TL;DR: Four review centres in the City of Manila cover the Criminologist Licensure Examination. Amici on Legarda in Quiapo is the only criminology-only specialist. CBRC's national headquarters in Sampaloc and TopRank's Morayta branch, directly across from the PRC office, both run criminology alongside other programmes. Ray A. Gapuz Review System in Ermita covers nine exam types and is the only one of the four that publishes an actual schedule: monthly intakes, Monday to Saturday 8:00am to 6:00pm, programmes from a 24-hour intensive to three months, with unlimited sit-in until you pass. None of the four publishes a fee.
The four, side by side
| Amici Manila | CBRC Manila | Ray Gapuz | TopRank Morayta | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address | San Rafael St., Legarda, Quiapo | 2/F Carmen Bldg., 881 G. Tolentino St., Sampaloc | 1128 Alhambra St., United Nations Ave., Ermita | 5/F Don Lorenzo Bldg., 889 P. Paredes, Sampaloc |
| Phone | 0945 890 2127 | 0910 292 8889 | 0906 201 9383 | (02) 7501 0636 |
| Exams covered | Criminology only | LET, criminology | 9, including NLE, NCLEX, NMAT, LET, medtech, civil service, IELTS | NLE, medtech, criminology, pharmacy, midwifery, NCLEX |
| Face-to-face | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Online | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid | No | No | Yes | No |
| Published schedule | No | No | Yes | No |
| Published fee | No | No | No | No |
| Google rating | 4.9 (9 reviews) | 3.9 (53) | 4.9 (275) | 4.3 (16) |
Every figure there comes from our own directory records. The full Manila list across all exams is on the Manila review centres page, and our all-exam city roundup is here.
Geography: three in the U-Belt, one in Ermita
Three of the four sit in or beside the University Belt, which is where most Manila reviewees already are. CBRC's headquarters is on G. Tolentino at España, in the middle of the Sampaloc university cluster. TopRank Morayta is on P. Paredes, and its useful detail is that it is directly across from the Professional Regulation Commission office, so filing and review happen in the same block. Amici is on Legarda in Quiapo, a short walk from the same cluster.
Ray A. Gapuz Review System is the outlier, on Alhambra Street off United Nations Avenue in Ermita. That is closer to the Manila Bay side and the Taft corridor, which suits reviewees around PUP, PLM and the Taft universities better than the España crowd.
If you are boarding for the review, this determines your rent. Sampaloc and Quiapo have the cheapest reviewee-facing bedspace in the city; Ermita and the Taft side are pricier.
What actually separates them
Amici: the criminology-only option
Amici reviews for one exam. That is the entire business, and in a city where every other criminology programme runs alongside teaching, nursing or NCLEX tracks, it is a real differentiator.
The case for a specialist is straightforward: lecturers who teach nothing but the six CLE subject areas, and a calendar built around CLE dates rather than competing with six other programmes for rooms. The case against is that Amici started in November 2020, making it by far the youngest name here, and that its Manila branch is face-to-face only with no online or hybrid option on file.
Amici's marketing claims 4,861 passers across three consecutive Criminologist Licensure Examinations in December 2021, June 2022 and December 2022, plus 16 national and 52 regional topnotchers. Those are network-wide, self-reported figures, and we cover why nobody can audit them further down.
Its website, amicireviewcenter.com, returned a server error when we checked on 2 September 2026, tested with both an automated request and a normal browser user agent. Enrolment runs through 0945 890 2127 and [email protected]. We look at two of its provincial branches in the Cebu branch guide and the Cagayan de Oro guide.
CBRC Manila: the headquarters
This is not just a CBRC branch, it is the network's headquarters, and CBRC claims 181 Philippine branches plus six international ones and over 40 programmes. For criminology, the Manila branch runs it alongside LET, with online and face-to-face delivery.
The practical value of enrolling at the head office rather than a branch is access: the largest lecturer pool, the fullest programme calendar, and the first place any new format or material lands. The practical cost is that criminology here is one of forty products.
CBRC also has the deepest review history of the four by volume of feedback, 3.9 from 53 Google reviews, which is the only sample on this page large enough to be worth reading through properly. Read the one-star reviews as carefully as the five-star ones. Our CBRC guide covers the network.
Ray A. Gapuz Review System: the one that publishes how it runs
Ray A. Gapuz Review System, founded 1994 and operating under International Center for Advance Review and Training (ICART) Inc., covers nine exam types from the Ermita address: NLE, NCLEX, NMAT, LET, criminology, medtech, midwifery, civil service and IELTS.
It is the only centre on this page that publishes operational detail rather than marketing:
- Monthly class offerings, so intakes are frequent rather than annual
- Sessions Monday to Saturday, 8:00am to 6:00pm
- Programme lengths from a 24-hour intensive up to three months
- Unlimited sit-in until you pass the exam
That last item matters most for repeat takers, and it is rare enough that you should ask for the written terms. Policies of this kind normally carry conditions, usually attendance thresholds or a re-registration step. Get them on paper.
It also has by far the largest feedback sample here, 4.9 from 275 Google reviews. That is across all nine programmes, not criminology specifically, so weight it accordingly. The chain's headline claim, an uninterrupted 100 per cent NCLEX passing rate since 2001, is about a different exam entirely and says nothing about its CLE programme.
Note that this is the Ray A. Gapuz brand, which is a separate operation from the R.A. Gapuz Review Center branches in the provinces. We untangle the two in our Gapuz guide.
TopRank Morayta: allied health first, criminology alongside
TopRank's Morayta branch covers NLE, medtech, criminology, pharmacy, midwifery and NCLEX. Its identity is allied health; criminology sits at the edge of that portfolio rather than at its centre.
What it offers that the others do not is location relative to the PRC office, directly opposite, and TopRank's SILID learning platform running alongside classroom sessions. TopRank states it is ISO 9001:2015 certified for its quality management system, which is a process audit rather than any statement about results.
If you are a criminology graduate with no interest in the allied health side, this branch's breadth does nothing for you. If you are weighing criminology against another track, it is the most flexible room on this list after Ray Gapuz.
Nobody publishes a fee
Four centres, zero published criminology tuition rates. Amici's site was down; CBRC, TopRank and Ray Gapuz all publish nothing on price and set it at branch or programme level.
Make them comparable yourself by asking each the same seven questions:
- Total fee for the criminology programme, in writing.
- Programme length in weeks, and session days and hours.
- Whether final coaching before the exam date is included or extra.
- How many full-length mock exams, and whether you get item-level rationales.
- Whether books and handouts are included.
- Class size.
- What a failed attempt entitles you to: sit-in, discount, or nothing.
Only Ray Gapuz currently answers question 2 and part of question 7 in public. Everyone else you have to phone. Our review centre cost guide explains why the range across the market is so wide.
No one here has a verifiable pass rate
Amici cites 4,861 passers and 68 topnotchers. CBRC says it consistently produces topnotchers. TopRank cites Top 1 placers across several sittings. Ray Gapuz cites a 100 per cent NCLEX rate since 2001.
Every one of those is the centre quoting itself. PRC publishes lists of passers by name and does not break results down by review centre, so no review centre in the Philippines can produce an independently audited pass rate for any exam. This is a structural fact about the industry, not a criticism of any of these four. We set out what the official data actually supports in board exam passing rates by course.
Our read
If you want criminology lecturers who do nothing else and you can attend in person, Amici. If you want frequent intakes, published hours and sit-in rights, Ray Gapuz. If you want the deepest lecturer pool and the largest body of reviewee feedback, CBRC's head office. If you are still weighing criminology against an allied health track, TopRank Morayta.
Whichever you pick, visit before you pay. All four are within a short ride of each other, and an afternoon spent in three lobbies will tell you more than any listing, ours included. For the exam itself, our criminology board exam guide covers subject coverage and the general average, and the national roundup covers the field outside Manila.
Sources
- SchoolFinderPH directory records for Amici Review Center Main Branch Manila, Dr. Carl Balita Review Center, Ray Gapuz Review System and TopRank Review Academy Morayta Manila
- drcarlbalitareviewcenter.com, for the network's branch count, programme range and ISO claim
- toprankacademy.com, for its programme list, SILID platform and ISO statement
- raygapuzreviewsystem.com, for its programme range and operating company
- amicireviewcenter.com (returned HTTP 523 origin error on 2 September 2026, checked with both an automated request and a desktop browser user agent)
