Pinoy Dreamer

CPA Board Exam Review Materials and Test Banks

nick — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:43:55 +0000

I have observed some people coming and going in this blog looking for some CPA review materials and questionnaires, which often left them very disappointed because I have none to offer back then, but I have a few now. One of our reviewers in CPAR handed us some review materials and test banks that we can download. Alright, instead of guiding you through our yahoo groups to get those files, let me do the honor in sharing you all of those..

One thing, this is quite a short list. I’ll be trying to update it as much as I can. If you have some review materials to share, don’t hesitate to share it to us. Just email me at nick@pinoydreamer.com.

Test Banks - Practical Accounting 1

Time Value of Money

Review Materials - Practical Accounting 1

CPA Board Exam Syllabus

The Making of a CPA - Week 2

nick — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:35:03 +0000

The week has been very tiring, as usual. I’m still having a hard time getting the grasp of the 6-hour travel time in my schedule. Although I know that I can decide to make it shorter by searching a boarding house near CPAR, I’m still hoping that the daily Bulacan to Manila trip will work for me, hopefully sooner.. I love the convenience I’m getting in our house in Bulacan. No need to worry about what food to it, no worries for my laundries, no anxieties about security and more. Another is that I have my own separate place in the backyard wherein I can study without any disturbance, which I really want to hold on to until the end of the review.

But of course, everything has its own pros and cons, and on this part, the 6-hour travel makes me feel exhausted most of the times, to the point that once I arrive home, I have no more energy to open up my handouts. I have made a solution though. I’ve reorganized my schedule, allotting more time for me to stay at CPAR. My schedule dictates that I should be in CPAR from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, a ten hour study period, which I think is sufficient as of the moment.

Thoughts, Sentiments and Ramblings

As I go along to this second review at CPAR, I honestly can’t help myself to feel lazy at times. I really still can’t achieve the same level of determination, motivation, and inspiration I got from the first half of my review at PRTC during the previous semester. And damn it! I know how important this is, but why can’t I be the same studious individual that I was before? I’ve opened this up to my very industrious and studious review buddy, and hopefully she can influence me to get through this.

I’m feeling sick right now. A not so severe colds caught me the other day, but it’s just today that I’m feeling the effects. I’m feeling that I will get a fever, how I wish I won’t. I don’t want to be sick while taking the review, which happened during when I was at PRTC.

Second Week at CPAR

The second week is very enjoyable and fruitful, to the sense that I’ve learned and relearned a lot of things. From Practical Accounting 1, Practical Accounting 2, Theory of Accounts, Business Law, Taxation and Auditing Theory, everything was really very very interesting. One downfall though, I have personally confirmed the teaching style of my MAS reviewer, and sadly, that won’t work for me. In studying, I love listening to mentors that focus in concepts, explain it very well, and gives logic to every computation. I wished that was the case, but unfortunately, not.

Overall, as of my second week, my review experiences at CPAR is slowly helping me build the confidence of making it to the October 2008 CPA Board Examination.

Goodluck to me!! Have a nice week for everyone!

The New 7 Wonders of Nature Campaign Updates

nick — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:03:43 +0000

Just an update on how the poll is going. So far, our three entries have made it to the top 7 of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Topped by Tubbataha Reef at second place, Chocolate Hills at number four, and our Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park at number 6. Oh, another entry that I didn’t found during my previous post is Mayon Volcano, which is on the tenth spot right now. Whew!! Filipinos are really supporting this campaign. Pinoy Bloggers are sharing their influence too! I hope this continue until the end of the poll.

Brief Overview of all of Our Entries

Mayon Volcano

The Mayon Volcano is an active stratovolcano in the Philippines on the island of Luzon, in the province of Albay in the Bicol Region. The near perfectly cone shaped volcano is situated 15 kilometers northwest of Legazpi City.

Mayon is classified by volcanologists as a stratovolcano, or composite volcano. Its symmetric cone was formed through alternate pyroclastic and lava flows. Mayon is the most active volcano in the country, having erupted over 47 times in the past 400 years. It is located between the Eurasian and the Philippine Plate, at a convergent plate boundary: where a continental plate meets an oceanic plate, the lighter continental plate overrides the oceanic plate, forcing it down; magma is formed where the rock melts. Like other volcanoes located around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, Mayon is a part of the “Pacific Ring of Fire”. It was known and famous as a “Perfect Cone” volcano because of it’s almost perfect shape.

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is located about 50 km north of the city of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. It features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 km. navigable underground river. A distinguishing feature of the river is that it winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. It includes major formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and several large chambers. The lower portion of the river is subject to tidal influences. The underground river is reputed to be the world’s longest. At the mouth of the cave, a clear lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water’s edge. Monkeys, large monitor lizards, and squirrels find their niche on the beach near the cave.

Chocolate Hills

The Chocolate Hills is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills, all about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 sq km The hills are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, giving them the name ”Chocolate Hills.”

Tubbataha Reef

Tubbataha Reef is an atoll coral reef in the Sulu Sea that belongs to the Philippines. It is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park. The reef is composed of two atolls, North and South Reefs. Each reef has a single small islet that protrudes from the water. The atolls are separated by a deep channel 8 kilometers wide. Over one thousand species, including many that are endangered, can be found at on the reef. These include manta rays, lionfish, tortoises, clownfish and sharks.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature Link Love

I just thought of giving some link love to those who have supported our entries. Here they are:

This is a short list. I just included the first four pages of Googles’ Search Results Page. If your a blogger and wanted to be included in this list, just inform me through our comment section below.

Keep Supporting our Entries! Happy Blogging!!

The Making of a CPA

nick — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:48:38 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve made my last post, which is very much expected. I’m still having a hard time in adjusting in my schedules to the point that although I have some time left to blog about things, I’m too tired to do it. Anyways, these very infrequent postings will continue until the end of the October 2008 CPA Board Examination.

To document my final quest of being a CPA, hopefully this is the last, I’ve created another category for my ramblings. I named it “The Making of a CPA”. I will be publishing everything about my current review experiences, which is in CPAR. Infrequent as expected, but I hope my post will give ideas to my fellow reviewees or those who will be reviewing in the next semester how it is in CPAR. A real time documentation and not just hear says. Here is the first of the series.

Introductory Week at CPAR : The First Impressions

For every first days, everything started with a bunch of anticipation and speculations, but I guess mine was far less than the first time reviewees. My concern was the review proper, the reviewers and of course a good relationship with my review buddy. That’s all! I’m not thinking of meeting new friends, it will be just a bonus if I will have a few.

The week started with Theory of Accounts, Practical Accounting 1 and Business Law on Monday. The reviewer on ToA and P1 is Mr. Thomas A. Siy III, and honestly, I really appreciate the way he started the topics. Putting away all introductory jokes and anything, he started with the topic “Time Value of Money”. I didn’t expect it to start in that area but it was timely for my needs, and I guess for others as well. There are a few points in that topic that I’m really unfamiliar, which I was thankful that I was introduced.

The Business Law and Taxation reviewer came out of the box. He is Atty. Dante O. Dela Cruz. A very witty and jolly old man. The “Ultimate Berde” as Mr. Thomas Siy said yesterday. Why? You’ll know what I mean when you hear most of his jokes. Nevertheless, those jokes never goes out of topic. They are always related to a particular explanation, making things easier to understand. As per first impression, the hear says that CPAR has a very good BLT reviewer is quite surprisingly true.

Down to Practical Accounting 2 by Christopher I. German. The first meeting isn’t that remarkable. I actually doubt that he is a good reviewer. But those thoughts vanished when we meet again last Thursday. Unexpectedly, he presented topics in a way anyone can really appreciate. He highlight important points and keeps reiterating those to keep us reminded. Damn! I hope that flow will continue until cost accounting. I’m really zero-knowledge on that particular field, thanks for my l*** undergrad professors.

I cannot say more about our Auditing Theory reviewer Gerardo S. Roque because we didn’t actually start the review proper during the first meeting. It’s much more of an introduction.

With no offense, I was really disappointed to our Management Advisory Services reviewer Dean Apolinario D. Bobadilla. Compared to Mr. Franklin Agamata when I was still in PRTC, I don’t think he presents discussions wherein his reviewees could easily comprehend. This is just a first impression though, things might change as we go along the review.

Auditing Problems is led by Dean Archimedes E. Ibay. Nothing remarkable on the first meeting. I wasn’t actually impressed on how things are presented to us. That was the same impression I got from the reviewer of PRTC in AP. There may be a few reason why. One reason is that AP is too procedural that presenting it interestingly without going through the boring step by step computations is too difficult for reviewers.

Okay. I guess I’ve documented all of my first impressions in all of the subjects. As I have said, those are just first impressions and will eventually change as I go along the review. As much as I can, I will try to document weekly experiences here in my blog. Also, I will be posting some CPA review materials given by our reviewers here. I’m seeing few google searches about that and I guess it will be very helpful if aspirants will find things that they are looking for here.

Still Making Some Money Online

To keep my review budget alive, aside from the Php20,000 that I have earned online during the vacation, I think I must continue making money here, although I know I can’t earn as much as I have earned during the vacations because of obvious reasons. I became a member of SocialSpark during the past few weeks and I’m hoping to find opps that wouldn’t require too much to time to devote. Here is my profile if you care to visit http://socialspark.com/bloggers/silentmaverick.

The New Seven Wonders of Nature: Tubbataha Reef Campaign

nick — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:41:49 +0000

I’ve watched the documentary program of GMA 7 entitled “SISID” and I was really amazed on the underwater sceneries that they have featured there. It’s really uplifting to know that amidst the abuse of natural resources here in the Philippines, although not every part of it in general, there are still small oasis of paradise which we can really be proud of. In fact, three of our small paradise were nominated to be part of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. And you know what? As of the time I published this article, these three were on the top 15 of the most voted nominees, with the Tubbataha Reef leading at the 8th spot, followed by the Chocolate Hills at number 9 and Puerto Prinsesa Subterranean River National Park at the 15th place. The Poll for the New Seven Wonders of Nature is currently ongoing, and a single vote can really make a difference.

This is a call to the hundreds or even thousands of Pinoy Bloggers out there. Now is the time to make use of our influence, or our blog’s influence I should say. Let us spread the word. Make our readers aware of the ongoing poll and encourage them to vote on our own National Treasures. Bring them to www.new7wonders.com to cast their vote, and of course with top priority of supporting our own entries. In participating the poll, each voter is given 7 votes, with no allowed repeat of votes in a particular nominee. You are obliged to make seven votes to complete it for submissions. These were my votes: On My Top 3

Tubbataha Reef
Chocolate Hills
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

Leading Nominees that I’ve voted

Ha Long Bay in Vietnam
Cox’s Bazar, Beach in Bangladesh
Ganges River in India

Final vote to complete the seven-vote requirement

Jeita Grotto in Lebanon

All of the entries are undoubtedly very fascinating, and choosing among the hundreds of entries will not really be that easy. I encourage every Filipino to vote for our three nominees, and for every Pinoy blogger to spread the word and make use of their blog’s influence to support our National Treasures. To make this more effective, aside from voting our three nominees, I propose that everyone vote for the Top 3 in the list. Those on the highest spot are no longer a competition, but those who are near to the eighth spot, ranks 4-7. To complete the vote, choose from those that ranked far away from the 15th place, where our Puerto Princesa is located, in my case, I chose Jeita Grotto from the 77th spot.

I hope at least one of our entries make it to the Top! Everybody, give your support now!

Nick’s Version of Creating an Effective Study Schedule

nick — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:46:07 +0000

As a second timer CPA reviewee myself, I have proven the importance of creating a study schedule that I should religiously follow. Not only it directs me to a particular goal, but also, it showed me how important and limited time is for my CPA review. Believe it or not, 6 months could be more than enough or frustratingly inadequate, depending on how you make and adjust your schedules, and depending how disciplined you are and how productive every minute and every second of your review is.

Before the start of my first review classes while I was still an undergrad, I’ve read a book entitle “The Making of a CPA” authored by Mr. Valencia (sorry but I can’t remember his First Name). It was really very inspirational and motivational, even I can’t believe how motivated I become upon reading that book. One of the things I’ve learned from that book is how to make an effective study schedule, how to maximize every minute I have in that limited 6-month time frame. I guess that would be worth to share to all fellow CPA aspirants like me.

How to Create An Effective Study Schedule

Determine all of your basic activities that you can’t live without. That includes eating, taking a bath, sleeping, transportation (if there is), etc…
Give a particular time frame for each specific activity. It would be better to take an aggregate of the number of hours to start and complete each activity in a given day. For instance, you give 2 and a half hours in eating, that would include your breakfast, lunch, dinner and any meals in between.
Now, allocate each activity within the 24-hour time frame. I have prepared my weekday study schedule below, you may refer to that.

Time	Activities
5:00 – 5:30 am	Waking hour routine and exercise/stretching
5:30 – 9:00 am	Self Study
9:00 – 10:00 am	Eating, Bathing, and other necessities
10:00 – 1:00 pm	Transportation, From Bulacan to Manila, including lunch
1:00 – 5:00 pm	Formal Review Classes at CPAR
5:00 – 8:00 pm	Transportation, From Manila to Bulacan
8:00 – 9:00 pm	Dinner and rest
9:00 – 11:00 pm	Self Study
11:00 pm	Sleeping time

The most important thing in making a schedule is that you know it is realistic. Never make schedules that’s impossibly for you to follow. Also, schedules are bound to be adjusted, not for your own comfort, but for making it realistically tighter and tighter. Before the start of implementing the schedule I’ve stated above, I made a micro schedule in connection to that particular schedule that I’m currently following today, and will be continuously followed until the last day of my vacation. This will help me adjust my sleeping habits, my activities and more, making it easier and realistic for me to follow the schedule I have created above.

Reminder! Never deprive yourself with sleep. That was the greatest mistake I’ve made during my first review. Depriving yourself with enough sleep will not help, that’s in my case. Your immune system could break down, making you sick, which is really a waste of time! I was sick for 3 months during my first review, giving me no option but to stop attending my review classes and concentrate on my undergrad subjects. I hope you don’t commit mistakes the way that I do, so please, have enough sleep!

I hope this helps..

May 2008 CPA Board Examination Results

nick — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:22:28 +0000

Apologies to everyone. I’m having technical problems in posting the results here. But don’t worry I won’t leave you behind. Proceed to the link below for the list of the new CPAs of 2008

http://www.mb.com.ph/BDPR20080520125153.html#

Congratulations for those who made it. And for those who didn’t, never lose hope. There is always another chance. Keep Striving!

PDmo#3

nick — Fri, 09 May 2008 06:26:43 +0000

The previous month has ended very quickly. I barely made a number of post in the month of April, 5-6 articles I guess. Oh well, I’m getting busier as the days passed by. Anyways, this could be the last PDmo that I could ever have. When my CPA Review classes starts, I have less time to devote in front of my computer, meaning very infrequent blog updates.

The main purpose of this PDmo is to declare the winners of my previous contest, The Easy PD Contest. So here they are.

The winner of the raffle, chosen through manual draw lots is entry number 4. Tantararan taran!! Congratulations to Marc Roger for his/her entry “Pinoy Dreamer is Giving Away 5000ec Easily!”. You’ll be receiving 2500 ECs and a 125×125 adspot in my blog, above the folds as per contest description.

Now for the mini SEO contest. Searched at Google at exactly 2:19 PM, Philippine time. The winner is Contest Master. You’ll be receiving 2500 EC.

I’m feeling a little generous today so I guess I’ll be giving a hundred EC as a consolation price to the rest.. Congratulations to all!!!

I’ll let the trackbacks inform you as of the moment. Upon reading, use the comment section to provide me the email address where I can contact you..

Thanks everyone for participating in this contest! Happy blogging!!!

Setting Up The Study Table

nick — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:15:55 +0000

Vacation is coming to its end, and it’s really approaching really fast. In a way, I wanted to stop time so I can have a longer time to rest and practically to be idle in some point, but on the other hand, I’m looking forward to what’s coming up ahead, which is the start of my CPA Review classes. I’m starting to condition myself to the very hectic schedule I’ll be facing.

This is not my first formal review actually. During my final semester in school, I enrolled at the Philippine Review and Training Center (PRTC) located at Claro M. Recto, Manila. It was really fun because I’m relearning a lot of things, but due to some unfavorable experiences, I was forced to stop attending the review classes. Guess what? Because of too much exhaustion of attending the review classes simultaneously with my enrolled subjects at school, my body’s immune system gave up. Over fatigue caught me and made sick for a couple of months, 3 months with a terrible cough, which is really very awful. What’s the cause? A very strict schedule. The fact that I didn’t conditioned myself before religiously following the schedule that I have made for myself is my main suspect for my Review class “tragedy”. After the first pre-board exam, I voluntary ended my review session and concentrated to my remaining subjects in school.

Anyways, lessons have been learned from there. First thing in line, condition myself for the upcoming Review classes. How do I do it? I’ve been adjusting my sleeping habits a little. I sleep at exactly 11:00 pm and wake up at 7:00 am. Ok, that seems to be too much hours spent in sleep, but I’m gradually conditioning myself to wake up a little earlier. My target waking time is 5:00 am. 6 hours of sleep is enough!

Organizing resources is another major factor to consider. I have lots of review materials and handouts in my organizer because of the previous Review classes that I have attended, and now I have a problem. It’s organized, I have no doubt with that, but what is still useful? Ehem, I think I have lots of sorting to do..

Luckily for me, my brother built a separate room purposely to be use as an office for our freelance projects. There are no computers there yet, no office furniture, just a small bed made out of bamboo with a foam to cushion me a bit, and a study table, a bookshelf and a chair. The atmosphere is very conducive to learning, very quiet and serene, no other people passing back and forth, no disturbance, just me and my books.

Another thing, lessen my blogging habits. Blogging really consumes me a lot of time, although I love blogging a lot, it’s not really proper to exhaust my limited time blogging rather than reviewing my materials. So I guess, I’ll be blogging less frequent now. One post in a month? Hehe I’ll just think what I can do so that my blog will not die because of inactivity.

Anyways, goodluck to me and my fellow CPA aspirants. By the way, only two days left before the May 2008 CPA board exam. I wish all my friends who will take the exam goodluck, and hopefully they’ll be CPAs after two weeks time. The same also to all the examinees.

The After-Grad Sentiments

nick — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:01:17 +0000

Indeed, graduation is one of the much anticipated event in a student’s life, and a much more awaited moment of our dear parents. Our academic struggles has finally ended. No more worries from assignments and projects, no more headaches and heartaches from our terrorist professors. And most of all, no more unwanted stories of cockpit and gambles.

The joyous atmosphere is viral, contaminating everyone in the plenary hall. Everyone is very very excited and enthusiastic about what’s going to happen. As I was gazing everyone around the hall, although I’m not surprised, I just can’t help myself to be amazed and overwhelmed to see everyone wearing that sincere smile and happy face. “This is it!” I told myself as I am beginning to focus on what I’m feeling as of that moment. I’m very happy too, although some emotions tend to mix with it, that happiness have risen over it all.

The distribution of the diploma was one of the most awaited part, the moment where everyone has its own piece of the stage, luckily for me, I was given two chances, one for the diploma, and another for my Latin award. During those moments, I tend to look at everyone, from the faculties to all of my fellow graduates, silently thanking everyone for all those years that I have spent with them.

And so after a few hours of sitting, standing, marching, and some boring speakers, the graduation rites finally concluded. The recessional parade have gone horribly wrong, everyone’s having their own exit. But that doesn’t matter anymore. What was important during those minutes is to approach as many friends you can approach, give that precious handshake and give everyone a click of the camera, the last remembrance each can have for everybody. And so, that’s what I did.

Now, everything is beginning to sink in. All emotions that have been trying to mix up during the graduation rites finally comes out to identify themselves. Fear and loneliness got their own place. Afraid of what’s in store for me ahead, and loneliness for the implicated goodbyes of the previous graduation. Yes, I hate to think that it could be the last hugs, the last handshakes, the last camera clicks I’ve ever got from those people who I’ve spent my 4-year college life with. But I know, although it’s hard to accept the fact, still I have to accept that goodbyes are inevitable, that goodbyes are really part of the reality of life. Along with such acceptance, I know that I must learn to cope up with the transition. This will be hard, but as everyone keeps saying, Life must go on. So I must! This is the start of my own journey, separate from all the people I used to go along with. The different paths that we will go on could measure the individuality of everyone of us.

“Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.”