Assalamualaikum and hello, here's another long monotonous post of another scholarship assessment/interview, this time for Petronas. The event lasted for one day, hence it is called Petronas Youngstars Day (PYSD). However, the days and place for it differ as some students were asked to attend on Saturday, or Sunday, both in Taylors College while some were called on Monday or Tuesday, in KDU University College. PYSD is also held in Sabah & Sarawak on separate days. Each of these days are attended by an estimated amount of 500-700 students. I got the text to check my results of my application and saw that I had to attend the PYSD on Monday, 4th of April in KDU University College.
I wasn't that excited because the courses that I applied for were the same as the ones in Bank Negara. However, as I have mainly focused on Economics there, this time I was focusing more for Law. yes yes do judge me for applying for different courses in each of my scholarship applications this is what you get for not having a clear future. The day before PYSD, my parents, Aiman and I went to KDU just for fun and to have a clear look at the place so that we won't get lost on the way the next day.
Went there the next day with my parents, and they had to go to another hall for a briefing for parents while I had to go up for registration. Saw Ihdini and Sheann. Registered. Sat back down again. I wasn't feeling that well so I was just staring blankly into space, barely talking to anyone while everyone else were talking to each other. This could also be due to the lack of sleep after reading my brother's girlfriend's (who is a Petronas scholar) message telling me to study Add Maths, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology as questions related to those will be asked during the first phase.
rare picture of potato in baju kurung
So, the briefing for us started. There are 2 phases in that day, with online tests in the morning, and only those who passed will go through the second phase which is a group assessment. We were given this lanyard tag to write our name and there was a sticker which stated which lab we will be taking the test in. So I was in the same lab as Sheann and Ihdini, Lab 7. I also saw Hidayati, Sabrina Syamsul, Siti Sarah and Qistina. Each of us had a desk each with a laptop. As the test started, however, there were problems with the Internet connection on my laptop, and it was a timed test! So me along with several others had to move to another lab, and the lab slowly filled in with others who had the same problems as well. There were two tests. The first one was more like a personality test. The second was more to critical thinking, and I'm pretty sure they personalized it according to the field of study you chose. For example, while I saw others around me who are probably pursuing engineering/geophysics/accountings calculating a lot of things, with their scrap papers filled in page by page with calculations, my scrap paper was like half empty. The questions for me was mostly like tricky English ones that required a lot of focus and reading and only a bit of Mathematics. It made me feel better at least, thinking alhamdulillah law ni kurang kira kira I even finished quite earlier then the time given.
Later at 1PM, we had lunch in the same registration place and we had to go back downstairs at the entrance for the announcement of who made it or not. Because I was from Lab 7, there was a huge time gap for our results while people from Lab 1 - 6 got their results early and went for their assessment soon. Lucky them, they even get to go back early at around 4. Guess what? My assessment only started at 4 ahahahah and it ended at around 6. Anyway. When they finally put up the results on the whiteboard, I checked it and alhamdulillah, I passed the first phase and had to go to a lecture hall. I was feeling somehow lightheaded and was really nervous I can't even imagine having to answer interview questions @_@ It didn't help that Sheann, Qistina and Ihdini behind me were discussing and giving advice on how to answer certain questions etc.
Finally we have to move to another lecture hall, sitting according to groups. When I say according to groups, I mean in the same line as your group mates, with one chair separating each of the members. Talked to the guy in the same group as me sitting beside me, his name is Emir. Then, later, a facilitator told us all to get to know all of our groupmates in five minutes so all of us stood up and did that. There were like 13 groups in the hall, each group with 5 people. Sitting back at our own place, each of us were given our task in a sheet of paper, and it was a case study. We had 10 minutes to prepare our presentation for it individually, 5 minutes to present it individually, and 30 minutes to prepare for the group presentation and later presenting it together. Basically it was on how to attract more customers and increase sales for Petronas retail chains (the petrol stations). We were given a paper to write down our recommendations and justifications. Alhamdulillah the task really cleared up my mind and woke me up from feeling sleepy ahahhahaha and when the time is up, each group had to move upstairs to different rooms each. While waiting to go in, we talked to each other and agreed to have Sabrina (a different Sabrina) as our leader.
ze amazing five
So.. we greeted the assessors and sat down, there were 6 tables, kind of like when you're doing a group discussion in class and you spin the table around to put it opposite each other, 2 x 3 tables. I was sitting directly opposite the male assessor (yes, they were sitting together with us). They lightened our mood up with their sassiness and jokes. We had to introduce ourselves one by one, name, school, course, and one thing you want people to know about you. We went according to our sitting arrangement, Sabrina, Emir, me, Syukri and Nabil. (although the assessors did introduce themselves too according to this seating when it's their turn ahahhaa). The one thing description varies, "I'm energetic / like football / loves sci-fi / talkative and might annoy people" and mine was just believing I'm a creative person (hopefully).
Then, we presented our ideas on how to boost sales of Petronas. It was just fun! There were a lot of talks about using artificial intelligence, improving the technology etc. Some of the ideas were like having a private lounge, having a mini workshop in the petrol station, decreasing the price of goods etc. Mine was okay I guess at least I didn't have to be embarrassed of not living up to calling myself creative (hopefully). I had four proposals and to sum it up, it was to have celebrities/public figures (to which the assessor asked, "K-Pop?" and I said yes and everyone laughed) as the ambassadors and be put on advertisements, allowing foreign currency to be used to attract more tourists to come to Petronas when renting a vehicle here, having sales during festive seasons and yes the basic necessity which is providing a feedback form to survey what customers want or what they think is lacking. In each of our points, the assessor wrote it down on sticky notes and pasted it on the wall.
Later, the group presentation. We had to present just ONE proposal so we thought of how to combine all of them together, somehow. We were all standing in front of the whiteboard with all the sticky notes. So we created this sub-branch/upgraded version of Petronas called the Petronas Plus (guess who came up with the name pshhhhhhhh). In our dream Petronas Plus, there's a private lounge and all and hey the surau and toilets are indoors! So yeah there's all the upgraded technology, workshop etc. and I had to speed write their ideas on the whiteboard. When presenting it, it was fine. I talked about the advertising part and using celebrities (mentioning Kwangsoo and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge dont judge me), launching event, introducing to the public, attracting investors and sponsors, how it'll benefit them, promoting it in newspapers social media etc like making a contest on Instagram where they have to take selfies there and get to win a prize (lel) etc etc. I guess I was really nervous, because when I am, I tend to smile and laugh a lot, with the former always mistaken to be as a laugh too. The assessor asked me why was I laughing so much when the ideas I gave were good...... which I don't know whether is a compliment or not........ ANYWAY. It ended well and they said the results will come out around mid-April. Took pictures with my groupmates later.
From left: Me, Nabil, Sabrina, Emir and Syukri.
In conclusion, I thought my mood changed drastically comparing from the start to the end. I went home thinking hey, I don't mind being sponsored by Petronas and working for them in the future, I like them (and the day made me actually like the course I applied for)! Comparing it with previous assessments, PYSD was the one that I think I put the most input in (as in contributing) to the group so alhamdulillah for that. However, I did also went home with a splitting headache but nothing that an 8-hours of sleep can't cure. In other news, my scholarship application got rejected by Maybank (Psychology) and PNB (Creative Writing).
That is all, thank you for reading!
Update: I received a text around the end of April and guess what? I got it! According to the offer letter, I will be studying A-Levels in KDU before studying Law in UK! HOWEVER. This is the sad part. I rejected it. There were several reasons, but mainly because of my family and I don't think I am suited to study Law, and if I really want to do it. Plus I already made up my mind to use my JPA bursary to study what I really want, although it's done locally. Besides that, my parents and I don't think I will be able to cope going through A-Levels and studying in UK due to past related painful experiences~ Anyway, I didn't mind it at first but the heartache of rejecting is real hahahah IT'S MY ONLY CHANCE OF BEING SPONSORED TO STUDY OVERSEAS AND GET A CAREER RIGHT AFTERWARDS PLUS MY OTHER FRIENDS WILL BE STUDYING OVERSEAS LATER TOO <////////3 But as I said before, I would rather study what I really want to even if it's local instead of studying overseas for something I can't imagine myself having a career in with my personality and all. P.S: Congratulations too to Sheann (although I'm not sure if she accepted it) and Hidayati (who accepted it!)!!!
For more post-SPM scholarships/assessments experience: Bank Negara, MARA, Yayasan Khazanah + Asasipintar UKM
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