TL;DR: Cebu City's review centres are more specialised than they look. GERTC and Padilla are civil engineering only, MET is a LET specialist, Merge and Toprank cover nursing and allied health, and the USJ-R CPA Review Center is the Visayas CPA option. CEVAS Cebu is the only one that publishes a rate card.
Introduction
Cebu City is the education capital of the Visayas, and the licensure candidates it produces every year support a review-centre cluster tight enough to fit in a few downtown blocks. Osmena Boulevard, Jakosalem Street, F. Ramos Street and Fuente Osmena between them hold most of what follows.
Two things are worth knowing before you shortlist. First, Cebu's centres are narrower than their brand names suggest: several handle exactly one board exam. Second, almost none of them publishes prices. Fee tables for Cebu review centres circulating online are, with one exception, not traceable to any centre's own rate card. This guide names the exception, gives the addresses that are verifiable, and leaves the rest blank rather than guessing.
Cebu review centres by board exam
| Review centre | Exam focus | Cebu address | Published fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| GERTC | Civil engineering | Kysey Building, 305 R. Duterte St. | Sold per package, not listed on site |
| Padilla Review Center | Civil engineering | 95 Dionisio Jakosalem St. | Not published |
| Prime Mechanical Engineering Review Center | Mechanical engineering | 550 Dionisio Jakosalem St. | Not published |
| MET Review Center | LET | 3/F CDC Bldg 2, Jakosalem cor. Colon St. | Not published |
| Carl Balita Review Center Cebu | LET, criminology | 103 F. Ramos St. | Not published |
| St. Louis Review Center Cebu | LET, NLE, NCLEX | 4/F Ala King Bldg., J. Llorente St. | Not published |
| Merge Review Center Cebu | NLE, pharmacy | 5/F The Professional Group Center, N. Escario cor. F. Ramos St. | Not published |
| Toprank Review Academy Cebu | NLE, midwifery, pharmacy, medtech, criminology, NCLEX | 3/F Lim Tian He Bldg., Fuente Osmena Circle | Not published |
| Amici Review Center Cebu | Criminology | Wireless Plaza, Mandaue | Not published |
| USJ-R CPA Review Center | CPALE | University of San Jose-Recoletos, Magallanes St. | Not published |
| CEVAS Cebu | Civil service, IELTS | 3/F Ma. Christina Bldg., Fuente Circle, Osmena Blvd. | Yes, published rate card |
| JRooz IELTS Cebu | IELTS | 16/F Metrobank Plaza, Osmena Blvd. | Not published |
| IDP Cebu Test Centre | IELTS testing | Ground Floor, Keppel Center, Cardinal Rosales Ave. | Test fee set by IDP |
Addresses are from each centre's own listing or website. Fees change per intake, so confirm directly before paying anything.
Engineering: GERTC and Padilla
Gillesania Engineering Review and Training Center, usually just GERTC, is the best-known civil engineering review name in Cebu. It was established by Engr. Diego Gillesania, who is also the review director and the author of the DITG review books many CE candidates already own, and it has been running for around 25 years from the Kysey Building on R. Duterte Street, with a second centre in Manila.
The practical detail to plan around is the cycle. GERTC runs two review cycles a year, one starting in June and one in November, in face-to-face, online and hybrid formats. It does not post a single fee; packages are sold individually with full-payment or instalment options, so the price depends on which package and format you take.
Padilla Review Center on Dionisio Jakosalem Street is the other Cebu-based civil engineering option, and Prime Mechanical Engineering Review Center, a few doors down the same street, covers the mechanical engineering board. Neither publishes fees.
For the national picture, see our civil engineering review centre guide.
Teaching: MET, CBRC and St. Louis
MET Review Center on Jakosalem corner Colon Street bills itself as a LET specialist and does nothing else, which is a reasonable argument in its favour if the LET is your exam.
Carl Balita Review Center Cebu at 103 F. Ramos Street covers LET and criminology, and CBRC's own branch directory also lists provincial Cebu branches in Toledo City and Bogo City for candidates outside the metro. The chain lists roughly 80 branches nationwide across NCR, North and Central Luzon, South Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao and abroad.
St. Louis Review Center Cebu on the fourth floor of the Ala King Building on J. Llorente Street covers LET alongside nursing and NCLEX, which makes it the most useful single stop if you are weighing a teaching and a nursing pathway.
For a national comparison, see our LET review centre roundup.
Nursing and allied health: Merge and Toprank
Merge Review Center Cebu at the Professional Group Center on N. Escario corner F. Ramos Street covers the nursing licensure exam and pharmacy. Nationally, Merge's programme list runs wider than its Cebu listing: NLE, NCLEX-RN, IELTS, CRNE, HA-AD, CGFNS, LET, medical technology and pharmacy. It advertises an online weekend review, and it runs periodic promotions rather than a fixed published rate, so ask what the current price is rather than what it was.
Toprank Review Academy Cebu at Fuente Osmena Circle has the widest exam coverage of any single Cebu branch on this list: NLE, midwifery, pharmacy, medical technology, criminology and NCLEX. If you are in an allied-health field that the specialist centres do not serve, start here.
See also our nursing licensure review centre guide.
Accountancy: USJ-R
The CPA Review Center at the University of San Jose-Recoletos on Magallanes Street is the campus-based CPALE option in the city, which means direct access to accounting faculty and university resources without relocating to Manila. Compare it against the national field in our CPA review centre guide.
Civil service and IELTS: CEVAS, JRooz and IDP
CEVAS Cebu is the one centre in this guide that puts prices in public. Its Cebu City office is on the 3rd Floor of the Ma. Christina Building at Fuente Circle, Osmena Boulevard, above McDonald's and Watsons, one of twelve CEVAS locations alongside an online option.
Its published civil service rate card lists an intensive group review at PHP 3,500 online and PHP 5,950 face to face, against regular prices of PHP 6,500 and PHP 8,950, with materials, group coaching and mock exams included and weekend sessions from 9am to noon and 1pm to 4pm. The VIP one-to-one programme is listed at PHP 15,950, reduced from PHP 18,950, for 30 hours across ten three-hour sessions. CEVAS also runs limited-window promotional discounts and honour-student and PWD discounts, so the advertised price at any moment may be lower than the regular one. These are national rates rather than Cebu-specific ones; confirm with the branch.
For IELTS specifically, JRooz IELTS Cebu is on the 16th floor of Metrobank Plaza on Osmena Boulevard, and the IDP Philippines Cebu Test Centre at Keppel Center is where you sit the test rather than review for it. Our Cebu IELTS review centre guide goes deeper.
Criminology
Amici Review Center at Wireless Plaza in Mandaue is the dedicated criminology option in the metro, with CBRC Cebu and Toprank Cebu also covering the exam as part of a wider programme list.
How to choose a review centre in Cebu
Check what the centre actually covers before you check the brand. Several of Cebu's strongest centres do exactly one exam. A well-known name is no guarantee it runs your board.
Start from the PRC schedule, not from a month count. Find your exam date first, then pick a review cycle that ends before it. Our PRC board exam schedule guide explains how the commission publishes its calendar and when to check it.
Ask what the fee includes. Where a price exists, confirm whether materials, mock exams and online access are inside it or billed separately. CEVAS states materials are included; most others do not say.
Do not pay against a price you read in an article. Including this one. Fees move per intake and per promotion. Confirm with the branch in writing before transferring anything.
Weigh the commute honestly. Most centres cluster around Osmena Boulevard, Jakosalem and Fuente Osmena. If you are coming from Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu or Talisay, an online or hybrid package may buy back more study hours than a slightly better classroom would.
Searching for the right fit? Browse all review centres on SchoolFinderPH and compare programmes and locations side by side.
Sources
- GERTC - Gillesania Engineering Review and Training Center
- CEVAS - Civil Service Review Center rates
- CEVAS Philippines - branches and contacts
- Carl Balita Review Center - branch directory
- Merge Review Center - programmes and schedules
- St. Louis Review Center - official website
- Toprank Review Academy - official website
- Amici Review Center - official website
- Prime Mechanical Engineering Review Center
- IDP Philippines - Cebu IELTS test centre
- Professional Regulation Commission - official website
