SAT

salam..

SAT is the single most dreadful thing for students going to the US

making the cutoff for scholarship is crucial.

although i'd like to say that SAT is easy, it's not.

SAT stands for scholastic aptitude test

it's probably your only ticket to US universities.

SAT is conducted by the US and the results are used to process your uni application.

you will be competing against students all over the US and the world with your SAT score.

SAT has 3 parts - reading, math, and writing

all of those sum up to a full score of 2400.

although writing might be an important aspect of SAT, most unis focus on reading and math.

how to score your SAT :

1) FOCUS on getting a full score for math

2) at about one month before your test, go full throttle on doing as many practice tests as possible.

some might find it helpful to memorize vocabularies and such. for me, the best way is to always practice.

you might find some books talk about those joe bloggs method and all those crap. forget those. all you need is practice. 

for writing, perhaps it's wise to read up lots of sample essays and get as many anecdotes and stories to be included in your essays.

other than that, there's nothing much to worry

you might have googled your dream university and searched for average SAT score and requirements and such
dont believe it ( not all, that is)

back then, my school's average SAT score is about 1450 (math + reading) and i stumbled across this list that says i need to get at least 1400 in order to get in.
guess what? i got a 1260 and still got in. bigger surprise? a friend of mine got 1020 and still managed to get into the same university.

here's a rule of thumb
public universities are harder to get into because you have to compete against lots of middle class people in the states paying to get their kids to cheap colleges.

private universities are expensive. thus, less people apply to these unis. therefore, less competition. and private unis focus on getting money from international students, so dont worry about SATs that much (except for cases like harvard and all the top universities)

to make things short, study hard for ur SAT.

So You Passed The Scholarship Interview

Salam..
first of all, congrats for passing your scholarship interview.
you have to keep in mind that not everyone get's this once in a lifetime chance.
dont blow it.

SPM - done.
Interview - passed.
ADFP - ?

ok, in ADFP, you WILL be embarking on very unfamiliar territories.
no matter what type of school you went to, or where you come from, it's gonna be different.
you will be meeting a variety of people with a whole range of skills. dont be intimidated, once you get to know them,  they're kinda nice.

if you're studying in INTEC, the next big thing would be class distribution.
you will be divided into classes based on your english proficiency (to make SAT classes a lot easier).
before that, you will be given a test on english. trust me, it's a very simple test that kinda separates the smartasses from the rest.
being in the top class gives you A LOTTT OF ADVANTAGES. trust me, work for it.
i worked my ass out to get into the top class and guess what, it was worth it
in my batch, all of the INTEC debaters came from the first class, bank negara scholars, khazanah and all the kiasu jpa scholars fill up this class.

to be frank, i've never met a more skilled and talented group of people in one class.
being in the 2nd class is still great coz it's pretty much the same as the first.
not saying that all the other classes suck, it's just that the top 2 is waayyy awesome.
besides, getting into the top classes will actually give you enough pressure to push you all the way for your SAT and TOEFL. if i'm not mistaken, no one from the first class got under 3.0 gpa and 1100 SAT score.
not saying that we rock and all, it's just that the expectations that people put on us, pushes us to study hrder and become more kiasu.

what's kiasu ? google it. =D

MARA Scholarship Interview 2010

4/15/10

salam..

first of all, today wasnt all as expected

but hey, i expected 2 things, and they came true

1. Traffic jam

2. i was the first candidate. (haha)

pagi tadi jam namampus.. crawling gle..

but we made there on time..

so lets cut the crap

for future friday and saturday candidates, plus 2011 candidates and the years to come,

here's a little bit of what happened..

questions i expected :

Tell us about yourself.

why you choose to take IT ?

what is your career plans ?

what do you understand about IT ?

what is the current IT projects going on with the government ?

what the heck is MSC ?

arent IT grads suppose to be jobless ? why take it anyways ?

why study overseas ?

why not computer science ?

whats the diff between IT and computer science ?

how do u contribute to MARA ?

but instead..

questions i got :

well after i sat down, the first question was : 'your name is mohammad yusri ?'

and right after that they directly started asking : What uni do u want to go to ?

Why that uni ?

Why not ivy league ?

what is the ranking of that uni ?

have you done any research on ivy league uni ?

have u watched 'homeless to harvard' ?

then suddenly one of them realised that its close to 30 minutes already so they ended the interview..

haha.. anyways, i felt like i was chatting with my friends.. 

only that, they have less interest in me and more into ivy league universities.. haha

Visa Interview Experience

VO = Visa officer

VO - Hi Good Morning.
ME - Good Morning

VO - So you're going to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ?
ME - yerp.

VO - What course are you taking ?
ME - Information Technology

VO - How long will you be studying there ?
ME - 48 months, 4 years to be exac

VO - What does your parents do ?
ME - my dad was deceased in 2000 of cancer and my mom is a retired government worker

VO - what's does ur mom work as in the government ?
ME - she was a government officer.

VO- well ur mom must be really proud of you.
ME - *numb* err thank you.

VO - Tell me about your siblings.
ME - well my eldest brother is currently pursuing his masters degree in australia, my 2nd brother is working as a manager in malaysia, and my sister is currently a business consultant also working in malaysia.

VO - we would be happy to give you a visa. your visa will be done within 3 working days
ME - thank you so much. have a nice day !
VO - you too !

*walks away*
*came back to the counter*

ME - hi, i would like to inquire about the delivery methods. if lets say i decided to change from delivery to pickup, at what time can i pickup the passport ?
VO - usually it will be either late morning or in the evening.
ME - allright ok thanks again !

*the next day i received an email saying that my visa was approved. =D

Graduation

salam..

yesterday was my official graduation day from intec.

which means, im gonna be spending a month at home.

during that month, im going to make the most of my time to guide you guys through the whole process during the first stage of the event ; pre-departure.

i'll be back ! =D

Introduction

salam..
welcome to the eighth street ; my record of experiences before, during, and after my studies in New York.
i really hope that this blog would benefit malaysian or muslim students that are pursuing their degrees in the states.


FAQ 
1) why eighth street ?
eighth street or 8th street is the street number for my university. i figured that it is most appropriate for me to use this name as it really reflects on what this blog is about


2) whatsup with the background ?
on the background of this site is The Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center @ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the university that i am going to be studying soon.


3) who are you ?
i am a malaysian student currently pursuing a degree in Information Technology and Web Science @ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York.


4) what kind of blog is this ?
i think this is more of a journal or a diary kind of blog. i used to write informative entries but i think it is best for me to write entries about my experience through this whole journey that i am embarking on so that you can get a glimpse of what it would be like in the states.


that's pretty much enough for introduction.
i hope that this can really benefit my readers.
so long.
=D