NARRATIVE REPORT

By: Amamore L. Plaza

Being an accountancy student is not an easy course to undertake. As you always

have to do advance reading especially in major subjects for you to be able to catch up
or follow during the discussion in the class. It is somehow hard to deal with this course
yet I find it interesting because it is my choice and alike since I was young. The last 1st
semester in my 2nd year as an accountancy student at the University of Mindanao,
Matina, Davao City was full of ups and downs both in my academic and personal life.
To begin with, I would talk about first my academic matter. Since our University is
a “term system” type of school in which each semester is divided into two terms: the 1st
term and 2nd term. Meaning in each term there would be four (4) exams and a total of
eight (8) exams each semester and a term subject composes of three (3) units while a
semester subject composes of six (6) units. So, every two weeks we will be having an
exam. For the 1st term of the 1st semester of the school year 2019-2020 was a difficult
for me because the subjects that I have for that term seemed too heavy since most of
them were my major subjects (e.g. Strategic Cost Mgt., Law on Obligation and
Contracts, Financial Markets – those were term subjects, and Intermediate Accounting
2, a semester subject). It was very challenging for me to balance my studies because all
subjects must give equal attention to. Especially, in my law subject in which it requires a
lot of reading because our professor doing an oral every day and it was quite afraid of
because you would think about if you’re the one be called and can’t able to answer was
somewhat ashamed also. Moreover, we need also to cover up a particular quota of
articles or topics every day for the coverage of the exam that’s why most of our law
professor was like chasing something in discussing, yet was able to explain the topic
clearly.
Even though we have two weeks of discussion for the coverage of an exam, for
that whole duration, there would be many lessons that have been discussed because
we have followed a syllabus, meaning there were target topics that needed to be
discussed. Furthermore, in my Financial Market and Strategic Cost Mgt. subjects were
really difficult because there were many formulas to remember with that’s why I get
even confused or forgot sometimes how or when to use that such formula. After all, the
way they made problems were more on the work back process, meaning you’re not just
stick with one formula or just substituting the value of it but rather you need to do
another way around on how to solve and get the answer. Lastly, Intermediate
Accounting 2 subject. This was a heavy one because it was a semester subject and
composes of six (6) units. It was hard actually because the way we have an exam in this
subject was divided into two parts. The first part consists of multiple-choice theories and
problem-solving with no choices wherein it has two (2) hours duration of taking the
exam, and the second part also known as competency exam this may be done usually
on Saturday wherein it has three (3) hours duration of taking the exam, in which it was a
kind of exam of practicality. It means to say that, we were given such financial
transactions of such company and then we need to analyze the transactions, made
journals and adjusting entries, afterward posting it to the general ledger accounts and
finally made financial statements such as Income Statement, Statement of Financial
Position, Statement of Changes in Equity, and Statement of Cash Flows. Thus, it was
so a difficult term for me because again major subjects were all together and even the
exam theories in all subjects were not made by just a simple terminology but rather a
situational manner. Later on, during my 2nd term of 1st semester was somehow a light
burden for me because most of my subjects were already minors and it was easy for me
to adjust and balance the time in studying.
 On the other hand, the second one that I need to talk about was my personal life
because having personal problems can have also a bad impact on our studies. My
father is currently a seaman, before, they have a nine (9) months of contract but later
on, it changed to six (6) months because a majority of the seamen agreed to have a
shorter contract for them to see and be with their family as soon as possible. This
agreement was amended two (2) years ago. It was indeed that being a seaman has a
high salary, but the truth was, it was just right and sometimes was not enough for us to
fulfill our needs because my elder brother and I are already in college and also my
younger sister is now a senior student. So, there would be many expenses to cover up
such as tuition fees, allowances, monthly rent payment of boarding house, school
supplies, etc.
The month of July 2019 was the end of 6-month contract of my father but before
he was on board, we were full of debts because he was no contract for almost nine (9)
months before he got another one. My mother was also decided to go to Davao City for
her to focus on caring for us. Luckily, she got a job as a bookkeeper in the boarding
house we used to rent, but her salary was just right for an everyday meal of us. So,
when my father back here in the Philippines I told my mother to fully paid my tuition so
that I will not think about it anymore. But since other priorities need to be fulfilled like to
settle those debts, my father was just able to pay my tuition more than a half. The take-
home money of my father was actually enough to fulfill our debts. So, the payment was
only covered throughout June until August. But from September until October, the
problems were all come together as that time my elder brother was used to take a
review center for his criminology board exam, but later on, he was stopped and just
have a self-review since we cannot already afford to pay the review center but thanks to
God he passed the board exam. Because of financial problems, I sometimes to pay a
partial payment of 100 pesos just to have a permit and take the exam. There were times
I got cried because during that time I was really worried about my tuition fee, as well as,
I can see the eyes of my parents how they are stressful at that time. There were also
times we ate a can of sardines for all of us just to suffice our hunger. More than that, we
were advised by the owner of the boarding house to look for another one and give us 15
days allowance, because I knew we were always delayed to pay the monthly rental.
Whereas, that time I was so devastated as I was always thinking about where we go
and what will happen to our studies.
But I know those problems are just a smaller compared to our Almighty Father.
I’ve always prayed to Him that He will give us more strength to handle the adversities
we experienced and asking for his guidance throughout our path. After how many times
we ask for Him, God heard us. We were about to cater by our church to have a room in
their compound for temporarily until we can recover. More than that, I am so blessed
because my mother has a new job in a cooperative as a loan officer and I was got
chosen as one of the scholars of the OWWA scholarship program. Therefore, I got
learned that never say never cause all of those were just passing by and there’s a
mercy God who will help you throughout the journey in life.