The need to work

I've been out of work since June. My review for the board exam I have to say is stagnant. I really have difficulty studying! I think I needed more time. But I will still continue my review and absorb as much information as my little brain can. Hopefully, the time I have left is enough.

Meanwhile, I need to prepare things needed for job application. Updated resume, latest photo and wardrobe. I'll start to look for work on Monday. Being out of work means no compensation. No compensation means that I can't do things that require finances. Like my photography hobby.

I know how important a license is to a chemistry graduate like me. I will get it, trust me I will, I'm just not sure when.....

New Chemists

The result for the 2008 Chemistry Licensure Examination was released today. Congratulations to those who passed the very difficult exam. Hopefully next year my name will be on the list.

Check out the list of the new chemists here.

It's Over

My review is officially over with the end of the mock boards today. So how did I do? Not so good. I don't think I will pass the exams. My decision to potpone taking the board exam is actually a good decision. Eventhough the review classes are over, I still have to continue. It's just the beginning for me. I need to familiarize myself with different types of problems and memorize a lot of formulas. So by next year I will be super ready na...

Final Decision

I have been thinking very hard and I came up with the decision not to take the board exam this year. I have already failed the first try and I don't want to fail it again. I needed more time to study specially because I am working. This time of the year is our busiest time because we have a lot of new color developments. I have 5 colors to match. 3 down, 2 more to go. Eventhough I won't be taking the exam i'll still continue my review. It would be a year of waiting. Our board exam is only once a year. Hopefully I will be super ready by then.

Having Second Thoughts

The first month of my board review is over. Honestly, I have difficulty catching up with the lessons since I am working. Before the review started, I did some review with regards to General Chem. During the pre-simulation exam I find it very easy to answer the first few questions because those were what I have reviewed on my own so far. I was confident with my answers that us why I got the highest score on that subject in the exam. I feel like I needed more time. Time to read, time to solve and time to absorb everything that I have learned.

I will decide if I will go through with the exam before July ends. I don't want to fail again. I don't want to force myself to take the exam knowing that I might fail. I want to be 100% sure that I will pass.

Resigning at this point is not an option for me because i'm not yet ready. I don't have sufficient funds to support myself while i'm unemployed.


I have under estimated the review. That is the problem.

Making me nervous

Most of the time I will be blogging about the progress of my review...

Today we met our professor for Inorganic Chemistry. An old lady who was a former professor of our Gen Chem and Organic Chem professor who is already on his fifties, so just imagine how old she is. She looks like a typical grandmother. She even requested for a microphine because her voice is a bit weak due to old age.

When the class started, she announced that she has our class list and she will be calling names for recitation. I panicked because I haven't really studied that much. I was praying and hoping that I would get to answer an easy question. God Loves me so much. I was asked to write the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of methane. It was pretty easy compared to others who were asked for definition of terms. One of our classmate cut the class. Maybe she didn't want to be called or she didn't like her manner of teaching. Because honestly it was very slow for a review. Most of her questions coukd be found on textbooks. A friend of mine who graduated from UP wasn't really thrilled with the recitation. She said it wasn't effective.

I'm not really looking forward to our Inorganic Class next week. I don't like recitation. It's humiliating when you don't know the answer. But I won't have to attend it on monday because we'll be having our surveillance audit for ISO that day. So my presence is much needed in the office. If I will be called again next time and wouldn't be able to answer i'll be posting it here no matter how embarassing it may be.

A new old book

Review classes are at a very fast pace. We finished General Chemistry in just 3 classes. I'm actually a little worried and stressed right now because I haven't really catched up yet. Now we are in Organic Chemistry. By the way, we have the same professor in gen chem and organic. He's actually very very good and very very intelligent. He's the only professor who made me understand the concept of hybridization. I never appreciate that topic, but now I do because of him.

Organic is very different from all the subjects that we will be taking up. The three others are somewhat interconnected. This one needs a lot of understanding and memorization. I have to take memo plus gold in order to grasp everything. My organic chem book by Morrison and Boyd is already old. It's actually so old (I bought it second hand) that the pages were already torn. So I asked my father to buy me a new one. They do not publish this book anymore so what they bought is again a second hand but its condition is much better than my first one. I started reading it and I have to say it's a bit difficult to understand. I need more reference for this subject.

See the name of the previous owner?

Tomorrow we'll have Inorganic Chemistry and I haven't done my problem set for that one yet. Will do after this...

Pre-simulation exam at Brains

May 9 was the official start of my review at Brains review center. They gave us a pre-simulation exam to check if we could still remember the lessons we had in chemistry. Most of the people who took the exam were fresh graduates meaning chemistry lessons are still fresh in their minds unlike us who are working. The exam was scheduled for two days. Yesterday and today. The subjects we had yesterday were Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry. Grabe, toxic ang organic. I totally forgot everything kaya mega hula na lang. I never had the chance to review for this subject unlike inorganic, mas marami akong nasagutan kasi this is what I've reviewed so far. Today we had Analytical and Physical Chemistry. Nakakabilib ung mga classmates ko. I don't know if they are really that good or nanghuhula din kaya ang aga natapos. Marami din yatang calculations kaya I think it's a bit impossible to finish in such a short time.

Anyway, I hope hindi zero ang score ko. That's so embarassing kahit sabihin pa na nagwowork kami. The results will be given this wednesday but i'm not sure if i'll attend, orientation lang kasi.

I'll be posting the results of my exams as embarassing as it may be. For motivation na rin siguro para mas sipagin pa ko magreview.