Psychology program marks outstanding board exam performance

Far Eastern University (FEU) produced 496 passers in the September 2025 Board Licensure Examination for Psychometricians, with seven students placing in the Top 10. The program achieved a 95.03 percent passing rate for first-time takers and 94.12 percent overall, ranking as the Top 2 Performing School among institutions with 300 or more examinees. 

Bettina Mae Reyes placed third with 89.20 percent. Jannah Paula Alvaro, Preciliza Joy Ortega, and Carrie Ann Tagaro tied for eighth place with 88.00 percent. Isabel Amelie Lara placed ninth with 87.80 percent. Jan Alecksa Ong and Julia Clarisse Zafra both placed tenth with 87.60 percent. 

“We already started preparing students from their lower years… specifically, we do our departmental examinations. Early on, they're already aware about the board examinations so there's already that healthy competition… and the mindset that there's a board examination,” said faculty member Jan Patrick Gutierrez in a mix of English and Filipino. 

This early foundation leads towards what the department calls the “course audit” in fourth year.  

“We're one of the first schools that have this. We review our students in preparation for the board exam while they're in their fourth year,” said Gutierrez.  

Board subjects are distributed across two semesters, with diagnostic examinations and formative assessments based on the board exam's table of specifications. The approach also serves as a remedial measure.  

“This also ensures that if there are topics missed during their lower years due to class interruptions, the course audit becomes a remedy to discuss topics they're not able to discuss during their lower years,” said Gutierrez. 

Beyond lectures and assessments, the department employs active learning strategies. Students create their own examination questions based on the board exam's table of specifications.  

“The objective of this activity is to help them think of what the board examiners could possibly create,” said Gutierrez. Pre-board examinations during the finals are integrated into course grades. Faculty members also hold regular meetings to ensure consistency in teaching quality and content across sections. 

Gutierrez shared that support extended beyond graduation.  

“Just this year, we also invited students even after they've graduated, the support of the department to board exam takers was continuous. We conducted review sessions every Wednesday, from 6 to 8 p.m. up to the night before the board exam,” said Gutierrez. Sessions included lectures and rationalization of pre-board items, serving as supplementary review for graduates. 

Students echoed the effectiveness of these strategies. Reyes, who placed third, noted the role of general education (GE) courses.  

“[The university] did not just prepare me for my [professional courses]. The [GE] courses also played a huge role in developing skills that I ended up relying on every day—like research, writing, communication, and time management,” she said. “I realized that when your only goal is to 'achieve,' you get pressured, scared, and easily overwhelmed. But when you focus on enjoying the learning itself, everything feels lighter. I really believe that someone who genuinely loves what they're doing will always go far.”  

Ong, who placed tenth, credited the course audit despite its difficulty. “Despite all the stress and anxiety I felt during both audit courses, it has trained me well in analyzing test items and doing well under pressure,” she said.  

Ortega, who tied for eighth with Alvaro and Tagaro, was an irregular student since 2022. She mentioned how helpful FEU was to her.  

“So many people, especially professors, believed in me before I even believed in myself. At the end of the day, our environment also shapes the way we feel about ourselves. Believing that something is possible is the first step that helped me gain this achievement. And that belief was shaped through the help of FEU,” she said. 

Zafra, another tenth-place finisher, cited the significance of her clinical internship at Philippine Mental Health Association.  

“Meeting clients, psychometricians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and volunteers opened my eyes to the realities of mental health. I knew then and there that this was something I had to work for,” she said. 

Lulette Matammu, department chairperson, emphasized that the program aims beyond exam success.  

“The goal is for them to not only be good psychometricians but ones that have developed the discipline of the program,” she said. Likewise, Mattamu attributed the results to combined effort: “More than anything else, it's not just the work of the faculty or just the department alone. The students themselves played a big role. Regardless of what the faculty or the department does, if the students are not themselves motivated, or if they don't have the same values, goals, nothing will happen. I think maybe it was good combination: the students too really loved the program and we have incredible faculty members.” 

For Matammu, the results validate years of collaborative effort. “The number of passers is a testimony to the fact that we did the job right,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino. “This is a validation of the years of work, dedication of faculty, department, and the students.”