John Gabriel Terciño, Renzo Reyes, News, PUP Campus Journalists
After three years of postponement due to the pandemic, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College Entrance Test (PUPCET) marked its return on Sunday, January 28, with the first of four batches of aspirants arriving at PUP Sta. Mesa Campus to fulfill their hopes of being an Iskolar ng Bayan of Sintang Paaralan.
At least 20,160 examinees comprised the first batch of PUPCET examinees, according to Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Tomas O. Testor. Prof. Testor also served as the overall chair of the PUPCET Committee.
The university’s East and West buildings were occupied as testing rooms for administering the one-hour and 30-minute exams.
In an interview with members of the media, PUP President Manuel Muhi said that the number of students who will be taking the exam exceeded their expectations—from 80,000 estimated takers to 100,000 potential examinees for all the four batches. The expected number, however, may decrease depending on whether the applicants will submit the necessary documents to process their admission.
“’Yong 100k mo na ’yon, ’pag hindi sila nag-submit ng kanilang grades [and] birth certificate, mga gano’n, hindi ’yon ipo-process ng admission. So ’yong 100k mo na ’yon, posibleng bumaba pa ’yon ng mga 90 [thousands],” Muhi said in an interview.
Out of 100,000 applicants, the university is aiming to accept at least 12,000 new PUPians.
President Muhi also mentioned the different aspects taken into consideration before deciding to return to the traditional in-person admission exam, citing changes made to the questions based on the K-12 program’s learning curriculum.
“Actually, last year pa namin pinlano ito na ibalik ang face-to-face style [ng] entrance exam, so, marami. Una, ’yong pagre-revise ng mga questionnaires kasi kailangan mong i-update din kasi maraming mga nabago, especially doon sa mga laman noong exam. So, in-update natin ’yon kasi ’yong content ng PUPCET prior the pandemic ay ibang-iba kaya sinabi ko nga dapat ay i-calibrate ito based doon sa Senior High School.”
PUP aspirants Claire Bautista, an aspiring Bachelor of Science in Psychology, said that applying for PUPCET is a redeeming point in their life, “...noong Senior High School, nag-apply din ako sa PUP, no’ng wala pang exam, and hindi ko siya napasa. And now, parang ito ’yong redeeming point ko sa sarili ko, na gusto ko mapasa ’yong [PUPCET].”
Bautista also said that their professors recommended studying at PUP because it offers quality education in the said field.
Jackie De Guzman, a PUPCET taker who flew all the way from Nueva Ecija, had to leave a day before their exam and stay at their aunt’s place for the meantime. When asked why they wanted to go to PUP, they said it was because of advice from their family members who are also graduates of the state-run university.
“Kasi po yung mga tita ko dito po nag-aral, tapos yung pinsan ko po dito din po siya nagtapos. Then, sabi po nila maganda daw po dito.”
The next exam schedules for PUPCET 2024 will be on February 18, March 17, and April 14. The administration is eyeing to release the PUPCET results in June or July, two months after the last batch of exams, as per President Muhi.
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