It may just be common sense to know the ten UPCAT Commandments, but to break any one of them may jeopardize your thorough preparation and test-taking skills. These 10 Commandments are simple yet essential, basic yet crucial, and easy to follow yet often forgotten. You need to make a checklist on these all-important UPCAT laws.
1. Thou shall have no entrance test in mind other than the UPCAT.
2. Thou shall not arrive late in your testing room.
3. Thou shall not forget to bring all the test materials needed.
4. Thou shall fill-up the information called for in any form completely and accurately.
5. Thou shall follow all the instructions given by the Examiner.
6. Thou shall not write anything on the test booklet.
7. Thou shall not ask the Proctor.
8. Thou shall answer easy questions first.
9. Thou shall eat your snacks while answering.
10. Thou shall relax and enjoy the mental exercise!
1. Thou shall have no entrance test in mind other than the UPCAT.
When you’re about to take the UPCAT, never entertain the thought of failing, nor the thought of still having other entrance tests to take, nor the thought that there are still a lot of colleges and universities other than UP. Your mindset should be focused on the UPCAT, nothing else. Your attitude should be “no other option but UP”. By doing this, you are assured of giving your best and the desire of passing the UPCAT would be easier to materialize.
2. Thou shall not arrive late in your testing room.
I’ve seen a lot of UPCAT applicants lose their composure, their confidence, and even the things they reviewed for this tough test. Why? Simply because they did not come on time. And because they were late, they rushed, their hearts beat faster, and they became more anxious especially when they were reprimanded by the UPCAT Examiner. It is foolish to be late in the UPCAT. You need to be in your testing room at least thirty minutes before your scheduled time written in your test permit.
3. Thou shall not forget to bring all the test materials needed.
You should not forget these six most important things that you need to bring for the UPCAT:
• test permit
• number 2 pencils
• rubber eraser
• sharpener
• snacks
• wrist watch
There’s no need to bring any paper because you will be provided with answer sheet and scratch paper. Never bring your cellular phone; it’s the most useless (sometimes harmful) thing you’ll have during the UPCAT, if ever.
4. Thou shall fill-up the information called for in any form completely and accurately.
At least twenty minutes of the UPCAT is spent just for filling-up the personal information sheet. You need to be extra careful especially in the spelling of names, your examinee number, and so on. Any inconsistency or mismatch with other forms you previously submitted may warrant deferment on your UPCAT result.
5. Thou shall follow all the instructions given by the Examiner.
Being alert to the instructions given to you is a key to a smooth-sailing UPCAT test-taking. I bet you don’t want to miss a single word uttered by the Examiner because you don’t want to be scolded when caught inattentive to the directions. Your listening skill is as important as the retrieval of all the information that you studied for the UPCAT.
6. Thou shall not write anything on the test booklet.
UPCAT takers are not allowed to write on the test booklet. You shall be provided with a blank sheet for your computational and other scratch works. If in case your scratch paper is already filled-up with writings, don’t be tempted to scribble on the test booklet. Just request for another scratch sheet from the Proctor.
7. Thou shall not ask the Proctor.
Since the sub-tests in the UPCAT are under certain time limits, you are not in a position to waste even a single second. If you encounter a particular item that you think is confusing or is stated vaguely or that your answer does not match any of the answer choices, then the best thing that you can do is to use your best judgment. Never approach the proctor to ask for clarification or debate upon the item. By asking the proctor, not only will you lose precious seconds, you will not also get the answer that you would like to hear.
8. Thou shall answer easy questions first.
All the questions in the UPCAT, whether easy, average or difficult, are worth the same number of points. It is best to skip hard items and go back to them later once all the easy and average items are answered. By doing so, you will maximize your score, which is, the most important thing in the UPCAT. Remember this: 80% of the UPCAT covers the basics. So don’t sacrifice the easy 80% because you allot a lot of time to the more difficult 20%.
9. Thou shall eat your snacks while answering.
UPCAT is a long, exhausting test – 5 grueling hours inside the testing room. You are likened to an offender imprisoned for almost half a day. You won’t be given any snack break but definitely, you are free to eat and drink anytime during the test. If you’ve eaten your meal prior to your UPCAT schedule, you might not feel hungry while taking the test. I suggest you eat your snacks after the first or second subtest so that you gain the much needed energy and oxygen to fuel your test-taking prowess all throughout the UPCAT.
10. Thou shall relax and enjoy the mental exercise!
UPCAT is almost always portrayed as a distressing, intimidating college entrance test. Year after year, a lot of UPCAT aspirants find themselves helpless, anxious, and panicking as they take the test. This should not be the case for you. The best remedy for this is to erase all that have something to do with the UPCAT the night before the test. Cramming would not help you pass the UPCAT. To avoid this, you should have reviewed several weeks (or months) in advance. If you have done this, then you just need to relax the day before the UPCAT. You can go out and watch a movie, play light sports, or get together with friends. Stay confident the following big day and enjoy answering item by item as if you are just playing a mental game. Majority of UPCAT qualifiers are confident test-takers. So be counted as one of them!