THE UNIVERSITY registered lackluster performances in the recent licensure exams for certified public accountants (CPA) and civil engineers.
Results from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) showed that UST got a 69.09-percent passing rate in the May CPA exams, lower than last year’s 71.26 percent. A total of 76 out of 110 examinees passed. Fifty-nine of them were first-time takers.
Second-placer Katherine Rose Catindig led the new Thomasian CPAs, with a score of 94.43 percent. Catindig was only a few notches behind topnotcher Manuel Buensuceso Jr. of San Beda College, who scored 94.86 percent.
The national passing rate also declined to 38.50 from last year’s 40.50 percent, with just 1,995 out of 5,315 passing the exam. The University of San Carlos was declared the only top-performing school, with an 88.33-percent passing rate.
In last year’s October board exam, UST emerged as the second top-performing school with an 88.86 percent passing rate. Four Thomasians entered the top 10 list.
Meanwhile, the University’s passing rate in the civil engineering board exams plunged to 68.97 percent from last year’s 72 percent.
Twenty out of 29 passed, nine of whom were first-time takers.
Likewise, the national passing rate dipped to 34.07 percent from 38.34 percent last year, with only 1,130 out of 3,317 passing the exam.
Civil Engineering Department chair Rodelio Tiburcio said those who took the off-season exam last May were mostly fresh graduates who wanted to be engineers right away due to early job offers and scholarship grants abroad.
“Fresh graduate examinees only had two months to prepare, while some re-takers were already working so they had less time to study,” he said. “The PRC also increased the number of items in the exam—from 30 to 100—due to clamor from other engineering majors,” Tiburcio added. Nikka Lavinia G. Valenzuela and Cez Mariela Teresa G. Verzosa
