Women dominate PMA entrance exam, Pisay student tops nationwide list

Female examinees secured the highest ranks in the 2025 Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Entrance Examination, with a student from the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Bicol Region Campus leading this year’s list of passers.

Amanda Isabel Guzman placed first among the 1,436 successful examinees out of 24,671 qualified applicants who took the examination from July to September in 48 testing centers nationwide.

The 1,436 passers represent a 5.82 percent passing rate, slightly higher than last year’s 5.02 percent.

Gwen Kyla Phalashol of PSHS Central Mindanao Campus and Aafia Khim Alzeynaah Lomondaya of Albert Einstein School Inc. settled for second and third, respectively, to round out the all-female Top 3. 

The entrance exam is part of the Academy’s standard merit-based recruitment process to select qualified candidates for admission.

It measured the mental aptitude of aspiring cadets in Mathematics (Algebra and Geometry), English (Grammar, Composition, Reading, and Comprehension), and Abstract Reasoning (Verbal, Numerical, and Pattern Analysis).

Successful examinees will proceed to the next step of the admission process, which includes a series of medical, physical, and emotional assessments from October 2025 to April 2026 to determine their readiness and fitness for the military training.

Applicants who complete all stages will be admitted to the PMA Class of 2030, scheduled to begin training at Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City, in May 2026.

They will be welcomed through an oath-taking ceremony and reception rites to signal their official entry to their PMA Class. 

This year’s passers came from various parts of the country, with notable representation from science high schools in the National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), CALABARZON (Region IV-A), Cagayan Valley (Region II), and Northern Mindanao (Region X).

Applicants to the PMA met strict qualifications, including being natural-born Filipino citizens, single, physically fit, of good moral character, within the age limit of 17 to 22 years, and at least five feet tall, with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 85% for high school graduates.