Is There An UPCAT This 2015?

As a mentor of students taking college entrance exams, I have been asked the range of questions about the UPCAT…

“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?

For an in-depth discussion on these questions, download the free report:

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