ALKHOBAR, 18 October 2004 — A total of 191 Filipino students in the Kingdom are expected to take the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) for school-year 2004-2005, which will start on Friday. The number is more than the 166 students who took the test in the Kingdom last year. Vice Consul and Third Secretary Germinia Aguilar Usudan told Arab News that 121 students will be taking the exam at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. The number includes 55 students coming
from Alkhobar and Dammam. Thirtyeight students are from the International Philippine School in Alkhobar (IPSA), nine more students are from the Philippine School in Dammam (PSD), and eight are from the Asian Alkhobar International School (AAIS).
In Riyadh, the Second Philippine International School (SPIS) registered 18 students for this exam. The International Philippine School in Riyadh (IPSR) and the Millenium International School (MIS) both have 14 students in the UPCAT list; Al-Taj International School (ATIS has 10, Nour Al-Maaref International School (NAMIS) has six, and the Elite International School (EIS) has four.
In Jeddah, 70 students have registered for the same exam to be held at the Philippine Consulate, Usudan said. The International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ) has the biggest number of examinees at 53. Al-Hekma International School (AHIS) and Bader International School (BIS), also in Jeddah, are sending 13 and four students, respectively.
The University of the Philippines continuously provides assistance to the families of the OFWs in the Middle East by sending teams to administer the UPCAT here. It will be a big burden to the OFWs particularly on their children’s expenses traveling to Manila just to take the UPCAT which is normally scheduled in August. There is no passing or failing marks in the UPCAT, but one should qualify on the University Predicted Grade (UPG) cut-off in each campus which the students preselected before taking the exams.