CB-NCAE 2026-2027: What Changed, and How to Actually Prepare
If the last thing you heard about the "NCAE" was that it's a Grade 10 test with a pencil and a Test Booklet, you're working from outdated information. The National Career Assessment Examination has changed twice in less than a year: it moved from a paper-and-pencil exam to a Computer-Based NCAE (CB-NCAE) starting School Year 2025-2026, and starting School Year 2026-2027 it now covers Grade 9 learners as well as Grade 10. This guide walks through exactly what's different, what DepEd has not yet published, and how to prepare for the parts of the test you can actually study for.
CB-NCAE at a Glance (School Year 2026-2027)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Administered by | Department of Education, Bureau of Education Assessment (DepEd BEA) |
| Who takes it | All Grade 9 and Grade 10 learners in public and DepEd-recognized private schools (new for SY 2026-2027) |
| Format | Computer-based, on school computers or borrowed tablet PCs/laptops; BEA is preparing an alternative mode for schools that cannot meet the computer-based requirements |
| Domains | General Scholastic Aptitude (GSA) - 7 reasoning subtests; Career and Occupational Roles Explorer (CORE) - interest inventory |
| Passing score | None. Results are an aptitude and interest profile, not a pass/fail grade |
| Cost | Free |
| Governing issuance (current cycle) | BEA Advisory No. 018, s. 2026, covering the Technical Assessment; the scored Test Proper window will follow in a separate issuance |
| Governing issuance (prior cycle, Grade 10 only) | DepEd Memorandum No. 108, s. 2025 |
| Technical Assessment window | Grade 10: September 7-30, 2026, extended to October 14, then suspended September 24-October 11, and resumes October 12-30, 2026. Grade 9: January 4-29, 2027 |
Which Step Are You At?
- Grade 10: the Technical Assessment (platform check, not the scored exam) is suspended until October 11 and resumes October 12-30, 2026.
- Grade 9: your Technical Assessment window is January 4-29, 2027.
- Everyone: the scored Test Proper has not yet been scheduled for either grade. DepEd will announce it in a separate advisory or memorandum.
What Changed for School Year 2026-2027: Grade 9 Is Now Included
For School Year 2025-2026, the CB-NCAE was administered only to Grade 10 learners, under DepEd Memorandum No. 108, s. 2025 (issued December 11, 2025). That memorandum is still the correct reference for how the test worked last cycle, but it does not describe who takes the test now.
For School Year 2026-2027, DepEd's Bureau of Education Assessment issued BEA Advisory No. 018, s. 2026, "Guidelines on the Technical Assessment and Preparation on the Administration of the Computer-Based National Career Assessment Examination (CB-NCAE) for School Year 2026-2027." Multiple Schools Division Offices have since disseminated it to their schools, and the division memos carry the same scope: the CB-NCAE "shall be administered to all Grades 9 and 10 learners who are currently enrolled in public and private schools with government permits or recognition." DepEd's Division Office of Dasmariñas City confirmed this in its DM No. 704, s. 2026 (posted September 11, 2026), and the Schools Division of Cavite City used the phrase "Grade 9 and10 Learners" directly in the title of its own dissemination memo dated September 14, 2026.
Practically, this means that if you, or your child, are currently in Grade 9, this is the first year the CB-NCAE applies to you, and any school-level talk about "the NCAE" that assumes Grade 10 only is describing last cycle, not this one.
If You're Picturing Pencils and a Test Booklet, That Test Is Gone
A lot of what's searchable online about the "NCAE" - Test Booklets, Scannable Answer Sheets, Room Examiners, a Reading Comprehension subtest, a separate Occupational Interest Inventory, Senior-High-Track-specific aptitude sections - describes the paper-based NCAE that DepEd ran through School Year 2024-2025. Under K to 12, that version, like today's CB-NCAE, ran under DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2016, but used printed Test Booklets accounted for by Division Testing Coordinators and Room Examiners, with domains named Reading Comprehension, Mathematical Ability, Verbal Ability, Scientific Ability, and Logical Reasoning Ability, plus Senior High School Track aptitude sections and an Occupational Interest Inventory (OII).
This isn't even the first time who takes "the NCAE" has changed. DO 55 originally made it a Grade 9 assessment starting School Year 2016-2017; at some point before the CB-NCAE era it shifted to Grade 10 only. That history is part of why parents' memories of "which grade takes the NCAE" are often mixed - and why the SY 2026-2027 return to a Grade 9-and-10 test is a change, not entirely a first.
None of the paper-era details describe the current test's delivery. Starting with School Year 2025-2026, DepEd moved the NCAE onto computers, hence "CB-NCAE," and renamed the reasoning domains. If a page you're reading talks about bringing a No. 2 pencil, filling in a Scannable Answer Sheet, or an "Occupational Interest Inventory," it is describing the retired process, not the one you will actually sit for.
The transition has not been smooth. During the School Year 2025-2026 rollout, schools nationwide reported widespread "bad gateway" errors and platform failures during the originally scheduled window. DepEd had already extended the window to February 28, 2026 through memorandum DM-OULS-2026-003 (Office of the Undersecretary for Learning Systems, January 5, 2026), issued at regional and division offices' request; as the failures mounted in mid-January, that extension reached schools through division memos (for example, Dasmariñas DM No. 071, s. 2026). DepEd also set up a subtest-resetting process for learners who had started but could not finish specific subtests because of the outages.
The lesson for this cycle: take the mandatory Technical Assessment seriously, and know what it actually is. It is not a GSA mock exam. After an orientation and platform walkthrough, learners complete Part I - General Information, Part II - the Examinee's Descriptive Questionnaire (EDQ), Part III - Key Learner Attributes (KLA), and Part IV - the CORE interest inventory, while schools use the session to confirm that learner accounts, computers, and internet access actually work before the scored Test Proper. Because Part IV of the Technical Assessment is the CORE inventory, the "answer honestly, there's no right answer" advice later in this guide already applies at this step, not only on an eventual test day - for Grade 10 that's the window that resumes October 12-30, 2026; for Grade 9 it's January 4-29, 2027.
What's Actually on the CB-NCAE: GSA and CORE, Explained
The CB-NCAE has two domains, and they work in completely different ways.
General Scholastic Aptitude (GSA) has seven reasoning subtests. Typical item types below are an OpenExamPrep summary; DepEd has not publicly posted detailed item specifications.
| GSA Subtest | Typical Item Types |
|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning (English and Filipino) | Passage comprehension, vocabulary in context, word relationships, inference - tested in both languages |
| Numerical Reasoning | Arithmetic, ratios, percentages, basic algebra, geometry, practical quantitative problem-solving |
| Logical Reasoning | Syllogisms, conditional statements, assumptions, argument strength, ordering puzzles |
| Abstract Reasoning | Figure series, matrix completion, rotation sequences, rule induction from non-verbal patterns |
| Spatial Reasoning | Paper folding, nets and solids, cube visualization, mirror images |
| Mechanical Reasoning | Levers, pulleys, gears, inclined planes, simple circuits, everyday mechanical principles |
| Perceptual Accuracy and Response Efficiency (PARE) | Fast, accurate comparison of codes and records; symbol counting; error detection |
DepEd BEA has not publicly posted how many items appear in each subtest, so treat any page that quotes an exact question count per subtest as an estimate, not an official figure.
Career and Occupational Roles Explorer (CORE) is a different kind of instrument entirely: it is an interest inventory, not a reasoning test. CORE-A applies the RIASEC model (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional), and CORE-B applies the Thurstone model, to profile which kinds of work activities appeal to you. There is no right or wrong response on CORE - it records preference, not ability - which is the single most important thing to understand before you sit down for it (including during the Technical Assessment step, since CORE is answered there too).
DepEd reads the GSA and CORE results together, alongside grades and other factors, as one input for Senior High School guidance. Under the Strengthened SHS Curriculum (DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2026), Grade 11 from School Year 2026-2027 replaces the old four-track, strand-based system with two tracks: Academic, with elective clusters in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities; Business and Entrepreneurship; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; Sports, Health and Wellness; and Field Experience, and Technical-Professional (Tech-Pro). The old ABM/STEM/HUMSS/GAS strand labels that many parents remember no longer apply to today's Grade 9 and Grade 10 learners.
Practice the GSA reasoning subtests - abstract, logical, mechanical, numerical, spatial, verbal, and PARE - with independent CB-NCAE practice by OpenExamPrep, with an explanation on every answer choice. 100% FREE.
There Is No Passing Score (Ignore Any Page That Tells You Otherwise)
DM 108, s. 2025 frames the NCAE as career guidance and aptitude profiling, not a pass/fail test. DepEd itself called it "a low-stakes examination" when explaining the shift to computer-based delivery (Manila Standard, January 22, 2026), and no DepEd issuance sets a passing score. Results come back as an aptitude and interest profile, not a score you clear or miss. If you find a "CB-NCAE score calculator" online that tells you a percentage you need to "pass," or ranks percentile bands against a required cutoff, that page is inventing a rule DepEd has never published. Treat that specific claim as unreliable, even if other parts of the page happen to be accurate.
What DepEd does use the results for is Senior High School guidance: your GSA and CORE profile is one input, among grades and other factors, that a counsellor weighs alongside you when discussing track and elective-cluster choices under the Strengthened SHS Curriculum. None of that is a threshold you clear or a strand the profile assigns you to automatically. It is a profile you build by answering as accurately and honestly as you can.
Where Things Stand Right Now (September 2026)
As of this writing, here is the confirmed state of the School Year 2026-2027 administration:
- Technical Assessment window. For Grade 10, BEA Advisory No. 018, s. 2026 set an initial Technical Assessment period of September 7-30, 2026 - a platform readiness and orientation check, not the scored exam. BEA Advisory No. 019, s. 2026 first extended it to October 14, 2026 to accommodate class suspensions from weather and flooding in some areas. BEA Advisory No. 022, s. 2026 then temporarily suspended the Grade 10 Technical Assessment from September 24 to October 11, 2026 because of new platform system issues, and it resumes October 12-30, 2026; learners who had already finished do not need to repeat it. For Grade 9, the Technical Assessment window is January 4-29, 2027.
- Scored administration window. DepEd has not yet scheduled the actual scored Test Proper for either grade as of late September 2026; a separate advisory or memorandum will announce it once it is set. Do not trust any page that states specific scored-exam dates for this cycle unless it links a dated DepEd memorandum. The safest source is your own school's Testing Coordinator or your Schools Division Office's published memoranda.
Because the scored window is not set yet, the highest-value thing you can do right now is build GSA reasoning fluency at a sustainable pace, rather than cramming against a deadline that has not been published.
How to Actually Prepare
GSA is the practicable half of the test. Study it subtest by subtest:
- Abstract Reasoning - drill figure series, matrix completion, and rotation sequences until you can name the rule that is changing (shape, shading, rotation, position) in a few seconds, not a few minutes.
- Spatial Reasoning - practice paper folding, nets-and-solids, and mirror-image tasks with physical objects or diagrams, not formulas. This is a visualization skill that improves with repetition.
- Mechanical Reasoning - review levers, pulleys, gears, and simple circuits using everyday objects you can point to, such as a see-saw, a bicycle chain, or a water tap. Most items test whether you understand why a mechanism behaves a certain way, not memorized formulas.
- Numerical Reasoning - drill mental arithmetic, ratios, percentages, and basic algebra. DepEd has not published whether an on-screen calculator is available, so practise without one.
- Logical Reasoning - practice syllogisms such as "All A are B; C is A; therefore..." and conditional statements until you can spot invalid conclusions quickly.
- Verbal Reasoning - read short passages in both English and Filipino, since this subtest is assessed in both languages.
- PARE - practice comparing long strings of codes or records against a timer. This subtest rewards sustained accuracy under time pressure more than any other content knowledge.
For CORE, do not try to "study" in the usual sense. Read about what the RIASEC types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) actually mean before you take it, then answer honestly - remember, CORE is Part IV of the Technical Assessment itself, so this matters starting there, not just on a later test day. A profile built from guessed or "strategic" answers does not help a counsellor guide you toward a track you would actually do well in. It just produces a profile that does not match you.
Accommodations. Under DM 108, s. 2025 (paragraph 8), which applied Section 9 of DepEd Order No. 55, s. 2016, learners with visual difficulty could opt to skip the CB-NCAE's image-heavy subtests for School Year 2025-2026: Abstract Reasoning, Mechanical Reasoning, Spatial Reasoning, and PARE. That rule has not yet been re-confirmed in a published School Year 2026-2027 issuance, so talk to your School Testing Coordinator before your resumed session (Grade 10) or the January 2027 window (Grade 9) to see whether the same accommodation applies this cycle.
Practice the Parts You Can Actually Improve
If you want to browse other DepEd national assessments alongside CB-NCAE, OpenExamPrep's DepEd National Assessments hub lists related practice resources by family.
For the official rules on your division's schedule, watch your Schools Division Office's published memoranda and DepEd's CB-NCAE portal, which hosts the subtest-resetting request process and platform installation guidance directly from DepEd BEA.
Official Sources Used
- DepEd Memorandum No. 108, s. 2025, "Administration of the Computer-Based National Career Assessment Examination (CB-NCAE) for School Year 2025-2026" (December 11, 2025)
- BEA Advisory No. 018, s. 2026, "Guidelines on the Technical Assessment and Preparation on the Administration of the CB-NCAE for School Year 2026-2027," as disseminated by DepEd Division Office of Dasmariñas City, DM No. 704, s. 2026 (September 11, 2026), and DepEd Division Office of Cavite City (September 14, 2026)
- BEA Advisory No. 019, s. 2026 (dated September 1, 2026), extending the Grade 10 Technical Assessment window to October 14, 2026
- BEA Advisory No. 022, s. 2026, suspending the Grade 10 Technical Assessment September 24-October 11, 2026 and setting its October 12-30, 2026 resumption, as disseminated by Schools Division Office of Sorsogon
- DepEd memorandum DM-OULS-2026-003 (Office of the Undersecretary for Learning Systems, dated January 5, 2026), extending the SY 2025-2026 CB-NCAE administration to February 28, 2026, as relayed by DepEd Division Office of Dasmariñas City, DM No. 071, s. 2026
- DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2026, "Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum" (dated June 4, 2026)
- Manila Standard, "Online failures force DepEd to extend NCAE" (January 22, 2026)
- DepEd Region III, "DepEd Region III administers NCAE for Grade 10 students" (August 21, 2024), used for the retired paper-NCAE domain names
- DepEd Bureau of Education Assessment, official CB-NCAE portal (sites.google.com/deped.gov.ph/ncae)
CB-NCAE guidelines, schedules, and administration details may be updated by DepEd at any time. Always confirm current dates and requirements with your school's Testing Coordinator or your Schools Division Office.
