by Nur-Aminah Andig, BSA 4-1

Quizzes, Midterms and Finals – some of the brain-wrecking exams you encounter in school. One or two weeks or even a month (for GC people only) before the said exams, you already prepare yourself for them. You call your best friend to cancel your meet-up. You refuse to hang-out with your family and choose to spend your weekends with Valix, Dayag and Ampongan.  You become socially inactive and sometimes you even forget to eat your meal at the right time. And on the day of reaping, you ready yourself for whatever results of the exams may bring and then you get to know that you failed. Crap. How disappointing can it get? You had studied yet you failed. You had burnt the midnight oil yet you didn’t pass the exam. You had read your books a million times yet you didn’t meet the needed grade. Have you ever asked yourself what the heck is wrong? Are you being cursed or is it just a matter of the right timing to pass?

Listed below are some (well, majority actually) of the reasons why BSAs fail:

1. At least 10-page exam for 3 hours (Say it's OA but yeah, it happens!)
   
2. Content of exam is not covered by the topics to be reviewed (Happens most of the time.)
   
3. Theories which are harder than problems (So true!)
   
4. Problems which are really...problems (So damn true!)
   
5. Choices which are almost equally correct (Like, always!)
   
6. Putting your answer on the wrong number (Presence of mind, please.)
   
7. No erasures allowed (Thank God Frixion pen exists!)
   
8. Failure to study the latter chapters when most of the questions came from those (How unlucky eh?)
   
9. No point for not writing the solution (What is it's just a 1+1=2?)
   
10. One long difficult problem (Time consuming. Fudge!)
    
11. Forgetting to bring your own calculator (Compute manually. Good luck!)
    
12. Failure to fully understand what you have reviewed (Epic fail.)
    
13. Memorizing the answer in your quizzer yet you don’t know how to solve it (Perhaps you may try manipulating the solution?)
    
14. Pressure on passing since you fail on your prior exams (Pressure sucks)
    
15. The answer is not on the choices
16. Worst of all, it’s zero-based!!!

Whatever the reasons may be, it’s not just about getting high grades. It’s also the passion and determination to strive harder. Just because you fail doesn’t mean you deserve it. Sometimes it’s a matter of perfect timing. Remember, a person first encounters billion failures on his way before getting to the top. You may fail now but you can stand again and prove yourself that you deserve to pass just like any other people.  Be inspired with Thomas Alba Edison’s thought: “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So yes, never give up. FIGHT!!!

by Nur Aminah Andig, BSA 4-1
(winner of JPIA-PLM Art & Literary Festival 2011 On-the-Spot Feature Writing Contest)

Have you ever wondered what your life would be when you’re not a BSA student? Would you be one of those students who are stress-free and more relaxed? Or would you be one of those who seek for fun and explorations? I remember Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” People whose dreams are beyond their reach and capabilities. Dreams which are too high to achieve but just serve as their motivation.  Nothing is ever achieved without determination. You just cannot wait for a shooting star to wish upon. You have to put a lot of effort for you to get what you want. You have to try your best for you to succeed. You have to push the limits for you to get your goal.

I can still remember the very first day I had stepped my feet on the College of Accountancy and Economics three years ago. I was on the stake of having too much anxiety on what my journey here would be. Pressure was running one me and it had kept on pushing me until today as I imagined myself years from now. I had no idea what the road would lead me to reach the end of the finish line. Tons of prayers and determination are all I kept in my pocket. As the days passed by, I realized that being a BSA student is like investing in a business with the aim of earning a profit. You have to acquire all the full knowledge you could ever get while taking risks for the sake of not getting losses. You have to be equipped with knacks and skills for you to survive all your endeavors as you sail your way in a long journey. 

As an accounting period ends, you soon realize that it’s not just about earning a profit but also expanding and investing more for your business to run on as longer as it can. Just like studying accounting books for your Midterms and Finals, it’s not just all about passing it and getting high grades but also to push yourself to strive more aside from what you have learned in your books. At the end of the day, you learn how to be more passionate in what you are doing and you learn how to transform that passion into an exquisite excellence. 

Dreams do come true and it can happen to everyone. Dreams serve as your inspiration to soar high and to believe that everything is possible with Him. It may take long years for you to get on the finish line but all the hardships are worth your patience. To survive in this world full of uncertainties, one should have a mind set on conquering this field you have chosen. You may fall at first but remember you can stand again and be all you can ever be. You always have to remember that you have to reach your goal to CPAdom. You are the captain of your journey so keep on dreaming.  Always aim high and hit the mark!

by Jefferson Correa, BSA 4-1

When we ponder the first day of classes, most of us probably think of something exciting. For the freshmen, it is most likely getting to know their new classmates and eventually jump into the group where they feel they belong as days go on. For the sophomores and juniors, it is like getting ready and going to school the earliest time possible, based on observation, so that they could talk and talk and just talk almost every time regarding how their summer vacation had been, if ever there is, growth in love life, sharing insights on what their professors would be like. Finally, for the seniors who will be graduating next year (hopefully), it is kind of a bit important day in their lives for this day will serve as the last time that they’re going to school during the first day - last first day of class where mixed emotions will come upon their minds - on top of them, happiness and sadness.

As it is said, happiness is measured by the things you do. For us, seniors, having come this far is truly a big deal. You know, thinking of how the past three years had been in college, buying additional books in Recto, finding review materials in every way possible and studying all day and night just to be ready for an examination that will take place tomorrow…facing “varied in character” professors each day and complying all the requirements they have set for us to be able to have good grades in their respective subjects…and passing, let us admit it, the ever-feared comprehensive exam to move on to a higher level for another year in PLM with the same course, BS ACCOUNTANCY. Indeed, summing up all these, it is something worth like the most delicious cake a baker can make discerning that we are able to do things we did not know we can do. Nevertheless, being where we are right now also leaves us the feeling of sorrow not because we are frightened whether we will graduate next year or not, because we know and we believe in the first place that “In the Mighty Name of Jesus,” we will all graduate no matter what it takes. Somehow, most of us may feel sad because this will be the last year that we’ll be asking “baon” from our parents or from whoever he/she we ask allowance from, last year of getting fare discounts (20%) in Public Utility Vehicles out there, last year of hanging out, going to SM Manila with friends and classmates usually after class and even during break time and a lot more of this alike stuff. Above anything else, however, what truly makes us feel this way is because of the regrets we have in our hearts…remembering those moments when we think we could have done and given something more out of ourselves - that we could have gotten better grades, that we could have been a better neighbor to our classmates, and that we could have been a better individual in totality…only if we took some courage, only if we pushed more, only if we walked further. So sad, “Nasa huli talaga ang pagsisisi.”

With these sort of feelings we have, however, we must understand that our last year in college must not be filled with emotions like these because as they say, college is just a chapter in your life, just a part of a bigger and thicker thing. Soon, there would be number of blank pages of the book that we will open and have to write on, another chance to become better persons in our own ways. So with all these unfolded, seniors, why do not we just enjoy and appreciate this year? Let us all give our very best shots in everything we do and remember, FIRST DAY OF CLASSES MAY BE THE LAST FOR US, BUT THEN AGAIN, THIS IS NOT THE LAST DAY OF OURS.