AB Political Science: Course, Law School, Careers

TL;DR: AB Political Science is a four-year degree governed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 51, series of 2017, with a sample curriculum of 104 units built around ten prescribed major courses. There is no PRC board exam for political science; Political Science is not among PRC's 46 Professional Regulatory Boards. The examinations that matter to this degree sit elsewhere: the Bar Examination after law school, the Foreign Service Officer Examination, and the Civil Service Examination. And no, the degree is not required for law school, though it remains the most common route into one.

What CHED Prescribes

CHED Memorandum Order No. 51, series of 2017, adopted by Commission en banc Resolution No. 231-2017 dated 28 March 2017, sets the policies and standards for the Bachelor of Arts in Political Science programme. CHED's official degree name is BA Political Science; many Philippine schools style the same degree AB Political Science, and they are the same thing.

The order is unusually explicit about where graduates go. It states that graduates "can engage in teaching, research, government and foreign service, social development, risk analysis, political and policy analysis, public information, legal work, grant writing, and advanced studies in the social sciences and law."

CHED also quotes the American Political Science Association's definition of the discipline as the study of governments, public policies and political behaviour, using both humanistic and scientific perspectives to examine all countries and regions of the world. That dual character, humanistic and scientific, is why the curriculum pairs political theory with quantitative data analysis.

Does AB Political Science Have a Board Exam?

No. PRC administers 46 Professional Regulatory Boards and Political Science is not one of them. There is no licensure examination for political scientists and no licence to practise.

That does not mean there is no examination in your future. Three matter for this degree, and none of them is administered by PRC:

• The Bar Examination, administered by the Supreme Court, after a Juris Doctor degree.
• The Foreign Service Officer Examination, administered by the Board of Foreign Service Examinations.
• The Civil Service Examination, administered by the Civil Service Commission, which is the usual eligibility route into career government posts for graduates without a PRC licence.

Our roundup of courses with board exams shows which Philippine degrees do end in a PRC licence, if that is part of your comparison.

The AB Political Science Curriculum

CHED notes this sample curriculum deliberately leaves space for additional courses, and schools routinely add them to fit their own mission and student interests. So 104 is a floor, not a description of your actual load. The General Education block follows CHED's General Education curriculum requirements.

The ten major courses

These are named in the memorandum order and make up the 30-unit core:

1. Fundamentals of Political Science
2. Introduction to Philippine Politics and Governance
3. Philippine Public Administration
4. Politics and Governance in Southeast Asia
5. Introduction to Political Theory
6. Introduction to Comparative Politics
7. Introduction to International Relations
8. Introduction to Political Analysis and Research
9. Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Political Data
10. Research or Practicum in Political Science

Two of those deserve attention from anyone imagining this as a purely discursive degree. Introduction to Political Analysis and Research and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Political Data are methods courses, and CHED lists among the required programme outcomes the ability to "design and execute research inquiries using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods guided by theories or conceptual frameworks." If statistics makes you uneasy, you will still meet it here.

The final major course is a Research or Practicum in Political Science, which is where schools differ most: some run a thesis, others place students with legislative offices, local government units, NGOs or think tanks. Ask which, because it shapes the CV you graduate with.

Programme outcomes CHED requires

Graduates should be able to compare, contrast and classify the major concepts of the discipline; recognise and define its sub-fields, theories and methods; design and execute research inquiries; produce and present analytical reports in written, visual and oral form; critique and respond to current issues grounded in historical and contemporary national and global developments; and develop a predisposition towards ethical political involvement.

The Law School Route

AB Political Science is the default pre-law degree in the Philippines, and it is worth being precise about why, because the common explanation is wrong.

It is not required. Any four-year bachelor's degree qualifies you to apply to a Juris Doctor programme. What Political Science actually gives you is overlap: constitutional and administrative material, statutory and institutional literacy, and four years of reading dense text and arguing about it in writing. That is preparation, not eligibility.

On the PhiLSAT. In Pimentel v. Legal Education Board, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Legal Education Board's act and practice of excluding, restricting and qualifying admissions to law schools by requiring applicants to pass the Philippine Law School Admission Test, and it affirmed that ruling in a resolution issued on 9 November 2021. The practical effect is that law schools set their own admission requirements and their own entrance tests. Check the current policy with the Legal Education Board and with the specific law school before you apply, because school-level requirements change and are not uniform.

For the rest of the path, our law school guides walk through the full sequence from senior high school to the Bar, and our best law schools in the Philippines roundup covers the school-by-school picture.

One honest caution: a very large share of AB Political Science students say they are going to law school, and a much smaller share go. Build the degree so it stands on its own, through the practicum, research and electives, rather than treating four years as a waiting room.

The Foreign Service Route

This is the other career the degree is associated with, and the mechanics are specific.

The Foreign Service Officer Examination is run by the Board of Foreign Service Examinations. Per the announcement for the 2025 cycle, applicants must be Filipino citizens, must be graduates of a four-year bachelor's degree course or higher by the prescribed deadline for submitting requirements, and must have at least two years of employment or completed further studies after graduating. No particular degree is required.

The examination for that cycle ran in stages: a Qualifying Test covering verbal, analytical, numerical and managerial ability; a Written Test; a Psychological Test; and an Oral Test. The written test carried six weighted subjects: Philippine economic, political and cultural conditions and International Affairs at 30% each, English at 20%, World History at 10%, and Filipino and a foreign language at 5% each.

Two things follow from that structure. First, the two heaviest subjects map almost exactly onto the Political Science major core, which is the real reason the degree is associated with the foreign service. Second, the two-year post-graduation requirement means this is not a path you walk straight out of university.

We are not publishing the schedule for any upcoming cycle. The Board publishes stages, cut-offs and dates per cycle through the DFA and Philippine embassies and consulates, and they change. Read the current announcement, not a blog.

Government, Policy and Everything Else

Without a PRC licence, the standard route into career government posts is Civil Service eligibility. The Civil Service Commission administers the Career Service Examination at professional and sub-professional levels, and eligibility is what makes you appointable to permanent positions. Our guide to government jobs after the civil service exam covers that route, and the salary grade table explains how government pay is structured.

Beyond government, the realistic destinations are:

• Legislative and executive staff work — committee research, legislative drafting support, policy staffing at national and local level.
• Local government — planning, administration and development work in cities, municipalities and provinces.
• NGOs and development organisations — programme work, advocacy, governance and human rights.
• Private sector public affairs — regulatory affairs, government relations, political and country risk analysis.
• Media and communications — political journalism, public information and communications roles.
• Academia and research — where a master's becomes the entry requirement. CHED separately issued Memorandum Order No. 32, series of 2011 covering policies, standards and guidelines for graduate programmes in Political Science.

We are not attaching salary figures to these. Government pay follows the salary grade system rather than a market rate, and there is no Philippine wage series specific to political science graduates that we would cite.

Is AB Political Science Right for You?

• You will read and write constantly. Not as a study technique, as the actual work of the degree.
• Methods are part of it. Two of the ten major courses are research and data analysis, and CHED requires the research competency as a programme outcome.
• The degree does not certify you for anything. There is no board exam. Your practicum, research output and internships carry the weight.
• Decide early whether law is the plan or the excuse. If it is the plan, look at admission requirements now. If it is not, build the degree towards government, policy or research deliberately.

Students from the HUMSS strand come in best prepared, though no strand is required and schools admit from all of them.

Ready to compare schools? Browse schools on SchoolFinderPH to see programmes, locations and tuition across the country.

Sources

• Commission on Higher Education — CMO No. 51, series of 2017, Policies and Standards for the Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (BA PoS) Program
• Professional Regulation Commission — Professional Regulatory Boards
• Manila Bulletin — SC affirms unconstitutionality of PhiLSAT requisite for students to enter law schools
• Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. — 2025 Foreign Service Officer Examinations announcement
• Supreme Court E-Library — CHED Memorandum Order No. 32, series of 2011, PSG for Graduate Programs in Political Science
• SchoolFinderPH — Best Law Schools in the Philippines
• SchoolFinderPH — Courses with Board Exams