Hey everyone, it’s a pity but I’m home again with nothing to do but study, homework or blog. So this seemed as good a choice as any seeing as there’s still 240 days till. Loads of time in my opinion.
So I back from the Institution of Education as I was there to do the HPAT preparation course. And it was really good. Was anyone else there? I definitely recommend it. We got loads of questions and the mock test was fair enough. But honestly at this stage I’m sick of aptitude tests so I couldn’t care less about the HPAT. And the BMAT is in three weeks! 🙁 My aptitude feels like it was put on a treadmill and tortured as if the lab mice where looking for revenge!
Anyway there’s something that’s been bugging me for the past few days. Just how long has it been cool to dis the Leaving Cert.? I read a article in the Irish Independent last Wednesday (I know its only because of Foinse) in the Education section and it was basically an attack on the Leaving Cert. and that the IB would be a better system. But why has this become popular thinking? Nowadays it’s normal to completely disagree with the entire leaving Cert. People want continuous assessment and less emphasis on memory work.
But why doesn’t anyone defend the leaving Cert.?? It’s really not that bad. Is it?
hey 🙂
I’m considering doing the IOE’s prep course too
Could you tell me more about your experience and thoughts of it?
It would be good to hear from someone who i know isn’t working for the courses!
OK. The first day we went through what the Hpat was about, the timing and the difficulties. Also things that are obvious but there’s no harm in thinking about them.
We went through each section and all the types of questions that could come up. It helps I think and the course was definitely worthwhile. The tutor was good. The course was too intense because you don’t have to take any notes (They’re all given to you) and he gave a short break every 1.5 hours (and a lunch break as well).
It’s good because he focuses on the questions that are tricky and have traps in them.
The mock was ok but a bit more difficult than the actual exam(so he said).
I would recommend the course because it’s better to do these things than not to and you learn how to save time in the actual exam
Thanks a million 🙂
I’ve read a few times that the actual HPAT is much harder and results from the mock are misleading as ACER don’t release their marking scheme..so i’m not sure what to think about that..
Well, from what I understand is that the past two years of the IOEs mock exam was easier than the actual Hpat. The tutor said that this year he tried to make a much more difficult mock exam.
2. When you receive your result from the mock you get percentage score of the questions you got right, but not a score out of 300. Then you’re told the class average on that day and the highest percentage achieved. That way you get an idea of where you stand against your peers.
The marking scheme for the Hpat is established after the tests are corrected and the scores are adjusted until the national average is 150.