PMAEE Coverage 2026: Official Subjects and Study Plan

The official 2026 PMA Entrance Examination coverage is Mathematics, English, and abstract reasoning. The Philippine Military Academy states it in one sentence on its Cadet Application page: MATH (Algebra and Geometry), ENGLISH (Grammar, Composition, and Reading and Comprehension), and Abstract Reasoning, "which is called SPMA (Verbal and Numerical Reasoning and Pattern Analysis)". The window that holds PMA's own sample problems labels that third block Special PMA Exam.

Nothing else sits on the current official list. PMA does not name Science, General Information, Filipino, or Current Events as PMAEE sections, and it does not publish a live-exam item count, section weights, per-section timing, or a fixed passing percentage. The application page, the Do's and Don'ts page, and the official FAQ all carry the same three-area wording, checked September 1, 2026.

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PMAEE 2026: where the cycle stands

PMA announced the opening of its Online Cadet Application System for PMAEE 2026 on February 20, 2026, held proctor training on June 25 and 26, and scheduled the written exam in five legs across 48 testing centers nationwide.

PMA's August 26, 2026 announcement lists 13 venues for the final leg: Laoag City, Tuguegarao City, Bontoc, Bayombong, Baguio City at PMA itself, Lingayen, Cabanatuan City, Tarlac City, San Fernando in Pampanga, Tabuk City, Cauayan City, Baler, and Olongapo City. Confirm your own assigned site on your permit and on PMA's official Facebook page before you travel.

Beware of prep sites that still print the previous cycle's late-September dates, or a single nationwide exam day, for 2026. The leg dates above come from PMA's own announcements, and your permit is the final word on your date and venue.

The same announcements repeat the exam-day rules that every candidate should rehearse:

• Processing of all applicants starts at 7:00 a.m., and the exam proper starts at 12:00 noon.
• The official FAQ says the morning, from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m., is administrative, and that the exam proper "will last up to 4.30 pm". That is a window of about four and a half hours.
• There is no fee. PMA's FAQ answers the cost question with "NO FEES. The exam is FREE."
• Online and mail applicants bring the exam permit, one 2x2 white-background ID photo taken within the last six months, two number 2 pencils, and a valid ID.
• Walk-in applicants bring a completed PMAEE application form, a photocopy of the PSA birth certificate, Form 137 or Form 138 showing the latest general average, two 2x2 white-background photos, two number 2 pencils, and a valid ID.
• The prescribed dress code is a white t-shirt, pants, and rubber shoes. Bring your own food and drinks, and an umbrella.
• Walk-ins are accepted but are last priority, because proctors carry a limited number of exam materials.

If you miss this cycle, the exam repeats annually and PMA publishes no cap on attempts. The binding constraint is the age rule on the qualifications page: not less than 17 and not a day older than 22 on the day of admission.

Official coverage versus common reviewer claims

This table does not claim Science or general knowledge is worthless to a future officer. It answers the narrower question a candidate is actually asking: what does PMA currently identify as written-exam coverage? As of September 1, 2026, the answer is the three-area structure above.

The six official sample problems, and what each one teaches

PMA publishes a small sample set in a pop-up on its application and exam-rules pages. Six problems cannot reveal the difficulty curve or the frequency of any topic, but they are far better format evidence than an anonymous reviewer PDF.

Four conclusions follow, and each one changes what you practice:

1. Foundations beat advanced content. The published examples reward accurate handling of school-level rules, not specialized college material.
2. Word classification is live. One of two English samples is a parts-of-speech question, so drill noun, verb, adjective, and adverb identification, not only sentence correction.
3. Mental calculation is required. P31.50 divided by P4.50 is a two-step rate problem, and PMA prohibits calculators, so arithmetic fluency supports both Algebra and Numerical Reasoning.
4. Pattern rules must be stated, not felt. PMA's own explanation names the changing attribute, the number of leaves, before choosing the answer. Copy that habit.

Do not inflate six examples into a blueprint. They do not establish how many easy or hard items appear, whether one algebra topic outranks another, or how many minutes belong to each area. Their value is the response style and the level of reasoning PMA expects.

Is the PMA Entrance Exam multiple choice?

Yes, on the strongest available evidence. Every official sample problem offers five lettered choices, A through E, and the Do's and Don'ts page describes a machine-read answer sheet in detail. That page is more useful than the phrase "multiple choice" because it dictates practice:

• Item number 1 on the answer sheet matches question number 1 in the test booklet, and so on. Check the number before every mark so one skipped item does not shift the rest of the sheet.
• Shade inside one circle only. Do not shade more than one circle and do not leave stray pencil marks.
• To change an answer, erase the old one completely before shading the new one.
• If you do not know the answer, make an intelligent guess. Do not leave any item unanswered.
• Do not fold, roll, disfigure, or write on top of the answer sheet, because it goes through a reading machine.

PMA also lists five disqualifying acts: cheating, talking to other applicants, passing or receiving anything during the test, using a calculator, cellular phone, or any other electronic gadget, and not following proctor instructions such as pencils down. Two of those are mechanical rather than moral, so rehearse them. Work on a printed answer grid at least once a week, and stop instantly when a timed block ends.

How competitive is the PMAEE?

PMA does not publish a passing percentage, and the reason is structural: the written exam produces a ranked, competitive list, not a pass mark. PMA even releases a top-ten ranking with the results.

The scale of the funnel is public. PMA's official list of successful examinees for PMAEE 2025, released October 18, 2025, names 1,436 passers. PMA's own account of that cycle counts more than 33,640 applicants, and press coverage of the release put the number who qualified to sit at 24,671, a written-stage pass rate of about 5.8 percent. The year before, PMA's October 30, 2024 announcement reported 1,099 passers out of 21,796 examinees, about 5 percent. In the Academy's own August 8, 2026 account of the next stage, only 365 of those candidates were admitted on Reception Day, May 23, 2026, after psychological, physical, medical, and neuropsychiatric evaluation, and 342 finished New Cadet Battalion training to be incorporated into the Cadet Corps, 266 men and 76 women.

Three practical lessons come out of those numbers:

1. A written-exam score high enough to clear the quota is the first filter, not the finish line.
2. Physical and medical readiness decides a large share of the remaining attrition, so train your body during the academic review rather than after it.
3. No third-party mock exam can predict your rank, because your result depends on the rest of the national cohort.

Use practice scores to choose your next study task. Do not convert them into a predicted pass.

Mathematics: prepare inside the official boundary

PMA's published Mathematics boundary is short, Algebra and Geometry, with no formula list and no weights. A defensible plan builds broad skills that operationalize those two labels and says plainly that the detail is a preparation choice, not a PMA promise.

Algebra practice ladder

Start with arithmetic fluency, because algebra collapses when signs, fractions, decimals, ratios, or order of operations are weak. Then move from one-step equations to multi-step equations, algebraic expressions, laws of exponents, proportional reasoning, and short word problems. The official pencil sample makes manual rate reasoning a sensible drill, though it proves no quota of rate items.

Work in three levels:

• Level 1, accuracy. Solve without a clock and write every transformation.
• Level 2, compact work. Remove unnecessary lines while keeping sign and operation checks.
• Level 3, timed choice. Solve, estimate, compare options, and move on when a method turns slow.

Geometry practice ladder

Begin with angle relationships, triangle properties, perimeter, area, and diagram interpretation. PMA's own sample asks for the interior-angle sum of a triangle, so fundamentals come first. Add circles, coordinate geometry, and solids once basic figures and units are reliable.

Keep a one-page formula sheet during study and reproduce it from memory. When you review an error, label the cause: forgotten rule, misread diagram, unit mismatch, arithmetic slip, or time-pressure guess. The label tells you what to fix.

English: grammar, composition, reading and comprehension

PMA's wording is broader than a vocabulary list. Grammar covers correct form and relationship. Composition points to how sentences and ideas are built. Reading and Comprehension is extracting meaning from text. PMA does not publish a separate vocabulary weight and does not say Composition means a scored essay, so do not invent either claim.

Grammar and usage

Practice parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, verb tense, modifiers, comparison forms, and sentence correctness. The two official English samples land squarely on word classification and comparative adverbs, which is a strong hint about the level. State the rule after each answer; a lucky correct option is not mastery.

Composition decisions

Use sentence-order, clarity, transition, and concise-revision exercises. Ask which option communicates the intended idea most clearly and grammatically. Keep this as selected-response practice unless your own PMA notice says otherwise.

Reading and comprehension

Alternate short and longer passages. For every answer, point to the sentence or the inference that supports it. Separate main idea, stated detail, word meaning in context, purpose, tone, and inference in your error log. Those labels are preparation categories, not official weights.

Reading English daily helps only if it stays active. Convert each article into a one-sentence main idea, three supporting points, and one inference.

SPMA: verbal, numerical, and pattern reasoning

SPMA is the most neglected official area because it maps to no single school subject. PMA names three components: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, and Pattern Analysis. The job is to detect a relationship and apply it consistently.

For verbal reasoning, name the relationship before you look at the options. Relationship types worth drilling include synonym and antonym pairs, degree or intensity, sequence, cause and effect, whole and part, category and member, tool and user, function, and unit and quantity.

For numerical reasoning, test differences, alternating operations, multiplication or division, squares, and interleaved sequences. The official sample is a plain count from 1 to 4, which is a reminder to check the simplest rule first.

For pattern analysis, track one attribute at a time: count of elements, rotation, reflection, shading, size, position, number of sides, and elements added or removed. PMA's own leaf sample turns on count alone.

Use a four-step routine:

1. Describe what changes from the first element to the second.
2. Test whether the same rule explains the next transition.
3. Predict the missing element before reading the options.
4. Reject any option that violates one part of the rule.

Speed comes after rule accuracy. If rotations keep beating you, stop mixed sets and run a rotation-only block, then return to mixed sets so you must identify the rule without a label.

Build a source-bound diagnostic

Because PMA publishes no section weights, a balanced diagnostic is a neutral starting tool, not a prediction. Build or select 60 questions:

• 20 Mathematics questions split across Algebra and Geometry;
• 20 English questions split across Grammar, Composition, Reading and Comprehension; and
• 20 SPMA questions split across Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, and Pattern Analysis.

Sit the set without a calculator. Record accuracy and average time separately for the three areas, then tag every miss as a knowledge gap, method gap, careless error, time-pressure error, or blind guess.

Allocate the next two weeks by weakness. If Mathematics is 48 percent accurate, English 76 percent, and SPMA 62 percent, equal study time is waste. Give Mathematics the largest share until the weakest foundation lifts. The allocation comes from your data, not from an invented PMA weighting table.

Six-week PMAEE reviewer plan

This plan is an OpenExamPrep framework, not an official PMA schedule. Adjust session length around school, work, and your assigned exam date.

A flexible simulation is deliberate. Since PMA publishes no fixed item count or per-section timing, do not sell your practice to yourself as an exact replica. Use progressively longer mixed sets and build concentration across the official noon to 4:30 p.m. window. On the day itself, the proctor controls section order and timing.

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What to do with Science, General Information, and other extras

If your reviewer contains Science, General Information, trigonometry, or statistics, do not throw it away. Classify it first. It may be built for PNPA, PMMA, AFPSAT, a combined academy package, or general aptitude. It may also be useful background. What it cannot do, without a current PMA source, is label those topics as confirmed PMAEE sections.

Some large free reviewers add trigonometry and statistics on the strength of past-examinee reports. Treat that as a hedge, not as coverage. If you do spend time there, remember that calculators are banned, so any trigonometric item would have to rest on special angles you can recall.

Use this priority rule:

1. Finish the current official PMA coverage first.
2. Repair weak Mathematics, English, or SPMA performance next.
3. Check your permit, your PMA account, and the current official notice for any cycle-specific instruction.
4. Only then spend remaining time on optional enrichment.

This protects you from the classic failure: memorizing history and science facts while still missing equations, grammar decisions, reading evidence, and patterns that PMA explicitly names. It also prevents mixing Philippine Military Academy material with Philippine Merchant Marine Academy material, whose similar abbreviations pollute search results.

One more myth worth killing: college graduates are not automatically barred. PMA's published qualification is at least a Grade 12 graduate with a general average of 85 percent or higher. The real gate for an older applicant is the age cap, not more than 22 on the day of admission.

Exam-week checklist

Academic readiness and answer-sheet discipline should meet in the last week:

• Reopen the official coverage and sample problems and confirm your reviewer still centers on the three published areas.
• Run one full answer-grid drill with number 2 pencils and a clean eraser.
• Do short no-calculator Mathematics sets and estimate before choosing.
• Review English rules from your own error log instead of rereading a whole book.
• Do one mixed SPMA set in which the question types are not labeled in advance.
• Pack the permit, a 2x2 white-background photo, two number 2 pencils, a valid ID, food, water, and an umbrella.
• Lay out a white t-shirt, pants, and rubber shoes the night before.
• Stop chasing a rumored item count, a cutoff score, or a leaked question set.

After the written exam

Passing the PMAEE moves you to the Complete Physical Examination at the AFP Medical Center, Camp Victoriano Luna in Quezon City, which combines medical, psychological, and neuropsychiatric screening with the Physical Fitness Test and the Aptitude for the Service interview. PMA's published PFT minimums are 15 push-ups for men and 5 for women, 20 sit-ups for men and 15 for women, 3 pull-ups for men or a 10-second flex arm hang for women, and a 3.2-kilometer run in 22 minutes for men and 26 minutes for women. The Cadet Procurement Board then deliberates before congratulatory letters go out.

PMA publishes the list of successful examinees as a PDF on pma.edu.ph and on its official Facebook page. The 2025 list came out on October 18, 2025, 27 days after that year's final leg, and the 2024 list on October 30, 2024, 38 days after its final leg, so a mid-to-late October release is the recent pattern for the 2026 cycle. Its passers are in line for PMA Class 2031. PMA's February 20, 2026 application notice printed "Class 2030", but Class 2030 is the batch drawn from the 2025 exam and received on May 23, 2026, and PMA's own pattern, the 2024 exam feeding Class 2029 and the 2025 exam feeding Class 2030, puts 2026 passers in Class 2031. For the physical and medical detail, see the PMA post-exam standards guide, and for what cadetship pays, see the PMA tuition and cadet benefits guide.

Bottom line

The safest 2026 PMAEE plan is narrower and more honest than most commercial packages: Algebra and Geometry; Grammar, Composition, Reading and Comprehension; and SPMA Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, and Pattern Analysis. Train the five-option format, no-calculator arithmetic, careful answer-sheet transfer, and sustained reasoning from noon to 4:30 p.m.

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