Warning: Long post ahead.
So, in my previous blog I had mentioned about applying for all scholarships, & it turns out that I am only offered an interview by Petronas. I was totally trilled of the idea of meeting new people, and I felt blessed to have the opportunity to experience the interview process.
I pack my things up on 14th April. Once my brother ended his classes, I drove down to KL with my family. We reach Ambassador Rows Suite at night & we went out to Suria KLCC, to take some pictures.
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| Things to prepare for the day! |
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| I am the driver ^_^ It's my 1st long distance drive! |
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| Dinner at Petaling Street |
On that day~
And so it's 15th April morning, I woke up feeling tried because I woke up in the middle of the night due to the low temperature. So after preparing myself, my parents dropped me off at Menara UTMspace for the Youngstar Day.
I reached quite early, as there're not many people lining up to submit their Original Documents & Certified-True-Copy Documents. & then, I found out that I forgot to bring my Surat Aku Janji, but the person-in-charge allows me to hand in as long as I can make it before 4 pm.
So, I calmed down & went up to Level 7, which is used as our gathering spot along with Jovi Tan, & I send the Surat Aku Janji to my parents hoping that they can print it out for me. Then, we started waiting for all the applicants to gather. Well, we started to chat about the interviews by other sponsors unit, such as the Bank Negara, Maybank, Sime Darb and et cetera. Then I realized, Petronas was the only body that invited me for the interview. So if you didn't get invited for an interview, it's not necessary that you are not good, but it may be due to bad luck. But anyhow, I still have the bursary as a back-up, so I'm not worried.
We had breakfast provided by Petronas while watching some commercial videos by Petronas. At 9 am, we are briefed by the person in-charged. & I get to know that today is for all applicants who apply for overseas programs in non-technical areas(non-engineering). So here I shall tell you what are Petronas's sponsorships contents for SPM 2013 students(they may revise it now & then).
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| Breakfast provided by Petronas |
Content of the Petronas Education Sponsorship Program~
General:
- Petronas sponsorship composed of 80% scholarship & 20% loan.
- You need to maintain a GPA 2.75 every semester.
- Else you'll be given two chances, if you still can't meet the requirements, you will need to pay back 100% of what Petronas has sponsored as it is considered as Breach of Contract.
- You need to pursue in the field & institution offered by Petronas.
- You must complete your studies within the period stipulated in the agreement.
- You must report the completion of studies within the period stipulated in the agreement.
- You are bonded for five years(10 years is history)
- If you are not offered a job in Petronas(within six months), you need to repay the 20% loan.
- If you breach the contract(Reject the job offered by Petronas or resigned from Petronas during your bonding period), you need to pay back 100% to Petronas.
Type of allowance covered by Petronas:
- Tuition fees
- Accommodation
- Living allowance
- Book allowance
- Instruments allowance(ex: stationaries)
- Computer allowance
- Thesis allowance
- Practical/internship allowance
Assessment methodology & tools:
- Written assessment
- Math & Science Test / Maths Test (40 questions for 1 hour)
- Assessment(Potential J Interview)
- 20 mins group discussion
Assessment~
At 1st we're all divided into three groups, namely blue, red & yellow & each group consist of 8 teams named by numbers. I'm blue 8. Red started their interview 1st while yellow went for their written test. So what did the blue do? Simple, wait & chat. During our conversation, I discovered that most people that have bursary as a back-up are planning to go Taylor's College Subang Jaya if they fail to get Petronas of course.
After the Red finished their interviews, it is our turn for the interview. We entered a room, and we sat according to our team. We are then given a case study each & 30 minutes to prepare.
A little insight to our case study:
We were given a proposal from different departments(Ministry of Defense, MO education, mo health, chamber of commerce) to reduce crime rate through something like a gap-year program before starting college. You will be given suggestions & you can either agree/disagree & of course, the reason for it.
We were given a proposal from different departments(Ministry of Defense, MO education, mo health, chamber of commerce) to reduce crime rate through something like a gap-year program before starting college. You will be given suggestions & you can either agree/disagree & of course, the reason for it.
After preparing, we are brought to our particular assess room. While waiting, we took some Tiger biscuit.
The individual section will start 1st. You will be asked to introduce yourself, your family's financial status, etc. Then, you must elaborate on your views regarding the case study. The interviewer might ask you a couple of questions about it. & that's all of it.
My suggestion: Be sure to mention your core values, things that make you unique before explaining your background. I started with my background and didn't get a chance to elaborate my strengths cause the interviewer's questions just keep on coming.
After all the members of your team have done their individual section, all of you will be called to do the group discussion, which you are not allowed to discuss it before the section begins. So our team just put all our views together to get a general plan to solve crime rate, which I believe is the easiest & laziest way of all (no need to turn anyone's suggestion down = no hard feelings).
My suggestion: Explain your views and don't cut off others when they are talking, cooperation is critical in the interview.
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| We're blue 8! |
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| Group selfies in the lift. |
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| Thank you guys for the wonderful time we had together |
Straight after our group discussion interview ended, we headed to the receptionist to get our original documents back. After queuing for a few minutes, it turns out that my original documents are on the 9th floor. So I rushed to eat my lunch, which consists of a big box of rice + green chicken curry + sweet & sour fish + vegetable soup + some papayas. I mixed it all together(except the papayas) and eat it as fast as I can (don't learn, it's bad for health) as I only have 30 minutes for lunch & I still need to pick up my original documents. I then rushed up to the 9th floor and rushed down to the 7th floor which we are required to assemble for the written test. After all the rushing, I found out that we still need to wait for another half an hour to start, so we started waiting, AGAIN.
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| Taken on Jovi Tan's baju kurung |
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| Had a lot of fun chatting with you guys |
So on 2.30pm, we are brought to another floor for our written test. We started the Math test 1st (today's section are mostly for non-technical, that's why we didn't take the Science & Math test), then followed by the Critical Reasoning test.
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| We are the only Jit Sin-ese on that day's interview. Sit behind Si Bao during the written test. |
Math test covers all the math & add math in SPM, be sure to brush up your derivatives cause most people, like 90% of it had forgotten about it, including me.
In the Critical Reasoning test, you have given 40 diagnostics questions & they are arranged according to the difficulty level.
