By Amer R. Amor,VERA Files
You are aware that the University of the Philippines is the country’s national university. And according to the international research organization Quacquarelli Symonds Intelligence Unit’s (QSIU) report on Asia’s top universities, UP is the best university in the country.
As your research will tell you, many of the nation’s movers and shakers graduated from this university. UP has produced 34 out of the country’s 57 National Artists and 36 out of the 37 National Scientists. Seven of the country’s 15 presidents also hailed from UP.
The university’s trademark of excellence, long tradition, and its relatively inexpensive tuition make it a popular choice among college entrance examinees like you. You are probably one of the thousands and thousands of high school students who aspire to make it to UP and are headed to one of the 81 test centers this weekend to take the UP College Admission Test or UPCAT.
Consider yourself lucky when you take the UPCAT on Aug. 4 and 5 as you’re bound to become part of UPCAT history. Here are 10 things you should know before taking UPCAT 2013:
Click here (VERA Files) for the rest of the UPCAT tips:
Good luck to all UPCAT takers this weekend. Note that the new essay writing exam will be implemented this year. I suggest preparing your children prepare for topics related to social awareness, education, current politics and student movements.
It will be difficult to begin writing on a theme without a topic in mind.
Nasobrahan sa “prepare”. Di baleng sobra wag lang kulang. LMFAO.
When I finished my Engineering course nag review agad ako to take the board exam. Ang katabi ko sa upuan sa nasabing review center sa may Soler st. near Rizal Ave. ay isang UP graduate. Ako ay graduate lang sa tabi-tabi. In Electrical/Electronic engineering the word inductance is very important. The unit of inductance is Henry. In the name of Joseph Henry an American Scientist. When inductance was discuss in the said review ako’y nagulat dahil ang katabi kong UP graduate ay hindi niya alam kung ano ang unit ng inductance. When I was in the elementary & high school my dream is to be a UP student pero hindi natupad for some reason. When the board exam result was publish in the newspaper hinanap ko agad ang katabi ko na UP graduate. Sorry to say wala siya sa listahan. Ako, together with my clasmates na graduate lang sa tabi-tabi ay pasado lahat.
I saw my cousin’s FB shoutout. He drove his daughters to UP for the UPCAT at 4 a.m.
can anyone here explain why the statue in front of the university building is that naked?
wala itong halong bastusan.
i have something in my mind pero maaaring iba kaysa description ng mga UPians.
plis la’ang. bakit nga?
# 5
Sabi ng wikipedia, artist Guillermo Tolentino did it to symbolize selfless offering of oneself to his country. Hango daw ito sa Ultimo Adios, the stanza that says
Sa Ingles,
In fields of battle, deliriously fighting,
Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret;
Where there’s cypress, laurel or lily,
On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom,
If the home or country asks, it’s all the same–it matters not.
Yung mga bastos diyan. Luchando con deliro, hindi brochando. Luchando means fighting or struggling.
Urban legend lang pala yung si Fernando Poe Sr. ang model.
Sabi ni Teroy Laurel, kaya fig leaf ang ginamit pantakip dahil si Fernando Poe Sr. Kung si Teroy daw, dahon ng saging ang kakailanganin.
# 3
Although I am thankful and proud to have been educated by UP, there are also dumbkopfs from UP.
Mahirap pumasok sa UP, pero ang hirap ding masipa. You can take a leave of absence, a few weeks before the end of the sem, if you think wala kang ipapasa.(At least, during my time, those were the rules). So once in, graduating from UP is almost a certainty. Hirap ka sa Engineering course mo, shift ka sa Philosophy or Political Science.
I do not, however, believe that UP is better at instruction by miles over other schools. Bakit maraming magaling from UP? Because they have the first draft, kung baga sa NBA. Lahat halos ng mga valedictorian and honor students, from all over the country want to be admitted to UP. So you get the cream of the youth.
Makes you wonder then. Did UP produce the brilliance? Or did the students produce UP’s reputation.
Hindi lang yung maraming magagaling during admission ang lamang. Once all those smart students mix, you have one hell of an intellectual fermentation going on. That is the true advantage of good schools – the synergy of all those geeks. Ganyan din ang Stanford, UC Berkeley (University of California in Berkeley) and in the corporate world, google.
When I attended an alumni homecoming party of UP recently, the guest of honor was the school president. Sabi niya, the school may have produced almost all the country’s leaders but the school may not have done a good job imparting the right “values” in them.
ang paniniwala ko sa nais isalarawan sa pagkakagawa ng rebultong hubad ng UP ay ganito:
ang kahit sinong pinakamalinong tao ay ipinanganak nang walang kaalaman at kamalayan sa buhay at ang paaralan ang siyang panday ng talinong dapat maging kapakipakinabang na gagamitin sa tamang paraan mula sa araw na magtapos sila’t lumabas sa bakuran ng pamantasan.
UPCAT is only but proper to weed out those that don’t really belong in such high profile school. What you make of yourself after getting in is another story, and you have to factor in personal problems from each individual (family’s financial, etc.), as well as changed in the student’s mental capacity. So, in esssence, if you become a fuck-up, doesn’t mean you are stupid or something. Everyone that passes that exam are smart.
Contrast this to how the U. S. Navy recruited in the Philippines. After you have applied, you will get a “call-card” from Subic Bay Recruiting Station: It reads, BRING YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE not BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE, that’s exactly how it was written on your card. Such simple direction YET, many will be at the Subic Naval Base on their appointment date to be given a chance to take the exam
a complete failure for bringing in their Baptismal Certificate, can’t even get inside the naval base. It is actually the very first TEST the recruting station administer to ensure each noypi can follow a very simple english command. Saddest part of this story were the facts that many of those “prospective sailors” or “Coast Guards”, came from as far as the Visayas, and Mindanao, quite painful.
Anyways, I’m a firm believer in entrance exams.