A number can be printed beside a name, ranked against thousands of others, and remembered long after an examination ends. Yet even the highest marks leave something unwritten. They cannot account for the doubts carried into the testing room, the people who made the journey bearable, or the reasons someone chooses to keep going when the outcome remains uncertain.
For Maria Nya Nkara Perez Borja and Ivy Jane Batolina Peñaredondo, graduates of Ateneo de Naga University (AdNU), a rating of 92.80 placed them eighth nationwide in the September 2026 Psychometrician Licensure Examination (PMLE). When the results were released on 23 September, their names appeared side by side among the country’s topnotchers.
The distinction was the same; the stories behind it were not.
Borja had entered the examination hoping to pass and gain more opportunities to serve others. Peñaredondo, meanwhile, had once treated the possibility of becoming a topnotcher as a joke shared among friends. Neither story could be fully told through the number on the results sheet.
Their achievement offers a glimpse into two different relationships with Psychology: one grounded in the desire to help people navigate life’s challenges, the other shaped by a growing curiosity about both human behavior and the discipline itself. Together, their experiences raise a question that extends beyond the examination: when a number tells us how someone performed, what does it leave for us to discover?
Where Their Journeys Began
Long before the examination placed their names on a national list, Psychology had offered both graduates a way of looking at the world. It was a lens through which human behavior became more than what could be seen on the surface, and individual experiences became worth understanding rather than simply judging.
For Borja, that curiosity came with a desire to help. She wanted to understand the experiences that shape how people think, feel, and respond to the world. More than gaining knowledge, she hoped the discipline would equip her to help others recognize their strengths and weaknesses, cope with life’s challenges, and work toward their full potential.
Pursuing the PMLE became another step toward putting that intention into practice. Earning a license would open more opportunities for her to turn what she had learned into meaningful service.
Peñaredondo’s interest also began with curiosity about human behavior and motivation. As she continued studying Psychology, however, the lens through which she viewed the discipline began to change. Her questions extended beyond the people Psychology sought to understand and toward the field itself: whose experiences did it recognize, whose realities did it overlook, and how could it become more responsive to the people it served?
Her concerns included the shortage of licensed professionals and counselors, limited resources, and financial barriers that prevent some people from accessing psychological services. She also reflected on the need for Psychology to become more rooted in Filipino experiences instead of relying heavily on ideas developed elsewhere.
These questions did not signal an abandonment of the discipline. Rather, they reflected the difficulty of caring about something while recognizing how much work remains to be done.
“I believe questioning it doesn’t mean that you don’t trust it.”
For Peñaredondo, questioning Psychology was part of taking it seriously. A discipline devoted to understanding people, she believed, must also be willing to examine its own assumptions, limitations, and practices.
Here, the two graduates’ paths began to diverge, not in their interest in people, but in the questions that interest inspired. Borja looked toward the opportunities Psychology could give her to help others; Peñaredondo also looked inward at the discipline, considering how it might better fulfill that promise.
Both perspectives point toward the same responsibility: understanding people requires more than looking at what is immediately visible. It demands a willingness to look closer, reconsider what seems certain, and recognize what may have been overlooked.
The Work Behind the Numbers
Yet conviction alone could not carry either graduate through the demands of preparation. Between the decision to take the examination and the moment the results appeared lay weeks of studying, changing routines, and confronting the uncertainty that no review schedule could entirely remove.
Borja approached the examination with commitment, knowing that preparation would demand considerable time and energy. Even so, there were days when motivation is low and progress felt difficult to recognize. She sometimes worried whether the sacrifices she was making would lead to the outcome she hoped for.
When lectures and readings became difficult to absorb, she adjusted her approach and shifted to practice tests. She also learned to slow down, reflect on her progress, and avoid forcing herself to accomplish everything at once.
Whenever uncertainty threatened to overshadow her purpose, Borja returned to the reason she had chosen Psychology: her desire to serve her community. Prayer offered another source of reassurance, allowing her to place her worries in God’s hands.
Peñaredondo’s preparation required a different kind of adjustment. With post-graduation responsibilities and requirements to attend to, she had to make deliberate use of the time available to her. She developed a review strategy suited to her learning needs and organized her schedule.
The plan helped her establish priorities, but it could not eliminate the tension between what she wanted to accomplish and what her circumstances allowed. She knew she might not have enough time to study every topic as deeply as she wished, an especially difficult reality for someone with high expectations of herself.
Recognizing those limits, however, helped her make more deliberate decisions. Rather than treating every unfinished task as a failure, she learned to assess what still needed attention and adjust her methods accordingly.
The pressure also came from beyond her review materials. Social media made it easy to compare her progress with that of other examinees, sometimes adding to her anxiety. When that happened, she returned to her schedules, task lists, and Google Sheets, making adjustments whenever necessary.
Just as importantly, she made room for breaks, time with friends and loved ones, and activities that allowed her to step away from reviewing. These pauses gave her space to breathe amid the demands of preparation.
Their experiences challenge the familiar image of success as a straight line from effort to reward. Preparation was not always orderly, and progress did not always announce itself. Sometimes, moving forward meant changing methods; at other times, it meant recognizing when to rest or accepting that not everything could be done at once.
In that sense, their review period was not merely a test of what they had learned. It also asked them to navigate their own expectations, manage uncertainty, and find ways to continue without knowing what awaited them at the end.
The ranking would eventually record their performance. The work behind it, however, was made up of countless smaller decisions that no results sheet could display.
When the Numbers Became Their Reality
When the results arrived, the uncertainty that had accompanied preparation gave way to two very different reactions.
For Borja, gratitude came first. Passing had been enough of a goal, particularly after she left the examination room unsure of what awaits her in the future and she just found herself praying while holding the rosary her mother had given her.
Seeing her name among the topnotchers was difficult to process, even the following day—she was beyond awe. What had once seemed more than expected was suddenly part of her reality.
The achievement also brought to mind the people who had helped her reach it. Her parents, sister, and boyfriend had remained sources of encouragement throughout the process. Her faith sustained her as well, reflected in the words she held on to: “Faith over Fear.”
For Borja, the distinction represented the hard work and dedication required to earn her license. Yet it also reminded her that the achievement was not hers alone. The encouragement, prayers, and sacrifices of the people around her had become part of the journey.
Meanwhile, Peñaredondo’s first reaction was disbelief. When she saw the results, one of her first thoughts was, “Oh my God is this real?”
She had joked with friends about becoming a topnotcher, but the possibility had remained distant enough to laugh about. When it finally happened, she struggled to absorb the news. Even then, the achievement did not immediately feel real.
For her, the result carried a meaning beyond the recognition attached to the ranking. After university, she had wanted to move away from constantly measuring herself through grades and external accomplishments. Becoming a topnotcher was something she could celebrate, but she did not want it to become another scale by which she judged her worth.
That distinction mattered. Rejecting the idea that recognition defines a person does not require rejecting the recognition itself. Peñaredondo could appreciate the result, acknowledge the work behind it, and feel genuinely happy without allowing one achievement to define the whole of who she was.
Their reactions reveal how differently a single number can be received. For Borja, it exceeded the goal she had set. For Peñaredondo, it turned a shared joke into an unexpected reality while prompting her to reconsider the place achievement should occupy in her life.
Their journey also required an adjustment neither had anticipated. The PMLE, originally scheduled for 19–20 August, was moved to 1–2 September because of heavy rainfall associated with the southwest monsoon.
Both graduates had already begun preparing for the trip. Borja was about to leave for Legazpi when the announcement came, prompting her to rearrange her hotel booking and unpack. Peñaredondo had also prepared for the examination trip and needed to reorganize the remaining days of her review.
The postponement gave them additional time to prepare, but it also reminded them that not every part of the process was theirs to control. Plans had to be revised, expectations reconsidered, and schedules rearranged.
In the end, both arrived at the same result through different experiences of uncertainty. Their shared rating captured a performance at a particular moment; it could not contain every fear, act of faith, adjustment, or realization that had shaped their journey.
A Field Still Becoming
The examination measured what the graduates demonstrated on test day. Their understanding of Psychology, however, extends toward questions that cannot be settled by a score alone: how can psychological knowledge reach more people, and how can it respond to the realities they face?
For Borja, one answer begins with access. She hopes to help make mental health knowledge more accessible, particularly in communities where stigma discourages people from speaking about their experiences or seeking professional support.
She wants to encourage appropriate help-seeking and contribute to a society that responds to others with greater kindness and compassion. Her plans also include efforts to make mental health services more inclusive, especially in communities where geographical barriers make professional support difficult to reach.
Community-based initiatives, mental health campaigns, and programs that introduce basic mental health skills are among the ways she hopes to contribute. Through such efforts, knowledge that might otherwise remain within classrooms or professional settings could become more useful in people’s everyday lives.
Peñaredondo approaches the profession with similar concerns about access, but her perspective also emphasizes how people are understood in the first place.
Consider a child struggling academically. Without understanding the circumstances behind that struggle, others may dismiss the child as lazy or disobedient. Yet unidentified cognitive or developmental difficulties could be affecting the child’s performance.
The label may be easy to assign, but understanding requires a closer look.
Through appropriate testing, scoring, and interpretation, psychometricians can contribute information that helps clarify an individual’s needs. Psychological assessment does not reduce a person to a test result; rather, when used appropriately, it can help professionals make more informed decisions about that person’s circumstances.
Even so, the benefits of assessment are limited when services remain financially or geographically inaccessible. A person may need support without having the resources to obtain it. For Peñaredondo, this gap reinforces the need for Psychology to examine its practices and become more responsive to Filipino communities.
Her questions about the discipline remain part of her professional outlook. She hopes to pursue further studies, deepen her understanding, and learn how to communicate psychological concepts to people outside the field.
Despite her concerns, she sees reasons for hope in the people who continue to study, research, train, and practice Psychology. Their work, she believes, can help the discipline move closer to what it has the potential to become.
Though, there would be challenges such as to understand people more carefully and to make that understanding more accessible. Psychological knowledge can offer a clearer view of human experiences, but its value also depends on whether people can reach the services built around it.
For both graduates, a license is not simply a credential that confirms what they know. It is an opportunity to participate in a profession whose responsibilities extend beyond assessment rooms and academic discussions. The knowledge they carry must meet the circumstances of real people, including those who have long faced barriers to being heard, understood, or helped.
Beyond the Distinction
No examination journey is made entirely alone. Behind the two graduates’ results were people who offered reassurance, shared resources, and helped them continue when the outcome remained uncertain.
Borja credits her family, boyfriend, and faith for helping her through the demands of preparation. Her sister believed she could become a topnotcher even when Borja herself could not imagine it. That confidence became one of the sources of encouragement she carried into the examination.
Peñaredondo’s support system extended across different parts of her life. Her family, partner, college friends, professors, and fellow examinees helped her through the process. She also recognized the contributions of review lecturers, online reviewers, members of the Psychology community, and strangers whose shared resources made preparation more accessible.
Their stories show that support can take many forms: a person’s belief when confidence falters, a resource shared without expectation of return, or the company of someone who makes a difficult period easier to bear. These gestures may not appear in the final rankings, but they form part of the circumstances that make achievement possible.
For Borja, earning a license also means accepting the responsibility that comes with professional knowledge. She wants to use it “as an instrument to protect and not to oppress.” The words place an important condition on achievement: expertise is not valuable simply because someone possesses it, but because of how that person chooses to use it.
Peñaredondo, meanwhile, continues to learn how to celebrate her accomplishments without making external recognition the sole measure of success. She sees the experience as something shared with the people who supported her and with those whose work and perspectives have shaped her understanding of Psychology.
Their plans beyond the examination reflect their different priorities. Borja hopes to contribute to more inclusive mental health initiatives, while Peñaredondo intends to pursue further learning and continue asking difficult but necessary questions about the discipline.
Neither has every step of the future mapped out. What they share is an understanding that the license does not finish their work; it gives them another way to begin.
A rating of 92.80 can be printed, recorded, and compared. Its meaning, however, will continue to take shape through the choices that follow. The distinction marks a point in their journeys, not a final destination.
For Borja, the road ahead leads toward making mental health support more accessible and responding to people with compassion. For Peñaredondo, it means continuing to question, learn, and work toward a Psychology that better reflects Filipino experiences.
In Peñaredondo’s words, it is a hope that “…makakamit ang isang sikolohiyang malaya at mapagpalaya.”
Their names may remain together on the results sheet, but what comes next will be written through different acts of service, continued learning, and decisions about the kind of professionals they want to become.
Their hard work may leave a mark on the ranks but their experiences also left a mark to those who would be able to know it. It is that an individual can’t succeed and soar high alone, they would need someone to help and lift them up during those times that they need it. As what commonly said in their field, “A shoulder to lean on would help a lot to make everything more bearable.”
Beyond the rank lies the work no number can complete: understanding people in the fullness of their circumstances, recognizing the limits of what is already known, and helping build a profession that brings knowledge closer to those who need it.
