So you want to get into IPG as a SPM graduate

Hi, I'm back from my year-end holiday (which was spent well with quality family bonding time) and I passed my exams. It's the first week of the year 2016, a fresh new start or just another day for some.

IPG has a program called PPISMP or PISMP which stands for Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan, the other extra P is for Persediaan, which will be the preparatory first-year pre-degree course. In this program, the government gives you free education with allowance every month for your living expenses, ranging from RM2500+ per semester for each semester in the first year to RM4000+ per semester for degree years. Each semester lasts for half a year. Students who are accepted will be required to live in the institution's hostel unless you have a good reason why you can't stay in the hostel.

As this is a government-funded course, you need to make sure you take it seriously. Being absent in classes is a serious matter and failing your exams 3 times will result you in expulsion, where your guarantor(s) will need to pay eleven thousand ringgit or thirteen thousand ringgit for breaking your contract/Perjanjian.

For those interested, here's a simple version to register: http://supergirl-kawaii.blogspot.my/2015/12/permohonan-online-maktab-perguruan-ipg_16.html

As a TESL student who managed to get into IPG, I would like to give some advice/tips on how to get into this institution.


Before I go into the actual details, it would be wise for you to
1. Be prepared to be posted to ANY IPG in Malaysia if you're selected, i.e. travel and live in a different place/different state. This is because different IPGs have different subjects available.

2. Make sure you're physically healthy and you have an average stamina.

3. Have a relative or someone your family is close to who is financially stable to be your guarantor. Because once you get accepted, you'll need to sign a contract where either or both of your guarantors will need to pay for you if you break that contract. (Refer to the text below if you need more info on this.)

4. Develop self-confidence and social skills. You'll definitely need it for your interview. Or if you don't, just wing it.

5. Have a BSN account. This is where your allowance comes in.


Okay so the general procedure goes like this and they are all in BM (Look out for deadlines too)
Feb 17-> Sign-ups and applications open
March 8-> Sign-ups close
March 23-29-> UKCG check (A physical test which includes a series of exercises to see whether you're physically healthy and test your stamina, main reason for #2 above) and Ujian INSAK(A test on your mental state and moral&ethics)
March 30 - April 3 -> UKCG (the actual physical test)
Mid or Late April-> Interview (The hardest part of getting into IPG because it differs for each interview. Some IPG interviews have individual interview, some have a group discussion interview.)
May-> 1st Intake
June -> 2nd Intake (For those who didn't register for the 1st intake/declined the offer)
August-> 3rd Intake (maximum is 3) (For those who didn't show up for 2nd intake)


SIGN-UPS and APPLICATIONS

•  All applications for registering/signing up are in softcopy form, and you're going to apply for it online. Just google up 'ppismp ipg' online around February or March and you'll find it.
• The age limit to apply for the PPISMP program is below 20 years old by the date of 30 June 2016. If you didn't get accepted during your first time, you can try it again the year after as long as you haven't turned 20 by then.
• You're required to score at least 5A's in your SPM and pass in English and get a 'kepujian' grade in BM and Sejarah. My personal opinion on why this is required is because the country needs flexible teachers now, teachers who can teach multiple subjects and not just one. (Cut down manpower, increase flexibility)
• You'll have to choose 2 subjects and which type of primary school you're applying for. For example, I chose Bahasa Inggeris (SK) for my 1st choice and Pendidikan Seni Visual (SK) for my 2nd choice.
• You won't be accepted to go for SJK(c) if you didn't take Chinese for your SPM. Same thing goes for Tamil in SPM for those who want to apply for SJK(T).
• Make sure the subject you're applying for is what you got for an A in your SPM or whichever further government examinations you have taken.
• This goes without saying - you must be a Malaysian, i.e. you have a Malaysian identity card, your parents have a Malaysian identity card, your siblings have Malaysian identity cards.

UKCG and Ujian INSAK

• This will both be carried out on the same day. From my experience, I had my Ujian INSAK in the morning and UKCG around noon to afternoon. 
• Read your offer letter carefully and abide by all the guidelines and rules they give you. If they want you to wear all black that day, wear it. 
• Ujian INSAK tests on your morals and how you react to different situations and your mental stability. There are 130+ or 160+ questions in the test and all of them are in objective form. You'll be given a time limit of about 1 hour+ to answer all of the questions/blackening the objective answer sheet. In the first part of the test, the section about morals and reactions, you're likely to see questions like "If your neighbour living in the room above you in your apartment pours down excess laundry water downstairs and wets your clothes, how would you react?" and in the second part, it will ask about "Have you been experiencing paranormal things recently?" or "Do you hear someone calling for you when you're alone?". Again, the second part is actually to test your mental heath, whether you're schizophrenic or mentally unstable.
• As for UKCG, there are five checkpoints which you'll have to go. It's better for you to read this blog for further info about UKCG because it has pictures!: http://hanashiraa.blogspot.my/2015/04/ujian-kelayakan-calon-guru-ukcg-2015.html
• The bleep test is the hardest part of this physical test, so make sure you build up your stamina beforehand, or if you're already active enough then you'll be alright.

Interview

•  If you pass the UKCG, you'll see "Sesi 1(A)" or "Sesi 2(B)" on your form/offer letter. The Sesi is for the time and the alphabet is for which interview room you'll be in/which subject you'll be interviewed for. For example, mine was Sesi 1(C), so I was in the first group to be interviewed, which was in the morning.
• Math and Science subject interviews will be conducted in Malay
• For language subjects, the interview will be conducted in whichever language you applied for. For example, I chose English, so my interview was fully in English. No Bahasa 'rojak' unless it's a name or a specific term for something. Same goes for Chinese, French, Iban, Kadazandusun, Japanese, Portuguese, etc.
• Make sure ALL your documents are ready and photocopied. This includes your IC, birth certificate, SPM certificate, school leaving certificate, co-curriculum certificates, language oral certificate, volunteering certificates, every document you have needs to be photocopied because your interviewer will be taking those photocopied documents back to Putrajaya where their higher-ups will decide who to choose from. Organise them in separate files/bunches. Photocopied version and Original version are separated. (A lot of applicants didn't get chosen in their interviews because of this confusion with documents. SO make sure you're ready)
• Note that your interviewers are not the ones choosing who gets to go into IPG or not. They're there to evaluate you.
• If you're in a group discussion, don't be a bully and hoard all the chances of talking to yourself. Do show that you're humble enough and caring enough to help others. One of the interviewees with me was willing to say "What about you,_____? What do you think about this?" to another interviewee and the interviewer was happy about it.
• In the interview, especially if it's a group discussion, you'll be given a video to watch and talk about it as the topic. It would be wise to relate it to current or recent issues too, as well as personal experience.
• In your introduction, you can add in your reason on why you choose teaching as your profession.
• You might want to look up and study about the Falsafah Pendidikan, names of the education ministers, Malaysian Education Blueprint, such and such. They might be useful in your interview. I wasn't asked for the names of the ministers, however my roommate was.

 STUDENT INTAKE

• As mentioned above, wherever you're posted to study in, you're required to register there if you want to study in IPG, near or far. For me, I was living in Sabah but I got posted to Sarawak.
• Get all your documents approved according to the guide you'll see on the site.
• There are 3 intakes, so if you didn't get in the first intake, wait for the second one and third one.
• More importantly, get your guarantors and get them to sign the Perjanjian, which will be your contract of studying for 5 years and working for government primary schools for another 5 years. So if you get into IPG as a student at the age of 18, by the time you finish your contract, you'll be 28 years old.
• There's the whole issue about senior-junior conflict. People have different cultures and come from different walks of life. You'll be facing difficulties with not just time constraint or possibly studies, but also people. Communication skills will benefit you greatly for this problem. Don't be afraid to speak out problems you feel need to be solved. You're going to have to be independent and take care of yourself, especially if you've never lived by yourself without parents before. (like me when I first got in)
• If you intend to accept the offer to study in IPG, know that you won't be able to cook in your IPG's premises because it is simply not allowed due to electric power restrictions.

other links which might help you:

• http://www.blogameer.com/panduan-ujian-ukcg-dan-contoh-soalan-ujian-kelayakan-guru-insak-ukcg-untuk-kemasukan-ipg/#ixzz2ykAFtQqz
• http://www.panduanmalaysia.com/2014/04/contoh-soalan-insak-untuk-ujian.html
• http://hanashiraa.blogspot.my/2015/04/ujian-kelayakan-calon-guru-ukcg-2015.html  

New Beginnings!

Moving on, I will formally introduce my class, PPISMP BI2615. As you can see from the picture below, there are fifteen of us. 2 guys and 13 girls. A nice combination, aye?

This is by far the only picture I have of all our classmates. All fifteen, along with out lecturer for our TSL1024, Language Description subject, Madam Juria, who is also the Head of Language Department. To describe us as a whole, I'd say we're rather individualistic with a variety of different abilities. One can be good at singing and the other can be good at debating and another one can be good at acting. One of the most important things I like about this class is that we converse in English, which is the main focus and reason of why we're in TESL.Another one is how we have team spirit and try to help each other out when we can, when it's possible, while at the same time, being individuals, we're expressive enough to share our opinions and stands, which is the ideal type of class for active learning.
 

This is us on our first movie trip, going as a class to watch Hotel Transylvannia 2. Prior to this co-curricular activity, we had watched the first movie in our TSL1014 class to finish our interaction hours. I was so touched by this because I've always imagined the perfect class to be like this, because the Math class in our batch often have more class outings and tend to have a sense of togetherness more than we do. Though that's probably me wishing to have better social relations with others.

And this is us after the movie, eating dinner at the food court in Summer Mall. 

Recently, we had our annual dinner on the 29th of October in a hotel. It was a masquerade theme and we were encouraged to wear masks. Although the food was not enough to satisfy our stomachs, I'm pretty sure we had a good time. Don't you see all those happy smiling faces? C;

Alright, I think this is pretty long-winded already so I'll end this post by briefly saying that although I've cried and felt horrible about this class countless times, more than I can count or even remember, due to circumstances and several assumptions, I'm also grateful and I appreciate this class for being there.




Over and out,
Lyrche

Introductions!

Hi there! I'd typically introduce myself with my Internet alias but introducing the irl me is rather awkward. I'll just be known as Lyrche. In short, I'm an 18-year-old TESL freshman in IPGKTAR. I generally like obtaining new knowledge by discovery and experience. I also have a huge obsession on Anime as I grew up being exposed to Anime at the age of 4. My interests range from arts and music to world history and philosophy. I harbor a burning hatred for Mathematics and period cramps.

My experience is a thick novel, in which my life was not ordinary, yet it was normal. Rather contradictory, isn't it? I've pretty much been through the whole East Malaysia throughout my life with about 1/4 of my life spent in a different state, experience the life of being the only Chinese in a school with illegal immigrants' children, attended five secondary schools and I've never lived in a hostel before until I got into college, or tertiary education in this case.

I've been in my IPG for about half a year now. We're having exams around this period of time and I wish to share my experience here.

1. I learned that I have a bad sense of direction as I got lost twice and came late to class in my first week here. 
2. I was not prepared to face the HUMONGOUS amount of work and effort needed to be put into coursework assignments, nor was I prepared to write 3000-word-essays for each of the eight subject's coursework.  
3. My initial perception on tertiary education/college is that I will live in dorms and have a roommate, attend classes, have the freedom to shop and most importantly, JOIN MULTIPLE CLUBS but oh no I was so wrong about that last point. So far, I haven't been able to join any co-curricular activities that are consistent. I was expecting to join clubs and have club meetings every once in a week or something like that. 
4. I do not understand why a rice cooker is not allowed when our canteen sells vegan food at RM4 cheapest.
5. I didn't think our washing machines would only accept the old version of coins so most of the laundry needs to be handwashed unless you're able to afford paying RM3.50 for a half-assed machine wash or go to the laundry shops with a 15-minute-walk.
6. I did not know that a personal laptop AND printer was and is NECESSARY. By all means, this was the most frustrating issue I had to solve from the piles of assignments I had to do. I printed out all my assignments by making 20-minute trips back and forth from my hostel to the commercial area, spending RM1 for each paper I printed out.
7. I do appreciate that our campus provides free wifi even though it is not as strong or as convenient as I had hoped for it to be. 
8. The fact that females are not allowed to wear pant suits to class or any other formal events is INFURIATING. I do not see why it is wrong to wear pant suits as a formal dress code. They're comfortable, suitable for climbing stairs, easier to walk in and they make you look more presentable and professional. I find this rule unnecessary but then again, I'm just a subordinate.
9. I have never doubted my English so much until I took TESL, even though I've always been confident in my ability to perform well and produce good results in English just for having decent grammar and pronunciation. 
10. Despite all this, I find that this campus has really shown me a different kind of life. Living in a place that is not your own, conflicts occur, things happen and things may not be how you want it but it's a lot to appreciate for. Through my experience here, I find that I am very blessed to even land myself in this situation and I do appreciate my campus for trying to provide as much as they can.

 This is pretty abrupt but it's a pretty good time to end it here.





Over and out,
Lyrche