Like the 4,000 or so Med hopefuls across the country, I took the HPAT test on Saturday. I did mine in the Examination Hall in TCD. It was an almost surreal experience, when I walked into the place at 9:45, it was practically already full. 341 I figured to be in the hall, courtesy of having to wait over an hour in the hall before the test started. It seemed pretty well organised at first, and that there would be no horror stories or the like that came from the RDS last year. That opinion soon changed however! There was one toilet between the 341 people in the hall, like come on!! Secondly, there was one clock in the entire room, so anyone who was at the back relying on a clock was pretty screwed! And then lastly, an absolute fiasco with the exam papers. It seems that one person moved tables before the exam, which led to everyone receiving the wrong paper. Whatever the invigilators done to correct the problem didn’t seem to work, with everyone in the hall getting atleast three different papers! I can only presume these people were Med school students in Trinity, but their problem solving skills clearly weren’t the best. The girl who was in charge of the supervisors seemed some what lost, she even informed us while filling out the date that it was the 27th of January, much to the amusement of everyone in the hall!

Anyway that’s before the exam even got underway! To be honest, it didn’t bother me in the slightest, but I see some people growing angry over it. We eventually got started some time just before 11. My biggest fear was blanking on the first Q, like I did in the practice test, but thankfully it was very straight forward, basically working back through a sequence of cards (I hope anyway!)
Section 1 in general went ok, it was my worst section in the practice test, so I knew I’d have to be sharp. I heard a few people say after that some of the questions were exact replicates of last years exam, hardly fair! Most Q’s went well, except for that mostquito one, horrible, just couldn’t comprehend. Otherwise, most of them were fairly good educated guesses. I timed it perfectly which was a great help, just finished as time was up!
I presumed there was a gap in between the sections considering the test is only 2.5 hours abd they say to expect to 4.5 hours from start to finish. But no. ‘Pencils down…. and you can now start section 2′. Deadly. This was everyones best section seemingly in the practice booklet, but let me tell you, they are so much harder in the real exam. It left me feeling like a social recluse. I think I might just have to get tested for Asbergers! For every question, there seemed to be atleast two right answers. Not only that, the section was more of a vocabulary test than anything to do with interpersonal skills. I know some of it is down to my own ignorance, but whether the doc was ‘nonchalant’ or had ‘unpreturbed patience’ hit me for six. I went for the latter, thankfully(again, I hope!), but if I learnt one thing from the test, I can add nonchalant to the list of adjectives used to describe me!!!
The ambiguity of the section I feel killed me slightly, but I’m hoping it went ok! The passage involving the aunt and sisters was quite horrid too, almost in impossibility for me to grasp what was going on!
Finally section 3 came around, while a lot of people I know hate it, it appears to be my forte for some bizzare reason. I loved this section because it’s the only one where you can be sure of having the correct answer. For some of them, I didn’t bother looking at the answers, but drew out what I thought the next picture was, and usually to my joy, there was one there! It was actually a joy to do this section and I managed to finish with about five minutes to spare. Without doubt, this was my best section. Whatever identifying sequences has to do with suitablity to medicine, let alone intelligence is beyond me, but I for one am glad it was on the test. I suppose this left me feeling a little inflated and confident after the test, which is good in a way I suppose. I’m looking forward to seeing the results, I’ve always scored well above what I should in apptitute and IQ tests, so I guess this HPAT thing suits the likes of me in a way. We’ve to wait until the 28th of June I believe to get the results, so fingers crossed I’ll be lying on a beach in the south of France with good news that morning!
Althought then there is the possibility it went absolutely awful, I know I sound a tad cocky from this but believe me I’m not, I’ve no idea how I done. In fact I doubt there’s a person who did the test who can tell how they really done. People have asked me for predictions, but it’s impossible. I mean I’m up against the top 3,000 or so people in the country, and to compare myself to them in an aptitude test, impossible. Being pragmatic however, unless I get 170+, there isn’t a chance. And then I wonder am I mad even applying for medicine.

Anyway anyone else who’s done the test, it’d be great to hear your views on it, seen as there wasn’t too much thread activity about it, especially those who did prep courses, did ye find they helped? I heard a few say they were of no use on the day…

Elsewhere, mock results are back, well three anyway. Four words to describe them, Kick. In. The. Arse. Apparently I did better in Irish than Economics. How I laughed when I discovered this. And then got a massive slap across the face when I realised it’s one of my A1 subjects. The only consolation is that the highest in the class was 63, and that’s the guy in our year who’s destined for 600. Anyway, our teacher who’s an Economics corrector for the LC rechecked his paper and it turns out he got 90! All of our papers are being rechecked this weekend, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll have gone up a bit seen as I wasn’t too far off 63! I’ll post my results as soon as I have them all, fingers crossed by next weekend! Biology has turned into somewhat of a disaster! We got our 3rd teacher in two years on Tuesday. She came in and told us we were basically f¥€@ed as we’ll have the course done with just three weeks to spare. Not only that, but rumor has it she’s gone again on maternity leave after coming back for just one day. It’s a pity because she’s suppose to be a brilliant teacher, but here we are, once again, teacherless! Rumor also has it our teacher from last year is coming out of retirement to finish the course with us, epic or what! As long as we can get her to stick to the point and not ask her class wasting Q’s such as ‘Miss, what would happen if I ate the guy next to me?’ or ‘is it possible to bread a human and horse?’, we should be grand, as she’s the type who would go into great effort to scientifically explain it to us! Anyway, I’ve just realised how ridiculously long this post must be. Ooops. I really should be studying. In truth I haven’t done any really study since the week before my mocks, which is exactly a month ago. Yes Cillian, model student! I apologise for any spelling mistakes, the whole blog was written on an iPod so there’s my excuse! I’ve become slightly pedantic lately, so I’ll probably corrrect it. But then again it’s me, I’ve gotten very lazy, so I probably won’t!

Anyway, it’d be interesting to hear your view on the HPAT if you took it?!

Hello there,

I haven’t blogged in quite a while but to be honest there weren’t many school-related topics to write about the past few weeks. We spent nearly all of January rehearsing and staging our school musical, which was a total hit! It also meant I didn’t have a lot of classes, which was brilliant at the time, although boy was it like a smack in the face with a raw fish when we got back to work! Then we had the mid-term and now things are getting stressful. However, I know these problems are minor in the eyes of all those dealing with Mocks at the moment. Hope everyone did/does well, even though I remember after the Junior Cert ones last year I thought to myself “these really didn’t matter at all”! They’re great practice though and people really shouldn’t be trying to find out what’s going to be asked because in the actual exams, it’s all about the element of surprise! We all complained about Thierry Henry for cheating in the Ireland-France match, so if you cheat for the mocks then you’re not much better than him!

So as my blog title suggests, I moved to pass maths yesterday. I really couldn’t stick higher level any more and since I don’t need it for any courses I want, I decided to cut the stress (or at least some of it) by moving down to ordinary level. Now I don’t dread trudging up to maths because ordinary level is very manageable for me. The thing is, they’ve actually gone past the sections we did in higher level so I’m behind at pass maths- oh the irony! You can’t blame me for thinking it was going to be easier, seeing as in Texts and Tests 3 for the differentiation equation they tell you how to pronounce it- ‘dee y, dee x’. Thank you maths book for giving me that pointless bit of information that’d only be handy if there was a Maths Oral! Imagine…

The only thing that really has me burdened at the moment is History. We’re starting work on our research topics already and after changing the topic a few times, I finally settled on my project title. By Friday we have to have roughly 20 pages of handwritten notes about our project from our sources, along with an essay. It’s Wednesday evening and I haven’t even started to read my sources.

I’m screwed.

Hello everybody again!

Mocks have come and gone, and not quite as bad as I thought. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best I suppose. It was crazy to see the amount of people trying to find out what was coming up. And I’m not talking about the typical no hopers. Some of the cleverest people I know had seen the papers before hand. What, could they not contain their excitement to see what was coming up? That’s probably not the answer but even still, they ruined the whole point of the mocks in doing so.

For me, it was getting the timing right. I’d never sat down to do a full paper in one go before so it was great to see what timing is going to be like with the LC. I managed to time everything pretty ok, and got everything answered and usually an extra question or two (or even all eleven in Chemistry!). English paper 2 was the only exam that I was writing until the very end, I never thought it was humanly possible for me to 21 a4 pages, but with only two or three words per line, I suppose it wasn’t too difficult! The only exam that went bad as such was Maths paper 2. I started a Biology paper at 7:30 that morning and ran a cross country race in between, so by the time Maths came around I was mentally exhausted! As far as I know I had all DEB papers, how did everyone else find them?

It’s less than a week to go to the HPAT and usually I’d start getting a little apprehensive about such an event by now, but I don’t think I will be. I’m doing it in Trinity which is handy ,seen as it’s closest, but everyone else I know got UCD. As for strategies for the test, I’ve got a few worked out, so hopefully they‘ll happen! I’ve been contemplating lately the thought of if I actually was offered a place in Med school (even though there‘s ridiculously little hope!). I don’t know if it’s something that would suit me. Don’t get me wrong, I love science and the idea of helping people, but the workload I’d be taking on, it’d be like re-sitting the LC another 5 times! If I was to get in though my dream would to end up in the army, that’d be my route in!
So now for the dramatic irony, because I’m not too pushed about doing well in the exam (well of course I still want to do my best!), I’ll end up doing better in the exam than if I was hell bent on getting a place in Med school! (Nerves do get the better of me sometimes!)
So if I do get in, I’ll owe it to the fact I didn’t really mind, I kind of like that!!
It annoys the hell out of me though when you hear ‘Oh well you really have to want Medicine to get it’ comments. Absolute BS! If that was the case there would be a bloody attitude test and interviews, not an aptitude test!

That then got me thinking about my other choices on my CAO, like Pharmacy and Actuary. Frankly, all the have in common is a y of their names. Pharmacy is third and fourth, while Actuary is fifth and sixth. Being pragmatic(I hope!), I’ll end up doing one of these. I’m having serious problems deciding which one however. I went on work experience back in the good old days of TY in the local Pharmacy and really enjoyed it. I mean the guy who owns it is the nicest you’d ever meet, an inspiration of sorts. But then I sat in on two Actuary lectures in UCD and DCU during the week on economics and absolutely loved them. I met up with a guy who got 600 in his LC and he claims to love it. So I’ve been thinking, maths and economics or chemistry for the next four or five years? Hmmmm….

I have my French oral left to do later this week, and to be honest, I can wait for it. I said I’d practice for it over the midterm, but I thought I deserved the week off! I started reading Wuthering Heights again for my English comparative. And when I say again, I mean for about the 6th time, I just can’t read the bloody thing! I’ve lived off chapter summaries from the internet to find out what actually happens because I could never follow. Finally I’ve started to start comprehending what’s going on for myself! I used to love reading but ever since I’ve started secondary, sport has just taken over and I’ve never really had the time to indulge in a good book!

I’ve decided to give up Facebook for Lent, forty days I thought I could handle it. And then I discovered Lent is actually forty-seven days long, never have I felt so cheated! But it’s probably a good thing, there’s nothing worse than spending copious amounts of time on stuff like that and the feeling after. Although I’ll probably just replace it with MLIA!

I reckon it’ll be a while before any results come back, but fingers crossed by Paddy’s Day I’ll have everything back! Best of luck to all of ye doing mocks this week, and the HPAT too!!!!
Slánners!

Hi guys,

I’m hoping to keep this blog short since I’m in the middle of learning my Irish notes for ‘an t-oiléan’. Anyway, so, iIhope that whoever has finished their mocks that they weren’t too bad and that we kept our cool for the most part (yeah easier said than done). For all of us, including myself who have yet to even BEGIN, hang in there! So yes,I basically had biology and L.C.V.P. on Friday and now I have a week of studying to do and then a week of mocks. Great stuff…:( I’m not going to give anything away about the biology paper but tbh I loved it. I mean, it was such a lovely paper, everything I learned came up, t’was a great feeling L.C.V.P. on the other hand.  Let’s just say a person can only talk about crap and lie for so long. I kept repeating myself and made no sense about what I was trying to say, I dont’ know, maybe it was just me,but iIvery much dislike that small subject, I’ll thank it if I actually ended up needing the 70 marks in the end…if i even get a distinction that is!

I got an email from HPAT Ireland this week. I am delighted to have gotten a place in the Dublin Centre. I’m in UCD,in some business school, not Quinn though. I still have to print my ticket out and I think I’ll bring my driver’s licence for the photo identity (don’t forget that!!!!). Let me just add that I am now insured to drive But something much greater  is lingering in my mind atm….the actual HPAT itself. I have slacked off the sample papers and haven’t done a question since 2 months ago, terrible I know, I’m going to start again tonight.  I have another week anyway..its on the 27th sooo….yeah.

The Irish Medical Times recently published 3 articles on the HPAT,including sample questions. They looked at the controversial suggestion that the test was introduced to balance gender in medical schools.  However,it proved to be incorrect. Then David Ball (from the Institute of Education) gave some last minute tips on how to prepare for the HPAT.

He said that the most important thing is to test yourself on some sample papers and if you want to be comfortable going into the test that morning you need to be aware of the format of the exam-what kinds of questions are going to be asked and how to approach them. The more you know about the format the better you will feel when it comes to sitting it. He continues to say that you should know before you go into the HPAT centre, that your not going to get everything right. The test is designed to put pressure on you and as a result, nobody gets a perfect score. So don’t beat yourself up about it if your not sure of an answer. Importantly, unlike other exams, you will be taking in your final year in secondary school,there is no point reading though your section before starting, simply get in and begin with Q1, then work your way through the rest. David also says to make a time plan for each section and then stick to it. Don’t waste time on questions you don’t know,take a best guess and move on. You can make a quick note in the marking booklet and come back if you have time in the end. Make yourself familiar with the marking booklet. Make sure you enter the answers into the correct corresponding place. If you accidentally answer 2 questions in the same box it could make the rest of your answers incorrect. Just like every other exam, rest well the evening before the exam and eat a substantial and healthy breakfast prior to the exam also. Bring a reliable watch with you and a bottle of water to keep you hydrated, a pencil and an eraser (get an e-mail on things like that from HPAT Ireland). Ball concluded that one of the most important things is to bear in mind that the HPAT is just one component of your application to med school. Familiarise yourself with the papers and do your best. There are a lot of other exams just over the horizon!

I found those little tips useful so I thought id share them:) Just stay positive and all you can do is your best. In a way I cant wait! Its going to defo be an experience I wont forget, yet, I still get anxious at times thinking about it too much. Iknow I’m not the only one though:P ’Il faut que tout le monde vive’; Live and let live, whatever happens, happens. I should really get back to Irish, so much for a ’short’ blog, hope everyone’s enjoying their midterm break so far and I wish all you HPATers the very best of luck in the exam, I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about in a week or so

I’ll see you there!!! Bonne chance!!

(Herald 16/02/10) Online forums are giving details of what will appear on Leaving and Junior Cert mock exam papers before students sit them.

Websites, such as boards.ie and allhonours.ie, have become meeting points for desperate students who are seeking the topics and questions that appear on mock papers.

Students who have scanned the papers then email a copy of the exam to others.

Examcraft and Dublin Examining board produce 95pc of mock papers that are used in Ireland’s 700 secondary schools.

Philip O’Callaghan from Examcraft described the practice being adopted by desperate students as “counter-productive and ill-advised”.

“Students who look for the topics online do have an edge but it is not beneficial for them in the long run,” he said. “The majority of schools make mixed orders to try and prevent this activity from happening, so students are unaware of which company is providing the exam.

“Any student that works consistently over the year and practice their past papers will do well. Students that haven’t prepared and are relying on these sites are doing more damage to their chances than good.

“Mock exams are a guide to how they should gear up for the exams in June, using those internet forums is only causing students to undermine themselves.”

The Dublin Examining Board (DEB) refused to comment when contacted by the Herald.

Gemma Duffy, spokesperson for teaching union ASTI said that the association “discouraged” the use of the websites.

Schools hold mock exams at different times and subjects are sat on different dates around the country.

Although pupils could not remove papers from exam halls, they could memorise the questions and then post them online.

Published in the Herald today – http://www.herald.ie/national-news/pupils-warned-on-exam-mocks-leaked-on-web-2065277.html

How often do we think of our future? Or rather, dream about our future? Probably far too often. You more than likely spend a lot of time drifting off in Double Biology imagining holding a degree in French Law, how many children you’ll have, or maybe you just contemplate what you’ll be having for lunch that day? Whatever the case, how many of you actually spend your valuable time thinking of nothing, but just enjoying the present you’re living in?

This year will be the last year most of you will spend in a secondary school. Usually we are so caught up in the stress of exams, the worry of results, and the  prospects of college that we lose sight of what is in front of our very eyes: the last time we will ever be in sixth year in a secondary school. If I could go back (and let me assure you that nothing would prevent me from going back if I could) I would tell all of those that have meant something to me over the past six years the significance of their role in my life. Where would I be now had I not known them? And more importantly, who would I be now? The majority of us become our friends, and they; us, so how would my life be different now had I not been friends with them then? Its really now that I ask this question that I realise the absolute importance to cherish the time we have with those around us. Far too often it becomes too late and we forget to remember those that are right before our eyes.

Exams will happen. College will happen. Friends such as the ones you know now may never happen again. So celebrate the friendship: laugh, cry, get ridiculously drunk, eat copius bags of chocolate, watch the latest weepie because you know only your best friends will watch it with you, laugh some more, spend a ferocious amount of money on THE DRESS (the one that only comes second to the one you will wear when you marry), spend a half an hour styling the short hair that you tell everybody you don’t straighten but know that they know you do, kiss girls, kiss boys, break girls’ hearts, break boys’ hearts, take comfort in your friends’ arms when you have your heart broken, sing even if you “cannot” sing, dance even though you know that we know you “cannot”, gossip, whisper, shout, be bold, be bad, be good, be helpful, be careful, be honest, be happy, help each other through the stress and strain of the Leaving Cert year, guide each other on the way to college, and tell them that you will never ever forget them even if you do lose touch because, above all, losing touch will happen.

Au revoir, mes amis,

Ian

P.S.: I hope you all did brilliantly (are doing brilliantly) in your mocks. I decided that I’d post a blog after most of them are over. Happy Valentine’s Day (I hate commercialism!) See you soon!

Hello again. I think it’s time I stopped letting this blog gather dust and returned from my cyber-wilderness. I shan’t make excuses, in truth I have no justifiable ones, but I shall resolve to update this more often.

Oh dear, there are only two or so weeks left until my mocks start. Fantastic.  I think the panic is starting to set in just a little bit. Only a little bit though, I’ve done this before so you can trust me on one thing: the mocks are not very important. Grades wise, I mean. They do have their uses: they are a wonderful eye opener for those students who have yet to “wake up and smell the coffee” as my teacher put it the other day. And He’s right.  If you have yet to get stuck into the books, don’t panic.  Much. Panic a little bit, then take that horrible sense of dread that you will probably get as you walk into your mocks and get very familiar with it. Now try not to forget it as soon as your two weeks of fake-exams are done. Hold on to it. Channel it into some…and there are those of us who may not be very familiar with this word…s-t-u-d-y.

Seriously.  I’m not even joking. I’d never felt so scared in my life when I went to do my mocks last year, but unfortunately I forgot all about that horrible feeling as soon as I handed up my last paper. Consequently, I had to experience it all over again in June. For the non-fake-exams. Which was even worse..

Let me know how you’ve been getting on with the aul’ LC, whether it’s take one or take two (or you’re Laura Brady and doing it for the 57^th time).

Good luck with your mocks!

Sinéad.x

Hi everyone!

I can’t believe i haven’t blogged in weeks. I personally apologise. I do, really. Sad as it sounds, nothing seems to have happened this month. I don’t even know where to start. Well the mocks have started in some counties already and to you I say bonne chance. I however, start next week on the Friday with biology and L.C.V.P not bad at all if i do say so. I have to agree with Cillian. I think the point of the mocks is for us to see where we stand. So knowing whats gonna come up on the paper is just pointless unless unless you want to lie to yourself about how well you performed in that test and fail epically in June. I know it sounds like the easy way around but believe me, testing your self will have much more rewards later on.

The subjects I’m most worried about are Chemistry and Irish. Both have GIANT courses that seem impossible to revise. Irish has to be my weakest for the simple reason that I never did the work in 5th year and regret it now, although, I am making progress.  Chemistry is just strange in the way that I have gone over the whole ‘chemistry live’ book twice, read my notes many times and still seem to have to check the book for answers when I do papers. Maybe I just don’t get chem.  Well I’ll be telling myself otherwise until it sticks Our teacher is making us come in tomorrow at 2pm for extra classes since she missed so many (we get a half day on Fridays @ 12.30pm). I must also say that art is another one I’ll dreading. “Yeah history of art is so easy, omg what’s so hard about it?”, you who said that or thought that, good on you. Although, the fact that my teacher lost my hardback with some of my essays in it from 5th year makes it slightly more fair for me to cry about it. My drawing is weak too, so … why choose art then!!? Well seeing as I got an A in the J.C (with a crap project) I thought, why not? I’m not doing home ec. or geography anyway! So art it was. Man do i regret it. My friend submitted her portfolio last week to NCAD (talented girl!!!). We went there for the open day and its seems like a nice place, not for me obviously,but a great school for Arts and the like.

What else..this is terrible I feel like I HAVE to blog at this stage,which I do but anyways

I got an email from HPAT Ireland just more details and stuff, I really hope (like many others) that I get the Dublin centre…imagine going to Waterford in the morning:( I feel as though I should reccommened this amazing revision book…’rapid revision french’ by Cian Hogan. I bought it because he’s my teacher at the inst. on Saturdays and he is prob the best french teacher I’ve ever had or will, so I bought the book online to see what it was about. It has a study guide so you do the course in 10 weeks.  I just use it occasionally though, for grammar and oral pointers. It really is great and I’m finding it very useful. If you have it, you know what I’m talking about.

I also got a student card…pointless though, as after I leave secondary school it’s not valid..but I do get discounts at the cinema and topshop,BT2 and tons more places sure its great! Speaking of films (we all need breaks!) am I the only teenager who ACTUALLY wants to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D?? Please prove me wrong..oh and eclipse comes out in June!!!

Back to school related issues. There’s a huge hype about the point system& courses etc lately. Yes some are increasing and its harder to get in…so what? Let’s take the positive message out of it and not whine like every other teenager and young adult in Ireland. Its just a reason for us to work even harder! If we sit around telling people over and over and over again about the points and such what are we gaining from it? Whoopie my anxiety levels are up, I’m going to go study now…can you contradict yourself anymore? So please, for all of us, for the people who don’t let these little impurities get in the way of their goals, ambitions and desires, lets get back to work and keep our eyes on the prize.

As for the mocks, same advice, you can only do your best at the end of the day. Its better to screw up in the mocks and learn from your mistakes than totally mess up in the actual thing. So take every subject as it comes, day by day. Don’t analyse what you did, could have done or should have done. Move on. Move forward and prepare for the next thing, don’t dwell on a topic like most of your peers will be doing; “OMG, what did you write for Q2?? I said Anaphase…OMFG it was Metaphase wasn’t it…WASN’T IT!!!!!”, “lads,that was qwer hard like!!”….don’t be like that please? And if your one of those people who thinks that cramming will work, think again my friend, oh how wrong you are,,how very, very wrong. I laugh at how wrong you are! get up, wake up and look at a book, even for five minutes, better than nothing. In the end its the things you put in that will be the ones that come out!

So. That was my great piece(s) of advice for maybe the next few weeks or so. We’ll see how things go. hope all goes well for everyone!!!!

Bonne chance ^_^

Hey peoples!
I hope everyone’s well and, ya know, not freaking out or anything! So Mocks are here again! Everyone excited?! I’m not for one.
Is it only me that thinks the mocks are more intimidating than the actual LC? I freaked out completely last year about them and then by the time June came around, I was way past caring.
Tip for this year…save the mental breakdown ’til 9 June.
The timetable for the mocks is quite nice actually, Business and French on next Friday, mid-term and then back to it on the Tuesday…plenty of time.
It seems everyone and their mother is applying for college this year anyway so unless the Government finally decide to do something productive for this country…I’d say they’ll be fun times ahead.
So I’ve made sure that there is no space on my CAO application and have applied for every course relevant to journalism and business so here’s hoping I get into one!
I’m kinda kicking myself I didn’t do my CAO properly last year. It turns out I could have got into quite a few courses….bummer anyways!!
I’m off now to stare at my English notes and TRY to get some of it to stick in my brain!

Chat yaz!