Petronas Educamp (Day 1)

First of all, I really want to thank God for being shortlisted for this educamp. The only thing is I had to skip church on celebrating Easter, the day our Lord resurrected from death.

12 April
Morning
I woke up at 6.30am and I felt quite tired. I can't sleep the night before so I went to watch the old James Bond movie on tv2. Too excited I think.

At 7.40am, I reached Akademi Binaan Malaysia, Semariang. The place was formerly the old UITM building. Then, I went in and lined up for registration and met Royston and Melvin from JPA interview. Then I brought my stuffs to my room and been introduced to my roommates, Albrinz and Royston. Room was ok, the cupboard was spoilt. Lousy la.

I gave the registrar my certified documents and I received a pillow case, mattress cover and a blanket. These are limited, so people who came late for registration would have to use their own ones.

Then had the provided breakfast with my parents. Nasi Lemak with sambal,salted fish and fried peanuts. Lousy one.

10.00am, I went to the auditorium for briefing on Petronas Corporation's stuffs. Watched a few videos on Petronas' corporations at countries worldwide. Had to sang National Anthem. Being introduced to Petronas' song which had repeated lines of "Petronas Maju Jaya"for the lyrics.(You can only imagine how boring the melodies and lyris are right?) Then, we were shown slides about UTP(Universiti Teknologi Petronas) and details on the scholarship. It's more like a loan but it will be a scholarship if you are bonded with Petronas upon graduation.

Then had the provided lunch with my parents. Rice with curry and some vegetables. Still lousy. After that, parents had to leave.

Afternoon
Then went to the auditorium with Melvin, Aaron and Royston for briefing on the interviews and tests that will be conducted. We're told that from the 8000+ applicants, only 1500+ applicants were shortlisted, only one third of those shortlisted will get the scholarship. I was shocked again as we were informed that only 155 applicants were shortlisted in the educamp for whole Sarawak and Sabah.

That news really shocked me because only me and Jun Wei were from Kuching High, Melvin and Aaron from Batu Lintang and Royston the only one from Stampin. Too competitive, huh?

2.00pm, We were divided to groups of about 18 or 19 for a facilitating activity to get us familiarise for the next day's interview. Met Claire again after meeting at JPA interview. We're in the same group for the activity. After that I found out there's only 2 teresians and 4 kuching townians got shortlisted. I felt very lucky la. The activity was kind of long and boring. Just a simple activity for you to gather everyone's information for a certain question which indirectly train your speaking confidence and style. It ended at 4 something.

Had tea break. Malay-styled fried bee hoon with heavy chilli taste. Not spicy but I dislike it.
Then at last can rest in my room until 6pm. After that, I bathed and get ready for night personality and math test. The math test were an extra new test added only starting this year. (So, for those next year, revise your add maths before coming)

Dinner. Rice with spicy-styled fried fish and some vegetables with curry sauce.

Night
Me, Jun Wei and another 22 were called to be separated during the test from those applying for engineering and geology courses. That means only me and another 23 were applying for business and IT courses. Even competitive for IT course. Walao.

We had personality test where we numbered the statements that most described us to the least one. It was like telling them our personality through filling the papers.

Then, me, Jun Wei and 22 business/IT educampers took the math test. Engineer-and-geology-courses-educampers took math and science test. It was slightly harder than SPM level because the time was shorter than SPM. Can't finish a few questions so I had to tembak.
Math test:
1 hour, 30 add maths multiple-choice-questions which are quite hard since it was four months ago I did a add maths questions. Thankfully it was multiple choice questions. Managed to recalled back while doing without any formulas given. Quite fun la. Everyone was like so shocked, including me.

Math and Science Test:
1 hour, 30 multiple-choice-questions consist of chemistry, add maths and physics. Kinda hard for the physics, commented by Roy.

Finished at 10.30pm. Had supper which was dried green bean soup(lek dao teng). But it was dry. It's like the usual green bean soup with the soup being filtrated. Crazy hor?

Then lights off. Had a hard time to sleep. I think I only slept after 12am. It was a special experience I say.

The Room.

JPA Interview

***Forgive me for posting about this now after so long. I had a serious Internet connection problem and I had to call for Telekom Streamyx and an IT technician to check out my computer,modem and CPU for a few times. Now, let's just skip that.***

As stated in the JPA website, my interview's on 1st of April, 2pm at the State Library of Sarawak. And so, at the 1st of April, I reached the State Library at 1.20pm to get ready earlier. I entered the big building, walking to the desk and signed my name as a record for being present. Then, I went to find a place to sit and wait.

I waited and waited. 30 mins, 1 hour, 2 hours...

Groups over groups were called for interview. There were only a few of us left and the time was already 4pm.

I became nervous and I went over to ask the clerk at the desk. "Your turns are decided based on your birthdates." She replied. So, I just kept on waiting while having a few chats with another few who were also waiting for their turns.

Melvin and me. Photo captured by Yee Ho.

I met Melvin from Batu Lintang and Yee Ho from Stampin. We chatted while waiting for our turns. What to do? We were born at later times of the year.

At 4.15pm, me, Yee Ho and Hafi(last group of three) were ushered to the waiting room at the 2nd floor. There, we passed our certified documents and original certificates to the clerk-in-charge.

At 4.45pm, we entered the interview room and the interview began. First start, Each of us were given about 1 or 2 minutes to introduce ourselves regarding our names, schools, family backgrounds and co-corricular achievements in English

Then, we came to the Q&A segment. The questions were "Who is your favourite leader?", "If Jpa doesn't sponsor you to overseas but locally, would you accept the offer?" and "Is it a must for teenagers to use Facebook and Friendster?" There are no group discussions or debates. Just a simple answer with some reasons and points to support your view either in English or BM.

After that, we shook hands with the interviewers and left the room. We shook hands among group members and left the place. I applied for IT, Yee Ho's Engineering and Hafi's Social Science. Mixed-course-groups for JPA interview since only general questions were asked.

That's it. I left the place at around 5.15pm. The interview was quite short. Maybe it was almost 5pm or maybe there's only 3 of us in the last group. But anyway, I finished my 1st interview and the experience was quite enjoyable and nice.

Blended

Last wednesday, I was quite happy to find out I'm shortlisted for JPA interview on April Fool's Day. I mean, it's natural to be glad about it, right?

Then came the time I found out I'm rejected by Sime Darby. It's weird though. Sime Darby sent 2 emails to me regarding the period where the interviews will take place but I checked my status these few days on the website but I'm still rejected. So, why sending me the emails?

Then I found out I'm rejected by Tenaga.

Next, rejected by Khazanah.

Mixed feelings. Guess I can only prepare and do my best for the JPA interview.

Visits

Last Sunday, I went to pick my little sister from Sunday School. But I arrived too early, so I went in and and looked at the programmes while waiting. Uncle Peter saw me, walked to me and immediately ask how am I doing. Then came Aunt Suzy too. For the record, I've been in the Sunday School for merely 1 year, and they still got recognized me, although they forgot my name. =) But it had been 6 years ago plus I joined Saturday Night Service since March 2008. They still have a good memory.

Anyway, I have a document, needed to be certified by the principal but my principal's on a meeting at elsewhere this week. My interview will be on April Fool's Day. Hopefully I'm not going to get shot dead.

Shell Is Actually Open

Yes, to correct my previous post and also jump-over all the blames I will get if people follow and believe what I wrote.

From what I heard when I went to a talk on the night of 12 March, the speaker said the scholarship is not open for Spm 2008 candidates. I also read somewhere over the Internet that Shell scholarships are not open too.

But guess I'm wrong though. I wrote an e-mail to be 100% sure to shell and I got a reply that the scholarship is open for Spm 2008 candidates. It seems that I cannot really believe informations in Internet.

Shell 2009

Just a short information and maybe I'm among the slow ones to know about this.

Shell scholarships 2009 is not open for SPM 2008 candidates. The information is misleading though. But I read that the scholarship is not eligible for SPM 2008 candidates.

Good luck all!