Understanding the Use of Social Media as Platform for Students’ Opinions about Politics and Elections

Abstract

Universities have decided to bring back the College Admissions Test (CAT) for incoming first-year students as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to when these universities would only require the applicants’ previous grades. The researchers aimed to identify the perceptions, sentiments, and level of preparedness of Grade 12 students towards CATs. This descriptive study can gather information for more in-depth studies like possible issues, perceptions from college students who had taken CATs, and possible alternatives for assessing one’s academic aptitude. The quantitative descriptive research design is utilized. Respondents were 30 Grade 12 students from St. Mary’s College Quezon City who will be incoming freshmen for A.Y. 2023-2024. The study utilized stratified random sampling for the strands: 15 from STEM, five each from ABM, HumSS, and GAS. Based on the survey, all 30 respondents will apply for college for A.Y. 2023-2024, although one will not partake in the CATs. The mean of 2.4 represents that these students are “somewhat prepared” for CATs. The overall mean of 4.01 suggests they “agree” on the four negative sentiments, while 3.41 suggests they feel “neutral” on the positive ones. The study found a significant difference between the confidence levels of STEM and non-STEM respondents based on their strand. The data implies that these students are somewhat prepared for CATs. Respondents’ sentiments include stressed, anxious, pressured, scared, optimistic, and motivated. This means that the respondents have neutral to negative perceptions of CATs. Statistics showed that STEM respondents have more confidence than non-STEM respondents (ABM, HUMSS, GAS). This study can be purposed to understand and provide the needs of incoming first-year students’ preparations for CATs (i.e., support from parents, teachers, and schools).