JPA Interview Experience

Hello! I just went for the JPA scholarship interview just now at Putrajaya. My interview started at 8.00 am...*yawn*...I do not know which floor or room it is. They only write there Putrajaya. So, when I reach there, I just follow the crowd or other candidates into the lift. And there....I reached my destination.
First, I have to find my panel 12 and then report to the clerk there. Actually, I am the 5th interviewee but the clerk thought that the 4th person didn't come. So, the clerk gave me pin number 4 instead. Since there is a lack of a person, the clerk asked another person from different session to fill in the empty space. Later on, the 4th person came, and took the number 6 pin. So, there was a total of 6 interviewees! (other rooms only got 5 but 3 interviewers)
At 8.10am, we queue up and the 1st person knock the door...Knock..Knock...Then we go inside. I wanted to ask whether we can sit or not, but the Chinese girl beside me, Adlyn already asked. Well, good! This is what you should do for interview! Oh ya! Remember to say "Good morning". There are 2 interviewer (1 Indian woman-A & 1 Malay woman-B....they didn't introduce themself at all). Ok, this is the conversation, I didn't record it, but I can roughly remember it:
A: Baiklah, kita mulakan dengan sesi pengenalan diri dulu. Sila gunakan Bahasa Malaysia kerana kita hendak menguji kemahiran berbahasa anda. Tolong beritahu
1) Nama
2) Sekolah
3) Pekerjaan ibu bapa dan gaji
4) Kursus yang dipilih & Pengkhususan
5) Anak yang keberapa daripada berapa orang adik-beradik
(They got give you paper to jot down anything & please bring your own pen)
And so, after I copied down only the others start to copy also...the 3rd boy beside me..arghhhh...copying what I wrote...some more can ask me, what word is that on my paper?...*sigh*...The 6th boy even asked the interviewer to repeat...

For the 1st boy:
Q: Kursus apa yang awak pilih?
A: Engineering
Q: Khusus dalam?
A: Mechanical engineering
Q: Mengapa pilih kursus ini?
A: Erm...Sebab saya nak buat ...first degree..what do we call first degree in BM?? (he's asking the girl beside him...no answer..). Sorry, can I speak in English??
Q: Tak boleh : ( ....
A: Ok...(Then he speak...mix a lot in English)

That is roughly how it is. Then they will shoot you a lot of tough questions and make you stutter. The introduction part already took more than 1 hour. So, the discussion in English is really short and crisp because it has been passed 9.00 am.

The question for the English discussion is: What is the current thing that affects you and why? (all of the interviewees were copying the question except me..and again someone asked the interviewer to repeat..). All of them were given 1 minute to think, except me! You know why??
I was told by A that I will be given another question...WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY am I so UNLUCKY???? Why didn't she tell me the question first before reading the question to others???? Haih......A even created the question for me herself instead of reading it from the list of questions..........

Well my question was regarding law since I chose law.
Q: I am sure you would have heard of block out cases right? This issue was raised up last year too. So, can you tell me what you think about this issue?
A: ......( I don't know what is that..and I have never heard of it before in my life...) Erm...what is block out cases? (embarassing...)

So, you better be prepared! It is not always that you will be given time to think your answers!
By the way, if you are really interested to know how is the interivew, I would tell you that you will be sitting on the chairs in a row with others closely ( not much space in between, like in cinema). The interviewers will have a table in front of them, around 5 feet from you. The room is really very very cold until I am shivering throughout the interview!! And they cannot make the room less cooler because they said it is a centralised system...So, that is roughly how it is.

How to Prepare for Scholarship Interview

Getting a scholarship is extremely important at this juncture, for your future...Well, let's not waste time. Here are my advise:

1) Prepare all your documents. Check the checklist which are usually provided in the scholarship form. Put them properly into the certificate folder.

2) Get your documents certified (if needed). You can always go back to your secondary school to get the headmaster or Guru Penolong Kanan (GPK) who are eligible to certify. Normally, your teachers will direct you to the right person who are capable to certify..don't worry too much about that.

3) Get your necessary forms printed at least 2 days earlier. You know, whenever we want to print something really important, the printer will be broken down or gives you all kinds of technical problems. The earlier you prepare, the better!

4) This might sounds lame..but, I still got to say it : Just be yourself!
If you want to cry or gossip or anything, just go ahead..I cried during a scholarship interview because I talked about how my dad worked really hard to support the family ( I followed my dad to work and  I know exactly how tiring it was). Plus, I also talked about how I used to laze around and chit chat when I was working as a part time promoter...seriously..thinking back, I wondered how could I talked about such things in front of 4 strangers...but the interviewers are seriously good in digging info from me (they are really nice to me and talked to me like good friends)...but the thing is, I got hold of the scholarship that I really wanted and I'm really satisfied after the interview (probably because I've never been more spontaneous than ever?)

5) I thought this might be common sense but some people might have extraordinary common sense...Please wear appropriately. Usually it'll be formal if the dress code is not mentioned. To be safe, baju kurung is the universal dress in Malaysia!

6) Check for the interview venue. Please back up with some public transport alternatives! Seriously, when my friend went for an interview, the KTM station was down...and her boyfriend had to depend on the GPS to bring her there...I really felt pity for the guy who had to drive all the way to an alien location with just the help of the unreliable small talking device.

7) Please arrive at the office at least 30 minutes earlier! I used to be late for an interview just because the KTM's departure was delayed!!! Luckily, I managed to go for the next session, but I'll have to wait for 2 hour...:(

8) It's perfectly fine to make a copy of a document that you are unsure whether it's needed or not. Some words are quite ambiguous that made you to mistaken that you may not need the document. But, if the document is really important and it doesn't make sense not to bring it, please, by all means, bring a copy of it. Or else, you'll end up like me, spending 50 cent just to photostat my 1 page result slip at that complex!

All my mistakes were made when I went for interviews after my Form 5 (still fresh that time)...After Form 6, I never make such mistakes anymore...:)

GOOD LUCK!!!