HPAT Scoring Myths
2 weeks ago by Chris
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and on forums about how HPAT scores are calculated. This blog will provide clarity and avoid you being misinformed!
Myth #1: HPAT scores are based on raw marks
Some people claim that your HPAT score or percentile ranking can be calculated from your raw score (the number of questions you got right). This is naïve and simplistic. In fact, HPAT score calculation is extremely complicated.
ACER, the organisation that administers HPAT, uses a sophisticated computer program to calculate HPAT scores. Even if you buy it (it costs a few thousand dollars), you cannot replicate the results since the assumptions ACER uses to run the program are kept confidential.
The way HPAT scores are calculated is very technical. ACER uses the Item Response Theory model which takes into account parameters such as the difficulty of the question, question discrimination (point biserial correlation coefficient) and guessing.
Myth #2: You need to answer all questions correctly to achieve a high score
HPAT is an extremely difficult and time pressured test – you need to answer 114 complex multiple choice questions in two and a half hours! The majority of students – even the best ones - do not have enough time to answer every question, let alone answer every question correctly. Even those who achieve the highest percentile in HPAT (100th percentile) have to guess some questions. Therefore, it is completely untrue that you need to answer all questions correctly to score highly in HPAT. In many cases answering 60-70% of questions correctly can mean you score high enough to obtain entry into medicine.
Myth #3: Marks will be deducted for incorrect answers
There is no negative marking in HPAT. If you guess and choose an incorrect response, marks are not deducted (you simply score a zero for that question). So if you don’t know an answer, you should not leave it blank – go ahead and make a guess (preferably an educated or strategic guess). It may be correct!
So, how is HPAT actually scored?
When HPAT results are released and you receive your Statement of Results, you will receive a scaled score usually ranging from 0 to 100 for each section (giving a possible maximum, but theoretical, overall score of 300). These scaled scores are not percentage marks – they are calculated from your raw scores using statistical methods not released by ACER. Scaled scores for each section are weighted as follows:
Section 1: 40%
Section 2: 40%
Section 3: 20%
Scaled scores allow for a fair comparison for students taking different versions of the HPAT. Even though 300 is the maximum, in reality only about 1% of students scores above 200.
Your scaled scores are then converted into a percentile rank on your Statement of Results. This shows candidates how they performed in relation to other candidates. A percentile of 80 means the candidate performed better than 80% of other candidates, and 20% of candidates performed better than them.
Further details about how HPAT is scored are discussed in detail in MedEntry HPAT workshops.
