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Hello! I’m a PNB Global Scholarship Award recipient and I’m currently in my final semester of my 24 month A-Level programme in Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM for short) and I am planning to further my studies in Accounting and Finance in university. This article is to make clear of what to expect on each step of the application process, and what you can do to prepare for each of them.
Let me be clear; there are several changes made in 2019 to PNB’s scholarship interview process in terms of assessment methods whereas I went through the interview process in 2018. Despite this, I was given the opportunity to assist some juniors in preparing as they went through stage by stage, giving me the idea of the revamped application process as a whole. I’ll try to include some anecdotes wherever suitable to make this work more of a story than any usual “how to” guide.
FIRST STEP: The Application Form
You might feel weird that PNB lacks any online application portal and instead you have to send in an application form - by both emailing in Excel and handing in a hardcopy plus some additional documents by mailing/directly to Menara PNB - to them within 3 weeks (if I could remember). While there are not any specifics in the form to go over, please complete the process and submit early. Get the additional documents - your SPM results, parents’ income declaration/wage slips etc. - and stamped them early so you don’t waste time. If you are living from afar and sending the hardcopy by mail, please make time for delivery at least A WEEK before the deadline. Take time preciously, and this process will be easy for you.
SECOND STEP: The Critical Reasoning Test Battery (CTRB)
If you pass the first step (assuming you met the requirements set by PNB like SPM 8A+/A and SPM 1119 2A) you will receive an email from PNB inviting you to take their paper assessments, called the CRTB, at a specific location. While there are several locations across the country, most of you would probably take it at Menara PNB.
All the questions are in multiple-choice format and will assess you in three segments: Verbal (English), Numerical (Math), and Diagrammatical (IQ). The Verbal test will task you to answer questions connected several texts, which increases in difficulty for every successive text. Numerical will test your ability to solve mathematical questions using a lot of the concepts learnt in school, while Diagrammatical will be as any usual IQ test that you may or may not have experienced. While I can’t formally address the specifics, each section is extremely time-limited and you need to ensure you can cover all the questions in short periods of time. do brush up on your SPM level English comprehension, Maths/Add Maths, and do some pattern games found online to get a grasp on answering them. It’s not easy, but it’s nevertheless manageable.
THIRD STEP: The Group Interview
If you have made this far, congratulations! PNB usually selects the best 100 candidates from the tests for this stage. It will be a group interview at Menara PNB, where you will be interviewed by a panel made up by the staff of the PNB Education Department.
They usually begin the interview by asking common questions, like introducing yourself, why you choose this course, why do you deserve this scholarship before moving on to questions specific to PNB, where they might ask on what PNB does as a business, what is ASB and explain some other aspects of PNB that interest you etc. For this reason, I suggest you explore PNB’s website, and if you want to gain in-depth and more info on recent PNB activity, the corporate annual report will be the best bet. Besides, they will also ask questions pertaining to current issues, which surprise-surprise, may be as recent as days before your interview. For myself, my group interview was scheduled days after the historic May 9 elections, where we had the opportunity to discuss the impacts of it towards Malaysia towards the economy and society!
Remember, it is important that you be honest with yourself and answer based on YOUR experience, not everyone else. I rarely use the STAR technique, it could be a good format to structure your answers for the questions you may face. In the interview, use the opportunity during the first few questions to clarify and highlight your leadership roles, academic achievements, and cocurricular participation. Bring a good image as an individual, and show that you are willing to contribute to PNB (and outwardly, towards society).
One thing that I do emphasise, that as a group interview, ensure that you create a good balance between dominating the interview and allowing others to speak. Having a good one will leave a nice impression from the interviewers that you are considerate to others.
FOURTH STEP: The Group Presentation
The last leg of the process, where you will meet with the best of the best of applicants sieved from the previous stages. At this stage, you will be tasked to research with an assigned team on a particular topic regarding issues happening generally beforehand, which you will then present it on a slideshow presentation cum casual debate where your team will give opposing sides of the issue. Questions can be asked from the floor, which consist of other applicants as well as the PNB Education Department staff.
This is the moment where your teamwork will be tested as well as your personal demonstration of confidence in public speaking (in English, obviously). While I cannot say that a good presentation equals a good team, creating rapport between your assigned teammates will help improve your team’s performance and enhance your image on Presentation Day. Being well conversed in current issue, especially with the one you are dealing with is a bonus, as it will boost your confidence especially when answering unexpected questions.
Also, on the day itself, you will have a personality assessment in an assigned room and you will be provided with a computer. Since this test measures and quantifies your personality traits, there is no right or wrong answer to the questions, so be yourself and answer truthfully to the questions given.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Well, like all other scholarship applications, the next step is for you to wait and hope for the best. As the process is admittedly old-school, it will be frustrating to wait from stage to stage, waiting for the phone call or email drop to your inbox informing that you passed to the next stage or, after going through all of those, getting the scholarship itself. Most of us who got the last stage had already received other scholarship or university offers, and some had decided to drop out rather than face the uncertainty.
My advice: always keep a positive outlook on your future because we never know what plans are made in the heavens for us. If you’re reading this and faced the same situation, keep striving and perform your best even if you have other options to consider.
WHY PNB?
If I were my 2018 post-SPM me, I wouldn’t consider myself applying for it. Why should I go through something tedious where I can apply other well-recognised scholarships in the likes of Yayasan Khazanah and Petronas. But rejection after rejection to be called for interviews from other sponsorships had forced me to reconsider. Nowadays, I felt grateful to take that one step further to achieve what I have today.
The PNB Global Scholarship gave me the opportunities very few could afford; access to an education in the most prestigious A-Level college in Malaysia, a wide list of universities in the UK and US plus personalised help for SATs and college essays, and a strong support system, backed by both scholars and PNB staff.
Nevertheless, the tightly-knit support has made the PNB community, both in KY and abroad, a close one. The PNB Education Department staff are no different where they strive to assist us in every way possible, and we respect them as our second parents. This sense of family is what that made us stand out from other scholars in KYUEM.
I welcome you to take part in the challenge, and join our long line of highly-achieved individuals. All the best in undergoing the application process.
Graduated with stellar SPM results from MRSM Tun Ghafar Baba in 2017, Adam was given the opportunity by PNB to continue his education at Kolej Yayasan UEM, where he is currently doing his A-Levels. He plans to pursue a degree in Accounting and Finance at university with a long-term goal to obtain his CFA and ICAEW certifications by 2027. His interests include finance and economics, where he likes to read related articles during his free time while streaming to K-Pop. Outside academic pursuits, he enjoys swimming, playing volleyball, and photography.