1st July 2015
HPAT Day: Get psyched up, not psyched out
Your HPAT scores depend on how much you know, but they also depend on how well you can apply what you know. If you are nervous, distracted, or in a bad mood during the HPAT, you may have a hard time concentrating and harnessing your knowledge. Here are some basic tips to help you control your nerves on the day of the HPAT. Think Positively. This tip cannot be emphasized enough. Getting down ...
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1st July 2015
While you’re waiting for your HPAT scores, get back to real life
For the few weeks before the test, if not longer, you've been preoccupied with the HPAT. Maybe you've let a few things slide: homework, co-curricular activities, your friends, fun. Now it's time to catch up on anything that's fallen behind and to return to your normal routine after the HPAT. We know you may be feeling a little anti-climactic after getting all geared up for t ...
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1st July 2015
Effective Learning in the HPAT
Learning is not just about sitting in front of a text book and hoping the content will diffuse into your mind through osmosis. In order to learn effectively, you must learn actively, not passively. Active learning will allow you to engage with what you are learning and absorb it faster. New study strategies will also be introduced in this article so you can in-corporate them into your HPAT stu ...
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1st July 2015
Motivation: without carrots or sticks
Are you having a hard time motivating yourself to study for the HPAT? The tools we often reach for when we need to get ourselves moving are carrots (rewarding ourselves once a tough job is done) or sticks (depriving ourselves of something we want if we fail to do it). These are "extrinsic rewards". But such extrinsic rewards and punishments are not as effective as intrinsic ones. Int ...
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1st July 2015
The Dangers of Stereotype threat
Stereotype threat can affect the way students perform in the HPAT. Some students are vulnerable to “stereotype threat.” This is being aware the group they belong to is often stereotyped as intellectually inferior. The fear of confirming the stereotype by doing poorly on a test actually creates an anxiety. It is this anxiety that poorly affects their performance on a test, creating a self-fulf ...
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1st July 2015
Springing back from adversity: Resilience
To be mentally tough is to resist the urge to give up in the face of failure, to maintain focus and determination in pursuit of your HPAT goals, and to emerge from adversity even stronger than before. Everyone can benefit from strengthening their resilience skills. Mental toughness comes from thinking like an optimist. People who don’t give up have a habit of interpreting setbacks as temporar ...
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