Before the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum, the procedure for application was simple to understand. Those who want to take the UPCAT should belong to any of the following:

• Senior students (Fourth Year, Grade 12, Senior 6) of DepEd accredited schools or secondary schools abroad expecting to graduate at the end of the school year
• Graduates of DepEd accredited schools or secondary schools abroad
• Those declared eligible for admission to college after taking the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT).

With the K to 12 program now being implemented by DepEd, parents, students and school administrators are confused whether Grade 10 students can take the UPCAT.

Now we ask the controversial question: Are Grade 10 students allowed to take the UPCAT this year?

“Only those, mostly coming from private high schools with accelerated programs,” said University of the Philippines president Alfredo Pascual last Saturday, July 18, during an event with some of the university’s alumni.

Can Grade 10 students take the UPCAT this year?

“Only those, mostly coming from private high schools with accelerated programs”Alfredo Pascual, UP President

High schools with accelerated programs are those school that were able to secure a permit from CHED to let their students graduate by 2016. These schools will in a way maintain their 4-year high school but implement the accelerated K to 12 program.

Last Friday, the Commission on Education issued a memo saying that those who can enroll in college in 2016 should graduate from high school. These high schools got permits from CHED to start K to 12 earlier than the mandated year. Some of these schools also served as pilot testers of the Kto 12 curriculum.

The list of schools in the memo are listed at the bottom of this page. There are 391 high schools listed as of writing.

In addition, UP Vice President for Public Affairs Prospero de Vera gave a statement that the UPCAT taker has to have a certification that he or she is graduating this 2016.

Pascual also said that UP estimates only about 20,000 will take the UPCAT in 2015. This is due to the drastic decrease in number of high school students expected to graduate this year. This number pales in comparison to the 87,000 who took the UPCAT last year.

Memorandum From the Chairperson Re. Enrollment for SY 2016-2017 and SY 2017-2018

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The UPCAT is scheduled on August 30, 2015.

According to the website, applications for UPCAT 2015 will start in July. In the previous years, applications were only done through physical and courier/mail submissions. Now, applications can be accomplished online which will enable students faster application processing.

Aside from the online application, UP mentioned that they will include a link to the free Online UPCAT Reviewer, a service for students which they announced early this year (Review Masters has a free online review since 2009 which you can access here).

UP also released the coverage of the UPCAT. The test will consist of 4 subtests: Language Proficiency (English and Filipino), Science, Math and Reading Comprehension (English and Filipino). In the previous exams, the Filipino part of the two subtests were not formally announced by UP. This year however, they made a very clear pronouncement about the exam’s coverage.

The UPCAT general information, however, did not include a provision of who can take the test. We all know that this year is the transition period for the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum and students are still wondering if Grade 10 students can take the test. As of this moment, we are yet to hear the official announcement of UP about this matter.

Bookmark this page for more updates.

The post UPCAT 2015 Schedule Released (for AY 2016-2017) appeared first on Review Masters.

“How is the UPCAT computed?”

“When will the results be released?”

“I missed the UPCAT last August, is there another UPCAT this year?” (a recent question and the answer is “NO”)

While most of the answers to these questions are readily available at the UPCAT website, plenty of students still prefer to ask them anyway. There is, however, a new question that is being asked only this school year both by students and schools alike:

“MAY UPCAT BA THIS YEAR?” (Is there an UPCAT this year 2015?)

Why is the answer to this question both important, and as of the moment… uncertain?

THE FACTS

K-12 was implemented in the Philippines in 2012, 3rd year High School students are now Grade 9.

In 2011, DepEd allowed private schools to calibrate their grade levels during the K-12 transition. Schools who took the program now have Grade 11 students instead of Grade 9 for most other schools. This means that the grade 11 students will be graduating in March 2016. The exact numbers are vague but could be as high as 10,000 or more.

If so, there will be students who will finish their K-12 program next year.

Some students will already graduate.

And they have to go to college.

However, most students who are already part of the K-12 program will not graduate yet. Isn’t it odd to have students of the same batch/class who will graduate ahead of their batchmates while the others tackle the K-12?

THE QUESTION:

For the sake of analysis, discussion or a simple thought exercise… Let’s try to tackle the series of questions below. The first series is we assume there is no UPCAT in 2015, the second series, we assume there is an UPCAT in 2015.

SET 1: May UPCAT ba this year? “NO”

• What will private school graduates which had calibration do after they graduate in 2016? Where will they study for college if there is no UPCAT in 2015?
• UP qualifiers from the Middle East and the US will not have a regular freshman batch they will join, and since their numbers are so few, will UP still accept them for their programs?
• Will UP deny these students the chance to study in UP despite being part of the transition and pilot program of the DepEd K-12?

SET 2: May UPCAT ba this year? “YES”

• Who will be allowed to take the UPCAT?
• Will schools that were part of the transition be allowed to accept students this late so that the students can be eligible for the UPCAT?
• K-12 was designed to fill in gaps in education and give our graduates competitiveness and competence in the workplace and global scale. However, Top Tier High Schools such as the Philippine Science High School, public science high schools and private school honor graduates are already more than competent and competitive after 4 years of high school. Will the K-12 Law penalize these students and not allow them to take the UPCAT or any other college entrance exams when they finish grade 10?
• Will UP allow grade 10 students take the UPCAT?

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