtinsoffroth wrote: »
    Just on that, it says in the ACER booklet "No marks are deducted for a wrong answer". ACER say that there is no negative marking. However the guy from ME said this isn't true and they actually apply the negative marking scheme that 0mega talks about above.

    So, whoever you wanna believe.
    not 100 percent sure the guy sed the exam itself wud be negatively marked tho.


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    #593
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    amicus wrote: »
    not 100 percent sure the guy sed the exam itself wud be negatively marked tho.

    Which guy are you talking about?


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    #594
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    fewtinsoffroth wrote: »
    Which guy are you talking about?
    sorry , em the nice australian guy from the ME course if u know him?


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    #595
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    amicus wrote: »
    sorry , em the nice australian guy from the ME course if u know him?

    Ahh I understand what you mean now. Erm I think he did, because a few people looked a bit shocked and then he made a point that it isn't unusual for the people setting the test to lie to the candidates taking these sorta psychometric tests. And there isn't really anything to be gained from adding in negative marking in the mock, that I can think of.

    I'm not entirely convinced either like. ACER say that it isn't negatively marked. It doesn't make a difference anyway, I have no intention of leaving any answers blank.


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    #596
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    i know sum people who scored zero in sections in the mock so in that case it prob wud b idea to leave blanks but mb only if ur weak in a certain section..i dunoo..bit annoying tbh :p


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    #597
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    Ahh but he also made the point that for most wrong answers in sections 1 and 2 only 1/4 of a mark would be deducted (unless it was say, a question that 80% of people got right, then the deduction would be heavier). So, even if you are guessing at random, you shouldn't do any worse.

    And even if you are guessing, you should be able to cancel at least 2 options almost immediately, even if you do no more than that cause you're running out of time or something, you've increased you're odds of guessing correctly to make it worthwhile anyway.

    The negative marking in the mock certainly made your score look poor no matter what you got though :o Very disheartening.


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    #598
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    ye he made us deduct a quarter of what we got rong or sumting haha.. are the percentiles u get on ******** lower than what u coulld expect cus im not gettin quite as much as i did in mock? how is it for you?


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    #599
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    thanks for the help btw :D


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    #600
    Just Like Heaven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,132 ✭✭✭Just Like Heaven


    amicus wrote: »
    ye he made us deduct a quarter of what we got rong or sumting haha.. are the percentiles u get on ******** lower than what u coulld expect cus im not gettin quite as much as i did in mock? how is it for you?

    My percentiles are absolutely all over the place on ME. I've gotten in the 90s a couple of times but I scored 0-20 in one section I think and got like 27th percentile in some other one. And absolutely everywhere in between.

    The last 3 mocks I've done (as in all 9 sections) have been in between 65th and 85th percentile I think though, so at least I'm finally finding a little consistency.

    In the ME mock I scored S1 75th s2 85th and S3 45th percentiles. If you took an average of all my percentiles on the ME LMS I'd say I'm a litte worse at S2 and a little better at S3, but overall it was accurate enough.


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    #601
    amicus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭amicus


    So you are definitely improving then :D IM quite sure ur man sed that if ur averaging 70 online then thats excellent..he sed wat u get on med entry is a below what u can expect which is nice to know i guess


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