Sometimes, there are things that God gives us that are beyond what we expect and imagine.
Just like what happened to Felipe Jimenez Jr., the Top 1 of the September 2022 Registered Electrical Engineering board Examination. It took him seven years after graduation before he was able to take the board exam—but what he didn't expect was that he would become the Top 1!
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| Photo courtesy: Facebook/Felipe Jimenez Jr. |
Many were inspired by his story of success, as featured on the Facebook page "Engineering Thoughts."
According to him, seven years had passed before he was able to take the board exam. After graduating from college, he focused on working first. During his college days, he admitted that he was weak in Math, but he pushed himself to study it more—especially since it was an essential part of his degree program.
“𝐈𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦. 𝐼𝑓 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑦 1𝑠𝑡-𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑜𝑝 1, 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑘𝑜 𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢ℎ𝑎𝑦 (ℎ𝑎ℎ𝑎),” he said.
“I started just like everyone else—unsure and unprepared. Math was never my strength, and I even failed my first quiz. But I knew I couldn’t stay that way. I fell in love with learning, pushed myself every day, and slowly turned failures into progress—from failing my first exam to eventually acing every test.”
“During the pandemic, I hit my lowest point. I had to set aside everything just to work. For the first time, I lost hope. But in my darkest moments, I realized that God was my only way through.”
“After the pandemic, I gave myself one whole year to prepare—8 months of self-review, 4 months in a review center. I cut off distractions, studied every day until I slept, and made sure to stay consistent and keep repeating what I learned,” he added.
When he was finally ready to take the exam, he truly made an effort to focus. He said that all he asked from God was the strength to accept whatever the result of the exam would be, according to God’s will—but what he received was far greater than that.
“𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭.”
“Dream big. Start small. Trust the process,” he finally said.
Congratulations, Engr. Felipe!
— Noel Ed Richards, The Summit Express
