Problem: Article: Tipped employees, including waiters and waitresses, earn a substantial part of their income through tips. These tips cannot be directly calculated or predicted. When you are hired, your employer may offer you any competitive rate or may choose to apply the minimum wage for your state.  As of January 1, 2017, the federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13. This is calculated by starting at the regular minimum wage of $7.25 and subtracting a credit of $5.12 per hour. Essentially, the government is assuming that you will earn at least $5.12 each hour in tips. Eight states do not make any deduction to the minimum wage for tipped employees. Twenty-eight states or territories do apply a tip deduction, but still have minimum wages higher than the federal rate. Eighteen states use the federal tipped employee minimum of $2.13. You can find your state’s laws at https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm. Use your employer’s record keeping system for recording the hours you work. You may also wish to keep your own separate record to compare with your paycheck. Different companies or employers may have a variety of policies for handling tips. Some places will pool the tips among all staff and then divide them evenly. Others will just allow you to collect your own tips from your work station. Follow your employer’s system. At the end of each day, you should count and record the amount of tips that you received.  Because tips often come in cash, it is tempting just to grab the money and go at the end of the night. But if you are concerned with counting your wages, you should keep a record. Customers who pay with credit cards will often tip that way as well. You need to learn your employer’s system for crediting you with these tips. For example, the credit card tips may just be calculated in the computer and added to your paycheck each week. To find your base pay, multiply your number of hours worked by your pay rate.  For example, suppose you work in Ohio, where the tipped employee minimum wage is $4.08. You earn that wage, and work for 40 hours in a given week. Your base pay is therefore 40∗$4.08=$163.20{\displaystyle 40*\$4.08=\$163.20}. If you want to estimate your annual pay, multiply this result by 50 weeks per year. This will account for about two weeks of unpaid vacation or sick time. Working with the above example, this results in $163.20∗50=$8,160.00{\displaystyle \$163.20*50=\$8,160.00}. If you are trying to calculate your wages for one particular week, keep track of the tips that you earned that week. Add the total of your tips to your calculated base pay.  Suppose the employee in the previous example, with base pay of $163.20, collected tips during the week that amounted to $532.00. This person’s total wages would then be $163.20+$532.00=$695.20{\displaystyle \$163.20+\$532.00=\$695.20}. To extend this example to an annual estimate, multiply the weekly result by 50. This assumes that your tips will be steady throughout the year. For this example, the annual estimate will be $695.20∗50=$34,760.00{\displaystyle \$695.20*50=\$34,760.00}. If you wish, you can figure out your hourly rate for the week, with base pay and tips combined. Simply divide your total calculated wages by the number of hours that you worked. For the ongoing example, if the tips and wages totaled $695.20, and you worked 40 hours, the hourly rate would be $695.20/40=$17.38{\displaystyle \$695.20/40=\$17.38}. The IRS requires tipped employees to keep an accurate, daily record of tips received through the month. By the 10th of the next month, you are then supposed to report this total to your employer. Your employer may require you to report tips more frequently. Your employer will use this figure to calculate your withholdings for taxes, Social Security and Medicare. Your employer will report all this information to the IRS. You do not need to report tips if they total less than $20 per month.
Summary: Find out your hourly rate. Record your working hours. Keep track of your tips. Calculate your weekly or annual pay. Add on your tips. Calculate your practical hourly rate. Report your tips for tax purposes.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: These poles look very similar to ski poles, except they’re usually adjustable to adapt to the terrain. Trekking poles allow you to push tall grass and other brush out of your way, potentially scaring off any hidden snakes. As you hike, your pole hitting the ground and banging against rocks will also deter snakes. They can feel the vibrations in the ground, and will usually leave when they sense your approach. If you can’t afford or otherwise acquire a trekking pole, a ski pole will do fine. Snakes tend to hide under stones, logs and in dense foliage. Trails cleared of clutter are less likely to attract snakes. Additionally, if you stick to well travelled trails, the frequent foot traffic will already keep snakes away. They have no desire to approach humans, and if they know people frequent a particular area, they’ll tend to stay away from it. Snakes are cold-blooded, meaning they can’t regulate their body temperature the way humans can. They have to expose themselves to sunlight to warm themselves up, and hide away from sunlight to cool down. Consequently, snakes tend to be more active in warmer weather. If you’re really concerned about encountering a snake on a hike, consider planning your hike for the cooler weather of fall and winter.

SUMMARY: Use trekking poles when hiking. Stay on cleared, popular trails. Choose the time of your hike carefully.

In one sentence, describe what the following article is about: You will need two forms of identification with your signature on them, one of which must also have a photo. You will also need to bring your certification from your pre-license education class.  It is also helpful to bring your confirmation number, just in case there are any problems. The Florida Real Estate Sales Associate Exam contains 100 multiple-choice questions. 45 of the questions are on real estate principles and practices, 45 or on Florida and Federal laws, and 10 require you to complete real estate-related math calculations.  You must earn a score of 75 or better to pass the exam. You will receive an official score report that includes your photo as soon as you complete the exam. In the even that you need to retake the exam, you will need to wait at least 24 hours to reschedule and go through the same process (Pearson VUE's website or Customer Care call center) that you used to schedule the initial exam. Be sure to do allow time for additional studying before you retake the exam to improve your odds of success. In order to activate your license, you will need a signed statement verifying that you will be working under the guidance of a licensed broker. This broker can be independent, or a member of a large real estate firm.  The broker’s job is to mentor you as a salesperson, and she will bear responsibility for any mistakes that you make. In exchange, you pay the broker either a monthly fee or a set part of your commission.  You can begin looking for a broker to sponsor you at any time during the licensing process. Be sure to interview with a number of different brokers before making a selection, as different brokers have different fee schedules, and provide different services. Most real estate brokerages are always looking for new salespersons.  Begin by calling brokerages in your area (think about which signs you typically see up at homes you’d be interested in selling,) and go from there. After you pass your exam, your license must be activated through a Florida licensed real estate broker or owner/developer.  The broker can do this by submitting the DBPR RE 11 form to confirm that you have been added as an employee.  Once this is done, you can launch your real estate career! For questions about this process, you can call the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Customer Contact Center at (850) 487-1395.
Summary:
Bring all required information to your exam appointment. Complete the exam and receive your score. Schedule a retake. Choose a broker to sponsor you. Activate your license.