ALMOST half of Accountancy sophomores failed this year’s retention exam, but this was a slightly better performance compared with last year’s result.
Out of 830 second-year students, 380 students were dropped from the program. A total of 482 sophomores took the exam last March 25 but 206 or 42.74 percent failed. This was lower than last year’s 44.33 percent, wherein 211 students failed out of 476 examinees.
Lean Jeff Magsombol, chair of the Pre-Accountancy and Management Accounting department, said 450 incoming third-year students would be enrolled in the Accountancy program, reducing the number of sections to 10 from 18.
One hundred seventy-five sophomores were exempted from the retention exam, after getting grades of 2.0 or higher in their Accounting 1 and 2 courses, while 173 students who failed their Accounting subjects were removed from the program and were automatically transferred to Management Accounting.
Accountancy Chair Christopher German said the retention exam determines who among the sophomores have met the standards of the Accountancy program.
“But it does not mean that those students who will be transferred to the Management Accounting program are not good. It is just that, they were not really prepared,” German said.
He said the curriculum, faculty roster, and departmental exams are the college’s top priorities in maintaining standards.
Majority of the Accounting professors are veteran Certified Public Accountant (CPA) board reviewers from different schools.
The college is also strict in implementing its rule of not allowing special exams or projects for students who failed their subjects.
“The College of Accountancy is known as the ‘debarment capital’ of the University, mainly because of its strict rules and high standards, and we really do not give any form of special treatment,” said German.
Meanwhile, the college has decided to increase the passing grade for its Integrated Accounting courses to 80 percent from 75 percent for incoming freshmen.
German said Integrated Accounting courses greatly helped in improving the performance of Accountancy students in the CPA board exams.
“When the Integrated Accounting courses were implemented in 2002, our passing rate increased to 78 percent in 2003 from 50 percent in 2002,” he said.
Integrated Accounting courses are offered during the last semester to fifth-year students. It serves as a summary of their Accounting courses and preparation for the CPA board exams.
“Although it is still the student’s option to review outside UST, Integrated Accounting courses are very similar to the review, because it is patterned after the review materials provided by review centers,” he said.
