Petronas scholarship interview

A few weeks ago, I was called to sit for the assessment on the Petronas Youngstars Day in which I applied for mechanical engineering to oversea as my first choice. I stated before that I wanted to do medicine but in this case, engineering is my second option and interview like this will give me more exposure besides getting to meet new friends. Ok so I'm dragging things right now haih

Last week, I received the result and I was offered the scholarship to do Ausmat at Taylors College and degree in New Zealand. So in this entry, I will share my experience during the interview.

I reached Kolej Damansara Utama, the place which the assessment will take place at 7.00 am. My parents were asked to go for a briefing about the scholarship while the candidates were told to wait in a hall. While waiting, I met my PKTR friends and chatted about everything so actually, I was less nervous at that time. Then, we registered at the counter by submitting our original and CTC documents. 

For those with incomplete documents, they had to wait to settle something with the officers while the others including me went back to our seat for the briefing session. Basically, we are going through two kind of assessments which are online assessment that consist of TSA and personality test. The other one is the group assessment. I was expecting a briefing about the scholarship or the bondage contract but apparently, that kind of details were briefed to our parents.

Ok, so the online assessment.

We were brought to KDU computer lab and started the test. Personality test was to measure yourself whether you are able to work as a team and whether you are a suitable kind of person to work for petronas, so the questions are somehow like ' I am an ambitious person' so you just have to choose 'most likely' or 'less likely'. Very simple hahaha

The thinking skills are quite challenging because the questions are given to see how do you come up with a calculation or a method to find the accurate answer. They were not SPM-kind of questions and you can answer any way you know as long as the answer is right. I cant remember of one question to give as an example. Sorryy!!

But overall, they were easy although there were some questions that I was unable to contemplate. Khazanah questions were much much tougher.

At noon, we had lunch and after that, the shortlisted names from the online assessment were announced. I think most of the candidates on that day succeeded for the group assessment.

For the group assessment, we were sort to groups consisting of five people and we were given a study case. This time, the topic was initiatives we would propose to make more people come to petronas petrol station and the Mesra mart. We were given 15 minutes to brainstorm individually, 5 minutes to voice out our personal proposal to our group and the rest 30 minutes to discuss with our group on the final proposal because only one idea will be taken. We tried to take all of the members' ideas under one bigger scope of idea but toleration was the key as well so some of the ideas were not accepted. 

Other than that, the revenue and the expenditure are discussed too besides the strategic place for the petrol station (maybe at cities or by the highway where there are many cars) 

Then, one of us had to present it to the assessors followed by q&a  and finished with the assessment! 

The assessment was quite simple compared to other interviews that I've been to. My mom told me that Petronas selection are based on academic result, coco achievements, TSA and personality test, group work performance and family background (income and social status). 

I am very happy for the offer but I'm still in great dilemma whether to accept the offer or to pursue medicine. Nevertheless, I'm hoping for the best in which I can contribute back to my parents and nation.

Petronas buddies🙌🏻

Kijang Emas Interview Experience

This month has been the most hectic one where there's scholarship applications to fill, interviews to attend and the fact that I still have to go for driving classes so I can get my driving licence immediately.

I'm actually super exhausted.

March begins with a call I received from JPN, a day before result announcement, saying that I got 9A+ for my SPM. I am indeed very grateful and overjoyed. Alhamdulillah. The days after that follow with scholarship hunting and one of the scholarship I applied for is Kijang Emas Bank Negara scholarship.

So for today's entry, I'll be sharing my experience during the whole assessment, starting from day 1.

DAY 1

I checked in to Lanai Kijang in KL wih my family accompanying me. The place was very nice and there's good food provided there so I suggest not to skip any meals (because I did and I regret it😭). I got a room facing the pool with my roommate, Aqilah who's from Kedah. There's ironing facilities and strong wifi connection in the room as well. Basically, the first day was kind of all leisure and friendly which we had a lot of time to mingle around and be comfortable. All other candidates were very nice and I met some of my AYTR friends too! 

After dinner, we were briefed on some policies regarding Kijang scholarship and Kijang Emas scholarship. Kijang scholarship offers a specified courses and there is a bondage to work under Bank Negara depending on the number of your study years. Let's say your study period is 4 years, then 4x2=8 years of working under BNM. For Kijang Emas sch which I applied for, there is no bondage and we are allowed to choose any desired course and place to study. I applied for medicine course at Newcastle University, UK. After the briefing, we were sort into groups and were told to work on group cheers. My group was Kijang Emas 2 consisting of 7 people including me, Asyiqin, Swaathi, Ng, Iman, Ali and Zafran. 

DAY 2

This whole day was an assessment based on groupwork. There were 4 sessions and teamworking between us in KE2 was the major key to seize the day. Oh and there were 3 assessors in the room watching us while we were doing our task. The first session was a study case. 

Basically, we have to plan on how to improvise Encik Ali's bookstore based on some of the problems listed. There were roles like Project Management, Finance and Accounting, Change Management and Inventory Management. Me and Asyiqin were the change management so we presented on different initiatives we could work on while cooperating with the finance department as the allocation given was only 20 000. 

Second session was a study case too and a bit tougher than the previous one because it was more practical. We have to plan a convocation carnival which we have to show the layout and carried out some calculations to find the profit margin. It was a good exposure to me, anyways.

After that, we had lunch with assessors from other group which we were advised not to be too quiet.

The reason to that is to give a good impression to other assessors as they are going to judge ourselves as well.

During the third session, all the Kijang Emas groups are gathered in the same assessment hall. We were told to sort ourselves based on our desired courses as we were going to make a presentation, promoting our courses to the assessors. Being in the medicine group, I got to work with candidates from other groups but I suited myself real quick that time (prolly bcoz we have the same interest haha).

For the last session, we had to get back to our initial group. The task was to build two towers of 50 cm and 20 cm height, connecting each other. We were only given poker cards to work on that. Any form of it would be acceptable as long as they meet the height requirements and connected to each other.

That marked the end of the first day assessment and by the time our bus arrived to Sasana Kijang to fetch us back to Lanai Kijang, I was soooo exhausted and sleepy that I skipped my dinner for a short nap 😭😭. 

After dinner, we were going to find out who was going to the next stage and who will not. I dont know why but I was acting pessimistic on that night, having thoughts that I would not make it to the next stage and I even had my stuffs packed up! I was planning on having a tour around the hotel tomorrow or maybe hitting the gym before checking out kahkah. 

So Mdm Aireen announced some names which I was not mentioned in and they were instructed to wait outside of the hall. I was calm as I expected it earlier, clapping my hands for the names mentioned BUT THEN after the last name was announced and the hall door was closed shut, Mdm Aireen announced,

"Congratulations, you guys made it to the next stage! And kenapa korang tepuk tangan tadi?" 

I WAS DAMN SHOCK MAN! I took some time to digest the whole situation. I was happy but I was also like, damn it! Gotta face individual assessment tomorrow ughhhh. 😫😫

DAY 3 

Just like day 2, shortlisted candidates were brought by bus from lanai kijang to Sasana Kijang early in the morning. First thing we had to work on is individual presentation. There were 4 topics and we were asked to choose one to present using a mahjong paper with preparation time of 20 minutes. The presentation itself would be 10 minutes and followed by Q&As. My topic was the most selected one among the candidates which is 'Aptitude vs Attitude. Which is more important in the university.'

After the presentation, those 3 assessors (one is my group assessor while other 2 are assessors from other groups) gave some question from my presentation and proceed to interviewing me about my career option. The questions came out like this

🔅why are you interested in doing surgery and not research? Doing research will also contribute to the nation (Well, I told them that I want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon and I press on my desire to contribute to my nation, but they basically will throw questions and provocations based on what you tell them)

🔅Dengue disease has been around Malaysia for years but Malaysia Ministry of Health has not yet able to find the antidote to put the spread of this disease to an end. Why do you think so?

🔅Between a person who took care of their health but got infected with dengue fever, and a person who dont take care of their diet consumption,lifestyle which leads to cardiovascular diseases, which do u think requires extra attention from doctors for treatments.

🔅Do you think depression as a disease?

🔅If u were to be given Kijang scholarship for accounting, but not medicine, would you take it? (Because I put my second option as accounting).

🔅Do you have any questions for us? ( I asked if there is something that I can improve from myself)

Then I left the interview room with huge relief, knowing that I tried my best despite the iv being so intense.

Here's a pic of me at Sasana Kijang, a building made of glasses and looked very exclusive😙

Before heading back to Melaka, I went to Midvalley with other AYTRians by KTM and met some other AYTRians waiting for us there. Midvalley was damn crowded so we had to cancel our movie plan. We had a very good time catching up with each other at Carl's Jr instead. Ahh, it was really a stress relieving moment with inside jokes pulled by these guys 😂😂😂