Rabiya Mateo landed in top 1% of NMAT passers—here's how she did it
Rabiya Mateo attained a 741 General Performance Score in the National Medical Admission Test, landing in the 99th percentile.
On Wednesday, March 11, the Miss Universe Philippines 2020 titleholder posted an Instagram Story where she shared a post congratulating her for her feat.
In an interview with PhilSTAR L!fe the following day, Mateo expressed her happiness over her high score.
"Super happy talaga because it's a huge sacrifice on my end," she said. "It wasn't easy because it took me seven months of preparing."
She spent the first three months reviewing by herself. The former Sparkle artist then felt a comprehensive refresher course was necessary as it's been eight years since she graduated from school. Mateo holds a bachelor's degree in physical therapy from Iloilo Doctors' College.
"After three months, I decided that my knowledge was not enough, so I enrolled in a review center for another four months. And then there, paspasan talaga," Mateo told L!fe.
Every day, she spent three to four hours studying subjects including basic high school courses, such as physics, biology, social studies, and chemistry. According to Mateo, these made up the general coverage of the NMAT.
The NMAT is a mandatory standardized test that individuals take to get into medical school.
In an interview with DJ Chacha last month, Mateo opened up about her dream of becoming a medical doctor. "I remember telling Sparkle management that I [would] not renew my contract because I had made plans to go back to my studies to become a doctor," she said. "I remember also from the other end, I also heard a lot of panghihinayang about my decision because I already have a career in showbiz."
Mateo stood firm on her choice, however. "I really wanna do it. I really wanna become a doctor," she told L!fe.
'Linda Walker' memes
Mateo's extraordinary NMAT score prompted Filipino netizens to create memes comparing the beauty queen to fictional character Linda Walker, played by 21-year-old Zhang Yingfei. In the Chinese drama series The Heiress Who Won With Brains, Walker is a brilliant medical student who scored 719 points in a mock exam.
One meme asked, "Sino ang mas matalino?" showing Mateo and Walker side by side with their test scores.
Another asked, "San ka pa? Talo ang Linda Walker."
The multiple memes prompted Mateo to jokingly leave an apology to Walker in an Instagram comment: "Sorry na, Linda Walker!"
"Grabe, ang tataba talaga ng utak ng mga Pilipino pagdating talaga sa kalokohan," Mateo told L!fe, adding that people can't really compare her with Walker as the latter is a fictional character who also took a different exam.
But what justifies the comparison, said Mateo, is how it delivers the message that one can never be too old to dream.
"Doon din naman ako proud sa aking sarili, with all humility, na wala talagang timeline 'yung mga pangarap natin," she said.
"Dreams can happen in different phases of our lives. We can have a lot of dreams as well. Hindi dahil naabot natin itong pangarap na ito, eh tapos na 'yung buhay natin. We can still have another goal in life, another purpose in life. I think ganu'n naman talaga 'yung essence ng buhay. Hahanapin mo kung para saan talaga 'yung purpose mo," she mused.
