Some victories are won not in classrooms, but in hospital beds, where survival becomes the hardest test.
PRC News recently reposted the story of King Nixon C. Mabanta, who topped the June 2025 Architect Licensure Examination (ALE), after coming close to death.
According to The Summit Express, Mabanta initially planned to take the ALE in January 2022, but a month later, doctors diagnosed him with a severe illness that left him bedridden for nearly nine months.
“Survival became my only focus,” he recalled.
With no reviews or mock exams, the board exam no longer mattered. Critics saw his review enrollment as wasted, but for him, staying alive was the real goal.
From August to October 2022, his condition worsened as pain and inflammation left him unable to stand, and hope felt distant.
Thinking that he no longer had hope, he threw away his study materials. But by December, his health improved which gave him reason to dream again.
Relying on self-study, he took the Master Plumber Licensure Examination in February 2023 and placed second. A month after, he returned to work. In December 2024, he began preparing quietly for the June 2025 ALE, skipping formal reviews.
On exam day, he overcame his doubt and ended up Top 1 in the ALE.
“We all bloom at the right time,” he said.
