Sunday, June 12, 2011

ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test (Pre-U)

I'm gonna describe briefly about the Asean Scholarship Selection Test for Pre-U!  Hehe.

So, on the first day. which was on the 11th of June, we sat for the Mathematics and English Paper. Reached Garden International School at around 12, waited and waited while the crowd grew bigger and bigger. Everyone was like holding their books and revising (I wonder what is there to revise) while Yuan Ting and I stood there, trying to peek at what they were reading. I guessed they were looking through the formulas in Add Math and so, I took out my Eddie Tay notes as well! Hee.

At last, when the clock striked 1.30pm which was our reporting time, we entered the school compound and walked into the covered basketball court to report ourselves. We had to line up according to our classes. Mine was 23, which was the last class since my name starts with Y. Yuan Ting was in class 21. It was HOT. Seriously, so hot that I almost fainted. We had to stand in our lines for like 1 hour for everyone to settle down (there were latecomers -.-) although our Mathematics paper was supposed to start 30 minutes earlier. I seriously almost fainted, no joke. Because it was so freaking hotttt! It was pretty creepy actually because I looked around and everyone looked so serious and nobody smiled at me. D: So I just stood there without moving. Plus plus plus! We had to listen to "Please line up according to your classes", "Please switch off your mobile phones and put them in your bags", "Please take out your test call letters and your identity cards for registration", "Please keep your test call letters into your bags when you're registered" and "Students who are leaving the school compound please move off quietly and quickly!" for the umpteenth time, I tell you.

Finally, we were lead to our respective classes. My class was at the far end of the school building where we had to walk quite a long distance while Yuan Ting's was in the hall. The hall was freezing cold (according to Yuan Ting) while mine was just nice and comfy (mainly because the chair and table were huge, the floor was carpeted plus the air-conditioning was just perfect!). I actually started imagining myself studying in an international school. XD Okay, the Math paper was... Errr... How should I say. Not as difficult as I've imagined, because I imagined myself not being able to complete almost every question but no, I did manage to complete quite a few questions using what we've learnt in Add Math. We had 27 questions, to be completed in 2 hours. I needed more time though. :( Some of them were familiar questions like for example, Progressions while some were not even close to anything we're learnt in school! Aww mannnn. So basically I think I left around 6 questions empty! LOL.

We had 30 minutes break after the first paper. My stomach was playing drums as I walked along the school corridor staring at the other students eating hamburgers and so on. :( I walked and walked and I spotted Yuan Ting! Then we talked for a while before it was time to enter our classrooms again. English paper started with Paper 1 where there was a passage, a very long one in fact. We had to answer a few comprehension questions, write a summary and the worst part was, they underlined 5 words and 5 phrases from the passage and asked us for the meaning. DOOM. I only knew like... 2 words maybe? Lol. It's a shame, really. The summary was not really like what we do here in Malaysia where we are instructed to use materials from line this to line that. And the number of words is 140 words, not including the 10 words provided. So yeah. Do you get the gist of how terrible English Paper 1 was? D:

English Paper 2 was... OMG. We were required to write an at least 350 words essay within 30 minutes. D: It was freaking terrifying. There were 2 options given where one is factual and the other one is more story-like. Our questions were 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing an education overseas? and 2. "You are what you eat" (then there's some other stuff here, I forgot. Basically it's just asking us to write an essay based on that phrase, if I'm not mistaken...). So yeah. Of course I chose question 1! The question wasn't that difficult, to be frank but! The time was too short. Haha. Once I received the question paper, without second thoughts I immediately started with the introduction. Lol. Time is golden! I poured out everything I had on mind and didn't even bother to arrange the points properly because time was running out! But I was lucky enough to finish my last sentence and my last full stop before the invigilator shouted, "Okay! Time's up! Stop writing!" Heee. The boy in front of me did not manage to finish it though, he was shaking pretty badly. :( Our English test stated on the paper was for 3 hours but we finished everything in 2 hours, weird. I was waiting for Paper 3 but ei? The invigilator said, "That's all for today! See you tomorrow!" FIUHHH! RELIEVED! XD

On the second day, we had to repeat the same thing all over again, the only difference was that the reporting time was 1 hour later, at 2.30pm and we were allowed to sit down, but on the floor. -.- Perhaps someone complained? XD We only waited for around 15 minutes, maybe. Then my class headed to the hall for a briefing session on what the ASEAN Scholarship is all about while the other classes went ahead to sit for the General Ability Test. Weird. Holy, the hall was indeed freezing cold! A lady explained to us about the life as a student in Singapore, what advantages we get from the ASEAN Scholarship and showed us a video with the ex-scholars talking about their lives in Singapore. Everything went on for about half an hour, I guess. Then it was time for the General Ability test! We headed to another class, a different class from yesterday's. It was even colder than the hall there! I regretted for not bringing my jacket along. -.- We were given purple booklets (very good quality) containing 48 questions to be completed in 20 minutes. Hear me, 20 MINUTES! It doesn't sound scary if I say it like this but when you actually sit for the test, you'll realise that 20 minutes is just merely adequate. In the beginning of the questions was sap sap water but towards the end at about question 35 onwards, my mind refused to work along. I couldn't connect at all. They had this many many shapes and colours in boxes and my mind went kuku. D: So at last you know what I did? I closed the question booklet, took my pencil and simply blackened each and every one of the questions because time was up. Aww man. I needed more and more time! GAHH. One word, the General Ability test was killing. End of story.

That's basically how the ASEAN Scholarship selection test is like. And sorry, I said I would briefly explain but it ended up pretty long-winded. Teehee. Next, pictures pictures! Everyone loves that right? :P

On the first day :

Yuan Ting and I!


My aunt and I! She showed us the directions to the school! :D THANK YOUUU! I took pictures with Mummy too but it's in my aunt's phone. And my picture with daddy's too blurry. :(

Oh and I forgot to mention! At night, Yuan Ting and I along with Mummy and Daddy went to a Korean BBQ restaurant which name I don't remember but it's in Mont Kiara for dinner!


On the second day :



Now, a bit of recommendations on one of the best things to do when boredom strikes...

Act cute and don't care if you fail terribly! Teehee. :P



The amount of people.


Lastly, my miserable "transparent plastic bag" containing my lovely stationeries... It's stated in the instructions to put them into a transparent plastic bag though. But mine's so ugly. Lol.

The sticker on it was the one on pasted on our tables. At the end of the day, the invigilator asked us to tear it off and keep it if we want it as a souvenir. XD My sticker on the second day was pasted on my.. guess what? IC. HEE.

6 comments:

  1. Hi :D And thank you for sharing :D May I know if you are offered for the scholarship ?? I am nervous, very nervous since I make use of Chinese than English in daily life :D I would just like to know is the English test killing ?? XD And the ability test ... Do they ask weird and unexplainable IQ question, I sucked on that XD THANK VERY MUCH :D But, why is there two days, or, it supposed to be completed in two days ? THANK YOU VERY MUCH AGAIN :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Cheryl! First off, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you made it. I can see that you have a really bright future ahead solely based on your posts and wow, you really are a brilliant young woman! I'm also invited to sit for the selection test for Secondary 3 and I'm quite nervous actually... Anyways, I'd like to wish you the best of luck in life and in whatever you choose to pursue in! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Cheryl! It was fun reading your experience but it made me anxious haha . Did you get in tho? I'm really afraid , my selection test is less than a week omg!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey! Nope, unfortunately I wasn't chosen! However, I'm currently under a national scholarship. :) Best of luck to you for your test! Don't panic and everything will be alright. ^^

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks loads for your advice :) They helped me loads and I think I performed my best but all in all I'm doubtful of getting called back for the interview , thank you though for all your words of wisdom :) Are you under the merit awards ? I'm thinking of applying for that , is it worth it?

    ReplyDelete