MANILA — At least 104,070 students registered for the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) this year, which would be held in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, an official said on Tuesday.

The entrance exams for academic year 2024 to 2025 will be held in around a hundred testing sites nationwide from June 3 to 4, with 40,000 examinees set to take it at the Diliman campus in Quezon City, UP President Angelo Jimenez said.

Jimenez said "roughly 10 percent" of examinees pass and the university could accept around 15,000 freshmen next school year.

"Ang batayan ng UPCAT is 60 percent ng weight ay doon sa test, but 40 percent ang batayan natin [from] Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10 at Grade 11... doon natin malalaman kung sinong matatanggap," Jimenez said during a televised briefing.

(Sixty percent of the UPCAT is based on the test, but 40 percent is based on Grade 8 to 11. That's how we determine who will be accepted.)

Jimenez said no special treatment would be given to examinees and urged them to regularly check their emails for any update regarding the test.

"Handang-handa na tayo, pati training ng ating testing center supervisors. Ang kailangan lang talaga natin pag-igihan... sa kanilang parte na lang talaga," he said.

"You really have to physically go to the testing center. Walang special exams ito kung ma-late ka, or kung may importante [kang gagawin]. You really have to make a decision what is important," he said, adding that there would be no overseas testing centers this year.

(We are ready, we have trained our testing center supervisors. They just need to do well. There will be no special exams if you are late or if you have something else that you need to do.)

For now, the UP administration is not keen on implementing additional COVID-19 protocols for the test, despite an uptick in infections, he said.

"But it will all depend kung ano ang development kapag panahon na yon... Maganda pa rin na handa tayo sa possible... hindi naman bawal ang face masks," he said.

"Wala pa tayong requirement na mag-face mask. That will be on location basis. Kung mayroon pa, we will make the necessary announcement."

(But it will depend on the developments as the exams approach. It's good if we are prepared for any possibility. Masks are not banned nor required.)

The UPCAT is known to be one of the toughest college entrance tests, taken by tens of thousands of applicants annually.

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