14th April 2025
Prerequisites for Studying Medicine in Ireland
The six universities that offer medicine all have a minimum requirement of 480 points from the same sitting of the Leaving Certificate or equivalent. They also have minimum subject requirements, so it is essential to consider this when deciding which Leaving Certificate subjects to choose. Some medicine courses are five years long and some are six. The 6-year courses have a pre-med ...
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9th April 2025
What is HPAT 2026?
HPAT stands for Health Professionals Admission Test. It is one of two main criteria used by most universities in Ireland to select students into high demand health related careers such as medicine (the other being the Leaving Certificate). Unlike traditional school and university exams which assess knowledge, HPAT assesses generic skills, including logical reasoning and problem solving ...
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7th April 2025
How to Prepare for the HPAT in 5th Year
So you’re in 5th year and you’re thinking about pursuing a career in medicine. You’ve been getting great grades and you have 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 can be a major obstruction to your journey, and only a select few are able to succeed in HPAT. You hear about all the peop ...
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2nd April 2025
How to Choose an Irish Medical School
In Ireland, there are six medical schools that you can apply to as an undergraduate student: University College Dublin (UCD) Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University College Cork (UCC) University of Galway University of Limerick As there are 10 spaces on your CAO application you can apply for all Irish medical schools and still ha ...
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10th March 2025
Is Medicine for Me? 5 Tips on How To Make the Big Decision
Trying to decide whether medicine is for you? Personally, it took me months and lots of research and thought to finally make that decision. Compared to most Bachelor degrees which are usually three years in duration, courses in medicine take much longer – about 5 years to complete. Then there is post-graduate study and specialist training. You could be looking at many years before you ar ...
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23rd February 2025
HPAT is Over! What Now?
For the few weeks leading up to the HPAT in February, it can seem like the entire world revolves around it. Working on full exam HPAT mocks, HPAT guides and the Question Bank becomes your priority! Often you put off worrying about day-to-day issues until after the day of the HPAT. So, when the test date does roll around, and you walk away from your computer with your head held high, having ...
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14th February 2025
A Student’s Experience Sitting HPAT Online 2025 (Plus Some Tips!)
I just sat HPAT 2025 online – and what a relief to have it over with! Overall it was as I expected with no major surprises, having done practice exams on MedEntry’s online platform. Check in process The check in process was similar to what was outlined in the ProctorU video emailed to us by ACER. I logged into the ProctorU site a little early, and when th ...
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10th February 2025
Top 10 HPAT Tips for the Last 24 Hours
So, your HPAT testing day is nearly here and you’ve been working up to it consistently. Now it’s time to put your HPAT strategies into practice. Here’s some advice to help you be at your prime in the last 24 hours leading up to the HPAT: Relax the Day Before Spend the day before doing something you enjoy, something relaxing, something fun and something th ...
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8th February 2025
HPAT Nutrition
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 thi ...
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7th February 2025
HPAT Countdown: Musings From an Experienced Tutor
The day of your HPAT is without a doubt one of the most terrifying – yet unusual days of the year. Over the past few years, I have uttered the phrase “The HPAT is a game” numerous times, and now, on the brink of becoming an actual doctor (finally!) and exiting the world of HPAT, I thought I’d pass on my suggestions for this game. Suggestion 1: Learn about H ...
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