Aptitude test for medical degree sees rule changes to eliminate advantage

The advantage gained by some students from repeating an aptitude test for entry to medicine degrees is to be eliminated as part of rule changes announced by colleges.

The HPAT (Health Professions Admission Test) scores of one-third of medical school entrants since 2010 were from a second sitting of the test in which they had improved their scores, according to a report published last year by a group of college representatives who had reviewed how the medicine entry system was working. The HPAT was introduced in 2009 to help reduce reliance on the highest Leaving Certificate results as the basis for selecting students into the limited number of around 500 undergraduate places for Irish and EU students each year.

But there had been concerns about the ability of better-off students to take preparation courses to help improve their performance. There were also issues around applicants focusing on HPAT tests the year after finishing school, and then abandoning college courses they had already started when getting into medicine with an improved test score.