How My Kids Passed the UPCAT – the Sure Way!

by Leopold Laset

I would be a hypocrite if I say that I haven’t been overjoyed and ecstatic about the academic
success that my two kids have achieved. No, they were not honor students in their respective
high schools. Neither were they quiz bee champions. Rather, both of them recently passed the
UPCAT (2009 and 2010). It’s not that I was not confident that they would, but because it was
proven that despite their average academic standing in school, given the chance to go for the
goal and to do their very best to achieve it, they were able to hurdle the toughest college
entrance exam in the Philippines. I would like to share with you some secrets how my children
qualified in UP. I call it the A-B-C-D way of passing the UPCAT:

1. Attitude not just Aptitude

It is a fact that my kids were somewhat pressured to pass the UPCAT since their
father is a UP graduate and a former UP Math faculty. Now they couldn’t be
overconfident either because they also knew that genes don’t matter. According to Dr.
Dolores Ramirez, the Philippines foremost geneticist, among the genetically
transmitted aptitudes, Science (34%) and Math (12%) ranked among the lowest. So
you see, Chinese people aren’t good in Math just because they are Chinese. They are
good in Math because they have a positive attitude towards Math. My children, as
they were reviewing for the UPCAT, kept that positive mental attitude so that they
wouldn’t feel the stress. Instead, they were challenged enough to work hard and so
focused to meet their goal.

2. Belief not just Brains

Majority of UPCAT passers definitely got the brains. It takes a smart (I did not say
“intelligent”) student to really qualify for the UPCAT. I can say that my kids are smart
enough to attain UPCAT success but without a belief system, they have a lower
chance of making it through. You see, UPCAT is highly competitive. You will be
competing against 70,000 other UPCAT aspirants. First you need to believe in the
Infinite Intelligence who is the source of all the knowledge and wisdom that you
acquire. Second, you need to believe in yourself. You must make it a point to always
say that you are already an UPCAT passer. And third, you must belong to a
community of believers. Join the network of like-minded students that help one
another to achieve the common goal of passing the UPCAT. The Online UPCAT
Review (OUR) Community at www.upcatreview.com is the best venue to mingle with
smart and determined students like you. Just like what my kids did!

3. Courage not just Confidence

 I still remember the saying, “If you lose money, you lose much. If you lose a friend,
you lose more. But if you lose courage, you lose all!” Anxiety is the number one killer
in any written test. Many intelligent students fail in a major exam because of too much
test anxiety. You need not only develop your self-confidence in taking the UPCAT but
also your bravery to face and undergo the rigid preparation. I was a bit concerned
when my kids showed confidence because a thin line between confidence and
overconfidence separates the two. If they would have been overconfident, they might
have lost the courage to go through the process of systematic preparation. Pride
might have made them cowards to undertake the review program wherein they were
enrolled to. It takes a brave student to discipline himself for the hard work that is
called the “UPCAT Review”. Fortunately, my kids had overgrown their confidence and
showed a lot of courage and determination to really go for the goal.

4. Discipline not just Desire

I’m pretty sure that anyone who is dreaming to pass the UPCAT has the desire to
make it realized. And I would agree that you need that necessary desire to keep you
motivated. But don’t be a Juan Tamad who’d just waited for the guava to fall from the
branch. You cannot win the UPCAT game by not having the discipline of a champion
athlete. My kids had shown not only a burning desire to pass the UPCAT, but also a
“forced” habit to execute a thorough preparation for the UPCAT day. They had been
answering and re-answering all the UPCAT review materials until they fully believe
that they could handle any question that they would encounter in the actual test. Also,
they religiously attended their review classes, both virtual and real.

So you must raise the bar a notch higher when you really aspire to be a genuine Iskolar Para sa
Bayan. Remember the A-B-C-D way to your UPCAT success!

For over six years Prof. Leopold Laset has been working with Review Masters
League, an elite test prep company in the Philippines, traveling across the
country to help students maximize their UPCAT scores. He is one of the
authors of 37 PROVEN TIPS TO PASS THE UPCAT THE SURE WAY!

To learn more about Prof. Laset and how to pass the UPCAT and any other
high school or college entrance test, visit upcatreview.com and remove all fears for your future
academic and career success now!

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