Applying to NUS & NTU - Subjective (+UEE)

[updated 2 Jan 2016]

Hey there! As promised in my previous post about general info on this subject, this post will tell you my personal experience in enrolling to these (insert own adjective) universities in Singapore.

There are three parts to this post: the application story, the UEEs and reasons why I think I really am an average student.
The second part is intended to lift you up if you intend on applying but feeling discouraged. Just jump ahead to the latter section as you please.

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Part 1: Application Story

First off, I was interested in neither of the universities.

What, seriously??? Everybody says 'if you graduate from NUS/NTU, you'll get rich! My parent's friends told them that their children and relatives that went to NUS/NTU will blablablabla (good things for a human's future, I suppose)'. I didn't care.

And yes, I really didn't. Lots of my friends had already taken A Level courses since the beginning of 12th grade. These courses last for roughly 7 months (July-January). Every weekend, when I'm just being a couch potato and having my incorrigibly lazy me time, they study A Levels. Hmmm.

Three months had passed, and my homeroom teacher asked us more than once whether we had set goals for university studies in the future. I didn't have any, unlike some of my classmates. I started to feel like I should panic (a little). The thing is, I attended educational fairs and whatnot, but none of them stood out to me.

It was the first week of October when I heard from a friend that NUS/NTU UEE were coming up soon, in January and February. Still not interested here. But then I started to think. 'Maybe it's a good idea to join an A Level course now. If I don't want to apply, it's okay. If I end up applying, then it's also okay.' So I joined a course and also ended up applying to both universities in mid November. I had nothing to lose.

The following months until mid January was.... really something. I was 3 months late, so catching up was a priority. My agenda was: school - A Levels - sleep - school - A Levels - study for tests - sleep, you get the picture. Thankfully a friend of mine (who is also a classmate) also went through the same thing and we managed to pass it together :') Oh, I must add that my December 2014 holiday was spent in the "smartest" way possible. (Albeit sounding diligent, I didn't understand A Levels at all. Read more in part 3.)

Mid January was a decisive moment - the revelation of shortlisted candidates for the UEEs. You can make an appeal if you're not shortlisted. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend both UEEs, so of course I attended both (NUS on Jan 31st & 1st Feb, NTU on Feb 7th-8th).

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Part 2: UEE

If you read my previous post, I meant it when I said to take all try-outs regardless how you score. The actual test was very similar to the try-outs; in fact, some of them were totally the same. So how was the UEE?

NUS UEE was just plain ridiculous. If your mentor told you that NUS UEE is not that difficult, never trust them again. Seriously. A Levels everywhere.
- MCQ for maths was easy (considering you bring your calculator and know how to use it), but the essay was just insane (I didn't study statistics which was the major chunk of essay that year :/).
- Physics consisted of 50 MCQs, none of which was doable for me.
- Oh, the chemistry papers? Be prepared to memorize everything about organic reactions because essay #1 was 'this compound mixed with another compound creates a yellow precipitate. If the compound blablabla (2 paragraph compound story). Question: a) Suggest a catalyst and its reaction.' An then.... bcdefghijk. Yes, it was a to k. I do not exaggerate, I only had two choices then: laugh or cry. I had no energy to do either one though HAHA. The MCQs? The honor of touching the test sheet should make you feel smart *sob :'

NTU UEE was more doable. A Levels? Not much of those made an appearance.
- Maths was 100% essay, no MCQs. So you can't just take numbers and push buttons on your calculator randomly. Nothing unusual here, really, as long as your mind do not wander. The questions are similar to previous NTU UEEs.
- Physics was a little bit better than NUS'. A little. The essay was..... counting rains (I'd rather be counting stars HAHA) and other daily things that you never thought of doing (and will definitely not do in the future).
- Chemistry was waaaaaaaay more approachable than NUS'. You'd do well if you understand electrons, concentrations and gas laws & co.

Best of luck! Remember that luck is also a winning factor, don't underestimate it!

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Part 3: Average Student

My standard for average is really..... average. I was never on the top of my class. In fact, top 10 in my class is the highest I ever reached in high school. Last semester, I was not even in the top 15 in my class. Doesn't sound average yet?

I did terrible at A Levels try-outs.

From 38 students, my rank falls between 24-27. Yes, my maths try-out scores were 24, 16, 32, 26, etc, with a median of 30.7 and 52 being the highest. (I was moved to tears when I received 52 while the girl sitting next to me got 90). Hmmm. Physics try-outs? Never got more than 24.

The only thing that made me optimistic was English, for my friend and I made a postulate stating 'Smart (Indonesian) people are terrible at English.' (Oops! Sorry, no offense, smart people! :P)

NTU, the university which only admits totally smart kids (that's how it is prejudiced here in Indonesia), accepted me, a normal student who is probably just like you.

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So don't get discouraged! Not being the best doesn't mean NTU is not in your grasp.
Also, remember that NTU is not everything.
There are many worlds and possibilities to explore, and the one you end up getting may not be your first pick.

Just look forward to life's unpredictable surprises!