For the most part, I worked out of my school textbooks. My school uses Pearson for science and Cambridge for maths (I also purchased an Oxford maths textbook) so I mainly did the questions from those books. I focused on science more since I was doing advanced work for math in class anyway and I ended up covering the entire science book in about two months. Over my three months of preparation, I basically studied at any spare moment. I started with covering content from my textbooks, then as the date of the exam neared I began doing practice exams. I didn't really practice writing since I felt pretty confident in my writing abilities but in the last two weeks or so I did ask ChatGPT for prompts and have my writing marked by it. Overall, I wouldn't recommend my study method as it was very rushed. I relied heavily on prior foundation knowledge and the fact that I was scoring well in both subjects but also had to sacrifice a lot of my social life as I studied for the exam and tried to join activities to put on my CV.
JMSS Entry Tips
You should definitely revise the content beforehand and treat the practice exams like proper ones. As for what the examiners are looking for, I can't say, but it shouldn't matter as long as you don't leave any questions unanswered. During the reading time, make a mental note of all the easier questions/questions you can do and try to answer them to the best of your ability. Leave the harder ones last and if you end up running out of time, it's fine to guess.
For Year 10 entry there are two parts to the interview. First is the group interview which is a multi-stage interview in itself. There are about 5 people in each group. During the group interview, you want to be friendly and sociable as they test teamwork and leadership. It starts off pretty relaxed with some icebreakers to get to know your group. After that they give you a budget and a problem and you choose how to spend the budget. I remember my group had a budget of 5 million and we had to spend it to support the repopulation of the endangered sugar glider. This activity is supervised by some of the JMSS Year 12s. Then there's another stage where they give you materials and a challenge. For my group, we had to move a small ball from one side of the table to the other with no direct contact. This is also supervised by Year 12s. That's the last stage of the group interview and after that you are seated at a desk and given an extensive NR problem to solve in a minute. Once that minute is up, you go to your one-on-one interviews. The group activities vary with each group so it's unlikely you'll get the same as the group before or after you.
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Plus if anyone can share their experience (like how hard or easy exam was) it would be great.
For the most part, I worked out of my school textbooks. My school uses Pearson for science and Cambridge for maths (I also purchased an Oxford maths textbook) so I mainly did the questions from those books. I focused on science more since I was doing advanced work for math in class anyway and I ended up covering the entire science book in about two months. Over my three months of preparation, I basically studied at any spare moment. I started with covering content from my textbooks, then as the date of the exam neared I began doing practice exams. I didn't really practice writing since I felt pretty confident in my writing abilities but in the last two weeks or so I did ask ChatGPT for prompts and have my writing marked by it. Overall, I wouldn't recommend my study method as it was very rushed. I relied heavily on prior foundation knowledge and the fact that I was scoring well in both subjects but also had to sacrifice a lot of my social life as I studied for the exam and tried to join activities to put on my CV.
Thanks for this nuclei
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nuclei That's the last stage of the group interview and after that you are seated at a desk and given an extensive NR problem to solve in a minute.
How hard was it?
nuclei Then there's another stage where they give you materials and a challenge. For my group, we had to move a small ball from one side of the table to the other with no direct contact.
Ohh!? Was it easy?
The NR question was a 3-4 part question from memory. Personally, I didn't finish it and I don't think it matters too much.
The challenge my group got was fairly easy but while I was waiting for the 1-1 interviews I spoke to a girl in the group before me and she said her group had a robotics one and didn't end up completing it. Again, I don't think it matters too much as long as you show strong leadership because my friend was also in that group and he ended up getting a first round offer.
Not really. I only used it since I was already confident in my writing and even then it was only to practice a little before the exam. If you do use it, don't worry too much about the mark it gives (rare to get 80%+) and focus on the feedback unless it's telling you to go in more detail. That's useless since you'll only have 30 minutes per piece anyway. It's obviously better to get a teacher to mark your work but unfortunately mine was swarmed with work at the time so I did what I could.
Oh nice...
Are there any good books for N.R.... If anyone knows any, please let me know.
Thank you
Starc
Ok... Well, why didn't he get an interview?