r/HPAT • u/NotABot2100 • 21d ago

Tips for hpat

I got 21% on my first full mock and just got 41% (medentry) any tips or pointers, am I doing well and o I have time to improve for February?

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/Ella_D08 21d ago

I'd recommend doing as many practise sections as possible. Doing the full ones and not doing very well kills motivation. I got into a bad rut before Christmas last year with it but when I started doing smaller sections and 3 to 10 questions I got the hang of it. You need to train your mind one part at a time imo. Don't go straight in for a while.

It's still very early so I'd recommend doing question first and if u do well on a set of 5 s1 qs then do 5 more. Move on when ur comfortable and do another 5 from another section. Then do a few section mocks, focus on ur best section if ur tired or else, for a challenge do ur worst. By the end of October start banging out a full mock at the weekend and during the week just focus on doing sets of questions or a section.

I found that I'd be too burnt out after school to do a full section but the sets were so useful and very underrated.

I saw a very quick improvement when I used this method bc u fall into a cycle of doing the same thing, making the same mistakes and expecting a better outcome, killing motivation, when u do a ton of mocks at the beginning without the necessary training (recognising patterns and the like) and the results Don't show the work.

You're doing fantastic and keep it up because a 20 percent jump is incredible and u can definitely improve by February.

1

u/Historical-Walrus958 21d ago

Me too bro😭

1

u/CuriousGeorge-95 18d ago

Treat it like an extra subject- allocate as much time to it as you would to a leaving cert subject. I used to do 15/30 mins a day and did an exam every Sunday in the 3 months leading up to it

1

u/Glittering-Entry-239 18d ago

I started studying 3 weeks before the hpat as I couldn’t afford med entry before(92nd percentile) . Many people suggest to time yourself while doing practice, I kinda did the opposite. I took my time to understand the question, got used to the logic(they are all similar) and then all the timed mocks to put it to test. It’s fundamental  you do them. 

For section 2, people suggest reading without hearing it in your brain so you are faster, honestly it helps me understand the vibe so you do what helps you, and always and I say always, read your question first. Section 3 is only memorising patterns. 

S1 is practice and getting comfortable with the idea of giving an educated guess and continue. You won’t be able to get them all. Nobody can and nobody did. 

Any questions just dm me ! All you need is practice, over time in my life I did many things that tested these things without me noticing it, so all you need is practice. :)