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How to pass the ECE Board Exam
Mula kay Prof. Cedar
Libre ang gabay na ito para sa lahat. Basahin mo, i-share mo sa mga kasabay mong mag-review, at simulan na natin. Hindi lang pasado ang target natin: sigurado.
If you're here, you're probably serious about your license. Good. In this guide you'll find:
- what the exam really covers, and its format
- a 12-week plan
- how to study so it sticks
- strategies for exam day itself
- the PRC checklist
- a few preparation stories
1. Know the exam
The ECE licensure exam takes two days, with two subjects each day. This is how it ran in recent PRC exam programs:
| Day | Subject | Time | Weight | Items* | Time per item |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathematics | 8:00–12:00 (4 hours) | 20% | 100 | about 2.4 minutes |
| 1 | Electronics Engineering | 1:00–6:00 (5 hours) | 30% | 100 | about 3 minutes |
| 2 | General Engineering & Applied Sciences (GEAS) | 8:00–12:00 (4 hours) | 20% | 100 | about 2.4 minutes |
| 2 | Electronics Systems & Technologies (EST) | 1:00–6:00 (5 hours) | 30% | 100 | about 3 minutes |
*According to the PRC Table of Specifications. Always check the exam program and Notice of Admission for your own exam; the times can change.
The passing rules (RA 9292, Section 16):
- You need 70% in every subject. It isn't an average: even with 95% in three subjects, you fail if the fourth is 65%.
- If you pass most of the subjects and get 60% to 69% in the rest, you may take one removal exam in those. If you fail the removal, you fail the whole exam.
So no subject can be neglected. That's why our target is sure, not "maybe I'll pass".
Where the points are. According to the TOS:
- Math, Electronics and EST: 30% easy, 40% moderate and 30% difficult questions.
- GEAS: 60% easy (recall and understanding only), so wide, light reading works better than deep study.
- Biggest topics:
- Radio Wave Propagation (8 items)
- Pulse and Digital Modulation (7)
- AM, SSB and FM; Antenna Systems; and First-Order ODE (6 each)
- Noise, Transmission Lines, Laplace Transforms, and Feedback, Oscillators and Filters (5 each)
- Biggest course: EST's Principles of Communications, with 25 items, a quarter of the whole subject!
2. The 12-week plan
It fits in 3 months. You'll need about 3 to 4 hours a day; if you're working, see section 6.
| Week | Focus | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Mathematics: calculus, differential equations, statistics, advanced math. Start your caltech now. | Math is the foundation of Electronics and EST. |
| 4–6 | Electronics: DC and AC circuits, devices, op-amps, digital, microprocessors, control systems | 30% of your rating, and it uses your Math. |
| 7–9 | EST: communications, transmission lines and antennas, digital and data communications | Also 30%, and it has the biggest topics. |
| 10–11 | GEAS: economics, management, physics, chemistry, laws, and more. Go back over your mistakes at the same time. | Mostly easy; it needs wide reading. |
| 12 | Mock exams that follow the real exam times, then rest before the exam | So your body and mind get used to 4 and 5 hours. |
Every day: one new topic, about 20 minutes of GEAS reading, and a look back at yesterday's mistakes. Not every day has to be perfect. What matters is that you keep going.
3. How to study so it sticks
- Answer, don't just read. After reading, close your notes and try to solve or explain it. Recalling from your own head is what makes memory stick.
- Repeat with gaps. Come back to a topic after 1 day, 3 days and 1 week. Spaced repetition lasts longer than one long sitting.
- Keep a "mistakes notebook". Write down every mistake: the question, why you got it wrong, and the right way. It's your most important notebook in the last week.
- Mix the topics. Once you're used to one topic, mix it with others. In the exam, you never know what the next question is.
- Time yourself. Train for about 2.4 minutes per item in Math and GEAS, and about 3 minutes in Electronics and EST.
- Teach someone else. Once you can explain it to a friend, you truly understand it.
- Master your calculator. Use the exact model allowed in the exam (PRC Resolution No. 1809, s. 2024), and get fluent in its modes (equation solver, complex numbers, base-N). The seconds you save become points.
Avoid
- Just rereading or highlighting. It feels like you learned something, but you can't answer it in the exam.
- All-nighters and cramming in the last week. Sleep beats one extra topic.
- Neglecting a subject. Remember: 70% in every subject.
4. Exam-day strategy
- Two passes. In the first pass, answer the ones you're sure of and mark the hard ones. Come back to them in the second pass. Don't spend more than twice the usual time on a single question.
- Estimate first. In computations, check the units and the size of the answer; often, some choices are obviously wrong.
- Be careful with the answer sheet. Follow the shading instructions, erase cleanly, and don't make any other marks.
- Don't leave blanks unless your exam's instructions say wrong answers are penalized.
- Use the lunch break. There's an hour between the morning and afternoon. Eat properly and drink water; don't cram anymore.
5. Checklist from the PRC
Based on the PRC exam program for ECE (October 2024). Still follow the Notice of Admission and exam program for your own exam; they can change.
Before the exam
- Apply online through PRC LERIS (online.prc.gov.ph). Watch out for fake copies of the site.
- Check your school, building and room assignment on the PRC website, about 2 to 3 working days before the exam, and visit the place before exam day.
- Make sure your model is on the list of allowed calculators.
Bring on exam day
- Notice of Admission and Official Receipt
- Two or more pencils, and a ballpen with black ink
- One long brown envelope, and one long transparent plastic envelope for your things
- One allowed non-programmable calculator. It's inspected and must be reset before the exam starts.
What to wear: a white collared polo shirt or blouse, with no seal, logo or any marking. Men: tucked in, with decent pants or slacks. Women: decent pants, slacks or a skirt.
Time: arrive at your assigned school before 5:30 in the morning on the first day. Late examinees are not admitted.
Not allowed inside:
- books, notes and review materials
- programmable calculators, including the Casio fx-991ES and fx-991ES PLUS
- cellphones, smartwatches and other gadgets
- bags of any kind
6. For different situations
Fresh grad? This is the best time. What you learned in college is still fresh, and you still have momentum. A fresh grad's biggest enemy is "I'll just take the next exam". Pick an exam date, tell your family, and start the plan this week.
Working? You don't need 8 hours a day. About 2 hours every evening, longer on weekends, and your commute for GEAS reading or flashcards. Stretch the plan to 16 to 20 weeks if you need to. See the weekly plan for working reviewees.
Retaker? It's not the end. You already know what the exam looks like and where you struggled. Use your results: start with your lowest subjects, and make your mistakes notebook the thickest.
7. Preparation stories
These are only examples
We made up these stories to show how to use the strategies above. They are not real people. When we have real stories from Cedar reviewees, we'll put them here, with their permission.
Mia, fresh grad. Two months after graduation, Mia started the 12-week plan. She was strong in Math but nervous about EST. So from week 7, she started with Radio Wave Propagation and Antenna Systems, two of the biggest topics. Every evening she took the lesson's quiz and wrote every miss in her mistakes notebook. In the last week, that notebook was all she read. Lesson: start with the big topics, and your mistakes are your best reviewer.
Paolo, working. Paolo is a technician who works 8 to 5. He couldn't review all day, so he did 2 hours every evening, longer on Saturdays. On the jeepney, he read GEAS on his phone. He stretched the 12-week plan to 18 weeks. Lesson: steady matters more than long.
Lara, removal. On her first take, Lara passed Math, GEAS and EST, but got 66% in Electronics. Since she passed most subjects and got 60–69% in one, she could take a removal exam. She didn't redo everything. She went back to the topics where she scored low, used the step-by-step solvers until she could solve them without looking, and practiced at 3 minutes per item. Lesson: a removal isn't a defeat; it's a clear map of where to get stronger.
8. A last word from Prof. Cedar
Mula kay Prof. Cedar
Ang board exam ay isang araw lang. Ang paghahanda mo ang magdadala sa iyo roon. Kaya mo 'to, future Engineer. Kung gusto mo ng kasama sa bawat topic, nandito ako.
Cedar covers the whole TOS in 143 lessons, with Taglish explanations, step-by-step solvers, interactive labs, formula cards, quizzes and explainer videos.