The UPCAT is almost here and I know a lot of you are already feeling the pressure and tension brought about by the test. Kinakabahan na ba kayo?

To help you out, here are 5 things that you need to do a few days before the UPCAT.

1. Don't review

Yes you read it right!

You do not have to review a few days before the test. Avoid going through books and reading notes. It won't really help at this point in time.

Instead, do practice tests.

Answer multiple choice exams. If you can, simulate the actual UPCAT. Just keep on practicing your test-taking skills.

Again, do not review but instead, practice!

2. Prepare your things beforehand

Prepare your test kit, attire and snacks.

Test kit

• Test permit
• pencil
• eraser
• sharpener
• school ID
• Don't forget your watch!

Here's a checklist that you can save and print (click on the image to download the PDF):

Attire

The UPCAT is not a fashion show.

Wear decent and comfortable clothes. T-shirt, jeans and a pair of comfortable shoes will do. Don't forget your jacket as well.

Snacks

Bring healthful snacks. I suggest sandwich, apple or banana.

No junk food, sweets and energy drinks. you do not want your system to crash during the exam.

3. Condition your brain and body

The UPCAT is not just about intelligence.

It's also about preparing your brain and body.

Don't get stressed. Don't get sick.

Jog. Play light sports. Get your blood circulating.

You'll feel better and rejuvenated.

Practice waking up early or staying alert in the afternoon, depending on your exam schedule.

Get ample rest.

4. Do not study the day before the test

Relax, watch a movie or a TV series and get ample rest.

Let say you are a track and field player, would you practice and run the day before the race? Or will you save your strength for the actual race?

Same goes with the UPCAT. Studying the day before the test won't help. Just save your strength for the actual test.

5. Have faith

Prayer is powerful.

Lift up all your anxieties and concerns to the one above.

Also, have faith in yourself.

Be confident. You have prepared well for this. Believe that you can do it.

I hope these tips will help you in the coming days, we wish you good luck

The post 5 Things You Need to Do A Few Days Before the UPCAT – UPCAT Checklist appeared first on Review Masters.

In probably one of your multiple choice tests, you were very sure of your answers. However, when the test paper was returned to you, you just found out that you chose the wrong answers. There were only four choices per item but you encircled the incorrect ones. And the sad thing about it is that you know what the right answers were.

Bummer, right? Especially if you make this mistake on your college entrance test.

Students have this habit of what they want to see especially in a high-pressured activity like taking an exam. That’s why even if you’ve understood the question, make sure you have read the question properly.

Tips on How to Understand Questions Properly

Sometimes it gets frustrating that you studied a lot of materials during your review but the topics that you studied did not appear on the test. So, it is very crucial to keep your focus for every question. To help you thoroughly to absorb what exactly the question is asking about, here are some tips that you can put to practice.

1. Underline/encircle the key word or words to help you remember.
   If allowed on the questionnaire, put marks on key words to help you stay focused on the important things. (In the UPCAT, you are not allowed to put marks on the test questionnaires so I advise you use your scratch papers in remembering the keywords.)
2. Keep calm and do relaxed breathing.
   The pressure during exam can lead you to commit classic mistakes that will cause you stress by carefully reading each question and by staying calm.
3. Answer the easy questions first.
   During an exam, if you have identified some questions which you think you can answer easily and quickly, then do them first. Have that routine to go through your test paper and get as much as many marks as you can from the questions you find easy to answer and try to sort out the difficult ones later. By doing this you will be extra confident that you will be able to get through the rest of the test because you are so sure that the answers will give you correct marks.
4. Preview and rephrase the question.
   This technique is great for difficult to understand questions. Get the central idea and use synonyms, context clues and other rephrasing techniques to easily understand the question.
5. Read each question properly in several times.
   This will give you a clear understanding as to what is being asked for.

Have Your Own System

In your college entrance exam, it is wise that you make a plan on how to read questions effectively so you don’t have to stop and figure out what’s the correct answer. Have your own system beforehand. A plan can help you diligently approach well each question. And on test day, DO NOT PANIC! Remember the second tip to stay focused.

Taking college entrance exams has always been challenging. Not only you will have to keep your focus over a certain period, but you must analyze as you read each question properly to help you back up for correct answers. The exam might be a bit intense because some questions are quite tricky but you can learn to avoid classic mistakes if you just know how to read and understand each question properly.

Understanding questions by reading them properly and keep a critical eye will help you identify which answer that fits to the question given. The 37 Proven Tips Workshop will help you better prepare for the test and improve your test-taking skills specifically. The workshop will be able to help you create your own system for test taking. The workshop is part of the UPCAT Success System review program of Review Masters.

The post When You Fail To Read The Question Properly In The Exam appeared first on Review Masters.

If you said yes to any of the questions above then you should read this before you enroll in a review center.

What are UPCAT Review Centers?

A few decades ago, College Entrance Test Review Centers or UPCAT Review Centers were practically non-existent. This is primarily the reason why your parents, uncles, aunts, family friends, teachers and the like who are above 30 would often say:

“I didn’t need a review center before, self-study is all you need.”

“It’s mostly stock knowledge.”

“They (review centers) only give you confidence, nothing more.”

But the same way that the internet has changed education, the effect of review centers have also changed.

So what exactly are UPCAT Review Centers?

The recent explosion of College Entrance Test Reviews or UPCAT Review Centers have some people scratching their heads.

In a nutshell an UPCAT Review Center is a tutorial center that specializes in helping students improve their chances of qualifying to prestigious universities here in the Philippines.

In a review center, students are guided on the relevant materials to study, familiarized with entrance exams, given mock exams and tips how to answer them effectively.

This guided review results in a more efficient use of time for the student. All this to improve the chances of a student to qualify for the university of their choice.

High School vs. Review Center

A colleague of mine once summarized the difference of a review center and a high school. He said “High Schools teaches you in 4 years (this was before K-12) all the information you’ll need to start college, a review center will guide you in 1 month which lessons in high school you need remember to qualify for college.”

High Schools teaches you in 4 years (this was before K-12) all the information you’ll need to start college, a review center will guide you in 1 month which lessons in high school you need remember to qualify for college.

Essentially, a review center is focused on how students will pass their entrance test and qualify for college.

On the other hand, a high school equips students with knowledge for college and life in general.

Is it required to enroll in a review center?

Several students and parents have been asking us whether UP requires students to enroll in a review center.

The answer is NO.

Students are not required to enroll in any UPCAT review center before they can take the test. In addition, UP does not and will not endorse any review center for that matter.

I need to mention this because some students are under the impression that they won’t be allowed to take the UPCAT if they don’t review. There is no truth to this.

We encourage students to study for the UPCAT like what they do for their other exams. However, unlike regular exams in school, they have to consider that college entrance tests like the UPCAT is a major test that needs extra attention and preparation.

A review center would facilitate proper preparation in terms of content and technique.

If enrolling in a review center is not required, do I need to enroll in one?

The choice is up to you.

You may study on your own and do the preparation yourself. I have seen students make it to their dream college without enrolling in review centers. Some of them reviewed on their own online.

On the other side of the story, I have also seen students whom I believe could have made it, but didn’t, because he/she didn’t get proper guidance that a review center can give.

We found out that students who enrolled in a comprehensive review program have higher chances of passing the test.

Our data in Review Masters reveals that the review program increases the chances of passing by about 2 to 3 times. (This is our own data and is not representative of all review centers.)

So do you need to enroll in a review center? If you want higher chances, I think the choice is apparent.

If you are a student, I invite you to look into our Student’s Guide page.

If you are a parent, you might want to look into our Parents’ Guide page.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series… What to Look For in a Review Center.

The post UPCAT Review Centers: What They Are and Do You Need To Enroll In One appeared first on Review Masters.

We have been learning our whole lives; our entire childhood was spent in school. We attended class, listened to lectures, answered our assignments and took exams. However, it seems that what we remember does not correlate to how much is being taught to us.

What could be causing this?

A body of research shows that the key to effective learning is not just what you know, but what you know about what you know (get it?).

To put it straightforwardly, when a student learns, he or she calls two kinds of prior knowledge from the mind:

• knowledge about the subject at hand (physics, math, history, etc.)
• knowledge about how learning works

Here’s the bad news: the current education system emphasizes on the first point and almost completely disregards the second one. The disregard could be unintentional but it is very damaging, given that one’s ability to learn is a huge predictor of life success, from academics achievements to work milestones.

Parents and educators are pretty good at imparting the first kind of knowledge. We’re comfortable talking about concrete information: names, dates, numbers, facts. But the guidance we offer on the act of learning itself — the ‘metacognitive’ aspects of learning — is more hit-or-miss, and it shows.Annie Murphy Paul

Putting this in perspective, our current education teaches students what to learn and NOT how to learn.

New researches show that there is great variations in what students know about how to learn.

The most striking finding is that low-achieving students show “substantial deficits” in their awareness of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that lead to effective learning. This means that these students are struggling due to a gap in their knowledge about how learning works.

So how do we learn how to learn? Here are the learning techniques that work. Make sure that you apply these when you study and review for your tests.

1. Force yourself to recall

By default, learning is a bit hard and not fun. Recall needs effort. However, when you trying to recall things and you are having difficulty with it, that’s when you are learning best. It just like weightlifting; the more weight you lift, the stronger you get.

2. Make connections

The author of the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning tells us that “the more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to prior knowledge, the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be, and the more connections you create that will help you remember it later.”

Using real-life examples of concepts you just recently learned is one effective technique to remember in making connections. If you have just learned about gas laws, think of what happens when you inflate a tire or when you put a balloon in the fridge.

3. Answer the question WHY?

Knowing the underlying reason why a phenomenon is happening or a concept is proven is one way of learning effectively. With questioning, our brains are making connections, doing logical processes and creating images that facilitates our understanding.

Asking why is part of a larger technique, which is reflection. Contemplating on why things are, what happened during the day and how something works helps improves our self-efficacy.

4. Avoid fluency

Fluency is the feeling of ease when you’re reading something.

It’s a trap!

Say, for example, you are in a commercial building and you are trying to remember the room number where you went to. On the door says 112-B. You then think, “Oh, 112-B. Easy!” Then as you walk away, you forgot it instantly.

Instead of just reading the room number, a better way to do it is after looking away, ask yourself, what’s the room number? If you recall it’s 112-B, then you’re good to go.

5. Be hilarious and make exaggerations

Consider this statement: DO NOT think of a pink flying elephant. Were you able to avoid thinking about it? Compare that to an ordinary elephant, which is easier to remember?

Words and pictures work great together. If properly put into use, it can be a powerful learning technique.

If you can put a concept in a mental image that is unforgettable, then it is easier for you to recall things. One way of doing that is by imagining concepts using hilarious and exaggerated images. Adding more details using the other senses aside from sight to you mental image will enhance your recall.

For example, if you are studying European history, imagine a bobble-head Napoleon Bonaparte wearing a shiny crown riding a red tank eating french fries. You can use these cues to remember that he is a French (hence, the fries) military leader (indicated by the tank) and emperor (the crown).

Final Thoughts

Learning is not just about content and subjects matter. It’s also about the process. Learning how to learn is probably one of the major factors that could spell success or failure in one’s academic life.

The post 5 Techniques to Remember Everything You Learn appeared first on Review Masters.

I guess you would most likely vote for Jimmy Neutron, right?

Why, this 11-year-old American genius has sudden surges of thought which he calls Brain Blasts. So it would be a hands-down choice for Jimmy.

But don’t jump yet to this conclusion because our underdog favorite, SpongeBob, has something that Jimmy doesn’t have. And because of this “something”, the story (as the title of this article suggests) is given an interesting twist.

If you could describe SpongeBob with three words they would be optimistic, fearless, and relentless.

1. Optimistic

SpongeBob is a jolly sponge with a shining personality. When something terrible happens to him, he never panics. He analyzes the situation, and sees it from the best possible angle. When he and Patrick took the UPCAT, Patrick panicked while taking the test especially the Math section and was terrified at the thought of failing the UPCAT and the possibility of never making it to UP.

SpongeBob was completely optimistic. He had faith in his test-taking skills. These skills enable him to pass the UPCAT. Spongebob might have failed the UPCAT had he not been his usual optimistic self. Acquiring even a tiny portion of Spongebob’s optimism would surely boost your confidence level while taking the UPCAT.

2. Fearless

Although SpongeBob exhibits fear in many situations, his innocence mixed with fearlessness makes an exciting combination.

He knew that he was competing with 86,000 other UPCAT examinees when he took the test and many of them (like Jimmy Neutron) are a lot more intelligent then he is. But he was able to convince himself that no amount of scare tactics (e.g. UPCAT is extremely difficult, UPCAT is only for the genius, etc.) could derail his dream of making it to UP. He was able to erase test anxiety completely from his system.

3. Relentless

Just ask Squidward! Remember when SpongeBob wanted to play games with Squidward; 95% of the time, the latter said “No!” But SpongeBob kept asking, literally dozens of times, until Squidward finally gave in. He did the same during the time that he was still reviewing for the UPCAT. He kept on practicing with the UPCAT review materials he had. He kept on asking his teachers on difficult concepts and problems. He kept on visualizing himself as a freshman (I mean freshsponge) in UP. His relentlessness proved to be a key factor in his success of passing the UPCAT.

Now, how on earth did Jimmy Neutron fail in the UPCAT?

We all know that James Isaac Neutron (a.k.a. Jimmy Neutron) goes to grade school during the day and invents crazy gadgets at night. In fact, he has even designed a rocket that propels him high enough beyond the earth´s atmosphere, permitting him to launch a communications satellite made from…a toaster.

Well, indeed Jimmy’s a genius.

He belongs to the upper 2% of the population set apart from others by their ability to reason, problem-solve, and answer questions based on learned information. This is not to say that a genius is somehow better than everyone else. Work skills, social skills, and simple and complex motor skills may escape these brainy folks — and all these skills are just as important as smarts for determining an individual’s success. And that differentiate Jimmy from SpongeBob.

Here are the three things that made Jimmy lose his chance of qualifying in the UPCAT:

1. Pride

Because of so many achievements in and out of school, Jimmy became proud and it hindered him from growing and learning the techniques and tips to ace the UPCAT. He never asked for any help from anyone; neither did he take time reviewing for the UPCAT when everybody was! He was so overconfident in believing that his Brain Blasts would be enough to get a perfect score in the UPCAT.

2. Lack of Focus

Aside from the fact that he became complacent, he never intentionally prepare for the UPCAT. In fact, he was so pessimistic about the mental exercise (i.e. the UPCAT) especially that his love interest, Cindy Vortex, was allotting so much time reviewing for the UPCAT. So instead of studying with his girlfriend, he tried to invent stuffs that could annoy her and his other classmates while they were reviewing. He became so obsessed with destructive things that they occupied almost all his time when he was supposed to be reviewing.

3. Stress

Because he was endowed with highly unusual gifts, he was expected to pass the UPCAT with flying colors. His parents, his friends, his teachers, and everyone in Retroville were anticipating his spot among the Oblation Awardees. But because of lack of preparation, he became anxious during the UPCAT day. He made careless mistakes. He did not follow instructions correctly. He was even reprimanded by the proctor and threatened to be disqualified because he wrote his solutions on the test booklet instead on the scratch sheet. It was all messed up. And worse, he was not able to answer 30 items in the Math sub-test! It is now no wonder why Jimmy did not make it. This just proves that a genius is just as likely to fail in the UPCAT as anyone else.

The post Why SpongeBob Passed the UPCAT and Jimmy Neutron Did Not appeared first on Review Masters.

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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!

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