Do your sons or daughters need to attend review centers to prepare for UPCAT?

 

 That depends on their present stage of preparedness.

 For those who have barely passed their  English, Math, and Science  courses in high school,  intensive review of the subject matter might be necessary.

 For those who already have sufficient familiarity with the subject,  review centers are not necessary.

What these students should be doing is to take simulated practice tests. Lots of tests. Daily. 

 Intensive, rigorous taking of simulated tests with time pressure is the best way to train. Review centers using this test preparation methodology will surely be helpful.

 But why pay thousands of pesos to review centers when a more accessible and more cost-effective test preparation is available online?

 Prep4college’s online test methodology prepares students for UPCAT with  the intense, repetitive taking of simulated tests. Simulated tests are drills, consisting of short ( 10 to 25 minute tests).

 They are the equivalent of “sparring sessions” boxers like Pacquiao engage in during their intensive training weeks before a match. 

 At prep4college, all tests are graded, and averages of the test scores in the 3 main courses are instantly displayed. Thus, you can see weekly or even daily the progress your son or daughter is making.

 Check it out at www.prep4college.net . Have your son or daughter try it out for FREE for 15 days.  After that period, we’ll send you a “report card” showing the student’s strengths and weaknesses. You can then decide whether he should go to a review center or not.

How to prepare for this year’s UPCAT

If you are set to take the UPCAT on August this year, what should you be doing now?

Should you be reviewing grammar? Arithmetic? Algebra?

And where will you start? Go back to the text book or workbook and review concepts and theories?

Test preparation must be methodical, so you don’t waste time. It must be rigorous like a good workout in the gym or on the road. You can’t just hit the books aimlessly and re-read chapters you went through before – in your first, second, or third year high school.

Here is a suggestion.

Go and take practice tests. Now.  Take tests which are automatically graded.  Test booklets which have correct answers at the back are not good enough, because there is  always the temptation to peek. Not only that, but you will be taking tests which are not timed. UPCAT is a timed test ( it runs for 5 hours),  you must solve problems and answer test questions in the given time. You may finally solve a problem, but if it took you 15 minutes to solve one word problem in algebra, you won’t have time for the others.

So the tests you take must be graded (i.e., test scores should be immediately available), and you must take them under time pressure. In other words, you must take simulated tests, tests which will prepare you for the actual pressure you will face in the real UPCAT.

When you take simulated tests, your scores will identify your strengths and weaknesses.

You could be good in some fractions and percentages, but weak in word problems in algebra. Or you could be scoring well in chemistry but not in physics. By taking tests, you will know that topics to spend a lot of review time on.

There is one website where you can take simulated tests. Go to www.prep4college.net , register, and start taking tests for two weeks. It won’t cost you anything. There are tests in reading comprehension, tests in grammar, and in math and science subjects. Each test you take is timed, and will be scored. After two weeks, you will see your grade averages, and you will know what your state of preparation is right now.

Here’s the link to the best available online test preparation for UPCAT:  www.prep4college.net.

How much time do you need to prepare for UPCAT?

 

How much time does one need to prepare for a tennis match, or a 10K fun run?

Well, that depends on how well conditioned you are for the event.

How much time do you need to prepare for the UPCAT?

Same answer: it depends on your present condition.

Remember that UPCAT runs for five hours, testing your verbal skills( English language proficiency and reading comprehension), quantitative skills (mostly  arithmetic and algebra) and knowledge of science ( mostly chemistry, biology, earth science, and  physics).

Do you have sufficient mastery of the subject matter?

If your grades in high school English, Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics are just so-so or even just “average,” you may need more than several months of intensive, repetitive taking of practice tests.

UPCAT test dates are August  4 and 5 this year; you have just 5 months to review and take practice tests.

If your grades are fantastic, if  you  are a consistent honor student, well, maybe you can spend a  month frolicking in the beach and partying at night. But you will still need maybe a month or two of intensive test taking.

Want to know how prepared you are right now? Go to www.prep4college.net and take practice tests for a week or two. At the end of the two week period, we will grade you in specific subjects and give you an assessment. If you  take enough practice tests for two weeks, you will know what your state of preparedness is.

Sign up now for FREE.  Prep4college is the best available online test preparation for UPCAT.

Now is the best time to prepare for UPCAT

The other day, Pag-asa officially declared the start of summer. Hot days  from hereon.  Final exams in mid-March. The school year ends. Lent on the first week of April. Vacation time!

Who wouldn't want to trek to Baguio to escape Manila’s oppressive heat?

Or  schedule beach holidays in Boracay?  When the semester ends, the fun begins for many students.

But for some, summertime is the time to get serious. Serious preparation for the tough UPCAT. While others are jumping into the waters of Matabungkay or Nasugbu, or mountaineering in Mindanao, others are deep into algebra, English language, trigonometry, and arithmetic.

Those are the guys planning to enter UP in school year 2013-14. For them, now is the best time to start preparing for UPCAT, and not when school term starts again in June. Without homework and the distraction of daily classes, serious students can devote a few hours a day to reviewing their algebra, geometry, and arithmetic.

UPCAT test dates are on August 4 and 5 this year. That  leaves only 5 months to prepare.

Those who have nothing but fun in mind this summer will find that when they begin their preparation in June, they will have barely two months left  before the test dates.  Believe me, two months won't be enough.

So look far ahead. Unless you have been passing your math and English subjects with great grades, 5 months may even be too short!  OK, go to Bora and enjoy. Have fun.

But come back  after a week and get real serious…… if you’re serious about going to the country’s premier university.

And just so you’ll have some idea how the UPCAT looks like, check out www.prep4college.net , the best online test preparation available. Try it  for 15 days, and have a feel of what it would take to pass the UPCAT and qualify for admission into UP.