JPA interview - my experience

I felt very sluggish and slothful these days. My mind has been idle, due to inactivity at home since SPM ended three months ago. Presently, I would teach on weekends for a modest wage of RM20/hour. To date, I am only teaching a (as in ‘the one and only one’) student who also happened to be a daughter of a tuition teacher. The pay is considered pleasant (this seems ironic since I mentioned ‘modest’ previously), considering that I have no particular experience in teaching whatsoever. The subjects concerned are additional mathematics, physics and chemistry. I found it rather challenging to teach science subjects (both physics and chemistry) as my lessons in school were conducted in Bahasa Melayu during the good ol’ days (actually, it was just last year!) but for now, I am required to teach all the 'easy, painless and effortless' scientific concepts to my student in English, *sigh. If truth be told, SPM science syllabi are exceptionally simple to understand because the scopes are pretty much restricted to colours, experiments, coupled with some simple concepts. A candidate with good memory retention skills will surely triumph in SPM as majority of subjects require candidates to memorise, and not analyse. No mind-boggling question, just “eat” the facts and “vomit” out on “the white piece of paper”. Alright, that maybe overly exaggerated. :P

Anyhow, I just passed another important phase of my life, which was the JPA interview. (What? JPA? Important phase? – Did I just hear someone snoring?) I’ve seen countless blog sites commenting on their interview process. Well, I’m just about to do the same, mundane thing. Here it goes…

On the interview day, I arrived shortly before 1pm, which was an hour earlier than the scheduled time. My parents accompanied me till we reached the second floor (or was it the third floor?) of the Putrajaya International Convention Centre. [I have to admit that Putrajaya is really beautiful, especially the bridge.] After that, I checked my name on the list which was firmly pasted on 2 whiteboards. There were 10 panels (each panel consists of 2 interviewers) and 47 candidates for each panel. I was placed under panel 7 with 13 others for the 2-4pm slot. My interview was scheduled to be held in Room 18. At about 1.40pm, I went up to another floor to prepare myself for the interview. The candidates seemed somewhat selfish, especially the ladies. Maybe they were too anxious about the interview. Nevertheless, I managed to meet some new friends from Taylor’s University College and a fellow mate from Raub, Pahang. My interview began at 2.20 p.m., as soon as I’ve handed my clear file containing all certificates to the jovial assistant.

Judgement time…
Firstly, each candidate was required to introduce themselves in Bahasa Melayu, stating our name, school, course, family background, financial concerns etc. etc. A lady candidate (pharmacy applicant) was speechless half way during introduction. The most amusing thing I heard was ‘mendispense medicine’, cited by another pharmacy applicant who was sitting next to me. Anyway, I was quite disappointed with my performance because I also had a fair share of difficulty speaking in Bahasa Melayu, alongside other candidates in my group.

After that, one of the interviewers gave us a topic (Crime rate among teenagers is on the rise) to discuss for 20 minutes in English. The lady who ‘mendispense medicine’ started the discussion and we discussed a whole lot, from parental concern to National Service. Nearing the end of the interview, the interview selected one of us to summarise the discussion and subsequently forwarded another 2 question to two candidates. Then, we shook hands with the interviewers and left the room. What a relief…

Next, we were ushered to Hall 2 to complete a personality test. The personality test consisted of a two-choice answer of 294 objective questions to be completed in 30 minutes. Once the test ended, we evaluated the marks and returned the answer sheet to the officer-in-charge. Soon after, I bid farewell to my newly-met friends and left the convention hall at about 5.30 p.m. I felt so lifeless and exhausted upon exiting Putrajaya to return home. Glad the interview had finally come to an end even though I didn’t play my cards well.

Enough said for today, tata!!