Want to pit your academic skills against tens of thousands of students? "Hmm, don't we do that every time there's a government exam like PMR, SPM and STPM?" you ask. Well, want to have fun while you're at it, possibly win an internationally recognised gold medal, and gets loads of co-curricular marks? Then read on!
I'll elaborate on the competition before I explain how it helps boost your co-curricular points.
Being a bit of a competition junkie, I love looking out for language based or essay writing competitions to join. One competition in particular that I have never failed to participate in for the past 5 years is the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia's International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS). Whew, what a mouthful!
The competition is open to students of various age groups - students from Standard 3 to Upper 6 can participate, with differing levels of difficulty for each age group. You can choose to compete in English, Science, Mathematics or Computer Skills. You're not restricted to only 1 subject - you can compete in all 4 if you want to! I've only competed in English so far, and I have to say that the standards of this exam are very high and quite unlike the English exams we take at school. I'll even go so far as to say that it is harder than MUET, which makes it an excellent exam to take in preparation for MUET. Friends who have competed in Maths and Science tell me that it's quite challenging as well! Nothing good comes easy after all.
You need to pay RM 20 per subject, but don't let the exam fee discourage you from joining this competition! Trust me when I say it's worth it. For RM 20, you get a thick, fully coloured exam question booklet, and when your results come back, you'll get a detailed explanation of where you went wrong, what the correct answers actually are, how you fared compared to all the other students of your age group, as well as an internationally recognised certificate. The detailed analysis of your answers really shows you where your strengths and weaknesses are, which helps highlight where you need to make improvements in!
You will get either of the following :
- High Distinction (to the top 1% of entrants in each year level in Malaysia)
- Distinction (to the next 10% of entrants in each year level in Malaysia)
- Credit (to the next 20% of entrants in each year level in Malaysia)
- Participation (to all students who did not qualify for one of the above certificates.)
What about that gold medal I mentioned earlier? Well, the Gold Medal is only awarded to the top scorer of each age group for each subject, which means you have to first get a High Distinction, and then be the highest among the other students who got a High Distinction, before you qualify for a Gold Medal.
Out of 34, 603 students who participated in the competition last year, only 97 got Gold Medals in various subjects. This means competition is stiff, but hey, you never know how you'll do till you try it for yourself!
I got a Gold Medal myself, for English, and trust me, it's worth the money and effort. All you have to do is sign up for the competition, race against time for 1 hour, and hand it in. Simple enough, isn't it? I'm not sure of what preparations can be done, because the paper tests you in all manner of fields such as grammar and literary interpretation, to name a few. It's a fully objective paper, meaning no essays. If you really want to prepare for it, you can purchase past year booklets from the website, the link of which I will provide at the end of this entry. Personally, I recommend reading up on the rules of grammar and reading more, as they do test you on your vocabulary and it helps to have a large vocab bank.
Alright, now I'll highlight how it helps you with your co-curricular marks. Those in Form 5 and Upper 6 will probably find this useful =)
My memory's a bit rusty, so this is more or less correct kay. I used this competition in my 'Clubs and Society' section to great effect. First off, the 'Kehadiran' or 'Attendance' part, I used from another activity I was in, which gave me 50%. Then, I also used a post from another club, which gave me 10%. Now, for 'Level of Participation', the ICAS is on an international level, so it was the full 20%! As for 'Pencapaian' or 'Achievement', since I got the Gold Medal, it was 1st on a national level - I got to put 17%!
Which summed up to an astounding...97%! Isn't it amazing? If you have can combine attendance from another club, and a high post from another, and participate in this competition, you already have around 80%, which gets you an A, even if you don't win the medal! Bear in mind that High Distinction and below is not counted as a 1st, 2nd or 3rd placing - which is quite unfortunate.
This is why I highly recommend joining this competition. Not only will you benefit academically, you will also gain plus points co-curricular wise! For those who are interested to join, please talk to your English teachers or the Head of the English Panel in your school or, for those in college doing pre-uni/something equivalent to Upper 6, try talking to your English lecturer or dean. You have to join this competition through your school as even the form which you fill in will require you to state which school you're from.
Here are some dates to mark on your calendar if you're interested in joining :
Science
- Competition date: Tuesday, April 29th 2008
- Entries close: Tuesday, April 1st 2008
- Entry fee: MYR 20.00 per student
Computer Skills
- Competition date: Tuesday, September 2nd 2008
- Entries close: Tuesday, July 22th 2008
- Entry fee: MYR 20.00 per student
Mathematics
- Assessment date: Tuesday, July 22th 2008
- Entries close: Tuesday, June 24th 2008
- Entry fee: MYR 20.00 per student
English
- Competition date: Tuesday, August 5th 2008
- Entries close: Wednesday, July 9th 2008
- Entry fee: MYR 20.00 per student
For more information, visit www.eats.com.my. I hope this article proved informative - all the best and good luck!
Updated on May 14, 2008: Dear readers, please bear in mind that mark allocations may vary from school to school. My previous schools gave out 20/20, which is the best case scenario. The 'worst case' scenario would be 17/20. Do confirm with your head of co-curricular activities - but do join the competition for the many other benefits it offers, not just for the marks kay! :)
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