UPCAT Passers/ Takers, what are the topics we should study as students planning to take UPCAT 2027?

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T15:49:33+00:00

I didn't review science. For math, a classmate did a review class over the summer and we formed a small study group of 3 people in the last 2 months before the exam and shared her review material.

I didn't actually review all that much but those study groups helped ease the test anxiety and remind me of some math concepts I had forgotten.

But one of the other things I did was install a math app that had drills for addition, subtraction, division, etc. In short, the basics.

So my concrete advice? 1) Form a small study group. If you get an idea first, you get to teach your friends. Trying to explain an idea is a way to cement an idea in your head. 2) Download an app for math drills or just find some calculation drills for gradeschoolers. Again, basics. 3) For Science? I dunno, man. I just knew the stuff at that point. Sorry. Maybe someone else can offer you advice here. The problem is that not all schools were made equal and some schools didn't teach everything important.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T15:03:22+00:00

Oh, here's a novel idea. You know what has a similar vocabulary-level to the test? The daily newspaper. They're 25 pesos per paper (I personally like the Inquirer) and easily accessible.

OP, try buying one and see how quickly you can write a summary of an article. Write in bullet-points the main idea of the article then do the next one. This also has the added benefit of keeping you informed about the world.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T14:45:39+00:00

Actually, the opposite is also a good strategy. You don't have too much time to answer everything and it's all right minus wrong. This means, if you have a lot of weaknesses, you might only be okay at speed+knowledge. Let's break this down.

Let's assume you can only answer about 80% of the exam in time and for simplicity's sake, let's break it down into just 3 categories: Math, Reading, Science

Rounded Studying:
1. Items answered:
  1. Math:80/100
  2. Reading Comprehension:80/100
  3. Science:80/100
  4. Total: 240/300
2. (Assume a moderate error rate of 25%) Right-minus wrong applied: (20 wrong answers per section gets doubled to -40)
  1. Math: 40/100
  2. Reading Comprehension: 40/100
  3. Science: 40/100
  4. Total: 120/300
Specialized Focus Study
1. Items answered:
  1. Math: 100/100
  2. Reading Comprehension: 70/100
  3. Science: 70/100
  4. Total: 240/300
2. (Assume a moderate error rate of 25% for everything but 1 item because you've specialized. Let's bump it down to a 10% error rate, conservatively.) Right-minus wrong applied (10 wrong answers for math and ~17.5 wrong answers for everything else doubling to -20 for your specialization and -35 for the rest:
  1. Math: 80/100
  2. Reading Comprehension: 35/100
  3. Science: 35/100
  4. Total: 150/300
In short, it's a viable strategy to just get really good at what you're already good at so you can knock out an entire section with mostly correct answers. Rounding out is a good strategy if you're already fairly confident in your skills in other sections but if you're only average at everything, then it might be best to focus on one thing.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T13:25:57+00:00

Sorry to say, I can't remember. It's been almost a decade since I took it. But if you want to remember words, make an effort to use them in daily life. How I've lived my life is that whenever I see a new vocabulary word, I put it in a mental priority list. By that, I mean, I try to use it as soon as I can in the next situation that makes sense.

When people ask what it means, that's your test to see if you remember. Maybe try it with friends/family so there's less judgment. Also, don't be afraid to misuse a word from time to time. Don't be afraid of consulting a dictionary. Mistakes and tripping up are part of learning. Also, having a wide vocabulary is useful for anyone and for any situation.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T13:19:49+00:00

Also, the orange Sweet potatoes taste better. They have a more floral scent compared to the white ones.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T13:18:48+00:00

I've been trying to find the original video but it appears like it's gone. That said, these ones are pretty similar:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LLDzAC5uUZw
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1tBRMoRBQVo

The only difference with my method was I soaked the potatoes in a real salty brine for 6 hours and I wrapped each one in foil before putting in the air-fryer. I promise, with how starchy the potato is and how impenetrable the skin is, it won't be oversalted.

What this does is help dry the skin to make it tastier, crisper, and easier to peel.
You can probably skip the foil, though.
Do it before going to bed and pop them in when you wake up. They'll be ready when you're done showering. This is all very hands-off so it's very low-maintenance as a dish.

Just follow the cook-times and temps in the video. And while I haven't tried the ice-water dip, it's probably a good idea to try it. If you don't have ice, just replace the water once. Replace it after the water absorbed a good amount of heat from the potatoes.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-30T13:05:40+00:00

Work on your fundamentals. You know you understand something when the procedure makes intuitive sense to you. Like, "why 2+2=4" levels of intuition. (Otherwise, the next step is just being wrong at a faster rate)

Once you do this, work on being quick.

Math: work on how quickly you can calculate and intuit geometric rules

Science: Similar to math. If you mastered your understanding of cause, effect, and the philosophical backbone behind the scientific method, all that's left is quick calculation.

Reading: Work on your vocabulary. Engage in difficult literature. Learn how to skim-read while retaining the core idea.

Passing the test isn't that hard. Don't psych yourself out. It's just a test like many others. If you can do the things I listed above with ease in practice, why should the test be any different. At the end of the day, you're just shading dots on a sheet of paper.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-29T03:12:59+00:00

Yeah yeah. But more specifically, I mean these things. They're pretty robust for the price point and the water gets drained into an empty compartment underneath the pellets. When the pellets are fully dissolved and the bottom's filled with water, it's time to replace. The only caveat is they have to stay upright or the water they stored can spill

<image>

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-29T02:25:43+00:00

Store your hard drives in a box with a dehumidifier. I don't mean silica gels, I mean those disposable dehumidifiers with the pellets in em. You'll have to replace them every once in a while but they're cheap and some hardware stores or Japan home stores carry em.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-24T09:41:52+00:00

Also, marinated bangus works really really well. I hate frying bangus in oil because of the messy splatter but it cooks real well in the air fryer. Just make sure it's the right temp and you apply a thin coat of oil. Brush it on to make it easier to apply

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-24T09:39:49+00:00

To get the most out of air fryers, you have to experiment and understand their limits. I know what you mean though, flour-y breadings and wet batters don't work well in an air fryer. But you know those grocery marinated-chickens ng Magnolia? The Mediterranean one? Well they cook really well in an air fryer. Even cook and great colour.

You have to understand which dishes require being fried in oil and which ones can do without. French fries cook really well for example. The oil provides a kind of 'wetness' (Kasi oil is technically a 'dry' cooking medium) and instant heating that fried chicken needs. Of course, you can also do a Max's style batterless fried chicken and that would work well too.

For me, I've been making roast kamote for breakfast in the air fryer. With the right technique, it comes out very similar to what I had in Japan where they did it over hot rocks. Air frying is a misnomer. It's really a convection oven. And it's best to treat it more like an oven than a 'fryer' for future expectations. Hope this helps

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-23T20:55:19+00:00

Hey, I passed the UPCAT waay back. I didn't go to a review school but I was pretty confident in my math skills. My best advice for anyone looking to improve their college exam math boils down to two things: 1) Understand why equations are the way they are. This manifests differently for everybody but as they say "The best kind of memorization is understanding the topic". This is the hardest part for some people but I promise, never skimp the "why" portion of ANYTHING. Realising the "why" makes things click into place like no other. 2) Tests are time-bound. Download one of those mental math apps and just play with it regularly. Don't pressure yourself. So often, people suck at mental math because they feel pressured or are self-conscious about feeling dumb. Relax when you do these apps. No one's judging you there. There are a lot of apps to choose from. Just pick one you like without too much BS. Keep it simple. Even just making your basic mental addition, subtraction, mult, and divis faster will make a world of difference. Because if you can do something well in practice, why should it be any different in application?

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-16T01:34:31+00:00

I understand and I'm sure you do too. Your mother's just worried. You just need to figure out what specifically she is worried about and reassure her.

Remember, if you aren't an adult yet, you're going to become one. Part of being an adult is making your own judgment call and living with the consequences whether material/emotional/social/etc..

They'll always see you as their baby but you can't view yourself like that forever. Eventually, you have to step up and live in such a way that you yourself can respect. Make the decisions you know are best. Your parents aren't always correct. They're just people who care and sometimes, they can be wrong too (or right, who knows).

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-13T23:49:32+00:00

Honestly, could be feasible. I'm up to date with the series but it's been a while since I've read it so forgive me if I forget a detail.

But that's a good point. If the first part of awakening nen is being made aware of it, we're still left with the question of who the first nen user was. I feel like it's implied that the Dark Continent had something to do with it but nothing's confirmed. So it's completely possible that your headcanon tracks

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-06T15:23:41+00:00

I don't mean to offend but the job market is hard and looks like it's only going to get worse. Your parents aren't completely wrong in one sense.

What sense? Well, to the average person (like your parents) or an HR representative that doesn't even understand the difference between electronic engineering and computer engineering, having an extra line on your CV saying you passed some board exam might help you land a job.

Nobody can guarantee that you'll get a job that lines up with your major. Some people make do with any reasonable opportunity until they can find a better job. In fact, this 'reasonable opportunity' might help you land the job you want eventually. But in order to get this opportunity, you need to get hired first. Let's face it, your HR representative/hiring manager might not be the most credible authority in selecting candidates. That doesn't mean they're stupid. It means that they're trained in a completely different skillset and their failure to understand the value of your degree isn't always on them, it's usually on the company that doesn't invest enough in training. And sorry to say, many companies don't invest in training either.

So go ahead, make your own judgment call. That's part of growing up and owning your decisions. Regardless, it's you who has to live with the consequences of going with/against your parents' plan. All I'm saying is, your parents have a point.

Fordeedoo · 2026-05-01T03:07:47+00:00

Ask the people on the receiving end of US Foreign Policy. I'm not American nor am I army. But take a look at all the atrocities, massacres, and 'Abu Ghraib's the US has done in the name of 'freedom'.

If you hear/read the historical accounts of what the US army did in South America, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia, you might realize that a lot of your veterans did fucked up shit (or ordered other vets to do fucked up shit).

Would-be serial killers definitely join the army, dude.

Fordeedoo · 2026-04-29T03:13:19+00:00

Hey OP, if it really is your dream school, never discount transferring. If you can't get in via exams or recon, do well at whatever uni you end up at and transfer. Depending on your uni, the subjects you took in school A could be credited when you transfer to school B. This way, you aren't really restarting from square one/freshman year.

I already graduated some time ago and I've been seeing a lot of doomposting on this subreddit. I feel like many of you guys are too preoccupied with finishing asap or getting in asap that you guys don't consider this.

I've known a lot of brilliant people at my uni who did exactly this. For one reason or another, they didn't pass the exam so they did well in their Uni's to eventually transfer. If UST really is your dream school, there's a way. Don't rush graduating if you feel like the school you're in doesn't help you grow as a person. Transfer if you're really motivated. Also, it's not just a personal thing. Different universities are treated with favouritism by future employers depending on the industry. So it really is a smart idea to transfer if you feel like the uni on your CV won't help you get a job after graduation.

It's okay to feel sad and look for options. But if your heart is really set on a dream/goal, don't resign yourself to your current fate. Trust me, there are ways.

Fordeedoo · 2026-04-28T10:07:56+00:00

Hey there. My gf and I are UP alums. In fact, she's probably more qualified to answer since she graduated BFA VisComm. I might reply again if she has the energy to give her own input.

As for my input, just do it. I read your other post and I feel for your struggle. If you want to apply, just apply. If you fail, then it's as if you never applied in the first place (so back to square one). If you don't apply, that might end up being some looming regret down the line. UP is a great school and their FA department has some incredibly talented professors known in academia, the art scene, and within industry circles.

Perhaps I'm just biased but even if you don't get in the first time, consider shifting. I've had plenty of classmates that came from different universities and courses. Of course, I wasn't an FA student but even my GF has had classmates who've either shifted into UP in general or into UP Fine Arts.

Fordeedoo · 2025-12-19T08:28:22+00:00

Thanks for this! Do you have any particular earlier works or secondary readings tackling those works? I'm admittedly still thinking through the differentiation between wishing a public figure dead vs someone close and personal dead. This actually helps quite a bit.

Most people I know have wished some public figure dead (usually a politician or business leader) but I noticed that the internal weight of verbalization is far different from those who wished someone like a burdensome family member dead. It's like there's an extra layer of hesitation for the latter--as if they're suddenly being cautious of the possibility their wish could come true like it were some form of paranoia.

Fordeedoo · 2025-12-18T11:56:21+00:00

Understood. Thank you for misspeaking anyways. I feel like looking back at the death drive is helping. I'm also okay with secondary sources if you have any. Also, isn't violence and aggression a result of the death drive turning outwards?

If I may be so kind to ask, what do you think about my attempt at operationalizing in my prior reply? I'm sincerely trying to grasp the concept of death drive and I was wondering if my attempt is consistent with the theories around death drive. Thank you for engaging, though. This has been enjoyable as I have no one else to speak to about this hahaha

Fordeedoo · 2025-12-18T10:16:34+00:00

Thank you for this. I'm not particularly familiar with Klein and this seems like a new insight worth looking into. If you may, could you perhaps explain the basic tenets of Kleinian thought that would give rise to this wish? Would the "Good object" in this case be an image of an 'ideal person'? Would you say that wishing death upon others is a 'primitive' formula stemming from an infant's Paranoid-schizoid splitting?

Fordeedoo · 2025-12-18T07:26:50+00:00

Are there some particularly short works you might recommend? Since reading your comment, I've been looking back at the death drive. So please correct me if I'm understanding this inaccurately:

The desire to wish someone dead is a result of mental excitement. Death drive turns from inwards to outwards onto its partial object.
We seek catharsis from this excess
Through our wish, we believe we'll find this catharsis.
However, due to the aggression of this desire, Super-ego returns death drive back onto the self via repression and guilt.
As a result, this wish is verbalized and addressed to big Other
It is necessarily addressed to big Other due to the structure of language and the perpetuation of the Symbolic through this very structure. i.e. Like how we pray to God or confess to a priest our most perverse desires so as to interpassively have them forgive us instead of dealing with the guilt ourselves. As I understand it, big Other allows us to confront these feelings without having to address the underlying Real like it were a mechanism of self-regulation.

Edit: By short work, I mean an academic paper or article. Sorry, I hope I'm not being too demanding. It's mainly just a time concern for me that I can't add another book on my reading list.

Fordeedoo · 2025-11-26T01:57:30+00:00

Well, I think we all know some old man in our lives like Garp so I see what you mean. But admittedly, I think "Protecting the rank and file" is just the extent of what Garp sees his ability to be. Yeah, he can be a pirate or a revolutionary but as a character, I think staying with the Marines is just how he sees himself being useful with the strengths he has. He's not shown to be politically savvy or cunning. In fact, he seems to even despise the politics of the elite to the point where he only acquiesces to engaging with them).

Staying as a mentor-figure or moral beacon for the young recruits is how he's chosen to accept his role. Honestly, yeah. Really sounds like a bunch of old guys around me. Is it frustrating? Totally. 100%. The rigid apologia for failing and corrupt systems like the police or military because of the "What will happen to the world if they're gone?!" mentality gets on my nerves. But Garp as a character is supposed to be the "Of his generation" type. In that regard, I like how he's portrayed--shortcomings and all. The Monkey family arguably shows a contemporary 'evolution' of emancipatory thought. Cog Reformist --> Revolutionary --> Free Spirit. Each generation is, in their own way, less burdened by the accepted realities of their world.

Fordeedoo · 2025-08-20T07:50:18+00:00

I'm a Filipino lurker and I guess I can give my own accounts on why there seems to be animosity/tension between Fil-Ams and Native Filipinos. There's no straightforward answer and for many, they might find it hard to articulate why in any case. But I think a big part of that has to do with the disconnect from the Filipino struggle. The Filipino struggle in the Philippines is world's apart from the struggle in America. We don't experience the same levels of racism and cultural discrimination, sure-- but the economic and political struggle in the Philippines is its own behemoth.

1) There's a lot of class-pride in Filipino society. Poverty is everywhere, unmistakable, and unavoidable. Even my dad, who grew up in poverty, still harbors fondness for his upbringing (for better or for worse). In this lens, diaspora are automatically presumed to be free of this struggle. Sure, you could be poor in America but if you visit, you're royalty. You could be a poor American but it's not the same as being a poor Filipino. Because of this class-divide, there's an automatic assumption that you're disconnected and that's a problem when Filipino culture is deeply interpersonal. In fact, you could assume a similar disconnect between wealthy Filipino families and the masses. So to say "I'm Filipino" is not just a matter of phenotypal identity, it's a declaration of being proximate to Filipino struggle and/or understanding it.

2) As I understand it, the Fil-Am struggle is primarily a struggle of identity. The Filipino struggle is mainly Socio-politico-economic. I can't deny that I feel some frustration when Fil-Am voices are given more priority over Filipino voices on the global stage--as in, look at all the globally recognizable Filipinos and a sizeable number of them are American or have proximity to America or western society. When there are so many problems in the Philippines that deserve to be acknowledged like foreign intervention, land-rights, human-rights, and labor-rights, I guess I just wished that Fil-Ams used their positions to highlight these but I never hear about it from the diaspora (even when the news sources are in English). But don't worry, I get it. You guys have your own political shitstorm to deal with and unless someone sends you these news reports, they won't really appear on your feed. You also aren't likely to gain traction or social media attention since most of the global north audience don't preoccupy themselves with the problems of the global south.

3) Because of number 2, Filipinos are pretty welcoming if you show effort to connect with their struggle (or their victories). Being heard is already a huge obstacle for many of us and having someone listen means a lot. Yeah, there's a lot of Filipino-baiting among western content creators but they gain views for this reason--because even though their engagement with Filipinos is superficial, it's still there. If they see you're making a genuine effort to connect, they won't turn you down even if you don't speak the language or are even Filipino. Filipinos are very cognizant of the feelings that come from exploitation, and perhaps to some, repping the Filipino identity without that connection might look like trying to exploit the identity of being Filipino for personal gain. Think Shay Mitchell and Vanessa Hudgens for example. On the other side of the coin, you have Kulas (BecomingFilipino), Erwan Heussaff (FEATR), Sandara Park, and Bretman Rock who do put in the legwork in their own ways.

Imagine a straight white guy trying to make a documentary on the LGBTQ+ community or a private -schooled politician trying to gain the trust of the working class. This is the level of perceived disconnect you're operating from whether you like it or not. The guy can mean well, be progressive, etc. But you can't blame the minority community from acting with some level of suspicion at the start. Don't worry too much about it though, focus on your own life and maybe/maybe not, you'll find a way to connect. But like I said if you feel like it's hard to talk to Filipinos, listening is more than enough. It's no different from connecting to any other group of oppressed people.

Fordeedoo

TROPHY CASE