Required to take UPCAT are all applicants for freshman admission. These include honor graduates and recipients of scholarships, public and private, freshman applicants who wish to avail of the Iskolar ng Bayan (IB) Program or Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) as well as Filipino and foreign applicants who are graduates of secondary schools abroad.

The only exception to this rule are applicants for admission into the Certificate in Forestry Curriculum in the College of Forestry and Natural Resources.

There is no minimum high school grade requirement in taking the UPCAT. Eligible to take the UPCAT are students who have not taken the UPCAT previously and who are:

• high school seniors who expect to graduate at the end of the school year; or
• high school graduates who have not taken and are not taking any college subject in any school, college or university.

The UPCAT consists of a Verbal Test (VT) and a Quantitative Test (QT), mostly in English with some items in Filipino. The VT consists of English proficiency and reading comprehension. The QT consists of mathematics and science.

Specific test dates for the first and second semester admission are announced each year.