The government’s Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Science Education Institute (SEI) believe in developing the human capacity for greatness.  That’s pretty much why a scholarship bearing their names exists—to give the scientists and engineers of tomorrow a chance to prove their mettle to the country and to themselves.

Like all students in need of financial aid, though, these pupils must first go through a test to prove that they merit such assistance in the first place.  If you’re one of these academic hopefuls, then read on.

The Exam Coverage

Word has it that the overall test lies in the easy to medium range on the spectrum of difficulty, yet certain test items may cause problems to test takers depending on the latter’s aptitude for the different subjects.  This is partly because the DOST Scholarship takes the scope of your run-of-the-mill entrance test and expands upon it.

The test itself is divided into two major sections.  the Intellective part and the Non-Intellective part.  The former involves your familiar high school mathematics, science, English and then some, only in greater detail.  In this test, they are known as quantitative ability, scientific ability and linguistic ability, respectively.

The technical/mechanical ability and working memory sections are two portions that are a little different from the rest.  The former gives you several mechanical steps in a series and asks you to find or calculate the result; the latter works like one of those experiments where an image is quickly flashed before your eyes and you’re supposed to recognize and identify it.

The Non-Intellective section will assess your analytical and problem-solving skills in a different way.  For example, the test will present passages written in a certain theoretical language and you’ll have to infer, evaluate, and draw conclusions from them.

Stock Knowledge or Stuck Knowledge?

If you’ve been diligent with your studies throughout your high school years, chances are you already have what you’ll need for the exam knowledge-wise.  That’s right:  super confident applicants may draw from their stock knowledge alone to best the DOST Scholarship entrance exam.

If you’re feeling a wee bit unconfident, however, a little extra reviewing will help you a great deal.  Some test takers have spoken of difficult questions in the scientific and quantitative ability sections; others have reported seeing nosebleed-inducing words in the linguistic ability part.  Identify which problem areas you’ll need to work on beforehand and prepare accordingly.

What You’ll Need

One thing you will definitely need beforehand is a good night’s sleep.  The exam is easily four hours’ worth of pure brain work, and any all nighters on your part will negatively affect your performance.

Encouragement is another thing you’ll need in generous amounts.  There’s something potentially intimidating about seeing several hundred other applicants vying for a scholarship slot, yet don’t let that discourage you.  Pray, do your part in preparing, and the Lord will do His.  The old saying still rings true:  altitude determines altitude.

In summary:  treat the DOST Scholarship entrance exam as you would any other entrance exam (with all seriousness, competence and time consciousness) and you can—and will succeed.

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