First Exciting News?

To my surprise, I received a letter from SinChew yesterday. I got all excited up after finding out I got the scholarship from SinChew. So happy I was for the whole day.

Last night, I went to church to hear from an invited speaker from S'pore, Pastor Joyce(i think). She was preaching with such lively-ness about how we should be having an ardent love for God consistently. Our heart may grow cold, but God patiently awaits for us.

Back to the scholarship matter.

Under this scholarship, I will be sponsored to study at LimKokWing Kuching campus for 4 years, which includes 1 year of foundation and 3 years of degree.

But.

This scholarship only sponsored the tuition fees, which means I have to pay the exams fess and other necessary fees by my own. But it's still a scholarship I may take considering the fact that I can be in Kuching, not having any homesick problems.

And also, I'll be waiting for jpa's and petronas' results and at the same time waiting what's God's will for me. Getting or not, it's God plan for me.

Meanwhile, take a look at my lil sis' pet.

She can climb.

She's cute.

She can eat.

Sin Chew Phone Interview

At this week, I wasn't expecting to have anymore interviews because it was already the end of April. Looking at the posts in Recom I thought all selection for interviews were conducted, even Bank Negara and Sin Chew.

During about 4pm yesterday, I was in my room. I got this unknown number calling me which starts with a +03.. As I answered the call, I got to know it's from Sin Chew!

Caller: Hello is this Jason Lau?
Me : Yes.
Caller: This is Sin Chew Scholarships Department and I see that you are applying for LimKokWing University for Kuching Campus.
Me : Yes.
Caller: Unfortunately we are from Cyberjaya and we can't come to Kuching to conduct the interview. It will also be inconvenient for you to come over here. So if you don't mind I'll have a short phone interview.
Me : Sure. (that's very nice of them)
Caller: Can I conduct it now?
Me : Yes.

THE PHONE INTERVIEW
Caller: May I know about your family background?
Me : ~Repeating what I said in JPA and Petronas.~ About my father, mother and sisters.

Caller: I see that you have good academic results. Do you know about what is really the course you are applying? (Business Information Systems)
Me : Yes. ~Repeating what I said again in Petronas~
Caller: Good. Do you know what you'll be working about after you graduate from this?
Me : (Ok. This time it's a little hard.)I'll be managing the company's security system for the datas, creating systems for datas to be processed efficiently. I don't get chased by datelines too as programmers will work under me.

Caller: Ok. Now I would like to ask about some opnion of yours about Barack Obama. Do you know who he is?
Me : Yes, he's currently the president of USA.
Caller: How do you think he is doing as a President? Is he good?
Me : For now, I think he's doing ok. The economic situation is quite tough. We'll have to wait to really see what he's capable of.
Caller: Do you think he will retain as the president 4 years later?
Me : If there's a better candidate for that time, of course not. But for now, he's the best president I think.
Caller: Ok thank you that's the end for the phone interview.
Me : Thank you very much.

Seriously, I didn't really read news about Obama so I'm not sure how well are my opinions. Well, I'm just 18 this year and you can't expect me to be like economists to know how well is Obama doing. In fact, economists can't even predict the economic situation in the future. Thankfully my dad told me a little about Obama these few months.

I prepared for JPA's and Petronas', but the preparations are useless, nothing about recent news, jpa's or petronas' policies came out. I didn't prepare for SinChew's, but I manage to answer the questions.(quite la)Why like this?

Thank God I do not need to fly to KL for the interview. Money saved. Time saved.

P/s: If I get this, I won't be reading the newspapers from them either. =)

Scholarship Season

I just read that there is a serious problem in Mexico. (what to do, I don't read news usually)There is this swine flu in Mexico and the condition is getting worse. That's bad.

***

Like what Yew King said, this is the Scholarship Season for us, spm and stpm leavers. Why? As the world develops and due to economy recession, the funds needed to pursue tertiary education has become very costly. Too costly to be affordable for common families.

After the results have been out last month, I've been applying, applying as many scholarships as I can for the theory says, "Applying more means more chances to get it.". Well, as you can see, scholarships are hard to get, whether it's 5 years back or maybe even 5 years from now in the future. The number of applicants for a scholarship is already very shocking.

Of course, I didn't apply for s'pore scholarships because the standard is quite high and maintaining the scholarship is very tough(provided I get it and as compared to other scholarships). The process of applying scholarships is rather hectic. I mean, although we are now very lucky as most scholarships can be applied on-line unlike people from previous years, it's still hectic.

Then the month of April sets in. I went for jpa's and petronas' interview. I must say, I learnt a lot from the interviews, starting from preparing for the interviews, gathering information to boosting confidence while speaking with eyes on me. I don't fear interviews as much as before I had my interviews. Cool, right? God will always be on our side, helping us to go through our problems. You see, looking at the cross and know what Jesus had done for us, our problems, our critical situations are like tiny little ants.

And next month, the results of my interviews will be out. I'm quite mentally prepared for all possible and impossible outcomes because God knows what is best for us, He sees the future and plan the best for us. What I get is the best for me.

I might get Jpa and study kl for 1 year and US for the next 3 years, or petronas and study at utp, perak. I'll study form 6 or opt for a loan and study at Swinburne if I don't get it. I mean, anything can just happen other than these plans I have. Remember what I said last time, "you can plan all you want , but you just can't fulfill all of them."

God's plan is above ours. But the trend today as I see it, some students are trying to get scholarships not because their parents can't afford to support them, but to try to show that they are worthy, clever enough to get a scholarship. And if they failed to, they think it's the end of the world. That's a very wrong way of seeing and thinking.

I'll be waiting for now. Only less than 2 weeks for me to know where I'll be heading to.

Petronas Educamp (Day 2)

April 13
Morning
Roy woke me up at 6am. Then I got myself prepared for the interviews and exams coming right on.

Want to know what's for breakfast? Spicy-styled fried rice with heavy chili taste again.

We were arranged according to sessions, groups and sequence. Some will do the test first while some the interview first. Mine's A-2-3. This meant that I'm the first batch for interview. Just like what I wanted. Yeah.

At 8am, me and my batch we ushered to the preparation room where we were given our case study. Given only roughly 30 minutes, all of us scribbled all the points out of our heads. While jotting down points, I saw people who can write points as much like an essay. Freaked out by that.

Then, we were ushered to wait and sit at the arranged chairs outside the interview room. It was the individual interview first so one by one had to go in. We were divided into groups of four. For this interview, each of us had to introduce ourselves, answer some questions and speak out our individuals points to the interviewer. Each of us had around 11 minutes for the individual interview.

Then came the group interview. All four of us went in and sat almost like a circle and just discuss our points while the interviewers assess and analyze our skills. Our topic was the increasing number of refugees and we had to discuss about the problems, solutions and conclusion. It was kind of fun actually. Everyone sort of arguing that their points were the best. Well, I wasn't the one who conclude all the points into one, big conclusion. Before I realize, the 30-minutes group interview ended already. Nice. It was roughly 10.30 am.

Then I went to rest in my room until lunchtime. The lunch was rice with curry again.

Afternoon
Then the test began at 1.30 pm. Once again being ushered to the test room.

It was like SPM exam. Sort of, just not that tense for the atmosphere. But people here were really smart people also.

First test was English Placement Test. It's a 1-hour test with 50 multiple-choice questions. It was slightly harder than the SPM English. More on grammar and verbal.

Second test was Verbal Test. It's a 30-minutes test with 60 multiple choice questions. It was quite like SPM EST questions, but harder. With given short articles, you have to determine whether the statements given were true, false or you can tell without more information. Quite tricky so I only finished it just on time. No time for checking at all.

Third and the last test was Diagrammatic IQ Test. It's a 20-minutes test with 40 multiple-choice questions. The IQ tests were those types where you are given four pictures and you had to guess the fifth picture. The first 20 questions were quite easy especially after you know the trick after observing real close for the pictures. I can't finished the last few questions so I had to tembak again.

Then left the place after filling a survey on how did you felt about the educamp. The food, the toilet and the test rooms were poor. The food were almost all chili or curry, the toilet had lousy flushing system and the test rooms had air-cons which were not cool at all.

At 4.30pm, I checked out of the educamp and went back home. Home is like a 5-star hotel.

Feelings for Educamp:
People last year can stay in Rajah Court Hotel with air-cons and astro.
We only stayed at small, non-air-cons rooms with damaged cupboards.

The toilets were limited for many rooms had to share them. Of course, no heater la. Flushing system also sucks. But well, I can understand it was due to the economic recession.

We also had an extra math or math and science test compared to last year.
So, study a bit on your add maths before coming if you're selected next year.

Thankfully I'm from Kuching, those from Sabah, Miri, Bintulu, Sarikei and etc had to came over here.

It was fun to join this educamp even if I didn't get this scholarship.

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.