MedEntry Blog

From the moment you first hear stories of the HPAT and how difficult it can be until the first step you take to enter that exam centre, only you can decide the mind set and approach that will embody your HPAT experience. There are two ways to view this exam; either as a roadblock that is there to hinder you on the path to success or simply a stepping stone towards getting you into your dream career. In the end, which viewpoint you adopt is up to you.   A distinct point that is often conveyed when describing the HPAT...

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...

Amidst the stress of preparing for the HPAT and studying for your other exams, it may be tempting to not spend time on extra-curricular activities, so that you can focus on getting the marks you need to get into medicine. After all, they won’t contribute directly to your score, right?    However, participating in extra-curricular activities, whether it be joining your local cricket team, volunteering for a soup kitchen or being captain of the chess club, will help you not only be a better person, but be a better candidate for medical entry. Don’t believe me? Here are three reasons...

Have I prepared enough for HPAT? As school assessments begin to pile up and the date of the HPAT exam looms closer, this one question can create great anxiety. As a MedEntry workshop helper, questions like, “when did you start preparing for the HPAT?” and “how much practice did you do every night?” are amongst the most frequent that I receive. With such a high-stakes exam like the HPAT, it can often feel like no amount of preparation is enough. This feeling can become increasingly dominant as the exam approaches, and you may find yourself ‘hitting a wall’ with your...

For many students, HPAT preparation begins with enrolling in a HPAT tuition program such as MedEntry. But boy, there sure is a lot of stuff on here, isn’t there? How exactly should you use all of the resources, such as Practice Exams, Drills and Eureka? In this post, I’ll share how I navigated the MedEntry LMS to ultimately achieve 100th percentile in the HPAT.   The HPAT is such an important of your application to medical school. Obviously it is unfeasible to spend as much time on the HPAT as you do on schoolwork, so I found that treating the...

Keeping the balance is something we all struggle with in our final year of schooling, myself included. At the commencement of the year, I jumped into everything. Then, at the end of term one, I crashed, and in term two I tried to do nothing. Neither of these worked for me, and over the remainder of the year I learnt some important lessons about keeping the balance. Not only was I happier and more well-rounded as a result, I was also able to succeed in both HPAT and in my final exams.     The golden rule for staying well-rounded...

Preparing for the HPAT is similar to preparing for a marathon: it requires training, preparation and strategies to optimise your performance on the test day. Just as an athlete prepares for a major sporting event, so 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, as outlined in this TED talk by Martin Hagger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7v4y_xwzQ This talk discusses how highly successful athletes prepare themselves before a competition. The main points are summarised below, with an emphasis...

The new LMS provides even easier access to your HPAT video guides. Simply click on the blue ‘Video Guides’ icon under the ‘Learn’ category to access all of your HPAT preparation video guides. On the LMS you will find video guides that cover all three HPAT sections: Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving, Understanding People and Non-Verbal Reasoning. You will also find specific guides covering particular types of question, for example, Pick the Middle, Missing Segment, and the new Transformation type of question in the Non-Verbal Reasoning section. Challenging concepts in HPAT will be tackled and explained in detail. These HPAT...

In last year's HPAT, there were some changes to non-verbal reasoning questions in the HPAT. Although the structure, number of questions and broad types of questions were the same (pick the middle, missing segment, next in the sequence etc) there were three main differences: A few completely new question types that had not previously appeared in the HPAT A different approach to pick the middle questions required compared to previous years’ HPAT A shift towards more positional type questions In this blog, we will briefly go through these changes and explain how MedEntry is updating our materials to ensure our students are well prepared for...

The LMS has a fresh new look and it is even more user-friendly than before! When you log in you will see that we have made it even easier to access all those awesome HPAT resources on the LMS. Put simply, you can select to either  Learn, Practice, Check or Get Help .    Learn..............instant access to the MedEntry guides, forums and extra skills development module     Practice..........instant access to the many thousands of HPAT practice questions in their various forms       Check............instant access to see how you are progressing       Get Help.........instant access to...

So you ’ re in 5th year of secondary school and thinking about pursuing a career in medicine. You ’ ve got great grades as well as the people skills to become a doctor, so there should be no problem getting in. Then you find out about the HPAT. You hear that it is a major obstruction to your journey, and only a select few are able to succeed in it. You hear about all the people who have done poorly despite studying so hard. You may even hear about the people who passed that didn ’ t do much...

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...

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...

Medicine is largely a people-oriented career, which is one of the reasons HPAT tests how well you can understand people in a personal and professional setting. Whilst you can try to “study” for this section of the exam, the best way to develop and refine your interpersonal skills leading up to the HPAT is via emotional reflection and understanding certain concepts. ‘Understanding People’ questions will frequently require you to assign a specific emotion a person might be feeling at a given time. This blog will cover how to approach such a question methodically, in various steps.   STEP 1: Recognise...

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.   1.     Practice ACER exams and read their worked solutions. ACER offers 3 full-length practice exams; these are a must-do before the exam! They ’ re a little bit easier than your average MedEntry exam, so they ’ re great for that last minute confidence boost. ACER also gives you worked solutions to every...

This article is written from the point of view of a student sitting the UMAT, which is the Australian/New Zealand equivalent of the HPAT. The main difference is that the UMAT is 134 questions and 3 hours long with the 3 constructs blended. So you HPAT students just keep that in mind as you read on................. If you’re a student who likes being prepared and in control, you’ve probably tried to imagine what the actual day of the UMAT will be like. You might be asking yourself some of the following questions – How early do I need to get...

Organisations such as the ACER like to promote the myth that HPAT courses are a waste of money. This is because ACER has a hidden agenda. Newspapers like to run stories with headlines such as: “HPAT prep courses declared waste of money”, or “HPAT courses a waste of money”, or “Are HPAT preparatory courses time well spent or a waste of money?”, or “Private courses branded PreMed are a waste of money” etc. Such articles create apprehension, doubt and fear among students and parents, so newspapers publish them to sell more newspapers. Furthermore, those who have vested interests rally and...

HPAT preparation courses are run throughout Ireland leading up to the HPAT each February. A typical HPAT course will include: HPAT focused lectures, advice tips and strategies to ace the HPAT, a practice EXAM exam with results and feedback, as well as many additional resources for HPAT preparation such as trial HPAT papers, practice HPAT questions, HPAT guides and HPAT drills. Studying Medicine or Health Sciences in Ireland has become extremely competitive, particularly at institutions like the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI GALWAY), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University College Cork (UCC) and...

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...

As a student it is very difficult to choose between the various HPAT prep course providers. It is even more difficult to do so when you are bombarded with hype, myths and misinformation through slick and deceptive marketing strategies. You are only going to be able to improve your HPAT results if you prepare using questions that simulate the real HPAT. Students are too often mislead by purchasing HPAT practice tests and HPAT questions that show little, if any resemblance to the HPAT itself. An example of this is HPAT prep courses that include LSAT questions. The HPAT does not...