With a passing rate of below 50% last March, passing the Licensure Exam for Professional Teachers (LEPT) is far from an easy feat. The LEPT is the national examination that certifies educators across the country—providing a professional teacher’s license to its passers. Last January and March, two of our very own teachers, Mrs. Richelle Kho and Ms. Rhenee Sy, successfully passed the LEPT. Mrs. Kho currently teaches Grade 7 Communication Arts (Creative Writing and Public Speaking) and Senior High School Media Information Literacy and Oral Communication. Ms. Sy, on the other hand, teaches Home Economics for various high school levels. Through an interview with our passers, here is a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes on what it takes to pass the LEPT.
The LEPT is often underestimated in its difficulty by the average person. Covering broad topics from Science to English to Math, teachers who aim to pass the LEPT often undergo extensive review and practice prior to the actual exam.
“As my original LEPT was scheduled for March 2020, I enrolled in a review center and attended classes every Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM to 5 PM from the first weekend of January until early March of that year, right before the lockdown,” said Ms. Rhenee Sy.
On the other hand, Mrs. Richelle Kho shared a slightly different experience, “Since I had a family to take care of and had no time to go to a review center, I initially decided to review on my own for the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers or LEPT. I bought and downloaded reviewers, and reviewed with my sister and Mrs. Abi Co, who were also going to take the LET with me.”
However, with the onset of the pandemic, many plans were discarded and events delayed. This, unfortunately, included the LEPT that was initially scheduled for March 2020.
“Due to the pandemic, it was obviously postponed so I just focused on work. I was finally able to take the LEPT last March 27. For this new schedule though, I didn’t get to really really study until a week before the exam because I was busy with work. But about a month prior to the exam, I would play review videos I found on YouTube. I would set the speed at 1.5x and listen to them while eating, doing household chores, driving, before sleeping…basically any time that I wasn’t working or checking any students’ work,” mentioned Ms. Sy.
“We were scheduled to take the LEPT in March 2020, but COVID struck and the test was postponed. When Mrs. Abi Co and I found out that we were part of the first batch scheduled to take the test in Sept 2021, we decided to enroll in an online review course conducted by the Philippine Normal University (PNU) a month before the exam, to refresh our memories of what we had studied. But high COVID cases towards the end of Sept. caused the exam to be postponed again in NCR. The first post-pandemic LEPT finally pushed through in NCR last January 2022, of which I was a part,” explained Mrs. Kho. Mrs. Abi Co, however, chose to defer her exam and not take it together with Mrs. Kho last January.
While the experience of reviewing for the LEPT already remains to be difficult and formidable, one additional challenge both siblings faced was the complex process of juggling both work as teachers and the upcoming exam.
When asked about what was the hardest thing about taking the LEPT, Ms. Sy said, “It definitely would be finding time and motivation to study amidst my busy work schedule. Another challenge for me was the fact that my specialization for the exam was Social Science which isn’t really what I had studied or what I’m teaching. Since this subject is pretty broad, I had to study about different “subtopics": economics, politics and governance, history, sociology, anthropology, geography, psychology, etc. Thank God for reviewers that friends and colleagues lent me! And thank God for YouTube!”
“The hardest thing about taking the LEPT was remembering everything that I studied. Since I am not an education major, I had to take education units from 2017 to 2019 with UP Open University while teaching full time and taking care of the family. By the time I took the exam in January 2022, I could barely remember the lessons I had. I was also not an English major, so reviewing and taking the test for my specialization (English) was particularly challenging. The actual test itself took a whole day, so you become really tired and sleepy at some point while taking the test,” narrated Mrs. Kho.
With the gradual opening of the country, the 2022 Licensure Exam for Professional Teachers was fast approaching, with the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announcing various exam schedules throughout the remainder of the year. Teachers nationwide once again resumed their licensure examinations—a daunting task without the advice and guidance of those who have gone before.
Echoing one another, both LEPT passers—Ms. Sy and Mrs. Kho—stressed the importance of avoiding cramming, resting before the exam, and lifting everything up to the Lord.
“Don’t cram! I was soooo stressed the days before the exam because I felt that I hadn’t studied enough so I was studying as much as I could given the limited time I had.” emphasized Ms. Sy. “Do not cram. Study and review little by little. Take lots of practice tests too, because oftentimes, the questions for the actual test and practice test are similar or almost the same,” said Mrs. Kho.
Ms. Sy concluded, “Last, stop stressing/worrying and surrender everything to the Lord and just trust Him. As I’ve been saying earlier, I felt so stressed about the exam prior to the exam but the actual test was not as hard as I thought it would be. It was quite easy actually.”
“Rest the day before the exam and do not review anymore. But the most important thing is to pray really really hard and ask the Lord to help you get through it.” added Mrs. Kho.
To God be all the glory and congratulations to our LEPT passers!
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