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?!
No chance did yous get to take the actual question paper for the HPAT home, because I’m doing it next year and to be honest I really need as much practice as possible,:P no worries if yas didnt
and time to spare? woooow
Anyway sounds like ya aced it, well done
x
Emma
1 Mar 10 at 10:39 pm
Hey Emma, I’m afraid we don’t, they take up all test papers at the end!
What I will say thought is order the sample paper, it’s well worth it. I found as well on the day, all of the IQ tests I’ve done really helped. There’s millions of them for free on the net and they do provide similar Q’s and time conditions to the actual HPAT I felt! Hope that helps!
Cillian
2 Mar 10 at 9:34 am
hey Cillian,
omg i agree with you totally
i thought the exam was alright but section one was prob the worst for me,,half of it was guess work, as for the mostquito one i had no clue what it was .. and that alcohol consumption table one was no better:( same with the aunt and niece question… ridiculous and i agree that the section 2 was more a vocab test than anythiing else, but i thought section 3 was my strongest,then again you never know.
thank god im not alone,tbh id say the other candidates also thought this:)
I suppose i did my best and felt happy enough after wards so…
sure we’ll see! i thought the prep classes were useful in a way. My timing was good and i was familiar with the paper and questions..but if im gonna be COMPLETELY honest,,and contradict everything ive blogged about,,i thought i could have performed just as well with out ‘em…300 euros is a waste of time and just a money making scheme…*cringe* terrible isnt it! lol
oh and im still waiting on my mocks,ha dont worry i think i failed half mine, so your grand ^_^
Ally
2 Mar 10 at 8:34 pm
Hey Ally!
Glad to hear it went well for you to! I think we had similar experiences of the test by the sounds of it. The alcohol table was another complete blank, the first Q on it was straight forward but the others, :O. I’ve a feeling we’re not alone on the test tho, everyone’s been saying similar things!
As for prep courses, I’ve heard some people say they give you a lot more confidence towards the exam, and in fairness, a positive mental attitute is required on the day so they probably helped you more than you think! Fingers crossed come June 28th the results will be good, pity we’ve to wait so long!
Cillian
2 Mar 10 at 11:20 pm
I redid the HPAT ths year and it went better than last year. I remember it being harder last year, maybe because I was under a bit of pressure to do well and because it was the first year of the test and nobody really knew what to expect.
I did it in the Waterford centre both times and it went smoothly. We were in the chapel in the WIT campus and there were three sections with a clock at the top of each so everyone could see them.
I thought Section 3 was the hardest, those middle of the sequence questions were impossible!! I thought section 1 and 2 were much easier.
As for prep courses, I think they’re a waste. Get yourself the sample papers and make sure you know the layout of the paper and what type of questions are in each section. You can’t study for the test so don’t bother with a prep course.
lalalax
3 Mar 10 at 3:14 pm
is that the date? cheers because i was looking for that:) i know…nerve recking no? .. no ha
yeah atleast the feeling was mutual.
Ally
4 Mar 10 at 7:19 pm
Aw right thankks cillian (: Nd yeehH i have da sample papers but ive finished them so I dont really know where to go from there?
No chance ya have any good websites with sample question?
Fanks a miLll (:
Emma
5 Mar 10 at 11:51 pm
hey =D
Glad not to hear any horror stories back anyway, although I would have been a tad frustrated with that messing in examination hall!! I was in Trinnity too, but in Goldsmith hall. Not a clue as to results but i was happy I stayed calm anyway!!
Thats a pity you felt the course didnt help much Ally =( I did the prep course in January and found it helped so much with my section 3. I was way more confident and I knew how to approach the questions. I definately found it to be the one section that you can improve on with practice and a bit of a method!!
Section 2 is generally my best and while I have no idea how it went, I know there were definately a good few guesses in there as well as in section 1!!
As far as mock results go…. well Im happy with most… for now!! Everything has to go up about 10-15 points (some hopefully by 20!!) but I hope I’m heading in the right direction =D
Hope everyone else is going ok…. and if not well these 3 months could change it all around!!
Katie
6 Mar 10 at 1:15 am
I emailed to complain about the clock/toilet situation. Apparently you have seven days to do that so…. DO IT TODAY ! They replied however and said that the clock was visible in all corners of the room WRONG, and that there was only like 150 of us so the one toilet thing wasn’t a problem…
HELLO! I WAS THERE! IT WAS A PROBLEM!
It was such a joke like.
Best of luck anyway
Lesley
6 Mar 10 at 2:03 pm
Pretty sure June 28th is the date,it leaves us with two days to mess around with the CAO!
Emma: try MedEntery for sample papers, they’ve a few free questions. They’ve got 10 sample papers, but they’re €200 I think, but they’re suppose to be really helpful. Otherwise do as many IQ tests as you can, they really help I thought!
Glad to hear yours went well Katie, I’ve a friend that did it in the same place as you, it apparently went a little smoother than in the Exam Hall!
Were you in the Exam Hall to Lesley? I suppose everyone should have a stopwatch, but the toilet situation was a disgrace. 1 unisex toilet for 351 of us, 9 rows X 39 people, so there was a few more than 150!
Cillian
7 Mar 10 at 4:56 pm
Yeh I was in the Examination Hall in trinity. Wow, I can’t believe they tried to tell me there was less than half the people that were really there. I knew there seemed to be more than just 150 but what proof do I have like?
They still haven’t replied to my second email. It just makes me so angry. I made it clear to them that the only reason I was telling them this is so they don’t f**k up again next year and not because I wanted my grade bumped up or anything but they basically said ‘we checked and there wasn’t any problem’. Why would I lie? It really pisses me off.
If they wrote back and said look, fair enough, we’re sorry, we’ll make sure it never happens again and we’ll try standardise conditions to make it fair then i’d be happy enough but they’re acting like right a-holes about it.
Also, they emailed me at like 4am, soooo, basically, I’m getting emails from Australia about Trinity Exam Hall, so what the hell do they know about it like!
Also, waterford and other centres apparently got toilet breaks, I’d say after the incident with the mobiles when everyone got up and the inviligator was like ‘nooooo’, she decided against trying to have toilet breaks. Sooooo not fair.
About the actual exam; I thought section one was nice, section two, as you said cillian… ambiguous… section three was horrible, I did terrible in it, which corresponds to the time my full bladder was making me want to cry.
Good luck to everybody!
Lesley
7 Mar 10 at 6:59 pm
may i just say what the hell was going on in that hpat exam. i feel like a complete failure this is basically the exam
doctor: take pills
patient: okay doctor.
A. the doctor is insensitive
B.The patient is insecure
C.The doctor is melodramatic
D.none of the above.
there should be part F: we are complete evil people trying to torment the hopefull youth by using them as guinea pigs i mean for god’s sake : therés a recession! were already worrying about if we will get jobs or not not to mention the fact that im already annoyed ill be the future tax payer paying for the mistake of the retarded banks. Im already under enough pressure with my leaving cert its bad enough feeling like im hopeless at everything. that Im forgetting every tiny teeny piece of information! its complete hell! the hpat just puts pressure on family and students.*
* my parents saw how much i wanted it , and signed me up for courses in private colleges yeah they were benifitial but if i dont get the 170-190 points (which i doubt i will-being completely pessimistic as i am)im already feeling like a complete faliure! to be honest its just devastating. thinking they spent all that money and all they are going to get is : 140 points. i swear if i could tell that awesome person with the HPAT idea a piece or two of my mind …grrrr
”many people who would not have had a chance now have the chance to enter medicine.” oh really? well they were LUCKY . nothing else. comeon there is no complete einstein among us who would have gotten perfect results. ofcourse not! other than that” people from ”underprivileged schools” got the chance” wth it was never about not having enough money! it was always about studying to get the points. doesn’t matter how much you are living on. its about studying. correction: was about studying. not only does it put on the pressure and destroy hopes.it also puts pressure on students. from November on serious people start panicking, studying hpat. which puts your other subjects under stress because youre not studying them as much. its complete rubbish and hell.
anyways the exam: didnt get section 1 finished had to guess it. hmmm section 2 and 3 i suppose okay
but to be completely honest, i couldn’t tell how good/bad i did . it was just like blanks because i didnt know the right answers (**)
** see when yous study something like bonding in chemistry you know when the question comes up if you’re saying the right/wrong thing so i suppose its really impossible to tell because youre making your ”best” guess and hoping for the ”best” sadly dreams will be crushed.:(
Leena
4 May 10 at 8:55 pm