25th July 2025
Changes to Medical Entry from 2027
Medical school entry in Ireland is changing from 2027. Irish universities have announced modifications to how the HPAT will be used alongside Leaving Cert points to determine entry into undergraduate medicine. What is HPAT? The Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT) is a crucial component of medical school admission alongside Leaving Certificate results. The test assesses three sec ...
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24th July 2025
Why Is HPAT So Hard?
Most current medical students and doctors would agree that HPAT is probably the hardest and single most important test they ever sat in their career. Many students, especially those who do not prepare effectively, are shocked by the difficulty of HPAT. Some who do prepare become disillusioned by the difficulty of HPAT. So why is HPAT so hard? And what can you do about it? Read on! ...
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13th July 2025
Making Time for HPAT: Eat That Frog!
Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. – Mark Twain Brian Tracy’s 5 minute YouTube video discusses a time management strategy that has changed many people’s lives (including mine!). This strategy involves organising your tasks by priority. It discusses time management in the context of t ...
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10th July 2025
How to Use Holidays to Improve in HPAT
Many students use the holidays to finally relax after a several months of hard work. For those sitting the HPAT next year, the road ahead can look especially challenging and instil feelings of anxiety. However, after taking a long-deserved rest, the holidays can actually be used efficiently and effectively to get ahead in the HPAT and obtain the score you need to get into your dream course of ...
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9th July 2025
How to Apply for Medicine in the UK as an Irish Student
UK medical schools have an excellent reputation internationally and many Irish students travel to the UK to study each year. Applications to UK universities are made through UCAS (like the UK version of the CAO). Irish students applying to study medicine in the UK in 2026 can start their UCAS application over the summer before 6th year (applications open on 13 May 2025). They must subm ...
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3rd July 2025
Options for Studying Medicine: In Ireland and Abroad
The easiest, cheapest and most direct route into medicine in Ireland is the undergraduate route, which requires you to sit HPAT. However, if you have not been able to gain entry into medicine via this route, there are other options for pursuing medicine. Studying medicine in Ireland Studying medicine in Ireland has many advantages, including: Being able to remain in ...
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1st July 2025
Didn’t Do Well in HPAT? Here’s How to Bounce Back in 4 Steps
The HPAT is one of the two criteria for undergraduate medicine in Ireland, often holding equal weighting to the Leaving Cert. There are many factors that can influence performance in HPAT, and receiving a lower mark than expected may feel like all our efforts have gone to waste. I’ve been there before, and although it may feel like the end of the world (I certainly felt that way), I can ...
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25th June 2025
I Didn’t Get a Good Enough HPAT Score. What Should I Do?
After spending months working through HPAT guides, completing practise exams and labouring over difficult drills it can be devastating when HPAT results day arrives, and you realise that you have not achieved a good enough HPAT score to get into medicine. It is completely understandable that to feel extremely disappointed, but it is very important that you have a clear idea of the other option ...
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25th June 2025
How to Interpret Your HPAT Results
HPAT results have been released! You will have received an email from ACER with details on how to access your results. This blog contains information for how to interpret your HPAT statement of results. What do the numbers on the HPAT Statement of Results mean? Your HPAT Statement of Results will display two measures of your performance: HPAT score and HPAT percentile. ...
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25th June 2025
HPAT Results: What to Do With Your CAO
HPAT results are usually released in late June. After months of waiting to find out your HPAT results, it can feel quite overwhelming to finally receive them! After all of the hard work and preparation for HPAT, everyone wants to get a great HPAT score. However, it is important to know what to do if things don’t go as well as you had hoped. It’s not the end of the world and if you ...
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