*Everything HPAT and Medicine 2015*

LochlanCummins

Junokevv wrote: »

Did anyone do the Simulated Trial Exam with Med-Entry yesterday? How did people do?

I found S2 to be trickier than usual.

Section 1; 23/44
Section 2; 22/36
Section 3; 20/30
Very disappointed with section 1, section 2 was difficult so I suppose 22 isn't too bad, did well in section 3. Found this section 3 way easier than the exam we did at the workshop? Anyone else feel the same?

etherealfairy

Honestly guys, I'm just looking forward to getting this out of the way. I feel I've done my best to prepare and I know you all have too. As it's my first time sitting it, I have no idea how I'll fare, but I'm putting my faith in that whatever is meant to happen, will happen.

Best of luck to you all!

GrabTheCREAM

etherealfairy wrote: »

Honestly guys, I'm just looking forward to getting this out of the way. I feel I've done my best to prepare and I know you all have too. As it's my first time sitting it, I have no idea how I'll fare, but I'm putting my faith in that whatever is meant to happen, will happen.

Best of luck to you all!

On the same boat here, just waiting for it to be over and done with. I'm gonna try and finish off the practise exams, and drills that i have left and hope for the best, but i guess whats meant to happen, will.

umar3061

how does the practice drills and exams on the med entry LMS, compare to the hpat in terms of difficulty?

etherealfairy

umar3061 wrote: »

how does the practice drills and exams on the med entry LMS, compare to the hpat in terms of difficulty?

From what we've heard the practice exams display a certain diversity but overall they are similar enough to the real HPAT, however the ACER practice exams are significantly easier. The drills are easier too, as they are made to prepare you for the practice exams. Of course, environmental/psychological factors play a role in determining the exam's difficulty on the day but you can endeavour to minimise this.

yoyojc

LochlanCummins wrote: »

Section 1; 23/44
Section 2; 22/36
Section 3; 20/30
Very disappointed with section 1, section 2 was difficult so I suppose 22 isn't too bad, did well in section 3. Found this section 3 way easier than the exam we did at the workshop? Anyone else feel the same?

Wow these are actually really good considering how difficult the exam was. I was so disappointed with my results considering how well I've been doing on the LMS as of recently.
Definitely found myself able to narrow it down to 2 in section 3, it was easier!
However 20/30 is a really strong mark in that exam, you'll be in the very high percentiles I'd imagine!

GrabTheCREAM

How good are the institute of education practise sample exams? I have some left from when my sis did it in 2013 and I did one it was grand but how does it compare to the actual HPAT or the ME ones does anyone know?

I've finished the 15 on ME and my sections 1&2 started falling really bad toward the end (below 50th percentile) so I'm just wondering how everyone else got along?

umar3061

can someone tell me how to know where to start in the pick the middle questions in section 3? im really stuck on those!

LochlanCummins

yoyojc wrote: »

Wow these are actually really good considering how difficult the exam was. I was so disappointed with my results considering how well I've been doing on the LMS as of recently.
Definitely found myself able to narrow it down to 2 in section 3, it was easier!
However 20/30 is a really strong mark in that exam, you'll be in the very high percentiles I'd imagine!

thanks mate! yeah maybe i got a bit lucky in section 3 you never know! need to boost up my section 1 and 2 a bit though. just hoping some of the med.entry questions are on the actual thing!

Healium

I've got UCD as my test centre, and will be staying nearby that night. If anyone fancies a meet-up and a bit of last-minute study that night or early morning on the 28th, let me know

mhf55

Hi did anyone do the med entry workshop exam? Are the answers for it on lms or did they give them to you on the day?

leopard trek

I know it's very earlier to be thinking about this kind of thing, but I think it's something that I personally need to put a lot of thought into.... What do you guys think?
I've applied to some european universities, like in Italy, Poland etc. but I've also applied for a three year bachelor of biomedical sciences up north and in scotland, and I've recieved two offers. I'm now weighing up the two choices - a) going directly into med in Central Europe or b) doing a degree with the sole inclination of using it as a pathway to medicine.
Of course this Is subject to me not rcieving an offer for medicine here! Is It too erly to think of this, and has anybody done (or knows somebody who haas) gone about doing a primary degree before medicine?

Thanks & sorry for the long-winded post

jom95

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

leopard trek

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

Hey man!
A quick one - how do the acer practice tests compare to the actual exam?

mhf55

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

Hey what do you think is best to focus on from now until Saturday?

DaveMc90

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

Hi first time doing the hpat next week and I've been with med entry , just wondering difficulty wise how would you compare the real thing to your practise exams ?
Also on a side note what would you reccomend doing from now until Saturday preparation wise ? Espectially the closest days to it?

Really appreciate it!

taem8

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

Just wondering what should I really be doing now in terms of HPAT study in the final week? What resources would you recommend I use?? Thanks!

etherealfairy

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

What do you recommend doing the day before and morning of? I feel as though mindset is absolutely vital in order to succeed, so how did you ensure that you were clear-minded, calm, sufficiently confident and stress-free immediately before and during the exam?

How did your results in the HPAT compare to practice exams you had done (if any)?

Would it be wise to miss a couple of days/mornings of school this week in order to get some last minute practice (namely section 3) and avoid things that may stress you out, i.e. forgetting about school and maintaining focus on the HPAT almost solely this week?

Thanks a million!

jom95

Right so firstly the HPAT itself is more difficult than the Acer practice exams, but it is a little less simple regarding the ME practice exams...from what I found, section 1 was marginally easier (although still challenging) than ME section 2 was harder and section 3 was quite a good bit easier (ME section 3 can be impossible)
Personally, my HPAT result was actually bang on what I was getting on the ME (92nd percentile), although I think I'm the exception here, most people do substantially better. From now until Saturday, if you have more practice exams to do, try and do them but don't do more than 2, and ideally try and get them done today and tomorrow. That leaves Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to review the sh*t out of them. I had all the exams done at this stage so what I did was I went over the solutions to all the very hard questions in the exams. I made sure I could now complete them from start to finish.
So finally, getting through the day itself! I used to hate the advice 'go to bed early', it's not the going to bed that's an issue it's getting to sleep...definitely have a relaxing day on the Friday. For me, i didn't do any HPAT work after 2 pm, (cramming obviously doesn't work for this exam, unfortunately) I then played some pitch n putt with a few of my friends not doing the HPAT, was a bit of craic and definitely a great way to take your mind off it. Do something like that in the fresh air that will relax you. I also went for a run around 7 to try and tire me out. Now, the day itself. You probably won't have a great sleep, neither did I, but the adrenalin will keep you going. Psychologically, for me, it helped to reduce the importance of the exam. I wasn't doing the exam on a whim, I had always wanted to do medicine so that was obviously tough to do. I just thought 'if I fail, I can still do it again next year, I can still go to uni in a different course and have a good year.' That put a bit less pressure on me anyway. The day is still stressful, regardless. I was in ucd's o'reilly hall which was absolutely MASSIVE. There were around 800 of us there I'd say. The tension is incredible so you have to find your own way to relax before the test. Listen to some music, whatever suits you. I was lucky to be in the same test centre as my friend and we just chatted and had a bit of banter beforehand. Definitely better than anxiously waiting around on your own. That obviously doesn't apply to all of you but if it does, take advantage of it...when the test starts, if you've prepared well for it, you will find yourself the most alert you've ever been in your life. I remember absolutely speed reading the first question, highlighting the terms and having the answer within 30 seconds almost. At some stage during the exam, you will hit a wall. It happened to me in the middle of section 1, (my best section through prep so I needed it to go well). There were around 7/8 questions in a row I didn't know for sure or I had to blindly guess. The important thing is not to panic and not to spend too long on them. Eventually the right answers will come.
So think I've answered all the inquiries so far, I really do sympathise with you guys, so anything I can do to help feel free to ask!

jom95

etherealfairy wrote: »

What do you recommend doing the day before and morning of? I feel as though mindset is absolutely vital in order to succeed, so how did you ensure that you were clear-minded, calm, sufficiently confident and stress-free immediately before and during the exam?

How did your results in the HPAT compare to practice exams you had done (if any)?

Would it be wise to miss a couple of days/mornings of school this week in order to get some last minute practice (namely section 3) and avoid things that may stress you out, i.e. forgetting about school and maintaining focus on the HPAT almost solely this week?

Thanks a million!

Oh and yes, I missed 3 days of school that week, the Monday, Thursday and Friday. It helped to go in a couple of days to still maintain social contact with people so that I didn't become a complete hermit, but then again i didn't really want the added stress of teachers barking at you for homework, and trying to tell you how important the mocks are (something I completely ignored over the HPAT )

GrabTheCREAM

jom95 wrote: »

Successful student from last year offering you guys to ask me any advice you may need for this last week now...I know how stressful it can be!!!

I'm just wondering if some questions from ME practise exams show up in the actual exam? The guy directing the course told us there would be as well as another guy on these forums so I'm just tryna make sure? Thanks.

spurious

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

I'm just wondering if some questions from ME practise exams show up in the actual exam? The guy directing the course told us there would be as well as another guy on these forums so I'm just tryna make sure? Thanks.

Not sure the HPAT people would be too keen on hearing that some of their questions have been leaked to a prep business.
Unless of course it's not true, but a genius marketing idea from our M_E friends.

jom95

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

I'm just wondering if some questions from ME practise exams show up in the actual exam? The guy directing the course told us there would be as well as another guy on these forums so I'm just tryna make sure? Thanks.

Yeah last year there were a few I recognised from ME, it seemed to cause a fair bit of controversy so I wouldn't say it's likely to happen again.

etherealfairy

jom95 wrote: »

Right so firstly the HPAT itself is more difficult than the Acer practice exams, but it is a little less simple regarding the ME practice exams...from what I found, section 1 was marginally easier (although still challenging) than ME section 2 was harder and section 3 was quite a good bit easier (ME section 3 can be impossible)
Personally, my HPAT result was actually bang on what I was getting on the ME (92nd percentile), although I think I'm the exception here, most people do substantially better. From now until Saturday, if you have more practice exams to do, try and do them but don't do more than 2, and ideally try and get them done today and tomorrow. That leaves Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to review the sh*t out of them. I had all the exams done at this stage so what I did was I went over the solutions to all the very hard questions in the exams. I made sure I could now complete them from start to finish.
So finally, getting through the day itself! I used to hate the advice 'go to bed early', it's not the going to bed that's an issue it's getting to sleep...definitely have a relaxing day on the Friday. For me, i didn't do any HPAT work after 2 pm, (cramming obviously doesn't work for this exam, unfortunately) I then played some pitch n putt with a few of my friends not doing the HPAT, was a bit of craic and definitely a great way to take your mind off it. Do something like that in the fresh air that will relax you. I also went for a run around 7 to try and tire me out. Now, the day itself. You probably won't have a great sleep, neither did I, but the adrenalin will keep you going. Psychologically, for me, it helped to reduce the importance of the exam. I wasn't doing the exam on a whim, I had always wanted to do medicine so that was obviously tough to do. I just thought 'if I fail, I can still do it again next year, I can still go to uni in a different course and have a good year.' That put a bit less pressure on me anyway. The day is still stressful, regardless. I was in ucd's o'reilly hall which was absolutely MASSIVE. There were around 800 of us there I'd say. The tension is incredible so you have to find your own way to relax before the test. Listen to some music, whatever suits you. I was lucky to be in the same test centre as my friend and we just chatted and had a bit of banter beforehand. Definitely better than anxiously waiting around on your own. That obviously doesn't apply to all of you but if it does, take advantage of it...when the test starts, if you've prepared well for it, you will find yourself the most alert you've ever been in your life. I remember absolutely speed reading the first question, highlighting the terms and having the answer within 30 seconds almost. At some stage during the exam, you will hit a wall. It happened to me in the middle of section 1, (my best section through prep so I needed it to go well). There were around 7/8 questions in a row I didn't know for sure or I had to blindly guess. The important thing is not to panic and not to spend too long on them. Eventually the right answers will come.
So think I've answered all the inquiries so far, I really do sympathise with you guys, so anything I can do to help feel free to ask!

My percentiles fluctuate so much with M-E, for each section I have gotten anywhere between 98th percentile to <20 (!! this was for Section 3 at the start before I had done much practice haha). I know we shouldn't take them too seriously as it's not a good sample of who will actually take the HPAT and towards the end only the 'most prepared' students will take the exams. (Or so we've been told..) I'm just wondering if you remember what 'score' you remember getting (usually) for each section?

Was S2 more difficult in that it was more ambiguous (the wording of the answers and behaviour of the characters)? Was it generally harder to discern their motives and feelings from the prose and context?

I appreciate your help so much, thank you!! And well done for doing so well in the HPAT and getting into med.

GrabTheCREAM

jom95 wrote: »

Yeah last year there were a few I recognised from ME, it seemed to cause a fair bit of controversy so I wouldn't say it's likely to happen again.

Thanks, I may browse over them but won't spend too much time. Also, how many points was the 92nd percentile, if you remember? I've been getting between 40-60th percentile on ME so far and I've no idea how I'm gonna do. S3 and S1 for me are the handiest (though still challenging) but just tryna get a sense of reality as to what they'd relate to in the actual hpat? I've been getting around 70/110 right overall.

etherealfairy

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

Thanks, I may browse over them but won't spend too much time. Also, how many points was the 92nd percentile, if you remember? I've been getting between 40-60th percentile on ME so far and I've no idea how I'm gonna do. S3 and S1 for me are the handiest (though still challenging) but just tryna get a sense of reality as to what they'd relate to in the actual hpat? I've been getting around 70/110 right overall.

I've been getting around the same, with S3 being my worst and S2 my strongest. Let's hope we're on the right track I'm curious as to the answer to this question, too!

AtomicKoala

Honestly, I'd say don't skip any school, so long as you're well rested. You can't cram for the HPAT, one only does prep - which one can do months beforehand then ignore and still reap the benefits.

My pre exams were the week before the HPAT - everyone doing it that Saturday bar myself skipped the French exam on the Friday. I went in and did it, went home, spent the day in bed relaxing, having not looked at ME stuff for a few days. Got up the next morning, met with two of my friends who were doing it, then sat the exam.

Don't stress - you can repeat the HPAT if you miss medicine, and you can still enjoy first year of university (and you should if you get 550 or more points!)

theboy1

I'm doing this Saturday having only done 9 acer practice exams.
Is that enough?
It is aptitude after all..

ronivek

I doubt many people did more than 9 practice exams; most would have done maybe 10 on M-E plus 1 to 3 ACER practice exams.

Once you're familiar with the timing and the types of questions I don't think most people will improve much; it's really down to how you perform on the day and what kind of questions come up.

theboy1

ronivek wrote: »

I doubt many people did more than 9 practice exams; most would have done maybe 10 on M-E plus 1 to 3 ACER practice exams.

Once you're familiar with the timing and the types of questions I don't think most people will improve much; it's really down to how you perform on the day and what kind of questions come up.

Cool.Does anyone know the idea behind section 3 in relation to a career in medicine?

Obviously I could see Section 1 and 2 being very important as problem solving and interpersonal understanding is vital in being a doctor.

But where does section 3 come in?