Certified Six Sigma Green Belt Exam Experience and Passing Strategy

I passed Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) in June!! This was one of my biggest accomplished in 2017 and one of my list of credentials to get after MBA. My hard work paid off. I look forward to advancing my career and better future. 


What is Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB)? It is a professional who is well versed in the core to advanced elements of Lean Six Sigma Methodology, who leads improvement projects and/ or serves as a team member as a part of more complex improvement projects.


Source: https://www.iassc.org/six-sigma-certification/green-belt-certification/



1. Do NOT underestimate that it is an "open-book" exam: I failed on my first try because I underestimated the difficulty of the exam, so I did not manage my time well (2) and practice enough (4). Even though it is an "open-book" exam, it is important to study as a "closed-book" exam. We can only look up at the numbers of the equations and tables, but we don't have time to actually read and understand the material during the exam. 

2. Manage Your Time During the Exam: The exam is four and half hours, and there are 110 problems to solve (only 100 are graded). I try to solve 30 questions per hour, which is two minutes per question. If you are spending more than two minutes per question and still cannot figure out, move on. I flagged ones I did not know and saved last half hour to go back and solve flagged questions. Some statistical questions would take more than 2 minutes, so it is better to answer as many nonstatistical questions under 2 minutes as possible. 

3. List Out all the Acronyms: Many acronyms associated with the materials, such as DMAIC, DFSS, SIPOC, DOE, etc. We could not (we don't have to) memorize all. I recommend creating a cheat sheet with all the acronyms. 

4. Use the Appendix on the Back: Appendix was my life saver!! Just find a keyword from the question and look up the appendix then it will lead to the right page with the correct answer. I was able to find the right answer to almost every question. 

5. Practice, Practice, and PRACTICE!! Once again do not discourage, if you study, you CAN pass. I recommend taking 3-4 practice tests (until you reach 80%-90%), and keep practice your weak part. 

Good Luck to Everybody who is planning to take the test in the future. 

Post Grad Unemployment? How to handle it.

April through June are graduation season. Commencements are wonderful because they honor all the achievement and celebrate an "end of an era." If the graduates did not have a job offer after graduation, there would be a bitter part of the celebration. 

Dear Graduates Who are Unemployed/ Underemployed: 

You can choose to sad or happy about the situation. I started this blog when I was unemployed after college graduation back in 2011. I am going to share my experiences and advice I received over the years. I hope this post will be helpful.  

 
(Graduation from High School: 2007, College: 2011, and Graduate School: 2016)

First, do not feel frustrated or miserable if you are did not end up with a "good job" after graduation. Understand that you worked hard on getting the degree/certificate and BE PROUD of yourself for finishing it. Be patient about job hunting because finding the "right fit" takes time. I know that you might have loans and other commitment, but don't rush into whatever job that is available there. You rather start work later with the job you actually love than work soon with the job you would end up hating. 

While you are unemployed/ underemployed, there are plenty of stuff you can do other than being stressed out. I am sure there are things you have been putting off due to school and other commitments. Here are the activities I did while I was unemployed. 

• Spend time with family and friends
• Develop your passion
• Study something that is not taught in the university
• Travel the world
• Start business/ learn to be a freelancer

I also have some job hunting tips, and hopefully, this would speed up with landing the right fit job.  

• Reconnect with your friends, old classmates, professors, and coworkers and extended family: maybe they can do referral job. You need to "know someone" to actually get a job these days. 
• Polish resume: I asked many writing tutors to edit my resume to look perfect. Having a good resume would stand out among other applicants.
• Consult with counselors: do not forget to reach out career advisors, and they would love to give you more advice.  
• Find out your true self: I listed what I like and good at while searching for my career path. This helped me market myself better in networking and interviews. 

Remember, in the end, it does not matter whether you have a job offer or not at the time of the graduation. Post Graduation is only one moment in life. You never know where you at and what kind job you will in 5, 10, and 20 years and even 30 years. People change jobs and careers all the time.

Strategies to Survive Graduate School

As you know, I finished graduate school a month ago!! It was one of the best moments of my life!! I won't be a full-time student again for the rest of my life...haha...

Looking back graduate school, there were many hardships. Sometimes I felt myself going to break from all those homework, meetings, tests, presentations....etc. On top of school work, I had to find time to look for jobs, get involved in extra curriculum, make side money, etc.

Even though graduate school sounds difficult, there are strategies to help you to survive. DO NOT WORRY:)

1. Use a Calendar and Alerts: Everyday is filled with classes, meetings, and other tasks. It is very easy to forget things and lose track, so Google Calendar was my LIFE SAVER in graduate school. I put ALL the deadlines and appointment times. This helped me be organized in the craziness.

2. Write Daily To Do List and Prioritize: There are ALWAYS a lot in our plate in graduate school. Professors give us countless projects and assigns every day. Effective strategy was require to get everything done. In order to stay on top of everything, make sure to have good plan and organize what is more important than other. Time management skill was more difficult to learn than text book knowledge.

3. Work Smart (Hard): One of the key concept I learned in graduate school is "Don't Work Hard, Work SMART". Since time is scarce resources in graduate school, it is important to be efficient. Try to focus while studying or doing any other task. Once the focus is lost and become less productive, STOP and do something else.

4. Ask Questions and Seek Help: There are a lot of good resources in school. Since we are pay TONS of money$$$$ to the school, it is better to USE IT. I reached out for tutors for homework, I consulted the librarian for research paper, I asked my advisors for tips and strategies for job hunting...etc. Professors were very kind to answer questions after classes as well.

5. Mediate/Exercise: I realized my mood get extremely negative when I am burned out with school work and anxiety for the future. I tried to mediate and exercise as much as possible out of my busy schedule. My mood changes instantly after that. So use just 10 minutes once in several days to mediate. Try to exercise for just 30 minutes a day would be even more helpful.

6. Encourage Yourself and Your Classmates: It is important to be positive no matter what happens. I kept telling myself that "you are going great, and everything is going to be OK." Remember, you are not the only one going through this hardship. Your classmates are feeling it with you, so give them the power. I promise your encouragement means a lot to them.

7. Take Power Naps Here and There: Sleep is luxury in graduate school. Not a day in graduate school that I did not feel tired. I often passed out before I can finish all the task for that day. During those time power naps were helpful. Quick 20-minute nap can refresh my brain significantly.

8. Have Fun Once a While: Finding time to have fun is challenging; however, I strongly believe no matter busy you are, you can still "make" some fun time. Best fun idea for busy graduate students is "quick celebration after a presentation/test/any accomplishments." Every time I finished a milestone, I invite a few friends to get a quick drink, dessert, or hike. It is good to treat yourself once a while.

Although, graduate school was tense, but in the end it PAID OFF!!

How I Fall in Love with Writing......

Happy Valentine's Day!! Valentine is NOT about having a boyfriend/girlfriend/date or not, it is about "LOVE." You can love your friends, family, and others. Today I would like to express how I fall in love with writing. I might going to write about how I fall in love with a guy many years later......

I did not like to write as I grow up. Not only I did not like, I HATED IT. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. I took writing classes to improve it, but it did not work as well. I learned how to write in a proper format, but I still struggled. I grow up in three different countries, so language was always a problem. I liked math class and I hated literature class from elementary school to high school.

When I was 21, I took a writing class in college as part of my degree requirement. I thought this class would be like the writing classes I took before where I did not improve anything; however, I met an awesome professor who changed my view of writing. He made his class interesting by having a lot of discussions for what we like write. Instead of spending hours on the boring grammar practice, we learned how to express our self in writing. Then he helped us how to put the thoughts in better expression. After that, edit the grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Like any other people in their teens and 20s, there were anxiety and insecurity in my life. I admit that I was very depressed in high school and college with stress and pressures; however, writing made me happy and less depressed. I feel I can be myself and get to know myself. It is the best way to mediate. The more I write, the better I got. First we all have to LOVE to write, so we will practice more. The more we practice, we learn more about grammar, spelling, and punctuations.

Writing not about grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., it is about expressing myself and reflect who I am. 

I admit that I still struggle with writing and every time I come to writing an email or formal paper, I get scared because I will make spelling and grammar mistakes. However, this would not stop me from writing. The only way to improve is practice. Do not get scared for making mistakes. Learn from mistakes.

Literature is wonderful. Do not stop writing. Everyone is a good writer as long as you have thoughts. Your writing is what you stand out and what is unique about "YOU."

Working in a Cross-Cultural/Functional Team

In my MBA program, we do various team works and they are often done in cross-cultural teams. Working in a cross-cultural team seems hard, and I admit that it is difficult sometimes. There are language barrier, miscommunication, difference in cultures, etc. I experience difficulties as well; however, it was very fun working in a cross-cultural team. It was easier than I thought. Here are the thoughts I gained from this opportunity.

In order to overcome the difference in culture and communication, it is important to have open communication in the team. I understand some cultures are more indirect than others, but we encouraged each other to be open to mitigate communication problems in working together. The next important strategy in a successful group is mutual understanding and respect, which means everyone should respect each other and accept to other cultures. Lastly, no matter which language we speak, we should have the same goal. Having the same goal would overcome the language barrier.

After my MBA program, I hope to work in an international company and able to connect with people across the globe. The benefit of cross-cultural team is that it is helpful to for the team to be successful in the long-run. Homogenous team would have less difficulties in working together; however, it is only for the short-term success. Cross-cultural team would never run out of ideas.

I learned although we are different, but all the cultures are interrelated. We all like get together and eat delicious food and have fun no matter where you from. We all work hard to make our dreams come true. Food and hard work can bring people together.

Let's United the World and Help One and Another!!

We are family!!

How to Survivie in Studying Accounting

My MBA classes started this week. It was a little challenging for me to go back to studying mode after been out of school for more than a year. I started to taking accounting, marketing, management and all the other FUN classes. Accounting and all other topics in  is a hard topic to study. I hope the tips of I learned in college will help me and all of my classmates survive this semester. 

1. Using visuals: Everybody's learning skill is different; I am a very visual learner. Whenever I feel the material is confusing, I try to put in the diagram. Flowchart helped me understand the operation part of the accounting.

2. List out all the equations: Accounting associated with a lot of equations. Equations are like the rules of accounting and almost everything follows those rules. Listing out every significant equation can be useful for studying taxes and financial and managerial accounting.

3. Draw a timeline: Accounting is not only to solve the number of dollar value correctly, but also make sure they come out the right time. Some accounts does not realize and recognize at the same and time value of money changes over time. Using timeline made me learn accrual and deferral account and finance easier.

4. Think like a puzzle: Audit is somewhat like a puzzle. If you liked play with puzzle or like to be investigative, you might find accounting interesting to learn. Auditing is similar to finding the missing piece in the puzzle. After thinking accounting as a puzzle, it would not sound it a difficult topic to master.  

5. Be logical: Although there are MANY theories, regulations, laws in accounting, tax and auditing are to memorize; however, they all have logic. If you can think logically about the situation, you can guess the answer on the tests and score high on them.

Good luck with everyone who is study accounting and/or other business areas!!

What To Do During Unemployment?

This will be my last career related post for this June. This post follows my last two posts:Job Hunting Techniques and Interview Tips . I hope you all find them helpful. I know economy has been down for the past six years, but do not worry it will pick up. If you are struggling to land a job after graduation, you are not the only one. There are something you can while unemployed beside looking for a job. These were what I did when I was unemployed.

1. Volunteer: It is important to get some work experience. You could have good grades, but you still did not get a job; the reason might be you do not have enough work experience. Start build your work experience from volunteering. Once you are more experienced, the chances of getting hire would be higher. People you volunteer for might able provide some work opportunity for you in the future as well.

2. Redefine Yourself: If you could not find a job after graduation, do not blame yourself. May be it is not what you want to do. If you lose a job, instead of being mad, it is time to do some self analysis. May be this job was not your best fit, and/or you never actually liked the job. Try to come up with answers to those questions: "What you did wrong?" "What you good at?" It is time to look for a job that you like and do not make the same mistake from the last job.

3. Spend Time With Friends and Family: Before you became unemployed, you were busy at school and/or work. You probably not have enough time to be with your friends and family. Why do not you take unemployment as an advantage and spend some time with people around you.

4. Do Something You Did Not Have Time To Do Before: You can travel, paint, read a book, write a story/poet, knit a hat etc. You can even use your hobbie turn into a business. May be someday, your hobbie will become your job? You never know. Some entrepreneurs started be unemployed then became very rich (sorry for off topic).

5. Go Back to School: If you have the finance available, I recommend to go back to school. Education is necessary no matter how old you are. There are Post-Baccalaureate and Graduate programs. Ask academics advisers, see what your options are. By the time you have your Post-Baccalaureate and/or Master, the economy might be better and you are definitely better in the market.

Last but not at least, remember to be optimistic!! Did not find job? Lost a job? Well thing could be worse. What does not kill you makes you stronger!!

Job Hunting Technique

June is a graduation month, and many college graduates will switch from being a student to a professional. It is a big transition. I decided to all career advice related posts for this month. Last week I wrote about Interview Tips check it out, if you have not do so.

1. Use Campus Resources: All Universities and Colleges have their own career related service on campus. The Career Center usually provide a lot of great Workshops, Career Fair information and job postings. People work there are friendly. I found my first job from Career Center Website posting, and first internship from a Campus Career Fair.

2. Connections: Do you know most jobs can be found because you know someone? It is important to know many people in the related career field. Build connections with recruiters, classmates, professors, relatives, friends, etc. You never know who will be give you work opportunity in the future. So far, I had two post grad jobs from personal connection. I feel blessed about it.  

3. Let Job Find You: Looking and applying for jobs are stressful; however, if you did well in school, involved in several extra activities, and had several good connections, you are more likely to get an offer and referral for a job that fit you. I know people who received several offers, and I have had people referral jobs to me as well.

4. Write a Good Resume and Cover Letter: I recommend students go to Writing Center AND Career Center to get started. Also have several different people look over them. Sometimes professionals will come to campus to help students. Take the advantage of it. I do not know how many times and how many people edited my resume. I am happy that all professors, career advisors, writing tutors, and real world professional were super helpful.

5. Don't Give Up and Stay Positive: Last but not least, looking for job with positive energy and never give up. If have the positive attitude and never get discharged, you are more likely to get a job.

Best of Luck!! 

 

15 Interview Tips

Economy is TOUGH now. Getting a job is extremely challenging. Now it is graduation season, and I know there are up coming graduates out there who are search for jobs and/or applying for jobs. Even though the financial market was not easy, I still managed to get jobs on campus and off campus for last several years from surviving the interview process. These are tips I learned over years from workshops and experiences. 

*These are only based on my interviewing experience, so I can't guarantee anything. 

1. Be Yourself/Confident: I understand that most people would have to pretend to be better than usual during the interviews; however, employers do not want to hire someone who is fake. They also would not like someone who is not confident to work for them, either, so just be yourself and be confident!!

2. Do the Research: It is important to do some homework before going to the interview. Depends on how well you know the company, the chance of getting the job is higher.

3. Precise Answer and Come up Stories: A lot of interview questions would have to come up with clear answers and good example stories. Prepare some successful accomplishments from previous work and classes. If you have awards or honors, you can talk about them as well. 

4. Be Polite: If you did not show respect to the interviewees and receptionists at the place, you probably not get hired.    

5. Let the Interviewee Finish the Sentence: During the interview, it is easy to rush into the answers, so make sure the wait until the interviewee finish the question. Pulse a few seconds before answering would not hurt either. Interviewees do not care the speed of the interviewer responed, they only consider quality of the answer. Think before answering shows the person is not impulsive and have the logic-thinking skill.

6. Do not Look Desperate: This was hard for me because there was a time I desperately need a job. I know it difficult to manage our stress, but try the best to hide it.

7. Always Smiling: Employers are looking for skilled workers AND the same time, they are looking for positive workers. Who does not want to work with positive and energetic people?  

8. Listen Carefully: Sometimes we could misunderstood the question. Do not answer it until you fully understood what the interviewee is asking.

9. Arrive Early: You can go to bathroom before the interview, and look through wall posting of the company. You can even brought up in the interview, and this shows you are detailed oriented person and really interested in working for them.

10. Follow up with Handwritten Thank You Card: Always do a follow up after the interview. This would help employer remember you the most. Handwritten Thank You Card is the best; however, if it is impossible, send a follow up e-mail at least.

11. Relax: I know interview process is very stressful; the work itself is stressful as well. The part of the interview process is to see how you can handle stress. If the interviewer could not survive manage stress, he/she probably could not take the This shows you are mature and able to manage stress.

12. Bring Pen, Notebook, Resume, and Water: I recommend to bring these stuff ONLY. Do not bring any extra stuff unless you are told to do so. Carrying a big backpack can make interview process even more stressful.

13. Good Eye Contact: The "key" to ace an interview is to make a good eye contact. If there are more than one interviewee, remember to look around the room and make eye contact with everyone as you answer the question.

14. Dress in Layers: The office can be hot and cold, and we never know. It is better to feel physically comfortable during the interview, so wear a shirt inside and blazer jacket on top of it.

15. Bring Questions: 99% of the interview would end in "Do you have questions for us?" This is a chance for you to know the firm better. The more questions you bring to the table, the higher possibility of getting hired.

I hope these were helpful and Good Luck to You!!

Blessing to Work as an Accountant

One day in the office, my boss said this to us: "I really hate my job, I wish the government just give flat tax rate. I rather lose my job than doing all those." I was so surprised. I know it is busy tax season, and we are all stressed out about it. I also understand there are barely people in the world really like their job. However, complaining would not be necessary. Everyone can find a joy in their jobs. I am might be too optimistic, but always counting blessing no matter it is for work, study, family, etc could make life better. These are anything about accounting/auditing/taxation. 

1. Playing with puzzle and being the detective: Accounting work can be retarded and too detailed oriented, and these tough quality job make us good at solving complicated problems. Auditing is a lot like finding the missing piece of puzzle. Accountants require judgment, so we can be money detective. 

2. Interacting and working with many people: I thought the work that accountants do is sitting on desk all day and crutch numbers; however, it is much more than that. Sometimes we meet with clients for our tax and/or auditing service. We also interact with different departments in the office. 

3. Solving money problems: Helping people as a job is wonderful to do. Accountants provide tax service to target higher return and ease out the debts. All jobs in the world have to do with "making others' lives better." When we consider the happiness that customers get from the work we do, there would be nothing to complain about our jobs. 

4. Providing businesses growth: It is fun to write a business plan and be creative. I did not know accounting could be creative. I realized creativity is necessary for any field, it is not only for writing, drawing, and marketing. We can help our clients brainstorm the ways to assist their business to expand. 

5. Working in the safe office place: Being in the office is the best working environment. We do not have to worry about dangerous electronics and hazardous chemicals. Sometimes we can enjoy the view from the office. 

Textbook Vs. Real World Accounting

When I started taking accounting classes, I thought accounting is just about addition and subtraction, putting the numbers in the right rows and columns, and using the correct percentage and rate. However, I was TOTALLY wrong. There were WAY more in the "Accounting Academic."

When I started working as an accountant, I thought accounting work is similar to all the practice and test problems. However, this ALSO give me a surprise. Not only it was EXTREMELY different, but also there were MANY to consider in the "Accounting World." 

I talked about my experience with studying accounting HERE last year. This year, I will talk about real world accounting. 

1. Perfect Number vs. Decimal Number: In text book, the numbers are perfect zeros. In the real world, perfect barely happen. Accountants have to be very careful. When one mistake is made, it would be like finding pennies. 

2. Computer Print vs. Hand Writing: Doing accounting work itself is already tedious; furthermore reading all scratch from the client wrote is very painful. Sadly not all client brought documents are typed and some bosses and/or co-workers can be challenging hand writing, too.  

3. Whole Piece vs. One Piece: Accounting classes usually teach the entire company's accounting.  At work people only work in one area of the accounting system, such as just payable, receivable, payroll, tax, etc. It can opposite. School can only teach one piece and work feel like the whole piece. For example, revenue department, text can only mention one types of revenue, but in reality, there are SO many subcategories of revenue. 

4. Pass Grade vs. ABSOLUTELY No Error Allowed: The students can pass the class by having 70% correct. They can get an "A" by ONLY scoring 93%.  Unfortunately, the real world has NO percentage correctness in financial statements. The result has to be100% accurate, otherwise they can not be return to the client. 

Additional Work Outside of Textbook

1. Not only we have to enter the dollar amount right, but also the account number, item number, order number etc. 

2. Memorizing the names of the product, customer, and related bank account. 

3. Ask customers to pay to amount owed, and/or ask the suppliers for forgiveness about late payments. 

4. Due to clients can bring the additional information late or the document could get lost, sometimes there would be a missing piece. 

Overall, it is NOT like the test questions, only the dollar amount matters, do not have to talk to customers and suppliers, and all the require information provided. 

Accounting class is NOT "math class" like I thought. I felt ashamed when I said math is tough in high school 

Accounting job is NOT only "getting the numbers right." I felt it would be so simple just getting the numbers correct. How come I thought it was so difficult back then?  I guess life only gets harder.

GRE vs. SAT

Fact: I did NOT like taking standard tests.  

I am sure there are students out there who hate to take them as well. However, every one MUST take it if he/she wants to go to college and/or graduate school. Based from my experience, there some pros and cons about both tests, so not everything is bad . 

GRE
Pros
1. Does not take points off: I felt glad when I heard GRE does not take points for the wrong answers because SAT does. I can guess and mark all the answer spot freely. It is always better with answers than leave at blank. 

2. More flexibility in test dates: GRE are offer ALMOST EVERYDAY throughout the year. I am able to schedule any day I want. It even let people sign up at last minute if it was not busy. 

3. Release the score immediately: I know my raw score right after I finish taking the exam, so I do not have spend weeks waiting and worrying about the result. 

Cons
1. Testing Fee is expensive: Each test costs more than 100 dollars to take it. It is more than twice the price of taking the SAT. 

2. Limited Testing location: The test can be only taken at a Prometric testing center. There are only couple of locations each city, so a lot of people would feel inconvenient. 

3. Previous section affects next section: This might be only me; I did not like the part how my performance from previous section affect next section. GRE also sends score to the Universities directly. 

SAT
Pros
1. Testing Fee is cheaper: SAT is only 50 dollars, so it is more feasible for students who would like to take it multiple times. 

2. Previous section does not affect next section: Each section is independent. I was able to refresh from transitioning to the next section, and I did not have to worry about performance in the previous one. 

3. Convenient testing: The test is offer at ALL high schools, so it is easier to commute. 

Cons
1. Does Take points off: This made me scared of guessing the answer. I was only answered the questions which I was confident with. I hoped all the answers were correct, so no point would been taken off. 

2. Less often offered: SAT is offer only several times in a year, usually once a month. 

3. Take time to know the score: I did not enjoy waiting for test result for several weeks back in high school.  There are also deadlines for application, so students have to schedule the exam date prior to the deadline. 

Five Tips for Graduate School Essay

As you know that I got into a graduate school, I decided to share some tips for filling out the graduate school application. I am going to talk about graduate school essay because it probably the most important part of the application. 

1. Be Yourself and Unique: I know there are standards you have to follow in the essay. The standards are just the correct grammar and professional language. Beside that, everything is up to you, so please be creative. Do not try to sound like somebody else. 

2. Brainstorm Early and Spend Time: Graduate school essay is definitely NOT the essay you can write last minute. It is VERY important to put A LOT of time into it from brainstorming, outlining, 1st draft, 2nd draft..... then final draft. 

3. Have Objective Goal and Straightforward: Make you know WHY you want to go to graduate school. School cares your reason. You might not have a. Your strong desire to the program makes a strong candidate for the program. 

4. Avoid Redundency and Correct Length: There are length have to be follow on the essay. There are schools that feel strict about the length and some are not.  Even they are not, still try not to go over too much of the length. I recommend outline the essay first and write precisely. 

5. Have Someone Review and Review Again: This is EXTREMELY important!! The essay should be free from grammar mistake. Also get feedback from writing tutors, professors, parents etc. There are people out there willing to help. I read and let other read my essay over and over again before I submitted. 



For those of thinking about going and applying for graduate school, I hope these tips helped you. 

Accounting is NOT math

This is serious lack of blogging. My life is busy and it is so hard to find time to blog. Plus when I have time to blog, I feel very tired. It is not that I have nothing to blog; however, I have SO MUCH things I want to express in here. If you followed me, several of my recent posts were the something I wanted to write for a long time. Well, this is another one. I have been studying for accounting for two years now, and 99% people would say "You Must Be Good at Math!!" to me. I am sick of denying the answer. So here is the post to clarify the real meaning of accounting. 

1. Language of the Math and Number: Accounting is not just math, it is more about the meaning of the math. Not only we have to have the compute the correct number, but also we need to understand and explain the reason behind. The number often tells the liquidity and risk of financial situation in a company. Management uses the number to make decision and forecast. 

2. Right Number in the Right Place and Time: Most of the time, the accounting software can do the math for us.  Jobs for us are make sure we enter the number in the right place and at right time. We usually deals with series of data and some numbers are even accruals and deferrals, so we must difficiate. If one step was mixed up, it will ruin the entire result. It is pretty scary. 

3. A LOT of Rules/Laws of Math: Math in accounting is more complicated and tricky. There are SO MANY formulas, tables, rules, limits, and policies must follow. It is easy to get the wrong answer. Furthermore, we have to use human judgement applying those rules/laws to make sure the number make sense. 

4. Enter the Right Amount of Zeros: Math in accounting is extremely DETAIL oriented. One zero can make a HUGE difference. We really need to be organized and careful about our data entry.  

5. Make Sure to Balance and Match: This is VERY important (above four are important as well). If the number does not balance nor match, that means the financial information is wrong. We could spend hours and hours to find out what went wrong. Sometimes I feel accounting is "finding the penny." (no joke)


All in all, accounting is so hard!! I don't blame anyone who think that way. This is my face when I study accounting.... 

SOU vs. PSU

I have been to two universities for my college experience; they are Southern Oregon University (SOU) and Portland State University (PSU). I like both of them very much. Each school has its own uniqueness. I will share the good things I discovered. 

*These are based on my opinion about the schools, so they might not be 100% accurate, and if you been to either of the school, feel free to disagree with me. 

Individual Good Things
SOU
1. Cheaper Tuition: SOU has the cheapest tuition in Oregon. It saved me several hundred dollars going to SOU instead of other schools in Oregon. 
2. Smaller Classrooms: If you prefer bigger classroom, this might not be the good thing for you. However, I liked the classroom size of SOU because I can reach out to professors easily when there are not many students in the classroom. 
3. Free Wifi: I do not have to log in every time I use Wifi on campus. It stresses me up sometime when I have to log in whenever I want to go online. 

Here are some photos of me in SOU: 

PSU
1. More Convenient: PSU is in the middle of downtown area of Portland. Students can easily access to the city and there are more public transportation options such as bus and train. 
2. Larger Diversity: PSU probably has the largest diversity in the US. It is a non traditional campus, so there are people from all over the world, and the age range of graduation class is always huge (my class was 19 to 76, I believe). 
3. A Lot of Opportunities:  Various local communities work with PSU, so students have different kinds of opportunities to explore. It is a great place to network. 

Here are some photos of me in PSU

Shared Good Things

1. Friendly Staff and Great Professors: I did not like taking test and being graded, but I really enjoyed going school and attend all my classes. Thanks to all the kind school staff and genuine professors for making student life easier and fun.  

2. Strong School Spirit: I love both Raider and Viking!! It is so hard to choose. Even I am not a sports fan, I still liked the spirit. It motivates me for studying and achieving my goals. 

3. Beautiful Campuses With Great Sustainability: Not only the building itself is gorgeous looking, but also very clean inside. Buildings are always been remodeled and spaces are expanding. Both schools embrace nice environment and encourage recycling. 

Five Things I Learned from Tax Training

Big apologize for not posting this sooner. As the title says I had "training" last week, and it was tough. I felt super tired every day I came back. Since I was tired and stressed, I partied a lot during the weekend, and I was hesitated to update. I will be sharing lessons about filing taxes and dealing with work in general.

1. Be Organized From the Beginning: If I did not do this, I would waste a lot of time doing it all over again. Plus this could lead to headaches and pains by going back. It was important to make as less mistakes as I can. Sometimes one small error can ruin the entire return, so I have to be very careful. 

2. Cross Numbers Off As It Goes: This was important for preparing tax returns. It helps keeping track what is already filled and what is leftover.  

3. Use the Binder and Notepads: Although have been using binders and notepads since high school, NOW I finally realized how they can make my life much EASIER. Binder keeps the documents to together, so I would not get mixed up or lose anything. Notepads makes finding the necessary information quicker. They are lifesaver for preparing tax returns. 

4. Supervisors are Not Professors: It was a hard transition from having my work reviewed by a professor to a supervisor. Professor would be happy to answer my questions and correct mistakes, but supervisor might not. During the orientation, my boss said: "(my supervisor's name) is not (my professor's name)." This scared me. 

5. Ice Cream Brings People Together: There was ice cream Friday every week. It was part of the firm's tradition, and everyone loves it. We had great taking a break from tax returns and social. I learned people like ice cream regardless of their age, gender, and ethnicity. I felt ice cream can make people happy bring people together.

Some picture from the ice cream social 

Here is to THOUSANDS more tax returns to FILE!!

Five Keys to Succeed in College

September is officially here. All the public schools started, and I love seeing all the school bus go around the neighborhood. Quarter colleges will start in couple of weeks from now. Excited? I am!! Four years of college went very fast for me. There were successes and mistakes. I'd like to share some advices and lessons I learned. I will give some heads up to succeed in college. 

1. Stay Connected: This is very important to stay connect with professors, advisors, and classmates. I recommend all the students to constantly seek their academic advisors, make several friends in each class, talk to all their professors throughout the term. It was very beneficial from my experience because I received job informations and leadership opportunities from connections. I know there were shy people, and I was one of them. I encouraged myself to be more outgoing by believing most professors, classmates, and advisor are nice and willing to talk. It will become easier and easier. 

2. Consider Quality Over Quantity: I'd recommend everyone to get involved on campus. Just like I said previously, stayed connected on campus.  However, it is important to get good grades in all of the classes, too. I don't recommend students to take TOO many credits and get TOO involved. It is better to take less classes and do well than take a lot of classes and do bad. Same as activities, it is more effective to only focus on the small amount. I took 12 to 16 credits each term and I did two activities. I did well in the classes and I enjoyed all the activities. There were times I took 17 to 18 credits, and I was struggling. I regret I did that. I admit there are people who can take 20 quarter credits, do leadership programs, and work multiples jobs and still managed to get 4.0 GPA. Not everyone are like that. At at least I am not. 

3. Have a Plan/Budget For Time and Money: College classes are very difficult and expensive, so student life would extremely busy with school and work. Time and money are the main struggles for most students. For me, time had been always the shortage. There were countless times I felt I did not have enough time to study for a test and I rushed to turn homework. Later, I learned to manage my time by having a study plan and stick with it. If I planed in the first place, it is less likely to get it done and be confident with it.  

4. Use Campus Resources: There are a lot of great resource on campus, and sadly some of students don't even know them. Here some of the resource helped survive in college. 

-Library: They have 24 hour online help, so I used it to find all the 
-Tutoring Center: It has intelligent tutors. They helped me with my homework and even aced my test. It also offers free workshops for public speaking, time management, stress management, test taking strategy, note taking strategy, graphing calculator, excel, and GRE.   
-Writing Center: I always have them look at my paper before I turn it in. All the writing tutors were kind and gave me a lot of suggestions. They even have citation guide. 
-Career Center: This is where I started to write my resume and cover letter. I also learned many tips for interviews and built my confidence. I even landed my first job through the job posting from there. I can't thank them enough.

5. Reach Out For Help: Although everything was well planned and all the decisions were on the right track, there were still possibility for a college student to be broke. There are times when changes happens before plans and things can be unavoidable. When that happens, it is better to ask for family and friends to help as needed. Don't be shy. Families are always willing to help, and good friends would love help as much as they can. 

How to Survive First Day of School/College/Work

Is summer really over? I can't believe some schools are already schools started, today/this week. I already graduated from college a year ago, but I am back in school doing my post-baccalaureate this fall, and my school won't start till end of September. No matter how old I get, "first day" of school or anything could be stressful for me. These are steps to I learned to follow in order to succeed on the first day of school and everything else.

1. Prep everything in the night before: This first step is very important. There is only a lack of time in the morning, so things should be prepared as much as possible in the night before. 

These are the things MUST be prepared: 
-Backpack/bag should completely packed
-Clothes, including jewelries and watch
-Wallet with Student ID or other IDs and bus pass
-Fully Charged Cell Phone

2. Get a good night sleep and do not skip breakfast: If I did this step, I have more than 80% chance of having a successful day. 

I recommend:
-Drink a glass of milk before sleep
-Get at least 6 hours of sleep
-Eat a healthy breakfast that contains fresh fruit and/or vegetable
-Have some protein to stay motivated for the day. 

3. Come to class (work) at least 5 minutes before: Come to class or work early is very beneficial. Not only it will leave a nice impression to the professor(boss), there are a lot of things able to be accomplished during the five minutes. 

Use the five minutes to: 
-Know where the nearest bathroom/go to the bathroom
-Find a good seat to sit
-Put away the coat and set up the material on the desk
-Get to know the classmates(co-workers) and professor(boss)

4. Use a planner: The planner is significant part of my life. I can be organized and not to forget anything by using the planner. I always carry a planner with me regardless of I am at school/work or not. 

On the first day, write the following down on the planner:
-Due date of important projects
-Contact information of the professor or boss/manager
-For people in school-exam dates and times
-For people in school-office hours and location of the professors 

5. Have some cash on hand: I recommend to everyone to have 5 to 10 dollars of cash on hand all the time. Not everywhere accepts credit card nor have ATMs. This is a great way to prepare for worst case scenarios.

It is helpful in case forgot to bring:
-Lunch, snack, or drink
-Notebook, pencil, or eraser
-Bus pass
-Credit card

Good Luck with everyone who are in school. If you are not in school, this is still useful for any day.

To The Graduates of 2012

One Year Ago....

I can't believe it has been a year since I graduated. (take a look at my post about graduation) It is the season of graduation, again. I can see a lot of cap and gown pictures posted on Facebook and other blogs. There are many decorations for graduation parties and gifts for gradates are sold in the stores. When I was in college,  I did not image how my life after college will be, so there were a lot surprises and new things. 


To all the people who graduated this year, this is a little message from me.

1. From now on, find own time to study.  There is no more BOOKED class time because it is no longer like in school. Make time to study could hard in the post grad life. Depends on each person's situation and work requirements, study/classes might not be the priority, anymore. 


2. Life is no longer interesting after graduation. When work starts, life is not fun like in college. Most jobs has same routines everyday. People go to the same place, see the same people, and perform the same tasks everyday could be become boring at some point. 


3. Lessons are no longer only come from books and there is no definite grade. This is the toughest change I went though. As a student, I tended to only rely the facts from books and a definite grade to evaluate my performance. Reality is not like the books, and everything can not be easily evaluated as A, B, or C. I am still trying to adapt to this concept. It will take sometime to get use to. 


4. A lot of things became self taught. Most bosses and older employees usually do not like teaching the new employees. They would not willing to spoon feed the tasks. New employee must to find their own way to learn the work-related things.


5. Mistakes are not directly mentioned. Some bosses hope their co-workers will notice mistakes on themselves instead of telling them to fix. They are not like professors, sometimes they don't point the mistakes out directly. People have to be more carefully and organized at the work. 


All in all, post grad life was tough for me, but those hard times helped me grow and learn. Besides the life lessons, I learned the the word roots of graduation -"grad" means step up. After graduation is like one step up from student life.  

Dead/Final Week Stress Management and Study Tips

I have been SO busy, and I am VERY behind on updating blog. Good news is that I got a full-time job. Bad news is that I am still taking a couple of classes, and finals are next week. When do I have time for blogging? This post is about the ways to deal stress and tips to study. 

1. Take a Shower: It is a great way to get refresh.  Dead week and final week are super stressful. Even only ten minutes of showering can reduce a lot of stress. When I feel tired after studying and/or working for so long, I usually take a shower and come back to study. My brain works better on that way.

2. Eat Healthily: I know people don't have time to cook or even eat during the dead and final week, so a lot of college students tend to eat snacks as meal or get fast food. PLEASE DO NOT. I am not asking anyone to take time cooking healthy food during those weeks, but making some simple comfort food would not take long time. Remember to eat breakfast before test at least a slice of fruit.

3. Find a Way to Express Your Stress: When you had a bad day, it's better to let others know that your day wasn't right. There is no need to hide it. Let it out is good. There are a lot of ways to express stress. The common way I see is to just Facebook it. Some people have concerns for facebooking their problems, but I think it is OK. If you don't want someone to know, you can express it by journalizing. I do it sometimes. 

4. Only Study in a Place without Distraction for a Few Hours a Day: Sometimes studying for too long would not be effective. Time is scarce during those weeks, so it is better to use time efficiently. The brain can only focus small amounts of time in a day, and the distractions would waste a lot of valuable studying time.  Plan a study time when the brain works the best, and choose a place where is quiet. Make sure to tell the others to not distract you unless it is emergency and turn off all the technical devices. 

5. Get into Study Groups: I know some people might prefer to study by themselves, but discussing materials with other classmates is definitely a great way to study. I didn't believe study groups are helpful until I experienced it. I actually got help from other classmates, and I gave help to them, too. Perhaps there are places you might missed to study, but another classmates can remind you, so you will catch that. Overall, helping each other score best on the test is nice thing to do. 

6. Put away the Heavy Textbooks and Focus on the Light Notecards: The test is around the corner, and the time is running out. There is no time to focus on the details of the long chapters. It is the time to only focus on the highlights. During the term, I like to make notecards for the key words and important parts for each chapter. When it comes to dead week, I would only focus on the information on the notecards. The good thing about them is that I carry them around everywhere I go, so I can study anytime and anywhere. 

I hope they are helpful!! Good Luck!!