Imagine waking up to a flood of congratulatory messages and having to tell your mom, “Ma, topnotcher ako!”
For Melza Luz Ramel, a 23-year-old Lagunense who recently aced the Board Licensure Examination for Psychologists and Psychometricians (BLEPP), that scenario was no figment of imagination but a reality.
Melza, a graduate of the Laguna State Polytechnic College (LSPC) in San Pablo City, sees the exam as the culmination of a lifelong passion to help others with mental health issues, which in turn was drawn from her own experience.
Doors to help others
Pursuing a career in the field of Psychology was more than a career— it was healing herself and others.
More than the title of being a topnotcher, Melza values the open opportunities to extend help to individuals who need help in raising awareness for mental health and advocating for better quality and accessible services.
Her on-the-job training experience at the Don Remedio National High School added fuel to her burning passion, where she also found her calling to be a guidance counselor.
Her experience made her realize the importance and the lack of guidance counselors in public high schools.
These encounters with the students, together with her personal experiences, made her take action to remove the stigma about the guidance office being a punishment place for students and guidance counselors who are mostly conveyed as strict disciplinarians.
Topnotcher’s technique
Of course, acing the boards was full of hard work and sleepless nights. Just like every student, Melza struggled to balance her school, work, and personal life.
According to her, she has to limit and decline social gatherings and galas with friends because it was either work or study mode for her during the review period. She started reviewing in early January and bought study material in a Facebook group, her review period during this time was inconsistent because of other commitments.
Around March, she started attending a review center in April, dedicating her weekends for review and studying at night every weekday.
Additionally, setting goal and having review strategies is what helped Melza, she used the Pomodoro technique, where:
• You have to select a single task to focus on.
• Set a timer and focus on working with the task for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes, take a five-minute break.
• Repeat doing this for four rounds
• After repeating for four rounds, you can now take a longer break to recharge.
When trying strategies, you must know what are your strengths and weaknesses. As for Melza, she has a short attention span.
Another technique shared by the topnotcher was not limiting yourself in reading the concepts and theories, but making sure to apply it by answering 50 to 100 questions per day.
With all these tiring efforts, Melza emphasized the importance of having a strong support system whenever studying the boards, because there were times her confidence slid down when taking their practice tests.
“Having a strong support system is significant for the success that I have achieved,” she added as she acknowledged her family, friends, department, and workmates who gave financial, moral, and emotional support in her journey.
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