University of the Philippines College Admission Test

The University of the Philippines College Admission Test, commonly known as UPCAT, is part of the admission requirements of the University of the Philippines, administered to graduates of Philippine and foreign high schools.

UPCAT was first administered in 1968.

Individuals that are considered eligible for the UPCAT should be any one of the following:

In addition, graduates must not have taken and must not be taking any college subjects. They should not plan to take any college subjects before the semester or academic year of the UPCAT.

The deadline for filing of applications for the UPCAT is announced regularly, and is usually in late June.

The UPCAT can only be taken once by an applicant. Any applicant who has taken the UPCAT may not take it again.

The University Predicted Grade (UPG) is a combined score of an applicant's weighted UPCAT score and the weighted average of their grades in high school. It is 40% from their grades in high school and 60% from the UPCAT. UPCAT results are ranked according to the examinees' University Predicted Grades.

In order to make the student population of UP more representative of the country's population, socioeconomic and geographic factors are also considered in selecting campus qualifiers.

An applicant must specify two campuses from the U.P. System's nine campuses, ordered according to preference. For each campus chosen, two degree programs must also be specified. UPCAT applications are processed according to the order of these preferences.

The top-ranked applicants (according to the UPG) based on the quota and cut-off grade of each campus are eligible to enter. For degree programs, different grade predictors are applied for each. Top-ranked qualifiers are accepted depending on the slots available in that program.

If they do not qualify for the two chosen campuses, they may apply to be part of the wait-list provided that they have chosen the campus they would apply to as either their first choice or second choice campus.

If they are an UPCAT qualifier, they only need to find a degree program that will accept them. The campus Registrar’s Office will help them find that degree program. Qualification into UP is therefore a matter of qualifying for a campus, regardless of choices of degree programs.

The five hour exam covers language proficiency, reading comprehension, mathematics, and science. UPCAT questions can be in English or Filipino. The UPCAT is usually held on a Saturday and Sunday in early August with two batches of examinations per day: one in the morning and the other one in the afternoon.

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