How to get placed in KUCCPS Second Revision - 2019 KCSE Candidates

On Thursday, April 2^nd the portal was opened for KUCCPS second revision of diploma, degree and certificate choices. This came after 36,522 students who scored a C+ and above were unable to secure placement in degree programs while 6,654 candidates didn’t make any applications.

Students who failed to secure placement have been urged to revise their choices before the KUCCPS second revision deadline which is on 15^th April. The online service published a PDF List of the index numbers of unsuccessful 2019 KCSE Candidates from the first revision.

I believe this is a very crucial moment for these students and hence would like to give you some tips on securing successful placement in this 2020 second revision. First, how do you know whether you got placed or not?

How to check your status

There two ways of knowing your KUCCPS placement status

• Download the List published by KUCCPS and search for your index number. PDF List
• Log into your KUCCPS student portal. Check under the Available Programmes and Institutions Section.

For successful placement:

“Dear applicant, you have provisionally secured one of the courses you applied for, subject to approval by the Placement Board”

For unsuccessful placement:

“Kindly revise your choices!”

Successful vs Unsuccessful KUCCPS placement

If you have secured a placement, you’re not required to reapply but you’ll have to wait for the conclusion of the entire placement process to know where you have been placed.

How to get placed in KUCCPS second revision.

If you didn’t secure a placement then it’s time to make better choices. I’m going to give you some quick tips to help you out.

But before I start, you need to understand that the KUCCPS procedure of placing student does not follow any publicly outlined guidelines. This information is guarded by the service for reasons best known to them.

So these tips don’t guarantee placement but give you a better chance of successful placement.

Let’s dive in.

1. Ensure your Cluster weights surpass 2018 cut-offs

This is a no brainer. When browsing through programs, you must check your cluster points under the column with a red title and compare it with 2018 cluster cutoffs as shown below. This saves you a lot of time since, in the end, you cannot secure placement in a course you don’t qualify for.

KUCCPS Cluster Weights Comparison

2. Use the Basket Substantially

One of the features some students ignore is the basket. The basket is like the supermarket shopping cart where you place the things you want to buy.

While filtering programs and checking those that you meet the minimum, you ought to add them into the basket by clicking the black ADD button at the right end of the screen.

Browse through the courses using the filters available and add as many courses as possible to your basket as long as you meet the cutoff points.

When done, access the basket dashboard through the Basket Icon at the top right corner.

Since you are doing the second revision, you are likely to see three messages at the Minimum Requirements section at the bottom of every course you have added in your basket.

Three messages as shown below are self-explanatory.

1. “You meet all minimum subject requirements”
2. “You don’t meet the cluster/minimum grade for this programme”
3. “This programme doesn’t exist or is not of offer”

You should have noticed the third message which wasn’t there during the first revision of courses. This message means that for that particular course, the available slots are full and hence you cannot have it in your choices.

You are likely to discover most courses falling under this category while doing your second revision and thus forced to remove them.

The KUCCPS basket will hence help you collect as many courses as possible and even if you’re forced to remove some of the courses, you could have a good number remaining to select from.

3. Select Courses whose cutoffs you have surpassed by a good margin

This is the hard truth for the second revision. First, you should have noticed that most courses that you had access to during the first revision are no longer available.

This means you have fewer choices and more competition to deal with especially for degree courses.

So how can you beat this?

Unfortunately, you might just have to lower your standards a little bit. One strategy KUCCPS uses when placing students is giving more preference to the better students in competitive courses.

For instance, consider BSc in Nursing (Kenyatta University) with a cutoff of 38. If Mary and John with 40 and 38.1 cluster points respectively were to be placed, Mary would get placed first and latter if the slots were full, John may have to be pushed to the next course among his choices.

So if you really want to secure placement is an available course, the more the margin between your cluster and the 2018 cutoff point for that course, the better chance you have to be placed.

4. Select courses in less Competitive Universities

This is the second hard truth that might disappoint you but if applied well will secure you a successful placement in this second revision.

With limited courses remaining, you need also to consider the universities that are offering those courses.

Highly ranked universities such as the University of Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, Moi University, Kenyatta University among others attract very many students.

Hence, any course that’s still available in these institutions will be very competitive. You ought to avoid this competition if you wish to beat this game. It sucks that you have to attend a low rated institution, but if you have no alternative, you’ve gotta play safe.

By the way, if you see a course from a highly ranked university, without cutoff points in years before 2018, it means the course was introduced recently and might be less competitive with a good number of slots

Nonetheless, universities offer services in the switching of courses and university transfer that could work out for you later. So don’t despair.

Make sure however that the course is also accredited or measures are currently in place to have it accredited.

5. Diploma and Certificate Courses aren’t bad either.

If you really want to achieve something, there will always be ways of doing it no matter the time it takes. This is the attitude you need to have at this moment.

Diploma students are becoming more favored by employers than degree counterparts

You weren’t lucky enough to secure a degree or diploma during the first placement. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve your dream career.

I’m pretty sure there is that one path you have been dreaming of and even at this moment with the limited courses available, you still want to figure out how you can get there.

That where moving from a degree to a diploma or from a diploma to a certificate comes in.

Well, the fact is that for a diploma, it usually means more time studying and working before you can earn a bachelor’s degree. For a certificate, it’s even more.

But what matters is that you want to get there. Taking the long route isn’t bad.

“The end justifies the means”

Niccolò Machiavelli

So, you need to also consider the diploma and certificate courses available for you. Browse through all programs and add those whose requirements you meet into your basket.

Then head to the baskets section and select the ones that match your career dreams. If you have passed the minimum requirements, you are highly likely to be placed.

In case you aren’t aware, nowadays employers prefer diploma graduates over degree holders due to their practical skills.

All the best in your revision.