Remember your UPCAT?

SPIS Insights, Aug-Nov 2004 issue

Except for some hazy mental snapshots, I have little to recall of the time I took the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or UPCAT.

The Nokia 6600 was only beginning the wave of cellphone picture-taking. I guess we were also rather excited to bother taking shots.

The test questions evade my memory too.

My classmates and I took the exam in October–way past the national testing month of August.

Fortunately, they brought the UPCAT to the Middle East. The hundreds of senior students studying in the region’s 34 Philippine schools no longer needed to cut classes to fly home.

Our testing centers were the Philippine embassy and consulates. The testing fee–100 US Dollars.

What I only remember now is what’s captured in this feature we did in our school paper a month after our UPCAT.

Our features editor Bea Borja collected the quips. No surprise she later passed and finished her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at the university.

UPCAT 2004

Thoughts and quotes from the test room

(Published on Page 10, Feature section of SPIS Insights, the Official Student Publication of the Second Philippine International School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Volume V, Issue No. 2, August-November 2004)

BEFORE the test…

“Andiyan na si Ma’am Francial.”
“O ano? Puntahan na natin?”
“Sakay tayo sa bus para kunyari hinatid tayo!”
“Wag masyadong magulo!”
“Guys, let’s pray na.”
“Hala…Kinabahan ako!”
“Ano na nga ba ang formula ng surface area ng cube?”
“Eh, ung forumla ng surface area ng cube?”
“Nagdala ka pa ng libro? Ay, baon mo pala. Huh?”
“Ay! Pinto pala ‘to! Kanina pa ako nagtataka kung paano sila nakakapasok.”
“Malamig ba sa loob? Bakit sila naka-jacket?”
“Mag-CR na ang dapat mag-CR.”
“Uy, camera, camera! Dali pose na!”
“Makikita tayo sa TFC! Chance na natin ‘to para ma-discover!”
“Ang gulo niyo, Fourth Year. Hindi ako natutuwa, hindi ako natutuwa.”
“Teka! Sino pa ang wala?”
“Sina Sarah, Dean at Ronnie po.”
“Asan si Sarah?”
“Nagbo-blower pa yata ng kanyang hair.”
“Naku si Ronnie! Hinarang na yata sa entrance!”
“Ganun?”
“Paano kaya kung sumigaw ako dito ng ‘Bomba!’?”
“Ang tagal naman! Lalo akong kinakabahan, eh.”
“Nakita niyo na yung kamukha ni Ma’am Aficial?”
“Alin diyan?”
“Yun. Yung kauupo lang.”
“O pila na, pila na. Boys first, alphabetical.”
*THIS IS the moment! (Ala-Erik)*
“Eto na! Good luck, good luck…”
“God speed people!”

DURING…

*tinginan…smila*
*scratch…*
“Hmmp! Ang hirap!”
“Sir, pahingi pa po ng scratch paper…”
“Excuse me po…”
“Hmm… Ugh!”
*kamot sa ulo*

AFTER…

“O kumusta?”
“Ano, kita-kits na lang sa PLM!”
“Ang hirap nung Science!”
“Oo nga! Limot ko na yung mga moles-moles na yan, eh!”
“Ang haba pa nung Reading Comprehension!”
“Natapos mo?”
“Hindi nga, eh.”
“Nag-iwan ka ng blanks?”
“Oo. Bakit, ikaw?”
“Hindi. Di naman daw right-minus-wrong talaga, eh.”
“Psst, sino nga pala yung katabi mo kanina?”
“Hey, pray tayo uli!”
“Thank you po sa lahat, Lord…”
“O, sinong susundo sa ‘yo?”
“Si Daddy.”
“Pakner, pwedeng makisabay?”
“Ang haba pala talaga nun!”
“Hirap pa!”
“Ang tagal naman ng sundo ko!”
“Hmmp! Gutom na ako!”

*Compiled by the 18 Seniors who took the UP College Admission Test at the Philippine Embassy last Oct. 24

No matter when one took the UPCAT, all results still come out on January or February the following year. Another memorable moment for a UP student.

To the prospective Iskos and Iskas whose student numbers will begin with “13”, all the best!

So long, SPISian

My high school would have turned ten today.

It was September 19, 1999 when the Second Philippine International School got a permit from the Saudi education ministry to teach Filipino kids in Riyadh. Then, six Philippine schools operated there.

More schools have opened a decade since. But SPIS has dropped from that list. And it’s not celebrating any 10th anniversary.

Instead, on its old locale in Suleimania District now sits SIS, or the Sovereign International School.

There the same buildings remain, the colors maybe a bit different–before green, white and gold, now I don’t know. Many of the same students still attend, a number of the long-time teachers too.

But they’re no longer called SPISians.