THE UNIVERSITY posted a slightly lower passing rate in the June licensure examination for architects despite having five Thomasians in the Top 10 list.
UST recorded a 75-percent passing rate as 201 out of 268 examinees passed the test. This was lower than last year’s 78.79 percent in which 208 out of 264 examinees made the cut.
Leading the batch of new Thomasian architects is Saul Alexander Marcelo, who placed third with a score of 83.4 percent.
Also making it to the Top 10 were Lance Andrew Olegario (82.6 percent) at sixth place, Terrence Jeffrey Wang (82.3 percent) at seventh place, Maria Adelle Elma (82 percent) at ninth place, and Dio Angelo de la Cruz (81.9 percent) at 10th place. Last year, there werethree topnotchers from UST.
“There were times when we expected there would be fewer [students in the Top 10], but there were many this time. Some batches are weak, some batches are better,” Architecture Dean John Joseph Fernandez said, adding that this year’s topnotchers were not part of the honor roll.
“It really depends on the batch. Those who failed last year took the exam this year, while there are others who took [the exam] without reviewing, just for the sake of having an idea of how the exam works,” he said.
UST’s passing rate was a relative improvement over previous years after the college then launched a mock board exam, wherein students who failed are discouraged from taking the licensure test, Fernandez said.
He noted, however, that the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) no longer requires architecture schools to monitor the two-year apprenticeship of graduates, which makes it difficult to monitor examinees.
PRC also removed the retake rule for those who had failed the exam for three consecutive times, but these examinees must take a one-year refresher course.
“Ngayon, kumuha sila hanggang gusto nila. So instead of us being able to help graduates, we have no control anymore,” Fernandez said.
UST had an 84.95-percent passing rate for first-time takers (175 out of 206), but was dragged down by the 41.94-percent passing rate of repeaters (26 out of 62), resulting in an overall passing rate of 75 percent.
The University of San Carlos, which had an 84-percent passing rate, emerged as this year’s lone top-performing school. No school had made it to the list of top-performing schools since 2010.
UST was the top-performing school in the January and June architecture board exams from 2007 to 2009 and remains the top producer of licensed architects since 2009.
The national passing rate went down to 50.69 percent from last year’s 52.68 percent, with only 987 of 1,947 examinees passing the test.
