MedEntry Blog

Looking for some tips on how to improve your score in Logical reasoning and Problem solving?  Terrified by long passages with scientific jargon and perplexing puzzles? Worried about running out of time? Remember the following advice and you’ll be well on your way to maximising your score.    1. Read the question stem first This construct can often be time-consuming due to lengthy passages that may contain complex ideas or complicated technical terms. Although it might be tempting to start reading the passage straight away, it’s always a good idea to read the question stem first. Sometimes, you’ll be able...

Sometimes it can feel like the HPAT has got nothing to do with being a doctor. It can feel like just another one of the oddly-shaped hoops one must jump through in the medical entry process. However, this mindset that the UMAT is just a barrier to doctor-hood can be demotivating and counterproductive. In this post, I’ll give some real life examples of how each section of the UMAT relates to skills I’ve had to develop in medical school, and how UMAT preparation is related to, or perhaps even beneficial to, the study of medicine. Section 1: Logical Reasoning and...

With the exception of the Non-Verbal Reasoning component (section three), HPAT is primarily comprised of written – rather than pictorial – questions. Thus, it stands to reason that your HPAT preparation should include improving your reading skills. With that in mind, here are some of the many strategies you can use to develop your reading efficiency for HPAT.  Firstly, you must ensure that you read every single component of the stimulus, particularly for section two (Understanding People). A past HPAT stimulus, for example, described a middle-aged man. This information was included in the introductory stem of the stimulus, but nowhere...

There are many different approaches to problem-solving that have been established in psychology. Firstly, there’s the Thorndike paradigm, which involves blind trial and error 1 . More purposeful approaches are the Gestalt approach, and the cognitive approach. The Gestalt approach involves solving problems as a whole 2 . You see the problem, you see what you have, and then you try to see how everything fits together. If the question is routine, it’s very easy to figure it out. If it isn’t, well, sometimes you gain insight, but sometimes you come up with an idea based on what you’ve encountered...

Rather than assessing your knowledge, the HPAT is an exam which isolates certain deductive skills that will be important in work as a doctor and requires you to apply them in various scenarios. Therefore, if you wish to succeed in the HPAT, you will need to nurture these skills, sharpen them and know exactly when to use them. If your eager mind has begun this uphill climb towards HPAT success and if you have thoroughly scoured the LMS and still seek ways to better your logical reasoning, this guide will show you how.   Logical Reasoning & Problem Solving questions...

You are treating a 60kg patient for a laceration, which you will need to suture under local anaesthetic. Given that the maximum safe dose of lignocaine is 3mg/kg, what is the maximum volume of a lignocaine 1% weight per volume (w/v) solution that can be administered safely? A.   180µL B.   6mL C.   1.8mL D.   18mL   More HPAT practice questions and resources are available.   Solution: mL = milli litres ; µL = micro litres 1 litre = 1000 mL = 1 kg = 1000 g 1% weight per volume (w/v) solution means 1 litre has 0.01 kg of lignocaine...

comprehensive UMAT advice from the team at  MedEntry HPAT preparation.   What you need to know about percentage % questions before starting your HPAT preparation:       Problems involving percent are common on the HPAT. The word  percent  means "divided by one hundred." When you see the word "percent," or the symbol %, remember it means 1/100. For example, 25 Percent   25 x 1/100 = 1/4 To convert a decimal into a percent, move the decimal point two places to the right. For example, 0.25 = 25%   0.023 = 2.3%   1.3 = 130% Conversely, to convert...

comprehensive UMAT advice from the team at  MedEntry HPAT preparation.       Probability questions in the HPAT: you're probably reading this sentence right now...   We know what probability means, but what is its formal definition? Let's use our everyday logic to define it. If there is no chance that an event will occur, then its probability of occurring should be 0. On the other extreme, if an event is certain to occur, then its probability of occurring should be 100%, or 1. Hence, we can deduce that  probability will be a number between 0 and 1, inclusive. But what...

Counting problems in HPAT: an essential summary. Your HPAT questions explained by the team at MedEntry  as part of our new section  HPAT test tactics and preparation.     They may seem simple on paper, but counting problems contained within the HPAT exam can often cause much confusion among students. If you can understand the basic principles of counting problems and recognize when to apply them, you will be able to master many of the typical counting problem question types presented in the HPAT exam.   When counting elements that are in overlapping sets, the total number will equal the number in one group plus the number...

The passages that you are required to read and understand in the HPAT can be long and dense. Absorbing enough information from the passages to answer the questions can be difficult and your brain will not be able to recall all the information that you read from a passage. However, passages can be broken down into simpler forms to help you better process and recall the passages when it comes to answering the questions. Passages may be simplified using paraphrasing. This helps transform the big, complex paragraphs and passages into small bite-sized pieces of information. Good readers paraphrase as they...