100,000 to take UPCAT

MANILA, Philippines — More than 100,000 graduating senior high school students are expected to take the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) this weekend.

A traffic advisory was issued to warn motorists of the expected increase in vehicles in UP Diliman campus where the bulk of the examinees are expected to take the test.

Some 44,000 students are expected to take the exam at the university’s flagship campus, according to the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs.

Policies such as the “No UP ID/sticker, no entry” and carless academic oval on Sundays will be suspended during the exams.

The examinations will be administered in 84 other testing centers.

The UPCAT was suspended on Sept. 15 and 16 due to Typhoon Ompong.

At least 85,000 students took last year’s UPCAT. Of the number, only 12,920 passed the test.

Commission on Higher Education chairman J. Prospero de Vera III earlier attributed the higher number of applicants this year to the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Higher Education Act, giving free tuition and other fees in state universities and colleges.

UPCAT consists of four subtests: Language Proficiency (English and Filipino), Science, Math and Reading Comprehension (English and Filipino).