The HPAT is  admissions test selected by the Irish Medical Schools is called HPAT-Ireland (Health Professions Admission Test-Ireland).  The test measures a candidate’s logical reasoning and problem solving skills as well as non-verbal reasoning and the ability to understand the thoughts, behaviour and/or intentions of people.

It is designed to complement academic achievement, by providing assessment of skills in the areas of reasoning understanding and working with people, HPAT-Ireland has a strong focus on general skills and personal abilities. These skills have been identified as important for a competent health professional. It does not test academic knowledge and candidates do not require special understanding of any academic discipline.

This test is independently administered by ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research).

HPAT exam

The HPAT exam usually takes place in February in Centres around the country. The exam itself takes 2.5 hours and is divided into 3 sections. You must be in 6th Year preparing for your Leaving Certificate or have completed your Leaving Certificate to take the HPAT exam (i.e. you cannot take the HPAT in 5th year).

Section 1: Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving

Materials in this Section are drawn from a wide variety of general sources and are based on a brief text or piece of information presented graphically. Questions assess your ability to comprehend, draw logical conclusions, reach solutions by identifying relevant facts, evaluate information, pinpoint additional or missing information, and generate and test plausible hypotheses.

Section 2: Interpersonal Understanding

Section 2 assesses the ability to understand and think about people. Questions are based on a scenario, dialogue or other text representing specific interpersonal situations. Most passages will have several questions.The questions assess your ability to identify, understand, and, where necessary, infer the thoughts, feelings, behaviour and/or intentions of the people represented in the situations.

Section 3: Non-Verbal Reasoning

Questions in this Section may be of several kinds. All are based on patterns or sequences of shapes and are designed to assess your ability to reason in the abstract and solve problems in non-verbal contexts.

The day of the exam…

• Have a good breakfast. Arrive at your test centre early
• Bring a banana/cereal bar to eat when you arrive at the test centre
• You need a 2b pencil for the exam – no markers, pens or pencil cases. It’s best to bring a rubber also.
• Remember your admission ticket and ID (passport/driving licence/stamped letter with photo)
• A bottle of water. <500ml. Go to the toilet before the exam. Try not to drink too much.
• A digital watch. Timing is crucial. Don’t get caught out
• Wear layers. Centres are often big halls, and can get very warm/cold easily.
• Relax. Try not to stress about the exam.Once it’s over. IT’S OVER. It’s impossible to know how you did on the day. Don’t dwell on the exam you still have to tackle Everest aka. the LEAVING CERTIFICATE

You will be assigned a test venue when you receive your admission ticket via email (>2 weeks before exam) in:

Cork / Galway / Waterford / Dublin/ Sligo

Results

An online HPAT-Ireland Statement of Results is issued to every candidate in late June after the Leaving Certificate Examinations finish. You will receive an overall score and an overall percentile rank to give you an indication of how well you performed against other HPAT-Ireland candidates. The maximum score a candidate can receive is 300.

• In 2009, the highest score was 210.
• In 2010, the highest score was 223.
• In 2011, the highest score was 242.

Your HPAT score is combined with your adjusted (see below – weighting of 2:1 ratio applied to LC points) Leaving Certificate results, which is sent on to CAO and thus to University medical schools for admission purposes.

Preparing for HPAT 2012

HPAT-Ireland is not based on any curriculum or subject areas; therefore you do not need any special knowledge. Intensive preparation is not advisable or necessary, although wide and critical reading may provide helpful preparation for Sections 1 and 2. However, as with any test, some practice in answering questions of a similar type, and under similar time constraints as those found in the real test, is helpful and reassuring to most candidates.

The purpose of HPAT-Ireland is to assess the general skills and abilities developed over the course of your education and life experience that are considered by the universities to be important to the study and practice of medicine. To operate most effectively in this career graduates will need to:

• Be flexible
• Have good thinking skills (critical and analytical)
• Be able to respond quickly to new situations and problems
• Have a well developed ability to understand and respond to patients’ needs and individual situations.

Sample Questions

Important Dates 2012

For further information see:

http://www.hpat-ireland.acer.edu.au/