Reflective Writing 2

After finishing South Australia Matriculation, I always struggled what kind of decision should I make to achieve my goal which is entering the universities of my choice. Before the MPU classes started, I did not expect much about the thing learnt from MPU as I thought that it is mostly about BM, Sejarah and Moral. However, after attending the first week of MPU 2 classes, I found that the classes are extremely interesting and useful. Through the classes, I not only understood what preparations and actions should I take in order to be accepted by my dream universities, but also I can know more about myself as well as discover my hidden potential.

Before doing the first activities of the MPU 2 classes, I was asked to prepare my own blog with a title - "My Portfolio". In fact, this is my first time starting and writing a blog. By writing a blog, I can express more about myself and share my opinions to the public. Although there are a lot of articles which I need to post on my blog, I know that this can actually help me to improve my ability of writing an article or essay. So, after using blog for few days, I found that blog is a good platform to share thinking to the public.

About the first activity of MPU 2 classses, I remember that I was asked to write a biography data to share my basic information to those who see my blog. The next activity was actually the Reflective Writing 1. All students were arranged into 4-8 people per group to start this activity. In this activity, each groups was asked to state the Taylor's Graduate Capabilities which we had developed during South Australia Matriculation by using the DIEP method which represent Describe, Interpret, Evaluate and Plan.Hence, teamwork can be practiced through this activity. After that, I was asked to write an article about my dream universities and another article about my inspiration. Next, I was given an online test and a practical test to test my learning style. I am agree with the results which shows that I am a kinaesthetic learner and slightly visual learner. After the test, I did SWOT analysis which represent Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This analysis helps me to know my strengths and weaknesses. Another online test about my personalities was given and it shows that I am an entertainer. Then, I also did the SMART goal which representing Specific, Measure, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. The SMART goal can help me to work towards my goal.
Action plan was then be prepared according to my SMART goal and SWOT analysis. Lastly, I was asked to write a Reflective Writing 2 to summarize the experiences in the MPU 2 classes this few days.

I did enjoy these MPU 2 classes as the classes really gave me a lot of idea about my future studies and the means and ways to achieve my goal. Since this MPU 2 classes are beneficial, I am looking forward for the MPU 1 and MPU 3 classes on the next 2 weeks.

Action Plan

My Goal
The goal that I most want to focus on right now is to enroll in one of the universities of my choice. My two dream universities are London School of Economics and Political Science as well as Australia National University. Once I work towards this goal, the knowledge of my worst subject, such as Economics, will be improved since it is one of the subject which should be well prepared earlier for my course. Besides, I might become a hardworking and well organized students through the preparation towards my goal.

Attainable Actions
In other to achieve my goal, I should overcome my weaknesses that will lead difficulties for me in applying my dream universities. One of weaknesses is lacking of economics knowledge. So, I should start reading economics books to improve my knowledge of economics and doing more researches regarding economics situation in the world. Moreover, I should also seek help from people who are expert in economics. Apart from that, losing temper easily when facing difficulties is my weakness too. As this weakness may cause me give up to continue my work, hence, I should start control my temper as well as facing every difficulties with strong will. I likewise will ask for my parents' help in controlling my bad temper.

Support Network
My parents are fully support my decision in choosing the universities of my choice and the course which I would like to take in the university. So, they will always support me in both my tuition and living fee. Besides, my PDP adviser and universities placement center in Taylors' College Subang Jaya will also help me in achieving my goal, giving me more information about different universities and the means and ways to apply my dream universities.

Obstacles
Of course, there will be obstacles during the process to achieve my goal. The main obstacle is the high tuition fee for my dream universities. In addition, the high requirement of my course offered in the universities may also block me towards my goal. Worst still, the universities have their limited capacity for international students.

Adjustments
Since the high requirement of the university is fixed, therefore, I should study harder and try my very best to achieve the requirement. By studying harder, I likewise can try to get scholarship offered by the universities or sponsored by the government as well as those private companies. Once I have a very good result, I need not worry about the capacity of international students.

SMART Goal

Specific (S) :
I want to improve my knowledge of Economics.

Measure (M) :
I want to increase my understanding about the current economy situation in the world.

Attainable (A) :
I will do more research about the current economy situation from time to time and read more newspaper as well as listen to news.

Relevant (R) :
By improving my Economics knowledge, I will be easier to handle my course in the university.

Time-Bound (T) :
To achieve my goal a month before the intake of my dream universities.

My Personality Test

From this personality test, I agree with the result of this personality test which shows that I am an entertainer. Since I am a people who likes to enjoy together with friends and laugh together about everything, it already shows that I love entertainment very much. Furthermore, I will always care about the feeling of every friends around me whenever we are enjoying together. Most importantly, I like to see all my friends to be happy when having conservation with me every time. Therefore, I am agree with the result from the test, showing I am an entertainer.

S.W.O.T

Future career : Actuarial Science

Strengths
- good knowledge of Mathematics
- like to challenge
- perfectionist
- strong problem solving skill
- strong thinking skill

Weaknesses
- lazy
- lack of patient
- over confident
- weak in Economics
- easily lose temper when facing difficulties

Opportunities
- the help of university placement center to apply universities
- gain more information about different universities through university placement center
- the help of PDP adviser to prepare personal statement for application of universities
- have a chance to try out with different challenging mathematics questions in mathematics studies and specialist mathematics classes
- the support from my parents to choose my own course

Threats
- high requirement from my dream universities
- high cost of tuition fee in my dream universities
- limited capacity for international students in my dream universities

My Inspiration

Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison rose from humble beginnings to work as an inventor of major technology. Setting up a lab in Menlo Park, some of the products he developed included the telegraph, phonograph, electric light bulb, alkaline storage batteries and Kinetograph (a camera for motion pictures). He died on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey.

My first inspirer is Thomas Edison. Due to his invention of the first light bulb, I am inspired by him since I was 13 years old. I am a people who like physics very much and I found that Thomas Edison is extremely smart as he can invent an item which can be lead from one generation to another generate. Although the shape of light bulb is modified by different people from year to year, the concept of the original light bulb is still the same. So, without his invention of light bulb, the world nowadays may not be using light bulb for providing light but fire. Therefore, I am really inspired by Thomas Edison and I wish that I can have the same ability as him to do something which can contribute to the next generation in the world.

Dato' Lee Chong Wei was born in Georgetown, penang; October 21, 1982. He is one of my favourite badminton players. When he was in his early years (during primary school in SRJK(C) Jit Sin (B)), Berapit, Lee favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from that activity due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. Attracting the attention of a local coach, the coach asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving the nod from his father, the coach began to train Lee after school. Discovered by Misbun Siedk, he was drafted into the national squad when he was seventeen years old. He won silver medals in 2008 Beijing Olympics. As l look through his match, l noticed that he is a kind of defensive players. He has very fast movement to reverse a powerful smashes to winning position. He also good at volleys, because he can hit a super angle shot any time he wants. I think these are very important skills that help him to stand on the top of the world.

My second inspirer is Dato' Lee Chong Wei who is one of the badminton nasional team of Malaysia. I am inspired by his strong will in participating all international badminton competition. He do not give up easily although he lose in some badminton competition. So, I would like to learn his strong will no matter facing what difficuties. According to Dato' Lee Chong Wei's quote - "If we dare to win, we should also dare to lose", I should not give up doing something although I might face failure at the first time since failure should be overcome in order to achieve success. Therefore, I am inspired by him and I wish that I have a strong will like Dato' Lee Chong Wei, not easily giving up in all challenge towards success.

My Learning Style

Result of first activity:

Blue ( Visual Learner ) : 7
Green ( Auditory Learner ) : 4
Purple ( Kinaesthetic Leaner ) : 8

Result of second activity:

I agree with the results from both the activities which show that I am a kinaesthetic learner. This is because I am a leaner who cannot sit for a long period to do revision and I prefer doing something else when I am doing my revision. By doing some actions when studying, I can remember what I have studied more easily. Besides, I am also slightly visual learner according to the both results as I like to use pictures or diagrams to remember what I have studied.

My Dream Universities

My first dream university is London School of Economics and Political Science. I would like to take the bachelor of actuarial studies offered by the university. Of course, there are few requirements which I must achieve to enter the university. The requirements are as below:
- International Baccalaureate : Diploma with 38 points including 7 6 6 with higher level (with 7 in Mathematics)
- Essential Subject : Mathematics

My second dream university is The Australia National University. I would like to choose the bachelor of actuarial studies offered by this university. In order to get into my dream university, some requirements must be achieved. The requirements are as below:
- ATAR : 95%
- Subject recommended : Specialist Mathematics
- qualify as an international student
- can meet the ANU's English Language requirements

Myself

My name is Ng Hui Siang and I am 18 years old this year. I born in Hospital Tawau, Sabah, on 14 Jannuary 1997. My hobby is playing chinese chess, while my favourite sport is playing badminton. My ambition is to be an actuarial science as I like calculating and thinking very much. My primary school is SJK(C) Sin Hwa, Tawau, while Sabah Chinese High School, Tawau is my secondary school. Recently, I have just finished my pre-university programme - South Australia Matriculation in Taylor's College Subang Jaya. My subjects combination during SAM are English as Second Language, Physics, Mathematics Studies, Specialist Mathematics and Economics.

Reflective Writing 1

Discipline specific knowledge

Describe:

Discipline specific knowledge can be defined as a set of understandings that is more than broad knowledge of a field, rather, it is the sort of knowledge that is specific to the discipline or profession and defines a specialist in the area.

It helps us understand professional practice during within the field of study, understand ethical issues of the context of the field of study and able to put theories into practice. 

Interpret:

This can be observed when we are doing subjects such as psychology and legal studies where we tackle sensitive issues relating to humanity. In psychology, we learn about how to conduct ethical research projects following morally correct guidelines and such. Research pertaining to behaviour or personality can be invasive of a person's privacy and therefore is not ethical. Several ethical guidelines are meant to be followed to protect participants from harm and to protect their rights. In our course of study, we had to carry out 2 different psychology research projects and their respective reports were included in our grades. These provided us with ample opportunities to carry out what we had learnt and also by carrying it out ourselves instead of textbook style learning, we were able to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the concepts and the subject.

Evaluate:

These skills that help us create more ethical and empirical research which is reliable. It helps us generate more accurate reports and conduct research that is fair to everyone. This will be useful in universities as conducting research is part of the curriculum for almost all the modules. It will help us get better grades as well. Also, for research related professions such as bioengineering or pharmacy such research skills will be very important so as to ensure that no one is harmed while producing a cure for a disease. What's the point if thousands die to make the cure for one disease right? As for our life, these skills will also be important as it will allows us to question the things in our daily lives and find out which is true and reliable. Currently, we are surrounded by many speculations and people may just believe it is true just because someone famous said it without actuall knowing the subject matter. This allows us to lead a more happier life.

Plan:

There is a lot that we can do to improve these skills. The first step is always to ask if whether something is true or possible. The second will be collect and collate lots of reliable data from credible sources. Then we can do some analysis or research on the topic of interest without harming anyone and protecting anyone's or anything's rights. And finally we can draw good conclusions from it. This topic of interest can be anything does not just have to be restricted to science but even perhaps food?

By: Arunmozhivarman

Thinking and problem solving skill

D & I: I have learnt thinking and problem solving skills throughout my whole pre U programme. 

Thinking and problem solving skill is a very important skill that stimulates and challenges our common sense and critical thinking to analyze a problem and how it can be done to get a proper conclusion or answer. For example, we had Chemistry and Physics proposal to be done for the subject Chemistry and Physics. Upon trying the to work out the experiment, we had to make amends to the proposal in order to make the experiment work. In Chemistry and Physic lab reports we were to identify the weaknesses in the experimental procedures or method, so that we could think and research ways to a better and more accurate method. In the meantime, we were stimulates to think out of the box and to find solutions to every problems. 

E: Thinking and problem solving skill has greatly benefited us in university, career and basically daily lives. We would be trained to preservere and look for a solution whenever we face an obstacle, we have obtained the confidence and the spirit to not give up. In universities, we are given projects with problems and weaknesses that need to be attended to. For example, we could be asked on ways to conserve the environment. Different issues may need be tackled in different ways. And in life career, we would be able to think critically. For example, while creating a product that delights every consumer, we have to think out of the box for something that solves problems of the consumer in ways that have never been thought of. 

P: To strengthen and enhance this thinking skills, playing sudoku quizzes could be a way. We could also innovate ways in our daily lives to solve simple problems faced in life such as how to take a group selfie, and how to get everyone to position quickly in a class photo.

By: Janice Wong

Communication Skill

D: Communication skill is simply the ability of the act of transferring information from one place to another, whether this be vocally (using voice), written (using printed or digital media such as books, magazines, websites or emails), visually (using logos, maps, charts or graphs) or non-verbally (using body language, gestures and the tone and pitch of voice). 

I: After participating in SAM, my communication skill had improved a lot  throughout the programme. Since 70% of this pre-university programme depends on assements and assignment, the presentation of every subjects is extremely important. For example, through the oral session of ESL (English as Second Language), I can share my idea with the teacher and use my own words formally to answer the teacher's questions. So, my communication skill can improve when communicating with teacher. Besides, I can also improve my communication skill by having consultation with my teachers. The moment having consultation, I can communicate with the subject teacher to strenghten my communication skill.

E: With the significant improvement in my communication skills, i will be able to make sure that my goals can be achieved successfully and also will help in the development of my career. For example, in order to

Complete a job or make any advancement in my career, i will

Need to request information, discuss problems, work in teams and interact with colleagues and clients. In order to make all these criteria perfect, an effective teamwork, good communication skills are essential.

P: To improve my communication, I should take part in different events such as public speaking, giving speech, just to name a few, so that I have more chance to communicate. Moreover, I likewise should read more newspaper or listen to the news on television and radio more frequently. Through this ways and means, I make sure that I can improve my communication skill.

By: Chow Han Ket & Ng Hui Siang

D & I: Intrapersonal skill is the ability to work remotely and to be self-motivating and self-monitoring. Hence, self management is essential. After I went through 8 months express South Australia Matriculation, I have learnt that we are the one who take the responsibility for our studies. We will not be spoon feed anymore by lecturers in college. Lecturers will only give us the guideline for the assignments and we should do the research work by ourselves. For example, in order to complete chemistry lab report, individual research is very important. I must go through many websites or even books the gather information. If we only use the information provided by the lecturers, we will not be able to achieve a better grade. Hence, we must be able to manage ourselves. Besides, through this express matriculation, i have learnt to manage my time orderly. Assignments and exams are given consistently. In order to complete my work on time and excel in the exams, time management is very important. My hard work should be consistent and procrastinating is not allowed.

E & P: Through the intrapersonal skill, i am able to manage myself orderly and plan everything in advance. I will seldom face situations that require last minute work. Besides, with the intrapersonal skill, I will be able to cope with new environment and the uncertain. It includes the ability to respond to crisis situations or emergencies. Moreover, I can handle work stress and face the problems with equanimity. To improve my intrapersonal skills, I will try not the rely on the others and seek too much help from the others to complete my work. I will try to build up my self-confident in completing my work by myself. Besides, I will participate in more clubs or societies and become the president or hold any other position.

By: Nicole Sin