MANILA, Philippines – Yup, it’s that time of the year again. On Saturday, high school seniors all around the country will be taking the UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test), hoping to get a slot at the University of the Philippines.
While not everyone ends up going to UP, everyone who took the entrance exam has a favorite memory of it. 2bU asked several alumni, as well as students who opted to study elsewhere, what they remember when they took the exam.
“All I remember is not having enough time to pause and wear my jacket in the cold room at Abelardo (may aircon sa UP!). I was munching on chocolate to keep me up. I “threw darts” when it came to the Math part—I’m so bad at Math already, tinagalog pa—patay (It was in Tagalog)! And then I remember leaving the campus and for the first time really seeing how the trees frame the Academic Oval so beautifully, seeing the sea of people in every building and thinking, ‘Wow, I’m never going to get into UP with all these people taking this test in Diliman alone.”—Maureen Tanedo, 24, communications specialist, UP Diliman
“My test paper flew out the window! I remember taking the test at Palma Hall and I think we were on the second or third floor? I had to bug the proctor to help me get it, and I was getting anxious since I was time-pressured! The person in front of me thought I was already holding the test paper, so he let go!” —Bianca Santiago, 27, fashion editor, DLSU-Manila
“I followed all the usual test–taking tips: don’t study the night before, rest, and have a good night’s sleep. Well, I took the last one a little too well. You’re supposed to be in the testing area at 6:30. I woke up at 6:05. I woke my dad up, and we got to AS at exactly 6:35. They still let me in.”—Simoun Salinas, 25, UP Manila/UP Law student
“In the last section of my UPCAT exam, I was happily and steadily shading the little circles with my answers and was certain that I was going to finish the entire exam on time. Then I suddenly realized that I had missed a number in my shading so the rest of my answers after that were probably wrong! I broke out into a cold sweat, retraced my answers and tried to correct everything. I haphazardly answered the remaining questions, right-minus-wrong be damned, and spent the next few months praying.”—Dia Lacaba, 29, marketing manager, UP Diliman
“While we were taking the exam, some guy who was on his way to the restroom tripped over the power cord of one of the stand fans. It went crashing down. The crash broke the silence and everyone’s concentration. The guy was so embarrassed that he quickly put the fan up and raced out of sight. A few years after, that clumsy guy ended up as an editor for the Philippine Collegian.”—Kirk Campos, 25, corporate PR man, UP Diliman
“The test watcher kept on looking at my paper. He stopped at my test chair for a minute or so, then went back on patrol. I was so conscious that I think I lost some points there.”—Penny Endozo, 22, editorial assistant, UP Diliman
“I took my exam in Dagupan, Pangasinan. It was raining so hard the whole city was flooded. My two classmates and I stayed at a relative’s house. Baha din sa loob ng bahay. Tapos kinailangan naming tumuntong sa mga silya just to get out of the house as dry as we could. Pagdating sa testing center, the aircon units were running full blast. Just imagine how cold and wet we were!”—Glaiza Lee, 25, writer, UP Baguio
“I will never forget my UPCAT experience. My seatmate had made an entire meal his snack. I could smell warm rice and tinola, complete with seasoning. All I had was an Oreo granola bar. Half of me wanted to focus on my test, and the other half wanted to strangle him. My first language was English so I subjected myself to memorizing Math and Science terminologies in Filipino. It proved useful, and I was fortunate enough to pass the UPCAT because of that.”—Marla Cabanban, 23, graphic designer, Ateneo de Manila University
“There was this unforgettable UPCAT question, which for me was the hardest question in the entire exam.
‘Question: Sa taong gutom, masarap pati _____ (A hungry person finds what delicious?).
Choices: a) panis (spoiled food) b) tutong (burnt rice) c) tinik (fish bones) d) buto (bones).’
I was stumped. I answered tutong (for the rhyme) but I still wonder what the correct answer is to this day.”—Carla Grepo, 24, law student, UP Diliman
“UPCAT was a piece of cake! I finished all the parts of the test early—the English part was especially ridiculously easy. UPCAT actually felt like a Facebook IQ exam! There were few people who finished early, too. Some people would eat their snacks loudly—the chips were annoying, but I believe that was the point: to annoy the others still sweating over their test.”—Frances Amper-Sales, 32, magazine editor, UP Diliman
“There were noisy UP students talking loudly outside, saying things like, ‘If you don’t know the answer, letter C na lang!’ and ‘Madali lang yan, kami nga nakapasa eh!’ The use of Tagalog was only hard for the Math part. It was insane, solving a Math problem written in Tagalog.”—Margarete Hernandez, 24, architect, UP Diliman
“The person sitting behind me had brought adobo and I could hear the clink of the silverware and smell the heavenly adobo scent the whole time.”—Cassandra Vaudine Cuevas, 23, hotel sales exec, UP Diliman
“I went home after the exam with a bad case of LBM.”—Franz De La Fuente, 18, student, UP Diliman
“I brought snacks but wasn’t able to eat them. Fortunately, not one seatmate was eating chicharon! Surprisingly, I enjoyed the Math part the most.”—Mark Marvin Lagos, 22, instructor, UP Baguio
“I exemplify the UP-or-nothing case. I think I was one of the few handful who went out of UP smiling—most of the examinees I saw had their heads down, ready to be hanged. I was so confident I would pass, I never took any exam in any other school. Thank God I passed because I wouldn’t have gone to college if I didn’t.”—Mark Angelo Ching, 21, staff writer, UP Diliman
“I took the UPCAT at Araullo University Basketball Gym in Cabanatuan City. As the days approached the exam weekend, I felt more and more uneasy and, at the same time, excited. I just treated the exam as if it were a normal one in high school, though I felt that I was a bit more careful in shading each circle. It was the first exam in my whole life that took that long to finish, and I did it with full concentration (well, I tried to).”—Karl Bryan Lagman, 24, grad school student, UP Diliman
“The scene: Sunday, 1 p.m. First row, second or third seat from the left (directly in front of the teacher’s desk), Pilar Hall in the Chem Pav. I packed a fair snack (six tetra packs of fresh milk and about twelve packs of crackers), expecting I’d be so tense I would need food to munch on during the exam. It turned out that the tension from the exam actually made me stop eating because I was chewing, instead, on the end of my pencil. I barely understood the Filipino part and just guessed the answers to most of the Math questions. God must have wanted me in UP because I passed and with a grade good enough to get into BS Architecture!”—Rosabelle Angela Fontelera, 27, entrepreneur, UP Diliman
“I took my UPCAT at UPLB. My lunch box was full of different kinds of food: Burger, biscuits, juice, bottled water and mint candies. I also remember bringing a box of sharpened Mongol pencils, even though they require students to bring just two. I cannot forget the grumpy proctor who wanted us to pass our answer sheets at the count of five after we had finished the whole exam. That instructor really made me think whether UP professors are really that strict or not.”—Gemrico Godwin Michael L. Mailum, 21, student, UP Los Bańos
“A pledge with a grocery bag on his head flashed me. Good thing it was after the tests already or I would have flunked.”—Kinny Salas, 39, beauty columnist, UP Diliman
