News

IPOH: Mara will only provide scholarships to students who secured places in top foreign universities or colleges, equivalent to Cambridge and Oxford universities in the United Kingdom or Harvard University in the United States from next year.
Currently, it offers scholarships to students pursuing courses at other higher institutions of learning overseas.

Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said the move was to promote local universities which also offered courses and facilities at par with their foreign counterparts.
This was discussed in the cabinet meeting and it will be implemented next year," he said.
"Some of our universities such as Universiti Malaya are at par with many foreign universities. We should take advantage of our own resources before turning to foreign universities," he said after visiting University Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak ( yesterday.

"Why waste funds by sponsoring expensive foreign education that eventually produces the same quality as our own local graduates?"

Source: NST

As far as I concerned, Mara wants to cut down the number students sent to overseas. Some people see it as a good news but I don't think so. What say you?

PNB Scholarship Test 2010

PNB tower, just beside Tabung Haji.

As i said in my previous post, i would publish about my experience regarding PNB test. But, since my friend already wrote in detail, i guess it's no need. hehe.

Well, actually, the test is CRTB ( Critical Reasoning Test Battery) It sounds funny to me. xD. idk y it is called like that. The test is consisted of 3 part, which are:

1) Verbal Evaluation - It is an english test, we were given a few short paraghraph (about 6 to 7 lines) and there are 2 to 3 questions for each paragraph. There 're 20 questions and we needed to answer them in 20 minutes. It's quite daunting as the level of english is quite high and for sure, we need to understand the whole passage. It's quite similar to Comprehension 1119 or maybe EST (Im not taking EST, so idk how it looks like)

2) Interpreting Data - It's all about math. We need to understand figures, diagrams and charts and numbers. They asked us to calculate the turnover profit, the capital growth, the average sales and lotsa. Don't worry, we're allowed to use calculator. It's quite difficult as my brain had frozen from doing math for about 4 month. har3. 18 questions in 20 minutes, so you have to calculate as fast as possible. Sometimes, they used the same figure/diagram but different question.

3) Diagrammatic Series - it is so called IQ test. My advice is you should try to answer lots of IQ test before going to sit for this test. U should ask Pak Cik Google and Mak Cik Yahoo. It is all in diagram (that y it's diagrammatic series). They give a combined shape and u have find another. Quite tricky, actually. 40 questions in 20 minutes, so don't spend t0o much time on a question.

Erm, all the questions are MCQ ( multiple choice question) consist of A , B and C basically, A-agree B- don't agree and C- need more information. If u can't answer it, thats mean u can "SHOOT" them. Bang ! Bang! or just use M16. Lol. Who know if u r lucky enough 2 get it right. xD. The test books are from UK and I heard that the IQ test for Petronas is quite the same as PNB. We were not allowed to make any sketch or scribble on that books.

and if u managed to get high score for this test, u might be shortlisted for interview. (The interview is Yes or No, which means it depends on the PNB management to conduct it or not)

In a lift to 36th level, i did ask a staff about the statistic of scholars. It's all depends but usually there's only less 30 candidates will be chosen from 300 applicant who went to the test. It is a tough competition but i think it is ok as PNB do send students to reputable universities like MIT, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge. Good luck for future candidates.

Requirement to apply this scholarship
- 8As and 2A for GCE-O. But my friend did apply it even he got 3B, and he was shortlisted for the test. so, my advice is APPLY.
-courses : engineering, accountancy, actuarial science, maths and economy n lotsa.