'tis the season of entrance exams
Tuesday, June 16, 2009Application forms for the upcoming UPCAT are out. My brother got copies of the form from Diliman a few weeks ago to give two cousins who are to graduate from high school in March next year. Should they take the exam, they will be trying out to be two of the 10,000 or so students who will be awarded a chance to use their 10-xxxxx student numbers next year. It's a great deal of pressure for many, even for those who are expected to graduate with honors from their schools.
Over the weekend, I watched a movie entitled, UPCAT. The Cinema One offering was a coming-of-age story about students who are taking the UPCAT. It was a great movie and it made me look back to my own UPCAT story... or non-story. It wasn't as melodramatic as the one that the characters had to go through.
I never really took UPCAT seriously. No, really... it was an exam, after all. And I never treated exams of any kind the way they are supposed to be treated. I didn't exert the effort to get application forms. It was sort of a given that I'm getting one since everyone in class has at least a copy of it. And I had a good friend who gave me the real copies of the forms instead of the photocopied versions.
But looking back, I didn't prepare for UPCAT as hard as I should - or at least in the same way as most of my brainy classmates had. I didn't take review classes or even attend those that were sponsored by UP Aguman from the Diliman campus. I did have photocopies of a module that was supposed to help me prepare for the questions and I did answer them, although I didn't take the time to find out more about the stuff that I didn't understand or the items I couldn't answer (mostly Math and Physics questions). I only 'crammed' for the exam on the morning that I was supposed to take it.
Teachers helped but not that much. They taught us the stuff from the modules a few days before the tests. We used that week to get them to give us free time - something that we didn't use for its supposed purpose. I remember spending the 'free time' obsessing about the school paper. In retrospect, I was more worried about Cor Unum than I was about one exam that could potentially change my life. Ah yes, the carefree days of high school.
So yes, I didn't give UPCAT much thought. I forgot about the exam the moment I stepped out the testing site with my stomach grumbling because I didn't bring food with me (I forgot that we were allowed to do that). I didn't care that most of my answers in Math and in Science were not based from careful calculations. The next time I even remembered about UPCAT was when the results came out in February the following year as a Manila Bulletin issue was going around the three neighboring sections of students who had greater fighting chances of making it to the list.
But there were still a lot from our group who didn't pass. There were at least 50 from our batch who passed, from what I recall.
And thinking back, I guess there were more students in that room who deserved the slot I landed on more than I did. They had higher grades than I did, for one. My sister once said I'm like a walking insult to those who tried their damnedest because all I did to prepare was to go over the module for an hour or so and paint my nails after. Had they known this, they would also probably think it unfair that I made it.
Don't get me wrong. While I was surprised that I even made the cut, I'm grateful that UP gave me that chance to be part of it. It is, after all, one of the best schools in the country. It also saved me from the tedious process of going through college applications again. (I did apply for another school but my sister did most of the work for me and I only had to show up for the exams.)
This is not to say that you shouldn't take your college entrance exams seriously. In fact, you shouldn't try what I did. I was lucky that most of the questions covered stuff that were stuck in my brain. If you want to get luck on your side, you have to make sure that you cover all the possibilities. I had as much of a chance failing that test as I had passing it.
There really is no tried and tested trick to pass UPCAT. While I didn't give much thought to preparations, I did try my hardest to answer the questions. You just need to do your best and don't let the pressure get to you. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.
I have two younger brothers. Both of them tried out for UP and both of them studied really hard for the exams. I know because their room is always full of papers and modules that they used to prepare for it. They took the exams seriously.
One of them got in and the other one didn't.
The one who didn't graduated cum laude and is now a licensed engineer. The other one, graduated... on time, and that's it. My point? UPCAT or any other college entrance exam, for that matter, doesn't really filter the best students. They only take the students who happened to know the answers to their randomly selected (or so I believe) questions at that given point. So don't sweat it. Just do your best and let your parents do the worrying for you.
If you don't make it, there are still a lot of other schools to try. And since the results will not be out until February or March, you'll have to start thinking beyond UP as your goal. It's one heck of a gamble to just rely on your passing UPCAT for your whole future. You may not think of it now but I was scared out of my wits when I realized the what-if's later on.
