MSU-SASE Guide: How It Works, Dates, Scholarships and Prep

MSU-SASE: The Complete Guide for Filipino Applicants

The MSU System Admission and Scholarship Examination (MSU-SASE) is the entrance exam for the Mindanao State University System. It's been given since 1989, once a year, and it's used for two things at once: admission to an MSU campus, and screening for MSU's academic scholarships.

Next SASE (for AY 2027–28): not yet announced. MSU sets the date each year at its SASE coordination meeting. The last SASE was held on 5 October 2025 (application deadline 26 September 2025), with results released on 30 April 2026. The one before was on 1 December 2024. Because the month changes, watch sase.msumain.edu.ph and your target campus's admissions office for the official schedule.

1. How big it is

The SASE for AY 2026–27 had 61,183 takers, a record — up from 35,284 in 2022. MSU-IIT was the first choice of 20,656 of them. MSU doesn't publish an overall admission rate.

2. Who can take it

Students in Grade 12, and senior high graduates with no college background.

The MSU-IIT SASE portal lists these requirements:

• Senior high school ID
• Senior high school ledger
• A certification from your principal that you're graduating (or Form 138-A for out-of-school youth)
• Two 2×2 ID pictures with name tag
• A non-refundable ₱300 testing fee, paid to the MSU campus registrar, admission officer or SASE examiner at the test centre at least two days before the exam
• A completed application form (online, or from an MSU admissions or registrar's office, test centre examiners, or your principal or class adviser)

Requirements can change by campus and cycle, so confirm with the campus you're applying to.

3. How admission and scholarships work

According to MSU's SASE guidelines:

• Cut-offs aren't fixed. The admission cut-off depends on the median SASE score and each campus's absorptive capacity (how many students it can take). Popular campuses and programmes therefore need higher scores.
• Passers are grouped by status, including academic scholars (full and partial), Special Muslim Grants, qualifiers for AB/BS programmes, and College Bound Program passers.
• Scholarships aren't automatic. They go to examinees who also meet the scholarship requirements of MSU or of the sponsoring organisation. Scholars must then keep the required grades.
• Your result is valid for one year (two consecutive semesters).

Tuition: MSU has implemented RA 10931 (the free college tuition law) since AY 2018–19.

Missed the SASE? MSU Main also runs a College Entrance Test (CET) each semester on request. A CET passer can only enrol at the campus where they took it and can't receive MSU's university scholarships.

4. What's on the exam

MSU doesn't publish an official list of subtests, item count or duration. You'll find confident breakdowns online, but they contradict each other. Past takers describe multiple-choice questions in English, mathematics, science and reasoning — the usual college-entrance areas — so prepare all of them:

• English: grammar, vocabulary, sentence improvement, reading comprehension — see the English review and reading review
• Mathematics: arithmetic, algebra, word problems, geometry, basic trigonometry and statistics — see the math review
• Science: biology, chemistry, physics and earth science — see the science review
• Reasoning: number and figure series, analogies, classification

5. A 12-week prep plan

Start about three months before the exam date once it's announced — or now, since the date isn't fixed.

• Weeks 1–2: a timed diagnostic across English, math, science and reasoning. Find your two weakest areas.
• Weeks 3–8: rotate your weakest areas on weekdays (60–90 minutes a day); do a mixed timed set every Saturday; rest on Sunday. Read one English article a day.
• Weeks 9–11: a full timed practice test every week, plus review of every mistake.
• Week 12: light review, prepare your requirements and fee, and plan the trip to your test centre.

The 12-week plan has the week-by-week version, and the practice test strategy covers timed practice.

6. Choosing a campus

Think about which campus offers your programme, how competitive it is (the cut-off depends on demand and capacity), and where you can realistically live and study. MSU-IIT in Iligan draws the most first-choice applicants — see the MSU-IIT pathway.

7. If you don't make it

• Take the CET at MSU Main, if it's offered that semester (campus-specific, no university scholarship).
• Apply to other universities in parallel — see the UPCAT guide and the DOST-SEI scholarship guide.
• Look at scholarships — see MSU-SASE scholarship options.

Where Super Tutor fits

Super Tutor's MSU-SASE reviewer is built on the same college-entrance chapters as our UPCAT reviewer — mathematics, science, language proficiency, abstract reasoning and general information — with every chapter in 11 study formats, practice quizzes at three difficulty levels, an AI tutor that explains questions step by step, and a study planner. It doesn't include full MSU-SASE mock exams.

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