Often in life preparation is everything. That may be especially true for students who, later this year, will be competing with each other for admission to the country’s top colleges and universities.

Competition for limited slots in these institutions is so stiff that experts advise third-year high school students begin preparing as early as March or April, even before they tend they attend their very first class as high school seniors.

“Many students and parents tend to forget that the UP College Admission Test, one of the hardest entrance exams in the country, will be administered in August – barely three months into the schoolyear,” says Rossana L. Llenado, proprietor and managing director of Ahead Tutorial and Review Center.

Llenado, who has been in the review course service for 11 years now, advises students to prepare early in order to gain a competitive edge once they begin taking college entrance exams. Review classes such as those conducted by Ahead can prepare them not only academically in terms of refreshing their memory with the concepts they had already learned in school, but emotionally as well by teaching them time-tested techniques for successful test-taking.

“We have to remember that the admission tests of the top colleges and universities in the Philippines follow selective admission policies. In the University of the Philippines, for instance, only about 10 percent of all applicants become eligible for admission.

“It’s no longer just a matter of scoring well or even of passing as we understand the term. It’s more about scoring high and making the cut-off, which for competitive programs could mean being among the top 10 to 15 percent of all exam-takers,” Llenado says.

CHOOSING THE REVIEW CENTER
Review courses are meant to increase a student’s chances for success in college admission tests. Not all review centers, however, are created equal, and those wishing to gain that competitive edge might as well take care in their choice of review center or review course for that matter.

A “patterned” review, for instance, naturally gives students better preparation. This kind of review covers the subjects or topics of a particular exam, with the tests and exercises familiarizing students with the questions and time limits that would be expected during the actual test. It’s a matter of not simply reviewing, but of reviewing the right things the right way.

This is particularly important for some admission tests.
“The Ateneo College Entrance Test is a good example,” says Llenado, whose center, Ahead, has pioneered in the Philippines in giving patterned reviews: “It’s different from all other admission tests in the country since it has a General Intelligence Test. Its Math component is also much more difficult than those in other entrance exams.” The approach to the review and the way it is conducted are also important factors to consider.

GOOD REVIEWS FOR A GOOD REVIEW
Mabel Carlos-Catapang is one of the satisfied mothers who took a chance with Ahead. She was impressed by the enthusiasm that she saw in the center’s management and in its review staff. Last year, Carlos-Catapang enrolled her two sons in Ahead’s review classes.

Her eldest son, Rafael Andrei Luis, passed Management Honors in Ateneo. Her second son Gabriel passed the admission tests of Philippine Science High School and Ateneo de Manila. She went back to Ahead this year to enroll her other son Mikael. She promised to enroll her fourth and last child Isabel when it’s time for her to take her own entrance exams.

For Karen Co, the review helped her focus on important subject matter and taught her how to take the test in an efficient manner. “They also teach students how to go about answering certain types of questions,” Karen says.

Adds Stephanie Coyiuto: “Personally, Ahead was able to refresh my memory anout different subject matters and gave me a lot of tips and reminders. Most of all, it helped me gain confidence in answering the tests,” adds Stephanie.

Ahead’s reviews have been so effective that more than 80 percent of all their students pass the admission test of the school of their choice year after year. It is considered the highest “batting average” in the industry.

THE ULTIMATE TEST: GETTING IN
For students who will be taking college entrance examinations this year, it’s never too early to review. Some schools, recognizing the need to prepare their graduates for college admission test, have even commissioned review centers to conduct in-campus review classes. Ahead, for instance, has conducted such classes for prominent schools in Greenhills and in Mandaluyong.

Come the second half of the year graduating high school students from all over the country will be slugging it out for those relatively few slots in the country’s top colleges and universities. The first real test will come in August with the UPCAT.