Latest STPM Timetable 2015

Closing down.....

Sad to say, this blog is shutting down due to poor pageviews and inability to manage and update the blog.

This blog will shift to shuchinggoh1996.wordpress.com

SMK Tinggi Melaka STPM 2015 TERM 1 Trial Paper

My experience of JPA Scholarship Interview 2014

K im NOT showing off that I was offered to go for the infamous JPA scholarship interview, but I am just sharing my experience for undergoing this interview.

I was seriously happy when my application of JPA scholarship to study in overseas is accepted and I was called for the interview. But as a friendly reminder, you must check JPA website CONSTANTLY (like once a week?) to check whether you are offered to go for interview or not. If my mum never remind me to check the website, I think I WOULD miss the chance by now. (Thank you mummy!!)

Everyone will think like "OMG, this stage will be pretty tough", even I also had that kind of thoughts initially.

But soon I arrived at Universiti Teknologi MARA at Alor Gajah, Melaka, there's a nice signboard showing "Student Assesment Centre". Yes this is the one I am looking for. Nice, they have put this sign at appropriate location so that you won't get lost. UiTM is a very big place and it looks like a maze.

Before I stepped into that building, I met Pn Zaidah (my school's teacher). She told me that his son had just finished the interview and they are going home. She wished me good luck and bid farewell.

I expected that a lot of smart people would be at the registration counter by that time, but I'm so surprised that a few only appeared for this interview!! I was shy and reluctant to speak to other people at first, but finally I've found a Malay girl and we chatted together to kill the time. Just like me, she's interested in Architecture. 

When an officer announced that we should go to the waiting room by now and check our placed groups and numbers, I caught a glimpse that I was in the first group and I am Number 2. The girl (named Fatin Liyana) was in the same group with me but she is number 6.

When I was in the waiting room, I got to know another 2 person, a Chinese girl and a Malay boy. We chatted with each other while the officer asked us to hand in our required documents to the counter. I have prepared all the documents in a clear book so I just straight away give the file to the officer. Lucikly, there are only 4 people in my group, so the competition won't be so great. 

2:00 pm, the story of the Interview Journey STARTED NOW.

The officer asked us to follow her into another room, and we waited outside. Then the officer told us that we are going to do Debating. OMG!! This is the first time doing debating! I paired up with the Malay Guy and we were the Supporter, while the remaining two were Opposition. We greeted the JPA Officer and we sat down. When I got the title, I was like "What the-?!" What a tough question to discuss of!! My partner and I used 6 minutes to discuss. I tried to squeeze out as many points as possible, but I just utulized 3 mins to voice out my opinion (they want 6 mins). Imagine you are the first one to give out your speech! I was at the wits end, and I just say out tons of crappy things in the end (very sad though). I think I screwed up this part, because the others can voice out their opinions pretty well. When this section finally ended, I was really relaxed. The officers said "Woah, 4 of you can use fully an hour to do debating". I was like LOL!? Then our tension got released completely when we were waiting to go for next round, because we talked with each other and get to know each other well. The Malay guy is going for Korea, Chinese Girl is going for Germany, Malay Girl aims for France, While I want Japan. This made a Nice combination. And what a coincidence that we have even numbers (Mine is no2, malay guy is 4, malay girl is 6, chinese girl is 8)!!

3:15 pm, we went for next stage, the Case Study. Again, we went into another room, greeted the officers, and the whole thing started. It was so lucky that the theme is so suitable for me, so I can provide a lot of points for discussion. We have 20 minutes to discuss, and each of us are going to do presentations in 5 minutes time. This thing went smoothly, and in the end, I got to introduce VOCALOID to the officers. And the officers asked us how much time we spent on Internet.

4:30 pm, Wohoo!! the final stage!! Seriously, I thought that 'Here comes the interview part', but unexpectedly, They never ask us those questions like 'Why are you interested in this scholarship??'. Instead, they replaced this session with LOGICAL PROBLEM SOLVING. We had to work in a team to solve 3 questions, and there is a time limit which was 15 minutes for each question: 12 mins for discussion, 3 mins for presenting the asnwer. They encouraged us to think out of box, and try to use many methods and ways to solve a question.  

5:45pm, YESHH!!! FINALLY, the whole thing ended. We are the first team to finish the whole thing. After I took back the documents from the officer, We wished each other good luck, and bid farewell. I was seriously exhausted by the time I finished the interview.

In a nutshell:

1. JPA Scholarship interview is not so tough, but you have to do research about current issues happening in Malaysia.

2. You must be good in socializing - make new friends and getting to know each other helps in releasing stress