IELTS 2016 (acedemic) 10.09.16

So,I went for my academic Ielts examination last Saturday at British Council Malaysia. Thanks to my ever efficient mother, I managed to reach there at 6.30am in the morning when I only needed to report in by 8am ヽ(￣ω￣(。。 )ゝ What to do haha But contrary to what I expected 6.30am on a Saturday out in the city, there were already quite a few people out and about, rushing to their workplace. I guess that their jobs start 7am in the morning. Phewww, I shall appreciate being able to wake up at 10am in the morning every day and still have time to eat a hearty breakfast. 

Well, since I had lots of time left before 8am, my mom left me in front of KLCC because she thought it would be a good idea for me to walk to the KLCC park, find a bench, sit down and eat the breakfast she prepared for me in a tupperware. (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡ I followed her advice and walked towards the park, but it was a bit dark around the park so the coward in me led me to plant my ass on one of the staircase in front of KLCC's big fountains, where the KLCC guards were having their roll call and morning briefing. It was interesting to see them all lined up, they even sang the national anthem! w(*o*)w I never knew they were so dedicated! Teehee~

I really should take more pictures haha

By 7am the sky grew brighter and there were more people at the park. The park was brimming with liveliness with the joggers, guards at their stations, dog walkers, Pokemon Go ppl etc It's so amazing how different it looked just a few 20 mins ago 〜(￣▽￣〜)♪ The power of Daylight!! So I stayed there until 7.30am, caught a few eevees and even a ghastly hoho The power of Pokemon Go~ Never bored anywhere as long as you have your phone and a power bank (o´∀｀o)

Back to British Counsil, there isn't much of a dress code but I wore formal anyways, no harm trying to impress the examiners (I had all 4 segments of the test on the same day) The Ielts test is separated into 4 segments, all Ielts takers should be clear about this already. There's the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. So, first, you'll get an email on the details of your Ielts test, details include the components, duration, date, venue, reporting time and the starting time. And they'll tell you that the result of your Ielts would be released 13 days after your test. Well, I don't know what's the usual arrangement, I'll just tell you guys my story.

So, I had two sections in my Ielts journey, the Listening/Reading/Writing (Written examination) part, and the Speaking part. The written examination part and speaking part would be held seperate from each other. I had my written examination at 8.30am in the morning, and we had to report in by 8am. There's a funny story about my reporting in, please learn from my example and don't do the same mistake i did (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) British council is hugeee (O_O;) I kind of regretted my slow paced breakfast at the fountain already when I reached the place. So I only had information from the email that said I'll be having my examinations at the 2nd floor of the South block. Thank God the South block is just near to the entrance. Once you go in from the front entrance, you'll see a big fountain and a jungle of trees beside the fountain. Before the fountain, there'll be a building on your left, that'll be the South Block \(^ヮ^)/ I think the examinations are always held here, since there was a big signboard saying that the 2nd floor was an examination hall.

So here comes the mistake, once you reach the South Block, you'll see a counter opposite a few elevators and some scary looking guards sitting behind the counter. I was kind of afraid of them so I just ignored them and walked my way into the elevators. The lifts were quick and a door opened straight away once i pressed the 'going up' button. I went in happily, ignorantly to be exact and pressed the 2nd floor button. It didn't light up Σ(°△°|||)︴ and the door closed on me. I was stuck there, without being able to go up. It was soooo embarrassing coming out of the elevator, it took me a while to gain the courage to step out (ﾉД`)

Well of course the guards out there laughed a bit and I embarrassingly went to face my fate. They were actually quite friendly people (╯_╰)  The correct thing to do: Walk up to them and look for your name on a list that they'll leave on the counter table. Sign beside your name, and they'll give your bag a quick check (They didn't check mine) Then, they'll go to the elevator with you, scan their card and press the level you should go to for you. Haih

Ielts has really strict security checks. Once you reach the top, you'll be asked to line up then they'll explain the rules, that there are 3 stations inside.

Station 1 : The belongings station
You leave your bags or bulky items here
Smaller items like your handphones/purse will be put into zip-locked bags with your name written on

Station 2: Registration/scanning station
You'll be asked for your IC/Passport for identification purposes
Then you'll be asked to scan your right index finger 4 times on their scanning machine

Station 3: Picture time
Then you'll have to take picture for identification purposes
Remember, no teeth, no spectacles, and your ears must be seen!

All these are done for identification purposes I guess, they don't want any other people impersonating you and nailing your exam for you (O_O;) Haha they even ask you to scan out when you go for a toilet break during the exam and scan back in when you come back >.<

Mm~ once you go in the exam hall, it'll be 2 hours and 40 mins of concentration and silence. There's a water dispenser outside the hall and they allow you to bring water in the paper cups they provide (゜Д゜)⊃旦, so actually there's no need to bring a water bottle in. They only allow clear mineral bottles.

Ohyea, some links that I think would be helpful:
Listening & Reading: 
https://www.ielts.org/about-the-test/sample-test-questions
Writing (model answers):
Task 1 http://www.ielts-exam.net/academic_writing_samples_task_1/
Task 2 http://www.ielts-exam.net/ielts_writing_samples_task_2/

A quick check of what you need to bring:
1) IC/Passport
2) Jacket (if you're afraid of the cold)
3) Clear mineral bottles (but they provide a water dispenser so you don't really need this as well)

The written examination part and speaking part are usually arranged separately. Some may not even be on the same day or venue. I requested for the same day and I got it. So my written examination was in the morning and I had to wait till 2.40pm for my speaking test. So, as usual, reporting in 30mins earlier than the exam time. The exam hall we used in the morning has now been converted into a waiting room. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ This time, we could bring in our belongings
\(￣▽￣)／ Basically everyone in the waiting room was either bored/dead nervous. Nobody was talking ＼(º □ º l|l)/ After a while, my name was called along with a few others. We left our belongings at the registration counter and went into different small rooms.

The rooms were really small!! Its about 1m x 2.5m. HAHA That was my first thought. My examiner was a pretty lady that smiled all the time. I can see that she was trying to make me relax. The whole thing went so typically that I was shocked. So I watched a few youtube videos for the Ielts Speaking test, (I'll put some links below) and it was exactly like that o.O The examiner recited some lines into a recorder, saying that this whole conversation would be recorded omg I thought the examiners in the youtube videos were recording because of youtube but apparently everyone gets recorded! Teehee

My speaking test questions:
Task 11) Tell me about the place you are staying right now
2) Do you like the place you're staying at right now?
3) Talking about walking, is there any place you can walk around in your area?
4) Anything interesting stories you encountered while walking around your area?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFEKvsw-vs
This person helped me a lot.

Task 2
1) A question card that asked me who do I consider a leader in Sports, Politics or Work.
Explain - Who the person is    -How did you get to know him    - What has he done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyDrz6YAwvw

Task 3
I forgot what she asked me on haha Basically she continued the above topic by asking me some questions about the leader I mentioned. I said Lee Chong Wei (*/ω＼) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyYHs1-6Vls

The whole speaking test was actually just about 10mins long. It went by really fast ─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ It's the wait that was long. Well, I hope everything went well for me and that everything will go smoothly for anyone going to take the test ( ´∀｀)ノ～ ♡ 13 more days till the results come out~ 

See you next time!
(°∀°)b Joyce

IMU Dentistry interview!

So, I went for an interview at the Bukit Jalil campus of IMU. It was a nice, classy place that might be misunderstood as an office building if it wasn't for this big signboard that says IMU International Medical University just outside the building. It was for me, quite big compared to the size of Methodist College, where I come from. They even had escalators in the building for students to use! Well, of course, compared to Sunway's or Taylor's Universities it's definitely smaller ｏ(＞＜；)○

The first thing I saw before I entered the university:

The Dress Code of IMU!! o(>ω<)o o(>ω<)o
I had always thought that MCKL was strict about their dress codes but in IMU, T-shirts, jeans, sandals and sports shoes are not allowed on campus! Students should wear semi-formal clothing with covered shoes to the university. I guess it's to build up the look of professionalism in us even starting from our student days, as all of the students here will graduate to be someone in the science and medical industry. As my already graduated from IMU sister says: "Who would listen and trust you if you don't dress up properly! Especially if you're in the medical line" I think this makes sense too huh Now I've got to plan a day of shopping to buy some formal clothing (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Okay, now to the interview!
Once I reached the admissions office, which was right by the entrance of IMU, I was registered in and asked to wait until the time of my interview. The interview was scheduled to be 2pm and I was asked to be there by 1pm. I reached IMU around 12.30pm so I had a little time to roam about before I had to go back to the admissions office at 1pm to get ready for my interview. I didn't roam far since there were small stalls selling food and snacks just outside the entrance (I think it's their cafeteria).

Then, the time came where I had to go back to the admissions office. There I met some of my fellow interviewees and we had a small chat. Then, the people at the admissions office showed us a short clip about the admissions procedure, what we should do after our offer letters came and when we should expect our letters to come. It was clear and detailed, IMU style (｀ヘ´)ﾉﾞThe staff were friendly and would attend to all our needs. Oh! There were free biscuits at the admissions office, it was nice hehe (๑╹ڡ╹๑) 

Well, after the clip, some student helpers came and brought us upstairs by the escalators (✯◡✯)  I'm like a countryside girl going to a city hahaha So 4 of us went upstairs first to wait outside of a glass-doored room. The student helpers were friendly, and they tried to ease up the tension by talking to us and making us (the interviewees) talk to each other, I realised most of them thought IMU was small (*/. ＼)  [most of them came from Sunway's and Taylor's] Hmph! It's ok I'm proud of MCKL ٩(๑`^´๑)۶

We were split into two groups, for two different rooms to be interviewed by different people. I was the second person to be interviewed for my group. I got to talk to the first interviewee, Hui Ting for quite a while. She was a cute and nice girl from Pahang, just as nervous as I was. But talking to each other really helped loosen the tension and after 10 mins of sitting outside the dreaded glass rooms, it was her turn to be interviewed Σ(ﾟロﾟ) I took a peek from time to time into the room and saw that she'd became pure red (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) Oh my! Was the interview that bad?! While waiting for her interview to end, other interviewees came up to the waiting spot as well, there were even students who are here for their second interview because they couldn't get through their first one

Jenggggg, and so come my turn in the interview chamber ＼(º □ º l|l)/ But, it turned out quite fine, the interviewers were actually kind of friendly and smiled a lot. I was interviewed by 2 interviewers, both female, one Chinese, one Indian. Both were from the medicine faculty.

Interview Overall:
So I went in, put on my best smile and said good afternoon, they replied with an equally bright smile as well, and I was asked to sit down. So the interview went like this:
1) Introduce yourself
 - My family background
 - Education background
 - Cocurricular activities

2) Say something positive about yourself
 - Patience to be able to communicate to the patient to find out how he/she feels

3) Talk about how you practiced in your ping pong team (because I said I was on the ping pong team during secondary school)
- Just had to have discipline and stay back every day even though it may not yield results because we were on one of the stronger districts with Chung Hwa Independent

4) How did you juggle between practicing and studying during tournament season?
- Had study groups during lunch hours before our ping pong practices

5) I see you've studied in MCKL, I heard from my son (he's currently studying there) that you have your compulsory service hours?
- I talked about my service learning experience

6) Case study:
If you were a businessman, late to your 100billion dollars worth business meeting on your chauffer-driven limousine, and you see a heavily injured victim lying down by the roadside. The victim needs transportation to go to the nearest hospital which is 30 mins away, the crowd around the victim stops your car and asks for help. Take note that you may lose your billion dollar business if you are late for another 30 mins. What would you do?

- This was hard. Well, my conclusion was to move the victim and any other belongings he had into the car and ask my chauffeur to bring him to the hospital. Then, I would call a taxi or any other drivers I had to bring me to the business meeting. In the meantime, I would also call the meeting place to explain my situation. I'm sure they would understand.
- The examiners would really try to rebuke your stand but stand by it and it should go well (´∀｀*)

Yeah, so I hope everything goes well and I get the offer letter by the end of this month. (It's end of the month for dentistry and in a week for medicine) Pray for me *fingerscrossed

So, as a conclusion, whatever you'll need for this interview is to remember to bring your:
1) SPM results original copy
2) A levels results (bring original if you have, if not bring the online ver)
3) Your IC
4) Ielts results (IF you have done it, I haven't so it'll just be a conditional offer even if I pass the interview) (IMU requires at least a band of 6.5 for local and 7.0 for twinning)
5) In your introduction, tell them only stuff you want them to ask you about since the conversation would just flow from your introduction, as seen in my interview

Now I'll just have to get my ielts done! My Ielts examination is tommorow and I'm here writing this ╰(▔∀▔)╯Hope it'll be good practice for my writing {{ (>_<) }} Good luck to anyone here reading this and has an interview soon, and I hope everyone has a nice day ahead (´｡• ω •｡`)

See you next time!
(°∀°)b Joyce

The posts on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of the International Medical University