EVERYTHING ELSE YOU WANTED TO ASK ABOUT THE UPCAT
INTERVIEW WITH VPAA MA. SERENA I. DIOKNO

To get answers to the questions most often raised by UPCAT examinees and their parents, the FORUM interviewed Vice President for Academic Affairs Ma. Serena Diokno, whose office also supervises university admissions.

FORUM: What's in the UPCAT?
Diokno: UPCAT consists of four subtests: Language proficiency, Reading Comprehension, Math, and Science. Tests cover what was taken up in the first three years of high school and a bit of fourth year as per the DepEd curriculum.

FORUM: Who makes the UPCAT? How often is it revised? Is a test leakage possible?
Diokno: UPCAT test items are made by UP faculty members selected every year on the basis of expertise. The test items are changed every year. Thus far there has been no test leakage; all exam booklets are kept in the vault or the secure (locked) area of the Admissions office, which is controlled by the Admissions Director.

FORUM: What part and how much of the UPCAT is in English and Filipino? Does language affect test results significantly?
Diokno: Test items in Reading are about evenly divided between English and Filipino; in language, about 40% are in Filipino. In Math and Science, nearly all items are in English. Across all regions applicants score slightly better in Filipino than in English although the difference is smaller for the Visayas region and larger for NCR and Southern Tagalog.

FORUM: Do reviewers and review programs really work?
Diokno: Admissions is currently undertaking a study on the usefulness of reviewers and review classes. No results yet. But I think reviews could help in terms of a practice effect, i.e., helping the applicant build confidence by actually going through practice exams, especially for students who tend to get nervous during exams.

FORUM: Is there a backdoor into UP? What would you advise bright students who don't make the cut-off?
Diokno: Cut-off scores are upheld throughout the UP Sytem, i.e., no waivers are allowed at all. Some campuses (all except Diliman) allow a "waitlist" of applicants, meaning those who meet the absolute cut-off of the campus but did not originally select that campus as one of two choices may nonetheless apply.

The limitations here are space on the part of the campus (if the "no show" rate is higher than expected, there will be space), and program on the part of the applicant (the available programs might not be what the applicant is interested in). If the campus does take the waitlisted applicant in, the applicant could enroll in the available program and then opt to shift after a year or, who knows, stay on in the program if it turns out to be interesting.

There is, too, in Diliman only, the VAAS (Varsity Athletic Admissions System), which is open to athletes who must pass the test given by the College of Human Kinetics, even if they do not make the UPCAT. The limitations here are set by the type of sports available (only those for which varsity teams exist) and there is also competition among the applicant athletes. Also, the applicant may try to get into a certificate program that does not require UPCAT (creative writing in Filipino, Fine Arts, Music) but these programs require talent tests. Some applicants do not pass the test and are therefore not taken in.

Finally, a student can enroll in another university for a year and then apply to transfer to UP after one year and 33 academic units (PE not counted). Again the competition is keen: Diliman takes in transfer students only in the first semester and good grades are absolutely necessary.