What Section 2 involves
Section 2 of HPAT-Ireland, Interpersonal Understanding, is built on scenarios: short accounts of situations between people, such as a conversation, a conflict or a personal reflection. The questions ask you to understand the people involved: what they are thinking and feeling, what they intend, and why they behave as they do.
It reflects something that matters in medicine and the health professions: the ability to understand other people’s points of view, including when they are not stated outright.
Section 2 has 42 questions in 50 minutes, which is just over 70 seconds per question, and it makes up 40% of your overall score.
What the questions look for
- Underlying feelings: what a person is really feeling, which may differ from what they say.
- Motives and intentions: why someone acts or speaks the way they do.
- Perspective: how a situation looks from each person’s point of view.
- The best interpretation: choosing the reading most consistent with all the details given.
How to prepare
- Stay with the text. Base every answer on what the scenario shows, not on what you would feel in that situation.
- Look beneath the surface. Tone, word choice and what a person avoids saying are often the real clues.
- Avoid extremes. Options that make dramatic or absolute claims about people are often less supported than measured ones.
- Read widely. Fiction, memoir and opinion writing all build the habit of reading other people’s perspectives.
- Practise, then discuss. When you get one wrong, work out which detail in the scenario points to the correct answer.
Facts on this page are taken from the official HPAT-Ireland website and the ACER Test Taker Information Booklet for the 2026 test, checked in October 2026. Always confirm dates and rules at hpat-ireland.acer.org before you register.