New medical studies tests 'favour better-off students'
A new grinds industry has sprung up around aptitude tests which were designed to make entry to medical studies less elitist.
There are fears that the rich will now have an undue advantage in the Health Professions Admission Tests (HPATs) which are being introduced this year.
At least three existing grind schools are running so-called preparatory courses and charging fees of up to €400 to prepare for the tests.
But the Institute of Guidance Counsellors says these preparatory courses are not necessary.
Its president Eilis Coakley said such courses were only adding to anxiety at a time when many families were experiencing financial difficulties.
HPAT results will be combined with points from the Leaving to decide who gains admission to undergraduate medical schools next autumn.
Critics of the new tests say they:
> Favour those who can access and pay for grinds, as well as pay test fees.
> Favour those with family backgrounds or experiences that prepare them for such tests.
> Undermine the whole Leaving Cert system.
The introduction of the tests was supposed to reduce the stress on applicants, who were typically expected to get 575 points in the Leaving Cert to secure a place in medicine.
But instead there are fears that they will add to the pressure and make medicine even more elitist than it is at present.
The two-and-a-half hour test of general reasoning ability takes place on February 14. It costs €95 for students who register before January 20 to sit the test and an extra €50 for those who register between January 20 and February 1.
Apart from the cost of the tests themselves, many people would have to travel to test centres and stay overnight at a cost.
The test can only be taken in five centres, Dublin, Cork, Galway, the North-West and the South East.
Questioned
The thinking behind the tests has been strongly questioned by Dr Sean McDonagh, an education consultant and former director of both the Skills Initiative Unit and Dundalk Institute of Technology.
He said that the HPAT claimed to test logical reasoning, problem solving, interpersonal understanding and non-verbal reasoning.
Dr McDonagh said that in accepting HPATs the Irish universities were suggesting that that these were desirable qualities, and also implying that these were qualities not adequately tested in 25 hours of Higher Leaving Certificate examinations.
He said: "If the universities believe that Leaving Certificate alone is inadequate, then why do they continue with the points system for all other faculties? Surely other faculties require critical thinking also?"
He challenged the universities to produce evidence for this view and argued they should seek to reform the school curriculum and examinations here to ensure the system develops, tests and distinguishes the highest abilities of young people.
The HPAT was devised by the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Dr McDonagh noted that a report from Universities UK last year found that 14pc of higher education institutions in the UK now use admission tests largely, but not exclusively, to identify very able applicants.
This report warned that such tests could place an extra financial burden on would-be students from poorer backgrounds. It suggested that such tests could lead to "an undesirable (and profitable) industry that would provide coaching for those who could afford it".
- John Walshe Education Editor
