Friday, 25 May 2018

Petronas Young Stars Day 2018 Experience

3

After getting SPM result, everyone is so busy applying for scholarships and pre-university program. So do I. I've applied for PETRONAS education sponsorship program (PESP). My first choice is Chemical Engineering at USA and my second choice is Applied Chemistry at USA. After applying, the applicants have to wait for the result and Alhamdulillah.. I was invited to PETRONAS  YOUNGSTARS DAY (PYD) for the next stage. I was so excited because from my seniors experience, they said that PYD was very fun and exciting. It was held from 22-26 April but my session was on 24th April. I went there with my mom and the venue was at KDU University College Glenmarie Campus.

Before PYD, of course the applicants need to do some preparations. There are some important documents need to be brought and make sure to complete the document they wanted us to bring. Don't worry, you'll be given a guideline. I also do some research about PETRONAS, what are their focus areas and read some experience shared by PETRONAS scholars. I also asked some tips from my seniors who are the PETRONAS scholars and they say to be confident, speak up and make friends with others too. Fortunately, I've joined some PETRONAS programs during  my high school such as PETRONAS@school and they also come to our school for sharing. 

I woke up as early as 5.30 a.m. so that I'll not be late. My mother and I stayed at a hotel nearby. My attire was a white shirt tucked in with a black slack, a black bawal, blazers and  a pair of  court shoes. From what I've learned for grooming session, this attire will make you look more presentable, sophisticated and smart so it made me feel confident in this attire. I've prepared all my documents and  ready to go. I reached there quite early and met my schoolmates. As soon as we arrive, I had to say goodbye to my mom because parents and students had different briefing. We were ushered to floor 3A, where the auditorium was. When I entered, there were already one row occupied, so Shasha, Moh and I sat at the second row. I made friends with Zafirah and Maisarah. After that, we were told to register and took our breakfast.  I was given a tag labelled 1-6 and sat at the front row.

During waiting for the briefing to start, I chatted with a new friend, Syakir from Shah Alam and he applied for accounting, and another friend, Arif from MRSM, thus I got Shasha to, my schoolmate and we are closed so yeah, I calmed down a lot. I am not bored at all because the students are friendly and there was nothing to be scared about as long  as you know how to make friends, smile a lot and socialize. At 9.00 a.m we were given a briefing about PESP, the courses and countries, tips for CPSQ (which was a personality test) and TSA (Thinking Skills Assessment). I was quite nervous for the online assessment but PETRONAS already provided sample questions attached with the invitation letter and you have to do some past papers such as Oxford TSA and Cambridge TSA that can be found online. 

After that, we headed to the computer lab for online assessments. The computer lab at KDU is so jaw dropping and so cooooollll. The students here must be enjoying the facilities. I was quite nervous because only participants who passed online assessment (phase 1) will continue to the interview session (phase 2). The first assessment is CPSQ which is a personality test. They asked about your personality, how you control your emotion and  how you behave in your everyday life. So the key point is to be honest and know yourself thus don't take too long to answer. It was 45 minutes. The second assessment is Cambridge Thinking Skill Assessment which includes IQ test, Mathematics and English. The maths were not addmaths that require formula, but it was a logic math. You need to imagine a lot and solve the problem logically so open your mind and a little bit of practice from past years question might help a lot. 90 minutes for 40 questions and Alhamdulillah I had time to finish all questions.

After the online assessment, it was lunch break time. They served us delicious food, tho. Chicken rice ! But I did not eat because I'm too busy chatting and too full hehe. So I just finished my breakfast food and decided to eat that chicken rice after interview (if qualified). Sharp at 1 pm, the results was announced ! I was quite nervous but I calm myself down that whatever the result is, I what's best for me. Since the qualified names are arranged in alphabetical order and those with Muhammad and Nur were A LOT, I am anxious waiting for O 😂 Fortunately, I was qualified and my interview group was A11 which is the first session. I was grateful because I had to catch my flight too at 8 so being able to finished at 4 made my mom and I calmed down. Phew. My groupmates were Khalil, Jing Kai and Chin Kai.

At 2 pm, we were briefed about the interview session and given a case study to discuss. 30 minutes preparation were given. Time's up and we were called into the interview room. The interview started by introducing ourselves. Don't worry, the interviewers were kind and assuring so you just have to be confident and believe in yourself. We had to give our opinions and points on the case study given go 5 minutes. I was quite nervous at first by after some seconds, I became comfortable and was in the zone so I gave out my points. I hope it did not sound ridiculous or boring. After the individual task, we were given 30 minutes for group discussion. We had to tolerate with each other and bare in mind to speak up. Do not be too passive, dominant or too aggressive because they want teamwork and cooperation. We had to discuss a proposal based on the case study and present it after the 30 minutes was up. We had so much fun because the interview was not depressive or tense. At the end of the interview, we were required to ask some questions to the interviewers. I was reminded to ask questions to show interest towards PETRONAS. And at 4, the interview was over and we took some pictures as mementos. It's a wrap !!

After one month of waiting, patiently and anxiously for the result, the result was out on 26th May. My heart was throbbing when logging into the application to check the result and Alhamdulillah, I got the scholarship and also secure my first choice. I am so grateful to be blessed with this scholarship. I still in dilemma to choose between pursuing Chemical Engineering which is the program offered by petronas or medicine. I am so over the moon and very thankful. If I accept this offer, I will be pursuing my American Degree Program at Taylor's Lakeside Campus and if I succeed to maintain the cgpa, insya-Allah I will fly to United States in one year time. Wish me luck and I wish you all the best !!





Monday, 14 May 2018

MARA YOUNG TALENT DEVELOPMENT (YTP) 2018 EXPERIENCE

8

Besides PETRONAS sponsorship, I also applied for MARA scholarship. It is more to convertible loan actually. Between JPA, JPA-MARA and MARA, applicants must choose either one. Although I am quite tempted to apply for JKPJ (jepun,korea, perancis, jerman) program under engineering, I didn't apply because I am more interested to apply for medic under MARA YTP (Young Talent Development) program. If I got lucky and did well for my IB, I will have high chance to do medic overseas. It was a rare occasion that MARA wants to sponsor students to study medic overseas because of the very high cost. I give it a try, who knows I got lucky and it is the best for me. First and foremost, I filled in the online application through MARA website. I had to cancel my earlier application for JKPJ program first. My first choice is IB program at Kolej MARA Banting and second choice is IB Program at Kolej MARA Seremban. After a month, the result was out and Alhamdulillah.. I passed the first stage and was called for interview and psychometric test.

The psychometric test must be done at home within the time stated which is one hour. Different candidates have different time for psychometric test. During my time it was some personality test and SPM-based questions so better refresh back what you had learn during your high school years. But for the past years, the psychometric test ask about MARA and some history so the test differs by year. Some courses might only require the candidates to sit for psychometric test only without interview so it depends on what course you applied.

My interview was on 28th April at Kolej Poly-tech MARA Bangi. The registration session was at 8-9.30 but because I arrived a little bit late, which is at 8.30, I had to wait for the second round.The earlier the better so that you can finish early but if you can't make it, don't worry as long as you don't pass the registration time. The queue is long, tho and the interviews will be held for 2 days with so many more sessions. What I've learned is the ratio of girls to boys that wanted to become doctors was like 3 : 1 but there are also interviews for future engineers so yeah that's why there are so many people. My registration was at 9.30 a.m. and my interview will start at 10 a.m. I already arranged my documents according to the order they wanted but unfortunately one document is not complete which is borang BE. sigh.. I thought by bringing slip gaji is enough so they gave me MARA's email and told me to email them the borang. Phew. I thought I'll be disqualified already. After the registration, I was given a tag labelled C4 and told to follow the usherer.

I was brought to a room and was asked to sit according to my number so I was in group C. There were 8 people in a group. During the waiting time, I chatted with my groupmates, Shazmeen, Alya, Aminah, Fatimah, Anis, Hakimi and Adam. Most of them are from MRSM and only Fatimah are interviewing for engineering course while the rest for medic, as same as me. We chatted about a lot of things, experiences and opinions so don't be shy and make a lot of friends ! Speak up and be friendly :). After about half an hour waiting we were briefed about the interview and were brought to the interview room. The interview room was cold, tho and there were three interviewers. There are two phases which are group task and individual interview.

So, our first task is group work. Eight of us were divided into two groups. We were given a set of legos, building blocks, and we were required to build a double-story building using all the blocks. There were also some gears that must be functioning using the batteries. We were given 20 minutes to complete the task. It was quite hard, tho because the blocks did not really fit but the most important thing is you must work together. Teamwork is the key. When the 20 minutes time was up, my team's building is not completed yet but we were satisfied and had some fun. During the presentation time, Adam came up with a brilliant idea on how the gears can be operated using hydro energy or wind energy, Fatimah said that it can be build at riverbanks, Anis said that it is fun for the children and safe while I stated that our building is an indoor playground and can also  act as kindergarten where the children will be secured and it is also portable and easy to build. The gears function really well and it turned out pretty good actually although it was not finished.

After the group task, we were asked to sit on the chairs according to our number. The interviewers asked question to us. I am the first person to be asked and the question I got is "what are your biggest challenges to be a good leader". Different candidates got different questions like "what is your dream", "how you go through hardship", "how to succeed in life" and so on. The second question is "what is your strength and why MARA should choose you compared to others" This question must be answered by all candidates and as for me I talk about research and my upcoming idea and how passionate am I to be a medical doctor. The interview was quite nerve-wrecking but the interviewers were supportive and will not scold you so they really calmed me a lot. The ending for our interview is by describing a short and sweet background about us and after that the interview ended. It was a delightful experience and I am very grateful to be given such opportunity. I make many friends and gained a lot of experience !

So, after 2 weeks of waiting, the result is finally out. Fortunately, I got offered into the program however, I did not get the course code that I wanted which is MARA0101 instead I got MARA0301 which means, I will not have the opportunity to study abroad under this code. I will have to undergo one year of Foundation in Science at Kolej Mara Kuala Nerang, Kedah and continue my degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in UniKL Royal College of Medicine Perak (RCMP). I am really grateful to be offered such a great opportunity but I'm not sure yet whether it is the best for  me because RCMP is very new so I need to look up for some reviews and information about this college first. I really wanted to study medicine, tho and but I need to do some thinking and ask for opinions first. I hope this is the best path for me to become a great doctor one day.