How can they prove new medical school test works?

IN my humble opinion, the health professions admission test (HPAT) for entry to medical school is completely inappropriate.

It has been conceived, developed and administered by a private overseas organisation which has no connection whatsoever with this state. The Department of Education is simply buying a service from this organisation and has effectively washed its hands of any responsibility for the administration and integrety of the test.

Does any independent body act as external examiner with regard to the test? What standards apply to the test and how is it audited?

It is not clear what the test is measuring. We are told it measures creativity, flexibility and initiative. Again, in my humble opinion, these aptitudes are equally, if not more, desireable in undergraduate engineers and a host of other professions. They are certainly not unique to medicine. Are these the only attributes required of a medical undergraduate? There seems to be an assumption that there is clear and unequivocal evidence the test measures what it says it measures? Can we see it? Show us the science. The simple reality is that if the test is underpinned by science, then it should be possible to deconstruct it, to learn about it and to set about determining ways to achieve the required results. Has the HPAT test been validated and verified?

One of the objectives of the test would seem to be to increase the number of male students in medicine. This, to the best of my knowledge, is the only example of “affirmative action based on gender” in the state. Does the science tell us that male candidates will perform better on the test than female candidates? Are we explicitly setting out to ensure males do better than females? Is this type of social engineering now a goal within medicine?

The test is too simplistic and too heavily weighted in terms of work and effort put in by students at second level. If it has the kind of validity claimed, why not administer it prior to the Leaving Cert cycle and advise those who do not achieve the required score to pursure other subject choices?

Better still, run the test every week or month for tranisition, fourth year and Leaving Cert students and allow them the opportunity to improve their scores – after all, it doesn’t require any study. The thesis of the HPAT supporters that the score should remain the same would be dismantled quickly.

The simple fact is that medicine, like all professions, requires variety among the aptitudes of those who study it, and there is no evidence that this variety is not available among those who achieve 600 points in the Leaving Cert.

Moreover, when one considers the number of specialities within medicine, it is clear, to me at least, that some aptitudes are more desireable depending on the discipline pursued.

Enda Fallon

College of Engineering and Informatics

NUI Galway