Broken eyeglasses fail to stop USC grad from topping exams

Jayvee Armamento (CONTRIBUTED).

Two CNU graduates also land in top 10 of teachers licensure examinations

Jayvee Cose Armamento was surprised for landing in the top 10 of the September Board Licensure Exam for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) for the secondary level especially since he could hardly read the test questions when his eyeglasses fell during the exams and got damaged.

Armamento, who is a graduate of Bachelor of Secondary Education (BsEd) Major of Physics-Mathematics from University of San Carlos (USC), ranked eighth in the licensure exams with an average rating of 88.40 percent.

He was one of three graduates from Cebu universities who made it to the top 10 of the BLEPT secondary level exams.

The other two topnotchers are from the Cebu Normal University. They are Ian Christian Paler Cosido of Cebu, who ranked fourth after he got an average of 89.20 percent, and Flordeliz Joy Pansag, who placed ninth with an average rating of 88.20 percent.

“I was nervous because I can’t clearly read the questions and afraid that maybe I missed some items and gave wrong answers,” Armamento, the 21-year-old BLEPT topnotcher from Barangay Umapad, told Cebu Daily News in an interview yesterday.

He said that he wanted before to top the examination but after being faced with the challenge of reading and answering the test questions, he also realized that there were many examinees who took the BLEPT.

Of 92,754 examinees for secondary level, only 31,334 were able to pass the examination.

Overwhelmed

The 21-year-old BLEPT topnotcher could not contain his emotions when he learned of being eighth among those who took the exams after a classmate sent him a text message informing him of his achievement.

“I checked the PRC website for verification. I really cried when I saw it for myself that I was one of the top examinees,” he said.

He said he enrolled in a review center to prepare for the exams, and he never failed to seek the Lord’s help and guidance in taking the exams.

He said he always prayed the Bible verse, Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know,” when he took the exams.

He also offered prayers in churches in Cebu like Birhen sa Simala, Sto. Rosario, and the Carmelite Monastery.

He encouraged future examinees to be prepared (study) and always pray to God to succeed in passing the exams.

Engineer to teacher

Armamento said he wanted to be an engineer and he even got a scholarship from the Department of Science and Technology for it.

But when he learned that the scholarship could not cover all his tuition for the engineering course at USC, he shifted to BSEd.

“I did not want my parents to spend money and add for my tuition so I decided to take another program,” he added.

Armamento’s father is a taxi driver and his mother is a factory worker.

He is also the first among six children to finish his studies.

He graduated last April 2016 as magna cum laude in their batch.

After taking the board examination, Armamento said he plans to take his masters degree and continue to teach at Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion in Mandaue City.