1st July 2025
Didn’t Do Well in HPAT? Here’s How to Bounce Back in 4 Steps
The HPAT is one of the two criteria for undergraduate medicine in Ireland, often holding equal weighting to the Leaving Cert. There are many factors that can influence performance in HPAT, and receiving a lower mark than expected may feel like all our efforts have gone to waste. I’ve been there before, and although it may feel like the end of the world (I certainly felt that way), I can ...
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15th May 2025
Distributed Practice and the HPAT: What You Need to Know Part 2
In part 1 of this blog, we looked at why it is important to study with distributed practice for the HPAT. In part 2, we will look at how to implement distributed practice into your HPAT plan. How to implement distributed practice for HPAT Here are some tips and strategies on how to best use distributed practice in your HPAT preparation (you can also use them in your secondary ...
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15th May 2025
Distributed Practice and the HPAT: What You Need to Know Part 1
Over the last few years various catch-phrases have circulated in the education sector: “study smarter not harder”, "do less work for more reward” and others. They can seem too good to be true. Nevertheless, there is one system that eclipses all others in the research conducted, the widespread implementation and the unanimous praise it has received from sci ...
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30th January 2025
How to Balance the HPAT and Leaving Cert Mocks
Preparing for HPAT can seem overwhelming. Add in your Leaving Cert mock exams and stress levels can rapidly skyrocket. Unfortunately the timing of the HPAT is often very close to mock exams, or can even be in the middle of mock exams. As the HPAT and mock exams draw closer, it can become hard to balance Leaving Cert study and HPAT preparation. So how do you do it? This blog outlines five ti ...
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24th January 2025
Optimising Your Performance in HPAT: Lessons From Sports Psychology
Preparing for the HPAT is like preparing for a marathon: it requires training, persistence and strategies to optimise your performance on HPAT test day. Just as an athlete prepares for a major sporting event, you must prepare yourself to sit HPAT, which is one of the most important exams that you will face in your career. We can learn much from athletes about optimising performance in HPAT, ...
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23rd January 2025
Attention Parents: 5 Ways to Help Your Son or Daughter in the Lead Up to the HPAT
6th year is a stressful time. Add in HPAT and the pressures of getting into medicine, and stress levels can rapidly sky rocket. As a parent it is easy to succumb to feelings of powerless as you watch your son or daughter struggle to prepare for such an important and difficult exam. However, there are many things you can do to boost their performance and have a positive impact on their wellbein ...
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9th January 2025
6 Tips for Preventing Burnout During HPAT Preparation
Burnout is something almost everyone will experience in their medicine entry journey. Burnout can significantly impact one’s ability to perform, and how an individual copes with burnout can, in some cases, make or break their chance of admission into their dream course. In this blog, I will be focussing on the burnout associated with HPAT preparation, and strategies which I used to help ...
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16th December 2024
Balancing the HPAT and Hobbies
With the HPAT around the corner, as well as school assignments and exams, it can be quite a stressful time for students. Many students will spend hours practising HPAT-style questions and completing HPAT practise exams, as well as devoting a large amount of time to HPAT preparation. However, this does not mean your hobbies and interests should be forgotten. After a long day of lessons, ...
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6th December 2024
The HPAT – A Test of Endurance
Mental endurance can be defined as, ‘the ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.’ The HPAT is so commonly viewed as a test of aptitude, that we forget how crucial it is to also improve our mental endurance for the HPAT exam. In fact, the endurance required for the HPAT is much greater than that required for any school or universit ...
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5th December 2024
Why Full Exam Mocks Are the Best HPAT Preparation
Be under no illusions: the HPAT is the single hardest and most important test you will ever sit. This is a scary (and for some maybe terrifying) thought. So, what can you do to make it less daunting? The answer may seem counter-intuitive: the best way to make HPAT seem do-able is to face it over, and over, and over again. How? By completing high-quality, full-length HPAT exam mocks under timed ...
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