UPCAT - Tips and Inquiries

[Ada]

If you don't answer the question, it's not counted as a wrong answer.

Goodluck! Isang tulog na lang.

[tr|n|ty]

good luck!!

i took the UPCAT 6 years ago on my damn bday pa!!! I took the UPCAT at Masscom.. it was a breeze, i barely even studied(well, i did go to a nerd high school). all the ppl from my high school who were in the same room all sat beside each other, there was this one guy who grew up in Iloilo and doesn't speak tagalog that well so he copied off my test paper! (he's actually pretty intelligent, he went on to Columbia for his undergrad). luckily, we all passed with our first choice course and campus.

[pinkmoon]

Heheh ako rin, took the UPCAT 6 years ago, pareho kaming batch ni tr|n|ty. Grabe 6 years ago!!!!! Waaaah!!!

Anyway, I just kinda reviewed for it somehow. Made sure I knew my basic math skills, read couple of Pilipino essays just to get a feel for the part of the exam that was in Pilipino. Which reminds me of a funny story. My classmate who was taking the UPCAT with us was a balikbayan from Vancouver. She knew very basic Pilipino because she was taking remedial Pinoy at school. On the way to the UPCAT, when we were all in the car reviewing some technical Pinoy terms relating to science and math, I asked "are they going to use the words 'dagdag' and 'bawas' for 'add' and 'subtract' or is it going to be worded differently somehow?" My Vancouverite friend's eyes popped out upon hearing this and said "oh no! I thought all this time 'add' and 'subtract' in Pilipino were just 'addo' and 'subtrakto' or something simple like that!" Hahhaha sobra kaming natawa dun.

She passed the UPCAT but she went to Ateneo. Hehehe.

[cong]

Originally posted by pinkmoon

She passed the UPCAT but she went to Ateneo. Hehehe.

great choice.

i didnt take the upcat pero acet madali lang. naks.

[slurpee]

im an incoming HS senior and pretty soon, i will be taking the upcat. i really want to study in up, so can you guys give me some tips? im afraid my grades from 1st year-3rd year hs are not really that impressive but i dont have failures naman. thanks!

[Guile]

1. Don't worry about your grades.

2. Get an honor! 1st honor or 2nd honor, it doesn't really matter. Tinitingnan ng UP yon.

3. A guage whether you will pass or not is the NSAT! A 95%-100% score pretty much assures you of getting into Diliman. 90% - 95% will give you a 50% chance.

4. Kailangan "mani" lang sa iyo ang highschool. Yun bang tipong 90% lang ang nakuha mo sa isang test tapos nakikipag reason out ka pa sa teacher kung bakit ganun ang score mo.

5. If you're oozing with confidence on your intellect, take the big time courses such as Engineering.

6. Pag dating na sa UPCAT, answer all questions (ANSWER ALL!) huwag kang magiiwan ng blanko kahit sabihin pa ng proctor na time is up.

[shutup]

Originally posted by Guile
1. Don't worry about your grades.

2. Get an honor! 1st honor or 2nd honor, it doesn't really matter. Tinitingnan ng UP yon.

3. A guage whether you will pass or not is the NSAT! A 95%-100% score pretty much assures you of getting into Diliman. 90% - 95% will give you a 50% chance.

4. Kailangan "mani" lang sa iyo ang highschool. Yun bang tipong 90% lang ang nakuha mo sa isang test tapos nakikipag reason out ka pa sa teacher kung bakit ganun ang score mo.

5. If you're oozing with confidence on your intellect, take the big time courses such as Engineering.

6. Pag dating na sa UPCAT, answer all questions (ANSWER ALL!) huwag kang magiiwan ng blanko kahit sabihin pa ng proctor na time is up.

1. 1st yr to 3rd yr grades are important. They are included in the computation of the UPG, but there's nothing you can do about it now.
2. honor? does UP ask if a student has had any honors in high school?
3. when is the result of the NSAT given out?
4. ?!?!? ang high school ndi "mani" sa kin
5. !?!?!?
6. the UPCAT is right minus wrong. it is not advisable to guess the answer to the questions

IMHO, the UPCAT is an achievement test. Im not sure of the present composition of the test, but it will most probably test your comprehension(English and/or Filipino), reasoning ability, abstract thinking, knowledge of math and the sciences.

[jobls_prsn]

Practice your math, read books, expand your vocabulary, and pray.

[Guile]

Originally posted by shutup


1. 1st yr to 3rd yr grades are important. They are included in the computation of the UPG, but there's nothing you can do about it now.
2. honor? does UP ask if a student has had any honors in high school?
3. when is the result of the NSAT given out?
4. ?!?!? ang high school ndi "mani" sa kin
5. !?!?!?
6. the UPCAT is right minus wrong. it is not advisable to guess the answer to the questions

IMHO, the UPCAT is an achievement test. Im not sure of the present composition of the test, but it will most probably test your comprehension(English and/or Filipino), reasoning ability, abstract thinking, knowledge of math and the sciences.

1. I had a grade of 79 sa first quarter sa Math ko nung second year high school ko. I still passed UP Diliman (in a Civil Engineering Course). Mababa ang grading system ng school namin. No one can get a higher grade than 84 sa first quarter. UP can't use that as basis. Samantalang sa Saint Mary's, a so-so student will have a grade higher than 90 sa first quarter.

2. I'm very sure (even without direct evidence) that UP is looking for honors.

3. All I said was........NSAT is a guage. A guage doesn't have to reflect the absolute truth.

4. High School ko, mani lang sa akin (comparatively). There are still quite a lot of students in my batch that are better than me IMO.

6. UPCAT isn't right minus wrong. It's .25 x total number of mistakes subtracted to your score.

[shutup]

Originally posted by Guile


1. I had a grade of 79 sa first quarter sa Math ko nung second year high school ko. I still passed UP Diliman (in a Civil Engineering Course). Mababa ang grading system ng school namin. No one can get a higher grade than 84 sa first quarter. UP can't use that as basis. Samantalang sa Saint Mary's, a so-so student will have a grade higher than 90 sa first quarter.

2. I'm very sure (even without direct evidence) that UP is looking for honors.

3. All I said was........NSAT is a guage. A guage doesn't have to reflect the absolute truth.

4. High School ko, mani lang sa akin (comparatively). There are still quite a lot of students in my batch that are better than me IMO.

6. UPCAT isn't right minus wrong. It's .25 x total number of mistakes subtracted to your score.

1. I guess that's the reason why UP asks for the school's grading system, so that it can be factored in.
2. I dont see how you came up with the idea that UP will be looking for honors.
3. I see your point, but your use of the word "assures" threw me off last night.
6. yes, they subtract one fourth of your mistakes(excluding those questions that were not answered) from your raw score. minus implies subtracting i believe. They do this to discourage guessing.

[tesseract]

Roco abolished the NSAT, fyi.

[shutup]

Originally posted by tesseract
Roco abolished the NSAT, fyi.

thanks for the info.

[out of order]

Originally posted by jobls_prsn
Practice your math, read books, expand your vocabulary, and pray.

same advice. also, have a good night's sleep because the tests start early. bring water (if still allowed) because the test will be long. head and neck pains will be your enemies while taking the test. so (i'm not joking) have a good and comfortable posture while answering the test.

[s0iN2u]

Hey!
I'm also an incoming senior.. I also want to study in UP.. but I'm scared that I might not get in since I'm not tat smart.. I dont consider myself dumb naman.. I'm a silver awardee in my school.. but still.. So.. mga ate't, kuya! give us some tips naman!

And to my fellow incoming seniors.. there's no nsat this yr.. Hehehe

[wurm]

Im not sure how big your grades in HS will affect your UPCAT score, but just because you have good grades dont bbe overconfident or if you have bad grades dont lose hope.


I had grades of 76,78 and 79 during my 3rd year HS, my over all average for third year HS was around 82-83 yet I was accepted into Diliman, non quota nga lang tapos waitlisted for Comp Sci.

In fact (some) of my schoolmates -yung mga top 10 na puro 92-98 ang grades hindi nakapasok sa mga quota course na pinili nila.


TIP: Dont waste a lot of time learning all those really tough equations, the UPCAT is basically like a review of all the things you learned in High School.


and just in case your wondering I took the UPCAT last year and I came from a science highschool.

[n3X]

study.

U-nibersidad ng Pilipinas

[out of order]

as I remember, there are no tough equations. also, don't panic because that's the biggest enemy in the UPCAT.

[xxtoyxx]

UPCAT is a real measure of what your mind has to offer so it is either a hit or a miss. A lot of my comrades in high school failed UPCAT even though they are in the honor roll. Some UPCAT passers in my school back then who are not in the top 20 of the class are those who are good but are not studying to gun for the top honors.

To make the exam easier for you, sleep well the night before you take the exam. Take a leak before you enter the exam room. Answer every question immediately, it is better to have an answer in most of the questions than miss the latter part of the exam. The exam is quite long, and there is so little time for this.

[keener]

sayang.. i wanna study nursing pa naman sa up manila... may F ako sa biology last year e.. oh well.. baka mag ust nalang ako...

di ko kasi alam kung san ok mag nursing e.

as of now, upm, ust and la salle dasma lang ang alam ko.

[faaip_de_oiad]

1. grades are important. they comprise 40% of your upg (university predicted grade)

2. it doesn't really matter whether you're an honort student or not. If your GWA is at around 85 or better, you've got a good shot.

3. The UPCAT is the easiest test tha you'll take in your life. Don't take it for granted though. brush up on the fundamental concepts of chemistry, biology and physics.

4. answer all items. your test score is equal to the number of right answers minus a quarter of the wrong answers.


ok. para mainspire ka, ill share an anecdote. modesty aside, i took the upcat last year. my 1st to 3rd year average was 90.04 and i was only the 36th best student in my batch in terms of academics. well, i qualified for the intarmed program.... yun... i hope you won't misinterpret this as 'pagyayabang'. i think i just got lucky in the test. it was my type of test.

furthermore, a student from Philippine Science HS also qualified for the INTARMED program even though he was ranked below the top 50 in his batch during HS.

dont worry about your grades that much. wala ka ng magagawa dun...

i just wanted you to know that it is possible to do really well in the exams.