UPCAT requirements from UP's own bulletin: who can apply, the documents, the 10 steps, the fee (free for Filipinos), and how UP computes your UPG.
Mariano Luiz King
Published November 6, 2026 · Updated November 9, 2026
The UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) is free for Filipino applicants. You apply in Grade 11, not Grade 12, and you need two online forms, a school-filled form, and a certified copy of your grades. This post lists the UPCAT requirements and steps straight from UP's General Information Bulletin for AY 2027-2028, as of November 2026.
After reading this, you can plan your UPCAT application and know exactly which documents to get from your school.
UP opens the UPCAT application while you're still in Grade 11, usually around March. The test itself comes in August, before Grade 12 is well underway, and results come out in the first half of the next year.
So if you only start looking in Grade 12, you've already missed it. Watch the UPCAT site from around February of Grade 11. The exact dates from the last cycle are near the end of this post.
UP's minimum requirements for UPCAT 2027 say you must be either:
You also need complete grades for Grades 8, 9, 10, and 11.
You can't apply if you have:
That second rule matters. You only get one UPCAT. UP also warns that withdrawing your online application voids it and stops you from applying through the UPCAT again. If you made a mistake in your form, contact the helpdesk instead of withdrawing.
For Filipino citizens, there's no application fee in the AY 2027-2028 bulletin. Only non-Filipino applicants pay:
| Applicant | Fee |
|---|---|
| Filipino citizen | Free |
| Foreign applicant studying in the Philippines | ₱450 |
| Non-resident foreign applicant | USD 50 |
The foreign applicant fee is non-refundable. For a side-by-side look at what other schools charge, see college entrance exam fees in the Philippines.
UP is strict about item 4. It says applications without the hard copy of the certified grades won't be processed. Don't send the original: UP won't return it.
| If you are... | Also submit |
|---|---|
| A senior high school graduate | Photocopy of your diploma, plus an affidavit that you haven't taken college courses |
| A PWD | PWD ID or a medical certificate |
| A child of a UP employee | Certificate of employment and your PSA birth certificate photocopy |
| An ALS or PEPT passer | Certified true copy of your AF-5 (ALS) or Certificate of Rating (PEPT) |
| A Filipino born overseas | BI Identification Certificate, or your passport |
| A student with a gap year | Affidavit explaining the gap |
| An Indigenous Cultural Community member | NCIP/NCMF Certificate of Confirmation, or Certificate of Tribal Membership |
| A non-Filipino | Proof of payment of the fee |
Here's UP's process in plain words:
Steps 2, 3, 8, and 9 depend on your school, not you, so you can't rush them yourself. Ask your registrar or guidance office early who handles the UPCAT Form 2A.
UP lets you bring only:
Phones, smartwatches, calculators, and cameras are banned during the test. So practice math by hand. The UPCAT coverage lists the topics past takers reported.
Your admission score is the UPG (University Predicted Grade). UP's bulletin says it combines your standardized UPCAT scores with your final grades in Grades 8, 9, 10, and 11.
UP's bulletin doesn't print the weights. But UP President Angelo Jimenez said the split is 60% UPCAT and 40% grades, as reported by The Summit Express in 2026.
Here's what that means in practice. Say two applicants have the same UPCAT score. The one with better Grade 8 to 11 grades gets the better UPG. Your grades are already locked in by the time you take the test, so the UPCAT is the part you can still move.
A few more things about the UPG:
UP lists five possible results:
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Qualified to a degree program | You got an offer |
| Waitlisted at a degree program | You met the requirements, but slots ran out. You may still get in if others decline |
| Waitlisted at a Degree Program With Available Slots (DPWAS) | You qualified for the campus, not your programs. You pick a program with open slots in the DIWA portal, but it's not guaranteed |
| Not qualified | Your UPG is shown |
| Pending | You still need to submit something |
If you don't get an offer, you can appeal through the DIWA portal if your UPG is 2.800 or better. You can appeal to up to two programs in one campus per batch, but only where slots are left. Some campuses don't accept appeals.
There's one more route. If you're in the Top 10 of your public senior high school batch, you can apply under the Iskolar ng Bayan program to a UP campus in your region, if you meet that campus's UPG cutoff.
For context, UP said 18,350 of 147,437 applicants (12.44%) got admission notices for AY 2026-2027, counting both offers and waitlist slots.
These are the dates for students entering college in AY 2027-2028. They're from the last cycle and have passed. Use them to estimate yours: UP hadn't posted the UPCAT 2028 dates as of November 2026.
| Step | Dates (UPCAT 2027 cycle) |
|---|---|
| Online application (Form 1) | March 3 to April 13, 2026 (extended) |
| UPCAT exam | August 1 to 2, 2026 |
| Grades and Form 2B | August 3 to September 21, 2026 (extended) |
| Results | Within the first half of 2027 |
The UPCAT itself is free, so cost isn't the barrier. Timing and paperwork are. Apply the moment it opens in Grade 11, chase your school's Form 2A confirmations, and get the certified SF-10 early. Then spend your energy on the test, since it's the 60% you can still change.
If you're also applying elsewhere (and most people should), compare the other schools' fees and check whether you can take theirs for free under RA 12006.
Yes, for Filipino citizens, as of the AY 2027-2028 bulletin. Foreign applicants pay ₱450 (if studying in the Philippines) or USD 50.
No. UP's requirements say you can't apply if you've taken the UPCAT before.
Grade 11. In the last cycle, the application ran from March to April of Grade 11.
Your final grades in Grades 8, 9, 10, and 11. Grade 12 grades aren't part of the UPG.
UP doesn't publish program cutoffs. Its bulletin says a UPG of 2.800 is the minimum required to be admitted, and you need it to appeal through the DIWA portal. More in UPCAT passing score.
Practice with the free UPCAT reviewer and mock exam questions.
