Four tips to pass the licensure exam for teachers without reviewing

Every year, as much as 200,000 Filipinos take the Professional Regulations Commission’s board licensure exam for professional teachers (oftentimes referred to as BLEPT or simply LET). The bulk of examinees are fresh education graduates, although there could be older examinees as well.

Typically, examinees are expected to review intensively for this board examination either by including a regular self-review schedule in their daily routine or perhaps, enrolling in a review center. However, a lot of examinees are not able to prepare for the exams as thoroughly as they would have wished due to various circumstances.

For example, I wasn’t able to really review for the LET held last September 2017 because of the distractions brought by the conflicts I had with my former employer as well as the need to adjust to my new work place. Nevertheless, not being able to prepare enough for the board exam didn’t automatically mean that I was doomed to fail. I made it, and with good scores to boot!

Before proceeding any further, it must be understood that the purpose of this post is not to downplay the importance of giving enough time to reviewing. This post also does not intend to invalidate the success of those who passed after entering a review center. The Filipino Scribe‘s purpose is to give hope for those who find themselves in circumstances where having enough time to self-review or spare money to enroll in a review center is not possible. Here are some tips that helped me:

Hence, it is important to actually take a few moments of your time to read your books and/or lecture notes every now and then. Stock knowledge can help a lot!

I got a rating of 92% in the LET’s general education part, and it certainly helped that I have been able to teach so many general education subjects (e.g. from Oral Communication and Philippine Literature to Philippine History as well as Politics and Government) through my five years in teaching.

Nevertheless, once I’ve made up my mind to actually take the test, I did everything I can to fill my mind with positive energy. You can do that by listening to inspiring songs (I binge-listened to Idina Menzel’s “Defying Gravvity,” Katy Perry’s “Firework,” and Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song“), thinking about your future goals, and of course, by praying to God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q76aw_lloc

3) Study the questions and the choices carefully
There are 450 test items in all: 150 each for the general education, professional education, and specialization parts. A good chunk of those items can be answered simply by understanding the question as well as the choices correctly.

Here’s how I did it. In the first run-through, I only answered the questions I am sure about the answer (or so I thought). This is important because making erasures are not allowed. In the second run, I went back to the questions that I left unanswered the first time. I used the third and final run to review all items from beginning to end. If there are still items that I wasn’t able to answer yet, this is it. The board exam does not follow the right-minus-wrong scheme so it is important to make your best guess in all items.