So the big day is nearly here and you’ve been working up to it consistently for the goods of a year and now it’s time to put everything MedEntry has taught you into practice. Here’s some advice to help you be at your prime in the last 24 hours leading up to the HPAT. Spend the day before doing something you enjoy, something relaxing, something fun and something that will keep your mind off the HPAT. You NEED some time to let your brain and body relax the day before so that you are in perfect condition. It can be anything so...

Napoleon Bonaparte once famously said “an army marches on its stomach”, and that is as relevant for HPAT as it was for the French Armies that Bonaparte commanded. Making sure you put the right things into your body in the lead up to HPAT is vital to making sure that you perform well on the day of the test. I’m sure you are well aware of what a quality diet consists, so in this post I’ll serve up a couple of key tips for the immediate lead up to test day. The Night Before: As you would expect, the night before...

  So with all things going well you’ve arrived at the HPAT exam venue with plenty of time and well rested, ready to put all the knowledge you’ve gained from MedEntry to use. However, now you have to make it through the last short while before you sit down and start the HPAT test. Here’s five tips to help you survive. Go to the bathroom. Make sure you head to the loo not long before you are due to start the HPAT because the last thing you need is to have to take a bathroom break in an already time constraining...

HPAT is well and truly close now and it’s time to streamline your study and buckle down! Here are five ways to make sure you’re using the next two weeks to set you up for success on HPAT day. 1. Use your practice exams wisely A practice exam is only a practice exam if you’re doing it in exam conditions. HPAT is a marathon and your MedEntry and ACER exams are your trial runs so use them to recreate HPAT as much as you possibly can. HPAT isn’t just about the questions, it’s about building your stamina, working on your time...

One thing I found extremely useful on the days coming up to, and the day of the HPAT was the knowledge that I was confident with my exam timing. Whilst you have no control over the questions that will appear on the HPAT on the day, you have complete control over your timing. This sense of control can help to ease your nerves on the day of the exam, and prove extremely useful in keeping calm throughout the HPAT. Time management also increases the chance of you finishing the HPAT exam… remember, if you do not attempt a question you have...

6th year - exams littered throughout the semester, assignments that pile up, and extra-curricular activities that take up chunks of time. When you throw HPAT preparation into the mix, it’s easy to see why your senior year can often seem like a very stressful time of your life. In amongst all this, its easy to lose track of what is going on and to blow things out of proportion. If you are reading this, you probably realise that HPAT is a significant test, however it’s important to understand that HPAT is not a be all and end all. Often you hear of...

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and on forums about how HPAT scores are calculated. Some people and companies 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, simplistic and demonstrates ignorance. Not to mention it is irresponsible to provide students with incorrect information. ACER uses a complex 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 is kept...

ACER released a new practice exam, called 'HPAT Practice Test 4'. Like some other HPAT practice tests released by ACER, they do not include solutions. Therefore, it is difficult for students to know why they may have got a question wrong, and how to arrive at the correct answer efficiently and accurately. MedEntry has recently made available to students high quality, fully worked solutions to all 110 questions in the new HPAT Practice Test. Furthermore, students can compare their performance against others (which is how HPAT results are calculated). Simply enter in your scores to obtain feedback and percentile rankings!

The HPAT is so commonly viewed as a test of intelligence and aptitude, that we forget how crucial it is to improve our mental endurance for this exam. In fact, the endurance required for the HPAT is much greater than that required for any end of year school exam. Not only is the HPAT as long as or longer than any school exam (2.5 hours), but the nature of each individual question requires much greater focus. This need for enhanced application to each question is due to our inability to draw upon a year’s worth of content and knowledge, as is...

Does the thought of HPAT day make you cringe and consider hiding in your room? That's how I felt in the weeks that led up to HPAT. Being a student in my final year of high school I had rarely been in a position where I was sitting an exam which was so important for determining my future career pathway. Sure I had been through many school exams and academic competitions, but I felt that no test or assignment I had previously completed could compare to the importance of the HPAT. In my fresh teenage eyes the HPAT was the be...

ONLY 3 WEEKS TO HPAT - WHAT SHOULD I DO?   There are three weeks left until HPAT! Are you completely freaking out? Feeling utterly under-prepared? Never fear! These 4 simple steps are sure to make you ready for any HPAT question thrown at you.   Practice ACER exams and read their worked solutions. ACER offers 3 full-length practice exams; these are a must-do before the exam! They are a little bit easier than your average MedEntry exam, so they are great for that last minute confidence boost. ACER also gives you worked solutions to every question, which lets you see...

  The idea of studying medicine at university can seem like a very daunting prospect. There are many myths and false beliefs about the degree which allow these fears to prosper. Having completed my first year studying medicine at Monash University, I hope I can dispel some of your fears about potentially studying medicine at university.   Medicine is ULTRA competitive Granted, Medicine, like all high-achieving courses, is competitive. Many of the students are extremely dedicated to their studies and strive to get the best out of themselves. However, one of the great aspects of medicine is that one of the...

  For any Leaving Certificate students hoping to go on to study medicine, the HPAT and the CAO are two well-known abbreviations which are of great importance to you as you prepare for life after the Leaving Certificate. For me, I wasn’t certain until the very end of 6th year as to what exactly I wanted to do after school. Honestly, it wasn’t until those last few weeks while I waited for my Leaving Cert results that I realised for certain that I had put down the right courses in the right order from my desperate hope that I would get...

Sixth year is a busy year – we all know that. However, it can get a whole lot busier if you’re studying for the HPAT as well. It can be like taking an extra subject – one that has no teacher, and there are no deadlines (aside from the exam). In addition, it is an exam for which you cannot cram (sorry to burst your bubble). So how do you manage the meticulous balancing act between not letting your school grades drop, whilst also keeping yourselves in good stead for the HPAT? Planning. Yes, you’ve probably heard it all before, but if...

In the September of 6 th year, I bought the platinum package and then the 5 additional full length practice exams which I feel really helped, as it gave me a total of 15 practice exams to go through before the real deal. MedEntry had come highly recommended by numerous people who had used it previously, and MedEntry honestly proved priceless in helping me prepare for the HPAT. I think I did the MedEntry online free practice test in the summer before 5 th year when I had started thinking about putting Medicine down on my CAO, but having been warned...

1. The HPAT is an aptitude test so you can’t prepare for it. Wrong! Preparation for the HPAT is key. Not only is it extremely important to complete practice exams and HPAT style questions, the MedEntry guidebooks and video guides are vital in helping students develop the necessary mind-set and techniques to tackle the HPAT. You wouldn’t walk into a Leaving Cert exam with no study done so why should you walk into the HPAT without any preparation?   2. You can cram for the HPAT. This is a serious no no. Cramming in the week before the HPAT is the...

There are only two things people seem ask you about in sixth year: those big exams in June and what you want to do when they’re over. It’s a stressful and busy year with plenty of studying to be done. The constant questioning can be annoying, but it’s really important that you take the time to really look at what it is you are going to do next year. For anyone considering applying to sit the HPAT and putting medicine down on your CAO, here are just a few of the reasons why you should study medicine. Unlike a lot of...

When transitioning from 5th year to 6th year, the holidays can sometimes generate a bit of anxiety – how should I study, when should I start studying, will I get the grades I need to make it into my course…? This is completely natural and the fact that some of these questions pop into your mind shows that you are already becoming mentally primed for the big year. Yet, at the same time, there are numerous preparation strategies you can employ during the holidays to improve your performance and secure an amazing Leaving Certificate. English subjects can be particularly stressful for...

Rosanna sat the UMAT five times, and with the help of MedEntry is now studying medicine. In this video, she shares five things she wishes she had known about UMAT. Note: UMAT is the same as HPAT and is used in Australia.      

What is HPAT? HPAT stands for Health Professions Admission Test. It is a test developed by ACER and used to help select students into medicine, and other competitive health science courses at university. The HPAT consists of questions in three main categories: Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving, Understanding People and Non-Verbal Reasoning.   What courses require HPAT? The following courses require HPAT:   University Course Trinity College Dublin Undergraduate Medicine University College Dublin Undergraduate Medicine Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Undergraduate Medicine University College Cork Undergraduate Medicine National University of Ireland, Galway Undergraduate Medicine University of Limerick MSc Occupational Therapy MSc...