Driving – Signing up + Basic Theory Test (BTT)

One of the first few things I did after A levels ended was to sign up for driving! I went to the driving school nearest to my place, which is Comfort Delgro Driving Centre (CDC Ubi).

Signing up 

When I first went there I was really clueless about the types of programmes they had (e.g. school learner vs private candidate, auto vs manual course) and I was really at a loss of what to do when I first entered the driving centre hahaha.

Basically there are 2 sections in the CDC, the one nearest/next to to the passport photo booth & the snacks vending machine is the area where you can register as a school student. There’s another reception area opposite to this and you go there if you want to register for BTT/FTT as a private candidate.

I went to the driving centre with the intention of signing up for the BTT as a private candidate, but somehow I was speaking to the lady and she convinced me to sign up under the school. Which on hindsight was a good choice because:

1. School learner’s have priority for BTT/FTT dates, which means they can sit for the theory tests earlier, whereas private candidates have to wait for later test dates (which is a con if you want to get your driving license ASAP)
2. The school learner’s package comes with the BTT & FTT guidebooks (save the hassle from getting it from popular!)
3. and e-trials which are basically practices (kinda like a ten year series for driving) where you can go practice old theory test questions

The lady at the counter convinced me to sign up for manual (at that time, I was really clueless so I asked her for her opinion, and she recommended manual because you can drive manual cars overseas and your future company may not provide an auto car etc hahahaha). But when I went home my mum was rather shocked that I signed up for manual because manual is apparently a lot tougher than auto. So I was a little worried and went down to the driving centre the next day to switch to auto instead hahaah.

E-trials

How it works is that you get to book your e-trial sessions (which you can do via the CDC online portal). As a school student you get 6 e-trial sessions for free! Head to Level 3 of CDC Ubi for the e-trial session, and bring your IC along so it can be scanned (otherwise you can’t sit for the e-trial).

The room has plenty of computers, the computer is touch screen (I didn’t know that hahaha until much later) and a mouse. Try getting the computers with the mouse because the touch screen sometimes isn’t very sensitive and it affects how fast you can do the questions.

Each e-trial session is around 55 minutes long, which is the actual time duration given for the BTT/FTT. However most people (I think) can finish the test before the 55 minute mark, so once you’re done with 1 practice test, you can move on to the next one and keep doing questions until the 55 minute mark is up (and you’ll be invited to leave).

I signed up for 2 e-trial sessions in a row because I thought it would be a hassle to go down to the driving centre 6 times for each of the 6 sessions, so I went to the centre thrice (2 e-trial sessions each time).

Online e-learning material

School learners also have access to online e-learning material (20 hours or so I think), which I personally didn’t find very useful because the videos move at a rather slow pace. Also, you have to complete one unit before you can move on to the next unit (in other words, you can’t skip units), and some of the first few units are rather basic, so it would be more efficient just reading the book instead 🙂

BTT 

I first signed up at the CDC driving centre in mid-December 2015, and my Basic Theory Test (BTT) was scheduled on 7th January 2016, which was much earlier than I had expected it to be.

I browsed through the theory book once before the e-trials, and once the day before the actual BTT. Most of the e-trial questions can be quite repetitive and can be classified into a few broad categories, so I familiarized myself with the e-trial questions and took mental note of the questions which I got wrong during the e-trial.

You need to get 90% and above to pass BTT, and during the e-trials I failed 2 out of the 10 practices given (not a surprise because I didn’t really read the BTT book in detail!), but I also learnt a lot from doing the e-trials (so I don’t think it was a bad idea signing up as a school student after all).

My score for BTT was 49/50, after which I immediately went to the counter to apply for the provisional driving license (PDL), which would allow me to start taking practical lessons. At the same time I got a test date for the Final Theory Test (booked online through the CDC online portal).

Induction Programme

Before the BTT test date, I also attended this compulsory induction programme. Basically there were 3 of us and 1 instructor. We sat in the car while the instructor explained the different parts of the car (e.g. signals, speed indicators, brakes, gears etc). The induction programme is a pre-requisite for taking practical driving lessons. The lady at the counter fixed the induction programme date for me when I first signed up, so I went for it even before taking my BTT.

Private Candidate

One of my friends is taking driving lessons as a private candidate, so she didn’t get the e-trials (which I think can be rather useful). However there are pros to being a private candidate as well, for example having more liberty in arranging practical driving lesson days/dates, not having to book one month in advance for practical lessons (which is what students have to do, and the competition for booking slots can get really fierce). [But this also depends on whether you can find a good private instructor! That friend of mine is learning manual because the private instructor she found only teaches manual.]

 

Okie that’s all for now 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

SMU Accountancy Interview Experience 2016

My second university interview was the SMU Accountancy interview (one day after my SMU-SUTD DDP which I wrote about in the post earlier)!

I was called in for an interview in mid-January 2016 as I had applied for SMU under the early admission category. My first choice was Accountancy, followed by business, and I indicated interest in the SMU double degree programme. The interview however, was only for my first choice (which is Accountancy), and it was both a scholarship and admissions interview together.

The interview was held at the Deans’ Office at the SMU School of Accountancy. Unlike the SMU-SUTD DDP interview, this interview was an individual one (again, I asked for details over the phone and they told me it was one-on-one). Coincidentally I met an acquaintance the day before whose interview slot was 15 minutes before mine, so I kinda figured out that the interview would be about 15 minutes long.

The interview was conducted by 2 profs from the faculty of accounting. The interview slots were dragged on (as expected), I went in 5 minutes later than my stipulated time (not to mention that my acquaintance didn’t make it for the interview as she was sick).

The interview was rather informal, it started off with a handshake, and they asked questions like: what did you do over the holidays, why do you want to study accountancy, what other universities did you apply for and how would you decide which university to choose?

It felt more like a casual conversation rather than a formal interview, for that I felt pretty relaxed and calm throughout. To my pleasant surprise, the interviewers offered me a verbal offer of acceptance at the end of the interview, and said that I would be receiving a written offer of confirmation a few days later. (one of my other friend who applied for accountancy also had a similar experience, whereas my friend who applied for business (business has this group interview thing) did not receive any verbal offer at the end of the interview).

About a week or so later, I received the written offer of acceptance by post 🙂 The offer of acceptance was for Accountancy; acceptance for the double degree programme and any scholarships would only be after the official release of the A level results in early March.

All the best to whoever’s reading this if you intend to apply for SMU! 🙂

Update: After the release of the A level results, I was informed that I was offered a place in the double degree programme for Accountancy and Business. There was also a tea session for the LKC Scholarship at SMU (with interviews for the scholarship afterwards) which I didn’t attend in the end.

Update 2: One of my friends attended the LKC scholarship selection process. It’s a one day selection assessment centre (similar to the scholarship assessment centre) with a few group activities. Apparently out of the hundreds who applied, around 50+ were shortlisted for the next round of panel interviews.

 

 

 

SMU-SUTD Double Degree Programme (DDP) Interview Experience 2016 :)

The SMU-SUTD Double Degree Programme (DDP) interview was my very first university interview after my A levels ended. I first applied for the DDP through the SUTD portal (early application cycle), was invited to fill in a scholarship questionnaire sometime in early January, and was called in for an interview in mid-January 2016.

Needless to say I was really nervous before the interview and I couldn’t sleep the night before. I couldn’t find much information online about the interview process as the course was relatively new. I read online that the pioneer batch of the DDP programme saw 500 applicants fight for 45 places. Furthermore, I had asked over the phone what the interview format would be like, and was informed that it be a group interview comprising of a discussion of an unseen passage.

The interview was held at the SUTD campus (near Singapore Expo), which was a (not really short) walk from the Expo MRT station. My interview was at 2+pm so I had to brave the scorching weather (there weren’t any trees that provided much needed shade, sadly).

I brought a hardcopy of my portfolio along as requested, together with my CCA records and prelim grades, which was then scanned and returned to me at the end of the interview.

There were 5 people in my interview group. We were first brought into a small room, where we were given 15 minutes to read a short passage about creating a revolution in the education system and how the education system has to be improved to keep up with the changing times. There was also a tad bit of emphasis placed on innovation and how technology can be incorporated into education. The passage had quite a few abstract ideas which required some thinking. At the 10 minute mark, we were asked to discuss among ourselves what the article was about, but the discussion wasn’t monitored by anyone (i.e. there weren’t any interviewers in the room).

After 15 minutes, we were led into the interview room (set-up was like a formal meeting room). There were 2 interviewers – one from the Business faculty in SMU, one was a prof from SUTD. We were asked questions related to the article, in fact the first half of the interview was solely based on the article. We were asked for our own personal take on the passage and were asked to decode some of the ideas mentioned.

The second half of the interview drifted away from the article, and we were asked questions related to our personal interests and what we wanted to study/what we were interested in.

After which, we were given time to ask questions about the course. I didn’t really have much to ask because I did a fair bit of reading up about the course before the interview, but some people in my group asked questions (e.g. what the school term would be like as students belong to 2 universities, what’s the most important trait a student of the DDP should have etc).

But the main thing I learnt from the interview was what the direction of the DDP course was about, and what the aims of the DDP programme were (what kind of students they aim to develop at the end of the programme) which I realised I did not have a comprehensive understanding of prior to the interview. The interviewers were looking for students who could use their business acumen (from the business degree in SMU) to come up with technological innovations (from the design/engineering degree in SUTD). The impression I got from the interview was that the course seems to be leaning towards cultivating students interested in research and development, innovation and technology (and using relevant business knowledge to aid developments in technology).

I personally didn’t think I performed that well for the interview and was in fact (to be honest) a little disappointed with my own performance for the interview.

About a few weeks later I received an email saying that I was accepted into the SMU-SUTD DDP and would be invited to attend a tea session sometime next month, which was really truly a pleasant surprise 🙂