Medicine hopefuls to sit aptitude exam

THOUSANDS of students will sit an aptitude test being used for the first time, along with their Leaving Certificate results, to help select medical school entrants next month.

The assessment of logical reasoning and problem solving, interpersonal understanding and non-verbal reasoning will take place at centres in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Sligo and Waterford on Saturday, February 14.

The results will be combined with exam grades in August, with all students who get at least 480 Leaving Certificate points out of a possible 600 eligible for consideration.

The changes are the result of years of discussion on how to avoid restricting the limited number of medicine degree places available to school leavers to those with almost perfect Leaving Certificate results.

According to the organisers of the test, which is set and marked in Australia, more than 1,000 people registered to take the HPAT (Health Professions Admission Test) before Christmas. However, with students returning to school this week and most applicants filling their CAO college forms between now and the end of January, thousands more are expected to register by then.

Almost 10,000 people listed a medicine degree on their CAO application last year, including 2,741 who had it as their top-choice course.

The results of the multiple-choice tests, with a maximum score of 300, will be notified to students by late March.

Students will be selected based on a combination of Leaving Certificate grades and test scores, but those with at least 550 points in the Leaving Certificate will get an adjusted score reflecting the excellence of their grades, but which does not give them an unfair advantage over others.

The system will mean someone with 500 Leaving Certificate points and a near-perfect HPAT score would be ranked higher for selection than a student with 575 points but who scores just 220 out of 300 in next month’s test.