Atty. Jus Lauros Romero felt apprehensive when she took the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT) almost 20 years after graduating from Palawan State University (Palawan SU) with a major in elementary education.
She took the exam in preparation for the preschool she wanted to establish and did not expect to rank 6th during the March 2024 LEPT.
Born and raised in Quezon, Palawan, Jus graduated from Palawan SU in 2005 but did not take the teacher’s licensure examination at the time. Instead, she went to law school and focused on her legal practice afterward.
However, she kept the dream of establishing her own school alive. When she and her husband settled in Malolos, Bulacan, in January 2020, she took steps to make her dream a reality.
The first step was to become certified under the LEPT, which had been revised a few years prior to account for the new curriculum and the K to 12 competencies.
“Magandang preparation [kung dati pa], kasi nung time namin BEEd may major, yung ko nun is English so preparation din sa law school. Challenging po talaga sa akin yung preparation kasi new curriculum– sobrang bago sa akin yung mga lessons, di ako magaling mag-memorize, madali ko siyang makalimutan dahil mas madali sa akin yung pag-analyze,” Jus said.
(Good preparation [if it had been earlier], because during our time in BEEd, there were majors, mine was English so it also prepared me for law school. The preparation was really challenging for me because of the new curriculum— the lessons were very new to me, I’m not good at memorizing, I easily forget them because analyzing comes more naturally to me.)
Jus mentioned that she had enrolled in the online review center of Gurong Pinoy and had also been watching Sir Melvin Buracho’s YouTube channel to prepare for the September 2023 exam. But she found herself unprepared. She remembered feeling anxious upon seeing the results of the daily quizzes, as fresh graduates consistently scored high while she struggled to catch up with new terminology and concepts.
Another obstacle during her review was her physical health. Jus had been admitted to the emergency room three times due to high blood pressure and allergies.
She was discharged from the hospital shortly before taking the exam in San Fernando, Pampanga, where she stayed overnight. Jus recalled feeling unwell during the exam, which added to her overall stress.
Her concerns were confirmed when Jus encountered the first set of general education questions, most of which had not been covered in her review.
“Maraming beses ako na umiiyak out of frustration. Parang very short kasi yung time. (…) Andami ko pang hindi nasagutan, nasa 113 pa lang ako, nung sinabi ng proctor na 20 minutes, hinatawan ko kasi maliban pa doon sa di ko nasagutan, may babalikan pa ako. Awa ng Diyos, natapos ko naman,” she said.
(I cried many times out of frustration. The time felt very short. (…) There were still many questions unanswered, I was only on item 113 when the proctor announced 20 minutes left. I panicked because aside from the unanswered questions, there were still some I needed to review. By God’s grace, I managed to finish.”)
She learned about her exam results through a former coworker at the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), who sent Jus a screenshot of her name at the top of the rankings.
Jus consistently credited the Palawan SU community, especially the main campus’ College of Teacher Education, for her success. She noted that even though the curriculum had drastically changed within the twenty years since she graduated, her former professors’ instructions rang true in her work.
“Sa mga future teachers, masasabi ko lang talaga love knowledge. Magbasa, magpakasipag, and magkaroon ng disiplina, kasi naniniwala ako na yung exam kasi hindi lang siya test ng kung anong naaral mo doon sa four years. Nagsimula yun nung elementary ka. Maging observant din sa paligid maging involved din sa mga paligid natin, common sense lang. Maging matiyaga, para doon sa mga hindi nakapasa agad, subok lang uli,” stated Jus.
(To future teachers, I can only say love knowledge. Read, work hard, and be disciplined, because I believe that the exam is not just a test of what you learned in those four years. It started when you were in elementary school. Be observant of your surroundings, be involved in what’s happening around us, it’s just common sense. Be patient, for those who didn’t pass immediately, just try again.)
