Dr. Gannon speaks to the Irish Times about preparing for the HPAT exam
Check out the Irish Times article from 4th July 2025 featuring John’s discussions about the HPAT exam and national proposals to reduce its weighting to 150 points
Full article by Carl O’Brien at this link: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2025/07/04/can-students-be-coached-to-pass-aptitude-tests-for-entry-to-medical-school
Some excerpts below:
Back when he was a student in 2012, John Gannon aced the aptitude test required for entry to undergraduate medicine. Of the thousands that sat the Hpat, or Health Professions Admission Test, that year, he says he scored in the top 1 per cent of candidates. These days Gannon is a specialist registrar in public health medicine, but he also does a sideline in private tuition for students preparing for the test.
His AceTheHpat.com course pledges to “help students unlock their potential and secure a place in medicine” with courses such as weekend workshops (€150) or group classes for five weeks (€225) or 10 weeks (€450).
The Hpat, a 2½-hour test that assesses qualities deemed important for medicine, such as reasoning, problem-solving and interpersonal skills, was initially devised as the kind of assessment that candidates could not study for.
When the Hpat was introduced in 2009, the Australian Council for Educational Research (Acer), which devised the test, said it did “not endorse any training college and actively discourages candidates attending them”, adding: “They are a waste of the candidates’ (or their parents’) money.”
Today, there is an extensive private tuition industry to service huge demand for help with the tests. Applicants can learn solutions to assessments, complete mock exams and avail of one-to-one tutoring – for a price.
This week The Irish Times reported that deans of medical schools want to significantly reduce the weighting of the Hpat for entry to study medicine amid equity concerns and evidence that many entrants benefit from being “coached” for exams.
Dr Gannon says that while students can improve with practice, there is a misconception that coaching leads to dramatic score increases.
“In reality, students tend to improve most in section three (non-verbal reasoning), least in section two (interpersonal understanding) and moderately in section one (logical reasoning),” he says.
“Preparation can help to improve the approach to the exam and especially managing timing, but core skills like empathy and critical thinking can’t be memorised like Leaving Cert content,” Dr Gannon says.
Equity issues are structural and not exam-specific, argues Dr Gannon. “Rather than dilute the Hpat, we should expand scholarships, outreach and ring-fenced places for underrepresented students, to level the playing field,” he says.
