Here is an updated step-by-step guideline for those applying for the LET board exams at the Professional Regulation Commission.

I.  ONLINE APPLICATION

BEFORE you go to the PRC office for application, make sure that you've accomplished the online application first (visit http://www.prc.gov.ph/online/application/apply.aspx to do this) so that you won't have to line up for this in PRC. The PRC officers won't process your application if you haven't accomplished the online application yet.

II.  REQUIREMENTS

Although searching for the needed documents online is recommended, I find that this sometimes causes confusion. I arrived at the gates of PRC at around 6 am - and there was already a looooong line of applicants. Mind you, you'll be applying with exam takers of different professions (like Accountancy and Engineering for instance). While waiting for the gates to open, vendors around the area (carrying pastes, pens, brown envelopes, etc) will offer you their merchandise. Here's my tip: do not buy anything from outside vendors if you don't want to be stressed once inside PRC. Don't be swayed by the vendors' sales talks, "Ma'am/Ser glue at brown envelope para sa board application kailangan niyo po yan". You can buy the documentary stamp and metered white window envelope inside the PRC for a lower price compared to those being sold by outside vendors. Glue will be provided inside PRC, and you won't need the brown envelope at all (I learned this the hard way). TAKE NOTE: This is for LET applicants only, I'm not aware of the guidelines for other professional board exam takers. Here's a list of all the things you'll need:

As far as I know, and according to my experience, these items are all that you need. You might hear other applicants mentioning about their NBI clearance but fret not because those are for other board applicants.

III.   PROCESS

My classmates/friends applied yesterday (4 August 2015, few days away from the deadline) and I kind of pitied them because they went at the PRC office at 8am and finished at 5pm. IMAGINE THAT. But by some stroke of luck, I managed to finish everything in about two hours. I arrived at the PRC office at around 6am. They opened the gates at around 7am. We were ushered to the 3rd floor (one stop processing - all the steps were done on that floor, we didn't have to go to any other floor unlike what happened to my friends). I guess I was lucky that on the day I applied, they decided to hold the application process on one floor only (for all the steps).

Step 1 (PRE-ASSESSMENT): The PRC officers will collect one of your passport photos for scanning. You will also pass the original and photocopy copy of your TOR and birth certificate (and marriage certificate if you're married) for pre-assessment. In this step, they will check if the information on both the original and photocopies of your documents are exactly the same. They will get only the photocopies of your documents (you get to keep the original copies). You will also be given a form (roughly the size of a 1/2 index card). It looks something like this:

While waiting for Step 2, make sure that you accomplish your form completely and correctly. For the "Profession/Board Of" near the upper right corner, you may write either TEACHERS or LET/ELEM (for BEEd) or LET/SECONDARY (for BSEd). There's a glue and stamp pad (for your thumb mark) available in the room where you will process your application so there's no need for you to bring/buy paste.

Step 2 (PROCESSING): Wait for your name to be called. Once called, they will give another form to fill out (this time on a long bond paper which is stapled together with your photocopied documents). For your guidance, they will mark/check the areas you need to accomplish. In this form, you will need to paste/glue the documentary stamp (it's indicated naman where you need to put the documentary stamp - it's on the bottom left of the form) and you will also need the help of the stamp pad again for your thumb mark. 

Step 3 (PAYMENT): Once you've accomplished the form, proceed to Step 3 (Payment). Just wait in line. You'll pay Php 900 (for first time takers). I'm not sure how much you'll need to pay if you're a repeater. Make sure to bring the exact amount.

Step 4 (ISSUANCE): HURRAY! You're on the last step! :) For this step, just wait for your name to be called. They'll give you your Notice of Admission (NOA) slip. Before leaving the room, make sure that all information printed on your NOA are all correct. During my application, one applicant complained of a mistake in her NOA because although all the other information were correct (Name, Exam name, Exam place, etc), a different photo was shown on her NOA. So always make sure to double check your NOA before leaving the PRC. The NOA looks like this:

If you have other things to add to this blog post, or if you have inquiries and other related comments, please feel free to comment below! :)

Question: 
Why do you want to shift to the College of Education?

Possible Answer #1: Well, quite frankly, because this is one of the most under-populated colleges in the university, so it's really more of the case of you needing more students to enroll than me needing a college to shift to.

Possible Answer #2: I want to shift to the College of Education because I want to teach children and I think that to be able to do so, I need to learn how to be a competent one. And, shifting to this college would make me become a competent teacher.

Some three years ago, when I was still looking for a college to shift to, the one staple question that was always asked to me during panel interviews went like this: Why do you want to shift to [insert name of college]? To tell you the truth, I was so depressed, so frustrated, and so hopeless that I didn't really had the heart to even try to pretend how eager I was to apply for their college. As much as I want to be honest and give the first possible answer, I couldn't really do that in reality so I gave the second possible answer instead. My answers were all like this, generic-looking because I was too lazy to think of a personal answer and resorted to Googling smart-sounding answers for possible interview questions. I've applied for five different colleges that I wanted to shift to, but I really had no particular college in mind. Any college would do, as long as I get to shift out of my college that I've fallen out of love with and that I've learned to hate back then. As undeserving as I was (because of my insincere answers), I was luckily admitted to each of the colleges I've applied to, but for some reason, I chose the College of Education. The first few days into the opening of classes and I still don't have any idea why I found myself inside the corridors of Benitez Hall. I was pretty much like a zombie, aimlessly walking and becoming more and more lost of my purpose in life (but hey, even zombies unconsciously know that their purpose in life is to munch on humans). 

Some would advice me that this feeling of being lost and confused is just a normal phase in any college student's life. But I was too tired and too stubborn to listen to them. I was that depressed. But, in one class that I had in my first semester as an Education student, this one professor told us this on our second meeting: 

It was safe to say that, for the last few months, after playing "deaf" and "blind" to any kind of encouraging statements, this professor's question got into me. For a moment, I wanted to believe that I was still a deserving student of this university, never mind that my previous college wanted me out of their turf. For a moment, I wanted to believe that somebody still believes that I have the potential to succeed, never mind that my ambitions has been crushed by my previous professors. And for a moment that stretched up to this day, I believed.

In my new college, the requirements were as heavy as before and the deadlines were as deadly as before. But the one reason that made everything seem more bearable were my professors. You see, they were more than just professors. They were teachers, parents, friends and confidantes all rolled into one human being. They made me believe in teachers again, but more than that, they made me believe in myself again. And for that, I'll be forever thankful.

With their aid, I've realized why I needed to fail. I've realized that I needed to feel all those pain for me to realize that one way to prevent my depressing experience as a misunderstood student is to become an understanding teacher (among all the other characteristics that a good teacher must possess). And while I'm still far from being the good teacher that I've envisioned, I'm pretty sure that I am very much on my way, with big thanks to my life-long teachers.

Philippine Airlines flies to Auckland, New Zealand 

starting December 2015.

Book now at www.philippineairlines.com.

"Your job as students who are receiving education is to be aware of this privilege and use this particular privilege called education to do your best to achieve great things... ALL THE WHILE ADVOCATING FOR THOSE IN THE ROWS BEHIND YOU."

This Christmas, introduce a child to the wonderful world of books by (what else) giving them a book! Come by Adarna House’s Christmas Sale from November 16 to December 19 to avail of storybooks for only Php 60! Visit Adarna House's website or Facebook page to know more about this exciting offer.

And because it's almost November (the new "hell month" or "sabaw month" for UP students ever since the calendar shift), we're starting to write our graded essays that will undergo class workshops. For the first essay, we could write either about a place (travelogue) or a profile (any person except for ourselves). I chose to write a travelogue because I've been meaning to write about Teresa for the longest time. For people who love PUP Sta. Mesa / Teresa, please don't get me wrong for the first few paragraphs. Believe me, I've come to love PUP / Teresa as much as you do, even if I didn't study there. PUP is home to most of my closest high school buddies, and home to one of the most cheapest street food hubs in the Metro - and I absolutely LOVE street food :) 

At the end of my essay, I've included some of my Creative Writing: Nonfiction classmates' comments. Feel free to comment on my essay too! Whether they be positive or negative, as long as they're written in a constructive way. :) I'll be surely needing those comments, plus a few suggestions would also be nice, since I'll be submitting a revision of this essay by December.

-------------------------------------

Red Brick Road of Teresa*

Once again, I found myself wondering what to do in my 6-hour long vacant period. A little planning might have helped but I've always believed that indecision at the last minute always pushes you to the best destinations. I was talking on the phone with one of my high school buddies when I mentioned by dilemma. "Why are you even asking?" she said. "Go to Teresa". At that time, Teresa seemed to be a not-so-good idea. Judging my travel time from UP to PUP Sta Mesa and vice versa, I already found myself saying "no" to the idea. Besides, I don't even know how to travel to Teresa. 

But there I was, commuting and leaving the sanctuary that UP is for the noisy, crowded and dirty Teresa (as described by my high school buddies who study there). Teresa was seven LRT stations away from Katipunan, but I opted to ride their famous "patok" jeepneys. Riding the jeepney was easier because Teresa is located at the jeepneys' terminal, so no worries of getting lost there (all passengers will alight at the Teresa terminal, also known as Stop N Shop). Alighting at Teresa, I already wanted to get back to the jeepney for a ride back to UP (Katipunan). The place was just too loud and too crowded for me. It felt as if the noise was invading my very soul, probably because I was so accustomed to UP's more serene environment. Two minutes in Teresa, and the place literally made me feel like my senses were being assaulted.

"Once you're on the red brick road, you're on the right place", said my high school buddy. So I guess I'm not lost. This half-kilometer (my distance estimation) stretch of red brick road became famous for its student-on-a-tight-budget meals and merchandises sold t the lowest price possible. One of the first few things that you'll notice about Teresa is that it smells like something is always on the fry (using frying oil for the nth time), as if the whole community's diet all year round was anything deep-fried. The place also smelled and looked like it never once experienced rain: everything was dry and everywhere felt scorching hot.

There is almost no green life in view, save for the few potted plants in front of establishments to prevent vehicles from parking. The road is so crammed with a variety of vehicles: cars, pedicabs, trucks and motorcycles that one must have the skills of a public transportation driver to pass through this busy and crowded road. Not one place was uncommercialized. Every single place was utilized from small kiosks that sell halo-halos served all-year round and delicacies from different regions in the country (sisig, piaya, palitaw, biko, etc) to the Daniel Padilla stores (humorously labeled as such because ♫ ne seye ne eng lehet..) that sell school supplies, kikay kits, KPop/JPop items, stationery items, and whatever thing you could think of. Teresa is also home to calamares cuts as big as palm for Php 5, and isaws as long as unsharpened Mongol and as wide as the average smartphones for Php 5 (beat that Mang Larry).

As mentioned earlier, Teresa has noise levels that can rival that of Divisoria's during the Christmas season. There's the sound of the PNR train that passes by every 15 minutes or so. Curse words are heard so frequently that after an hour's stay in Teresa, you'll hear yourself saying one.

I've learned to love all of Teresa's "perfect imperfections" primarily because of the people in Teresa, They're as loud and as warm as the place itself, personalities I failed to find in the coldness and isolation of UP. Even on my first visit to Teresa, I found myself smiling and laughing at the conversations of a group of friends walking inches from me. I found myself being given an extra serving of rice and sabaw by the friendly Manang ("extra sabaw para kay ateng sabaw"). I found myself laughing and joking with the energetic and friendly siomai vendor ("dine-in o let it go?").

• Write the opposite concept of the following words: cake, kiss, train, green and wall. Explain each in one sentence.
• Use any of the following in a 100-word essay: a ringing phone, a broken/unmoving clock, a sealed envelope, a pet, an unidentifiable sound, a boy in sneakers.
• Write the City in 100 words.

I’m walking along this familiar street again, known to me ever since my first memory of walking beyond the limits of our house gate. On this particular morning, on my way to a nearby sari-sari store, I passed by a familiar looking child, holding a broken wall clock while rummaging the insides of a neighbor’s garbage can. Minutes later, on my way back home, I saw people crowding around the place where the child has been. I learned soon enough that the child died, hit by a stray bullet. Now, it’s been three months since I’ve last walked that street.

As the jeepney drove along the infamous killer high way, I see men in blue stopping a speeding bus, alternating views of greens and man-made structures, and people pushing each other, racing for their ride back home. I hear barkers shouting their throats out in exchange for some spare change, and the repetitive chants of “Litex, Manggahan, Ever”. I smell the day’s worth of work from me and from my fellow riders inside the jeepney. Back home, I run my finger along the dust on our car’s window. I resist the urge to scrawl my name on the city’s dirt. 

This is hopefully the last class in CAL that I will be taking in my senior year. You see, I personally don't like going to CAL (too much bad memories, read: bitterness HAHA!). Aside from it being too far from my college (where all my other subjects are held), CAL's rooms are just way too hot to handle, nakaka-suffocate, para kaming pinupugon. -_- 

I'm taking a course in Creative Nonfiction, my second Creative Writing class. I'm really looking forward to this class, since I know na medyo fail pa rin ako when it comes to writing anything creatively. I tend to always go for the cliche (hindi ko magawa yung something sa taas ng 'e' huhu), which is just so bad, especially in Creative Writing classes. I always plan big for any write-ups I'm about to make, but usually, I don't write until the night before the deadline so ayon, failure ang resulting write-up. So hopefully, with my last class in CAL, I'll be a better writer :))

Every February 14, not only do we celebrate Valentine's Day but also the International Book Giving Day. To celebrate the occasion, Adarna House gave away 10 sets of book packages. Each set includes: 2 big books, 3 storybooks, and a Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Raquel notebook and tote bag.