There are 4 stages in Gamuda Scholarship application.
Stage 1
Application forms are screened to filter those with poor academic records and weak personal statements.
Stage 2
They won’t inform you about the phone interview, but just call you up without any notifications. I was quite shocked because I was in the midst of something when I received the call. Luckily, the staffs were very friendly and my call lasted for 15-20 minutes. I would say that those who can’t speak fluently, can’t express themselves or can’t answer the questions properly will be eliminated this stage.
Stage 3
This workshop and group assessment emphasised on interpersonal skills, leadership and critical thinking. In the first session, we were asked to answer a set of questions. There were 10 MCQ questions based on world knowledge (ie. what’s the world’s longest waterfall) and 5-7 subjective questions to test our knowledge about Malaysia (ie. Who’s the Sultan of Malaysia (Full name required), who’s the Minister of Transportation). We also had to produce 2 essays, one of them on Gamuda – “What do you know about Gamuda”. We could select the second essay question from the 3 topics given, and I wrote about public transportation in Malaysia.
In the second session, groups were formed and we had to solve a situation. For example, what should I do if all my team members are involved in a plane crash in Antarctica. You will have to make decisions and all your team members must agree with it.
I think you will have a great advantage if you are a leader during the group discussion as the facilitator will notice you. However, be sure that you are packed with skills, or else they will easily notice your disadvantages as well. My group facilitator gave me good comments, which I think helped me to get through to the last stage.
Stage 4
There was an IQ test, which I found pretty simple, as well as an interview session. Unlike the phone interview and group assessment, it was not a session to learn more about me (they did not even ask me to introduce myself).
You will be given a topic to talk about as they would like to gauge your critical thinking abilities. Everyone had different topics, some were asked to compare the education system in Malaysia and the UK, some had the chance to discuss the MRT in Malaysia vs Singapore among other topics.
I think my fluency in expressing my points and my ability to point out critical points helped my application the most. I would advise future Gamuda scholarship applicants to be confident about themselves, study up all the current projects of Gamuda in Malaysia and internationally. Train how to express your points quickly and accurately as long speeches do not mean that they are better. Don’t beat around the bush. I prepared for the scholarship assessments by getting in touch with current affairs and subscribed to news regarding Gamuda one month before the interview.
This student will be pursuing his degree in Mechanical Engineering under the Gamuda Scholarship at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. He’s always packed with intense passion in engineering, and is interested with any non-living object that moves.
CollegeLAH 