My interview was one the first day (interviews are carried out from 1-4 April), 2pm ( the last session, there was 8pam 10am n 2pm), in USM (University Sain Malaysia). Lucky I moved to Penang, if I'm still in PJ, I would have to travel all the way to Putrajaya.
Reached USM at 1.30pm. Asked the guard for directions, the interview is in dewan Indah Kembara. When there, the place was still very empty, I went to check my name on the list. check , check , and check.... LOL I can't find my name!! OMG is this really April fool from JPA ??
Well apparently there a 2 dewan Indah Kembara, and my name was listed in the other dewan Indah Kembara. My name was no.42, so I thought I would need to wait for a long time, but instead they it was 1st come first serve. I was the 5th person in the 1st group. Before going in, the staff asked our group, "anyone applied for doctor?" We said, "no". Our group consisted of 2 guys and 3 girls. 2 dentistry, 1 actuarial science 1 pharmacies and 1 engineering (me).
When in according to our no., the 2 interviewers are 2 kind lady. They explained the whole interview process. First is self-introduction, they wanna know four things
- a little bit about yourself
- what course you applied
- n why?
- how can you contribute to the country if you were given the scholarship
( All in BM )
One interviewer will listen, another one checks our certs.
Self -intro( All in BM )
1st girl, pharmacies. The interviewer interrupted by asking a few questions eg. what disease can't be cured currently? how many Malaysian are HIV positive?
2nd girl, actuarial science. The interviewer asked a few question again. eg. do you really know what is actuarial science? what does your job involves? You can save people? HOw?
3rd girl, dentistry. The interviewers looks interested, cause she is the first person who applied for such course.
4th guy, dentistry. Why he wants to be a dentist? Cause his mothers suffers from severe tooth ache for years, and it is expensive to do operation. A very kesian story, but true?? I dunno.
5th guy, me, engineering. I wanted to stand up n start talking, but the interviews just told me to sit. But sitting down n talk , doesn't give me the 'feel' to talk . The interviewer was like guiding me through this section. She asked my why i choose engineering, then after that how do u contribute to the country?
Dicussion ( all in English)Our topic was " Malaysia achieved independent for 50 years.......what are Malaysia's major achievements in your opinion?
We where given 10 minute to discuss.
I didn't give much point, I was like Ok lets look into infrastructure aspects, ..... then next what about education? ....... so to sum things up..........
Seriously that is basically what i said....
Some one mentioned about penang food is famous we got laksa etc etc we are pround blah blah..... I was like" what does that got to do with Malaysia MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT"?? Well then the interviewer asked: " where is Penang famous laksa?" LOL.... told her a few then she asked again " run by Chinese?" Yes, forgotten, all the nice laksas in Penang are NON-HALAL. LOL.... an dour discussion stoped for a while just because of that..
10 minute is too long, We were like repeating some points. Seriously what achievement do we have till the extent that 5 fellow can discuss it for up to 10 minutes? Sending a "angkasawan up to space?" If the title was "How can Malaysia should improve ?", then 10 minutes will not be enough.
PresentationAfter discussion, everyone do presentation. Everyone points was similar..... how interesting. No wonder the the interviewers were not so interested. But, ya can't blame them, they haven been there for almost the whole day, listening to topics which are similar.
I kind of screw up this part, talking about angkasawan, cant really get the date right and one of the interviewers was like going to correct me.
Question timeThe interviews wanted to ask us some questions, but realized that there were no doctors wannabe among us, so nothing to ask.
What do I Think?I dunno but i think my interviewers just wants things short n easy, hence i didn't elaborate much..
I thought i would be very stress, but it turnout to be quite relaxing. It is more like a discussion rather than a interview. Basically, it all depends on the interviewers, my was very kind. The whole interview process just took about 30 minute.
How did I performed? I will rate myself as 3 out of 10. Dunno why, just think that i performed quite bad, if compared to Taylors scholarship interview.
What is my probability of getting it?
0.001%
Why?
1. SPM results is just very ord
inary. About 6000+ scored staright As.
2. Curriculum. Mine is also not very outstanding, just a very ordinary one.
3. did " ok ok" in the interview.
When in previous years, conditions to acquiring the JPA scholarship was somewhat rigid with students having to fulfill straight 10 A1s at least. Even an A2 would render the application invalid. It became disconcerting when students who obtained 11 A1s could gain a JPA scholarship while many who scored 11 A1 and 1 A2 were rejected. Ka Ting explained that “over the years, more and more people got straight A’s, hence with the bigger number of JPA applicants, there’d be more who were declined.” Ka Ting added that through MCA’s mediation at Cabinet meetings, it was agreed by JPA that having an A2 amidst a string of A1s would not render the application void provided the minimum requirement of getting 10 A1s is reached of which A1 must be secured in Bahasa Malaysia, English Language, Moral Studies, Mathematics and Science." source
MCAonline.After reading this, I would say that I am lucky to because I can attend the interview. I scored 2A for my Moral. hahaha.
Just realized, they didn't ask any current issues or general knowledge. Oh wait, they did asked. " where is Penang famous laksa?"
Haha thats about it, all the best to my friends who are going for the JPA scholarship!!
Happy April fool!! sounds so weird... n what a long post.
The new temple, biggest in North Malaysia:
