ASEAN scholarship selection test + How to prepare for it

Hi guys, welcome to my blog! Today, I will share about my experience attending the selection test, the format of the selection test, and how to prepare for the ASEAN scholarship selection test.

 

**As 2020 is a special year due to the pandemic, my process of selection test might be different from others' year but I believe that the format and difficulty of the test will still be the same.

First of all, congrats to all of you who are attending the selection test! I bet you are both excited and panic about the test because there is no past year paper out there 😖(I feel the same way as you all feel when I was called to attend the test by my teacher) 

Registration

Anyway, now the story starts. After arriving at the selection test's venue (which is SPICE Convention Centre Penang) at 730am, I queued up to register. (No joking, but the queue was very very long & there were really a lot of applicants (about 300++??)(It was quite a lot cuz these were only applicants from Penang, imagine there are still applicants from other states)). The registration started at 730am to 830am, I thought I would have time to revise after registered, but I am wrong🙍. After registration, we had to keep our bag in a room and waited outside of the ballroom (and we are just allowed to bring along our stationeries, the letter and IC)(I was daydreaming for about half an hour before entering the ballroom for the test.)(Don't forget to wear your sweater cuz it was freaking cold inside!) 

The Scary Math Test

• At 830am, the math test started and you will have 2h15min to answer the whole paper. 
• 
  Question Difficulty: 
• There are about 30 to 40 questions in total (from easy question slowly into hard questions) (From 1 marks to 5 marks question) 
• I can't really remember all of the questions, but Malaysian's syllabus can cover maybe half of the paper. (I am taking the sec 3 test btw) Rest of them are from Singapore Sec 2&3 syllabus. 
• If you know Maths Olympiads, you should be able to answer them very well though.
• How to prepare it:
• For me, after looking through Singapore Sec 2&3 Textbook at Mph bookstore (you can look for gce o level maths textbook in ur nearby bookstore), most of the sec 2 topic I had learnt before, so I decided to buy Sec 3 textbook+workbook as shown in the pic below. I found out that the harder questions mostly are from Sec 3 Singapore syllabus, so it should be no problem for you if you prepare it one month earlier and know how to apply the concept very well. (I started preparing it two weeks before the exam so I couldn't answer all of the questions, even though I still have time, but I don't know how to answer the harder questions as I had forgotten the concept haha)

Be careful of your time! 

• You need to do it very quickly or else you will run out of time and leaving some of the questions blank. Many of my friends (including me) couldn't finish the whole paper on time too! 
• Can't use calculator?!
• Also, you can't use a calculator when answering the maths test. (This freaks me out cuz I know this fact 10days before the test and I have been using calculator for all school maths exams for three years!) 
• But actually, the test focuses more on methods to answer the questions and as long as you know simple plus, minus, multiply and divide, you don't need a calculator. (of course, if you can calculate fast in your mind, you can finish the test faster)
• *Do double-check with your teacher/email the organizer if you can use a calculator during the maths exam. 
• Rough paper will be provided don't worry

Half hour break

After the math test, according to the schedule given, there will be a half-hour break that I thought I could do some revision and eat my breakfast but it appears that it was a daydreaming break that we just stay in the "igloo" & some toilet break (so remember to eat your breakfast before the test !)

English Test 

At 11:15am, the English test started. There are two paper for the test: Comprehension paper and Essay paper. 

• Comprehension paper:
• You have 1h45min to answer this paper. You will have ample time for this and don't have to rush through the questions. 
• The thing that I remember the most about the paper is the vocabulary is very diffucult! 
• There are some objective questions and some short answer questions (you just can answer the questions with limited words)
• Difficulty: not as difficult as Math paper I think (but still couldn't answer all of them as I don't even know what the word is!😆)
• Essay paper:
• You only have 30 minutes to write a 300-500 words essay (I not sure if I remember the requirement of the essay's length correctly)
• There will be two questions for you to choose from.
• The questions I got:  1. Describe your ideal house, 2. Describe a time when you regret doing something (something like that)
• How to prepare it:
• I don't think there is a specific way to help you to prepare for the English test but read more books/ essays I think.

THE END

I don't know why the organizer takes almost half an hour to collect the comprehension paper and distribute the essay paper so we went back home one hour late than the time stated in the letter.

Feeling after the exam: puzzled+relieved I think?

**Disclaimer: If I had written anything wrong/ you have any updated info, kindly leave them at the comment below to help others who need it!

That's all for now! If you have any questions, kindly leave them in the comment below and I will try my best to answer your questions as soon as possible! :) Btw, You can also follow my Instagram (@zoe_teoh) to know more about me! see you all in my next post! 😉

Psst...I am going to upload some videos about my life in Singapore too on my Youtube Channel (click on the link to check it out!). Subscribe and turn on the notification button now so that you wouldn't miss any videos! 😆