Making an Unpopular Stand for the Country
Alitaptap
July 10th, 2009 | 
The board examinations for Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physical Therapy (PT) are among the most difficult licensure exams in the country.
| I thank God that I passed the boards on my first take and I didn’t use for review old board test questions, pirated reviewers, and I avoided review centers that used illegal materials.
I do not intend to promote myself as superior to those who used illegal study materials during their board exam review. I looked up to them during our undergraduate years, when they were able to earn higher grades than I did. Many of them were undoubtedly the cream of the crop when we were still in the university. But the fact that they were among the brightest students in this country made me feel all the more sad. I find it mind-boggling that they still had to cheat despite being intellectually gifted. It pains me that despite the calls of our university to serve the Filipino people, they still resorted to illegal methods in reviewing for the board exams. They came up with all sorts of excuses as to why using prohibited review materials should be justified. They said that the board exams were a joke anyway, so we can just memorize the answers to questions that might come up in the boards even if we may not fully understand the rationale behind the answers. They justified their use of pirated reviewers by saying that it was the only way that we can pass the boards. |
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| Although I personally think that the questions that came up in the exams can be improved further to test more validly a student’s ability to engage in clinical reasoning, the OT-PT board exams still serve the purpose of forcing future clinicians to study hard before they handle patients. Merely memorizing answers to pass board questions will enable even the laziest and most incompetent OT and PT students to handle patients at expensive prices. We need those licensure exams to compel students to study everything that they ought to study before giving them the privilege to build the life of a person with disability (PWD), Moreover, we must not use pirated reviewers because we would be stealing from those who are making an honest living in publishing those study materials.
If you think about it, it’s ridiculous to keep memorizing the answers of past board or reviewer questions. And don’t tell me that you are going to memorize a decade’s worth of past board questions? What if slight changes were made in the questions so that the answers will be different from what you memorized? |
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Reviewing for the board exams was hard for me. There were so many lessons that I had to study again in such a short span of time. I felt so alone because I didn’t know of any other person who didn’t use pirated reviewers or past board questions.
To make matters worse, almost all of the other board exam takers were actually praying to God to bless the results of their exams even if they were using illegal review materials. Oh how prayer was perverted during the review for the board exams! The difficulties of college life and clinical internship was a personal journey that inculcated in me that excellence does not result from trusting in one’s own abilities, resources or “diskarte” – it is rising above the level of mediocrity and humbly acknowledging that your best is not enough apart from grace. |
| To borrow the words of Greg Koukl (one of my favorite writers), keeping your integrity intact as you study for the board exams is not heroic. It’s just common decency. I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to make an unpopular stand for what is right. I did what was right because of the higher purpose of love and compassion for my future patients and for my country. | |
| Maria Anya Paola P. Sanchez is a graduate of UP Manila. She now works as an occupational therapist and as a clinical supervisor at the Independent Living Learning Centre (ILLC) in Mandaluyong City. | |
July 11th, 2009 at 07:45 AM
“To borrow the words of Greg Koukl (one of my favorite writers), keeping your integrity intact as you study for the board exams is not heroic. It’s just common decency.”
I so agree with this. It’s like–integrity is not something that human beings should grapple about or with but something that is common. This is not only true in PT Board Exams. This is also true in the BAR exams and all exams that we have in our country. Ideal Natives in cold blood that is.
July 12th, 2009 at 08:33 PM
Wow.. saludo ako sa’yo Ma’am Maria Anya Paola P. Sanchez! Ako ay isang accountancy student at nakatakda ring kumuha ng board exams, ang marinig ang iyong kwento ay talaga namang nakakabuhay ng dugo dahil sa totoo lang isa rin ako dun sa mga magaaral na nagmememorize ng questions at answer at alam ang resulta nga gawaing iyon. Mataas nga ang marka pero tama eh walang maipagmalaki sa ganung gawain.
Nakakatuwa po dahil kayo po ay ngasisilbing gabay sa kung ano ang dapat gawin sa gitna ng mga sablay pong pamamaraan ng pagkamit ng lisensya natin dito sa ating bansa.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:23 PM
Common decency is apparently not so common anymore.But it is never too late. This site is proof of that. Let us continue raising our national consciousness to a higher level by deliberately studying our history as a nation; learning from its mistakes and carrying on the fight for liberation from the tyranny of self-abasement that is within us.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:42 PM
SALUTE!
July 13th, 2009 at 07:43 PM
“To make matters worse, almost all of the other board exam takers were actually praying to God to bless the results of their exams even if they were using illegal review materials. Oh how prayer was perverted during the review for the board exams!”
`grabe !
PiNAGDASAL NA PUMASA SiLA, DAHiL NiREViEW OR MiNEMORiZE NAMAN NiLA UNG SAGOT EH. :O
`walang galang sa sarili. integridad para sa sarili? wala na. paano ba ang bansa nating uhaw na uhaw sa integridad mula sa tao para itayo ng matayog ang bansa niya?
`ang tindi naman.
`nakakatuwa at mayroon pang handang magsunog ng kilay para sa mga exams. sana lahat ng estudyante ay ganun.
dapat naman natural na un sa aming mga magaaral.
“an educated native is a dangerous native.” :]
July 18th, 2009 at 02:05 AM
An unpopular stand it was indeed!
Grabe!!! sa dinami-dami ng kumuha ng exam, siguro mabibilang mo lang sa mga daliri ng isang kamay ang masasabi nating lumaban ng parehas. Masakit isipin dahil mga nagsikap rin ang mga yaon na makapag-bayad ng malaking halaga. Siguro marami sa kanila ang hindi alam kung paano hahagilapin ang salaping ipangba-bayad sa exam. Pero ang magiging kaparaanan ng pagsusulit ay walang katapatan. Nakakalungkot dahil gusto rin nilang makaahon pero nalunod ang karamihan sa paniniwalang ang baluktot na sistema ay mabilis na solusyon sa problema.
July 19th, 2009 at 09:35 PM
wow! napakasayang magkaroon ng lisensya kapag ganyan.. sana mga board takers na Pilipino, kagaya nio din may buhay at puso ang pagkakaroon ng lisensya,, hindi lang xa basta basta blue-print ng pinagaralan. =)
July 20th, 2009 at 04:18 PM
“The difficulties of college life and clinical internship was a personal journey that inculcated in me that excellence does not result from trusting in one’s own abilities, resources or “diskarte” – it is rising above the level of mediocrity and humbly acknowledging that your best is not enough apart from grace.”
This is so inspiring for my review in taking UPCAT. My classmates did the same thing. They look down on me because I didn’t take a review center and told that there’s a small chance for me to pass the exam. I don’t mind them at all. Instead, I will give my best to it and whatever the outcome will be, I know God has a plan for me. The part where your classmates prayed to God made me so irritated with them. It’s so heartbreaking that we use God as luck. We always depend on miracle.
My aunt’s neighbor who has a daughter who will also take the UPCAT said, “Pag hindi nakapasa yung anak ko, magpapalakad kami dun sa kakilala namin sa UP.”
Thanks for this article!God bless
July 24th, 2009 at 01:48 PM
how unlawful are the other students that just cheat the exams!
di ko talaga gusto din yung mga ginagawa nila!
sana matulungan nila ang bansa natin sa tamang paraan at hindi sa maling paraan!
July 30th, 2009 at 02:14 PM
wala akong masabi… PANALO. Salamat sa isang bagong tutularan!
August 1st, 2009 at 08:19 PM
I’m truly honored Maria that you stand for what is right, honor and moral. The problem is the system of the exams in our country it no longer improves, and still the same old questions are used for the next 3-5 years (I wish I could help on that system), but the worst is the leakages in the exams. We all know that every exams can be cheated, coz some students post the exams in the internet. The only exceptions that exams can’t be cheated are those that are changed, improved and updated regularly. I do also use those reviewers – (don’t use reviewers if you have wrong intentions in it, “don’t do it, it will ruin you”) – but not to memorize the answers, but to understand the problem and to know other ways on how to solve the problem. It’s painful to see people no longer use their mind and heart, they are no longer longing to be a better person but want only to pass the exam, or to earn money. I take an international exam certification and I failed the first take and I have to study harder to pass the second, coz they change, update and improve it, they are mostly situational and application exams. You can’t memorize the questions and answers you must understand the question and know the solution to the question. In the end of the exam, you will be rank by your skills through your answers. IF we Filipinos no longer run for cheating or just passing the exam, but we run to be better sons and daughters of these country, by improving ourselves in the fields where we are placed by God and helping our fellow Filipinos to become better in their fields. We can make this country a better place to live-in and help the future generations.
Maraming salamat po at magandang araw po sa inyo!
August 6th, 2009 at 05:32 PM
“See the Invisible,Do the Impossible”
August 9th, 2009 at 01:22 AM
Stories like this always reminds me of keeping in track – that the life I live is not for my own. Thank God really for Alitaptap section and for the people who share their amazingly beautiful stories!
August 10th, 2009 at 09:04 PM
-There’s a lot of illegal things happening before/during board exams. “memorizing answers to pass board questions” >pinaka common na ginagawa sa review center… Sa sobrang common di mo na maisip na mali pla un! lahat kasi yun na ung ginagawa.. prang automatic n un! meron pa ngang review materials(at d back of d book) na nakapublish yung past board questionnaire, na mbibili sa national bookstore. Minsan pnagmamalaki pa nga ng review center na meron silang mga ganung reviewer na parang ang galing nila kasi nailalabas nila yung mga tanung nang hindi sila nhuhuli… ang hirap tagala maging bulag! its only by grace kaya nkikita ntin to. Im looking forward to do my part..
>to make an unpopular stand for what is right.
August 20th, 2009 at 04:54 PM
i think it is just right to do what is right. let’s make it simply normative.
August 30th, 2009 at 08:31 PM
I agree…
It is not easy to take board exams…
Lalo na kung nag review ka in a “RIGHT” way…
Only a few, at this time, who take this road of DECENCY…
“THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED”
We, pinoy, always want the easiest and the fastest track even if we loose our integrity…
I hope, the unpopular stand we are making will be a start of a new beginning for a new Filipino… The be the light of the people who are in dark places…
Raise the Brown race!!!
September 18th, 2009 at 07:26 PM
hummm…we are on same situation gurl… im a student nurse of olfu-fatima university…and about to take board this coming november…ahmm what i would like to say about your message is that perhaps you should not focus on criticizing those who lack self worth, so as embodying their dignity…be blessed by your own understanding or wisdom…and just, dont let yourself get that affected by their wrong notions…focus unto yourself for we are not to judge…but i acknowledge that you, maybe,just wanting for change…for betterment…but we,again, must be concerned to our own…just be a good guide or model to them, then thats enough as service…
October 1st, 2009 at 08:24 PM
i cant totally relate to your situation since Iam still a high school student. but for me your message, setting a good example to others is one way to help our generation to open our eyes. i know that you are sort of judging a person, but to me i see it as a constructive criticism. i hope that i too, may be a good role model to my fellow youth.
October 3rd, 2009 at 08:11 PM
By saying that “you shouldn’t judge others”, you are actually judging a person for exercising judgment; therefore the claim that we shouldn’t judge people is self-refuting.
Not all kinds of judgments are harmful. Some are absolutely necessary and constructive, while some are hypocritical. If we shouldn’t exercise any kind of judgment, then the Brown Raise Movement should not speak out against corruption, colonial mentality and selfishness. On the other hand, a hypocritical, self-righteous kind of judgment is one that looks down on others without realizing that he/she has the same faults as those of other people. It is this kind of judgment that we must not resort to. Not knowing how to judge matters as right or wrong or morally neutral leads to extreme political correctness which will ultimately make us all stupid.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:47 AM
I just don’t get it.
Ganon na ba talaga tayo ka-desperate na pumasa sa exams that we are willing to cheat and still pray to God that we pass through those things?
It’s a sad thing to think that even the brightest students which are expected to be “true” professionals do things like that. Serious;y before, I have ni idea of things like illegal review materials. But even if I had just discovered that fact, I still find it soooooo unfair.
I maybe an ordinary high school student, but this kind of situation affects me deeply an d is seting a good example for me to follow.
I just hope that the other students who cheated in that exam is settin a good example to us younger ones.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:16 PM
tama nga po talga!!! hindi na kailangan ng shortcuts dahil mas papahirapan lang nito ang buhay mo kapag nasa totoong mundo ka na!!! grabe po… galing!!!
November 11th, 2009 at 04:10 PM
I’m so glad to hear that there are Filipino people as young as you who’s making that stand..I pray that you continue what you are doing and truly be a light shining in the midst..It is sad to know that in reality, most Filipinos, students, workers, or even politicians won’t understand what you just did..Thank God for we have The Brown Raise and we started to understand what it is to be a Filipino..and begin to learn to love the nation God has given us.
November 28th, 2009 at 03:20 PM
I can totally relate when you said that even the brightest students resort to illegal means of passing the [board] exams. I’m a medical student, but I’m not taking the boards yet. But what I observed in my class is that they try to get copies of old test papers na nakuha ng mga naunang batch at yun ang inaaral! Tapos sila pa ang nasa top 10 ng class. Nakakahiya. Hindi totoong talino ang dala nila. At mas nakakahiya pa lalo kasi they’re branded as “religious”. HIndi sila nahihiyang idamay ang Panginoon sa mga kabulastugan nila!
Buti na lang may mga taong desidido pa ring gawin ang tamang paraan sa pag-aaral. I do not belong to the top of my class, but I can truly say na binabasa ko ang mga libro namin, kahit sobrang haba. At least mas nare-retain yung mga inaral ko after reading my books.
Sa ating lahat. Alam natin kung ano ang tama. Yun ang gawin natin. Mabuhay tayong lahat. =)
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 AM
This doesn’t surprise me at all… Dishonesty is sadly considered as something “accepted”.. They say that it is “practical dishonesty”… Just like “white lie”…
So sad but this is the reality… Once you’ve entered the top you will want to stay there forever… Thats why you will do everything to remain there… Most top students are also the TOP CHEATERS of their classes..
I am a college student… And I’m a deans lister… But, it doesnt make me happy… To be at par with those cheaters…Huh!!!!