UPCAT (UP College Admission Test) is the admission test for the University of the Philippines system.
Exam format (per UP's Office of Admissions):
- Four subtests: Language Proficiency and Reading Comprehension (both in English and Filipino), Mathematics and Science
- Paper-based, about five hours of test administration
- UP doesn't publish item counts per subtest
How admission works: UP combines your UPCAT score with your Grades 8–11 grades into the University Predicted Grade (UPG), then admits by campus and program capacity. UP doesn't publish the weighting.
Recent cycle: UPCAT 2027 (for AY 2027–28) was held on 1–2 August 2026, with about 153,000 examinees; results are expected in the first half of 2027. In UPCAT 2026, 18,350 of 147,437 examinees qualified (12.44%).
What it means for you:
- No application fee for Filipino citizens
- Applications opened in March in the last two cycles, with the test in early August — watch UP's Office of Admissions for the next schedule
- Undergraduate tuition at UP is free under RA 10931