An application to PSC

The PSC scholarship consists of a few parts – the proper application, the psychometric test, a psychologist interview and then a board interview.

If you are interested in a PSC scholarship though, you might want to try out civil service work first at a ministry or something. PSC now has an internship programme for JC kids (end of J1 or end of J2) and so you really should try it. Not only will you convince yourself about whether you like the job, it probably makes a good case to others that you know what you are getting yourself into.

The school may nominate you for the psychometric test sometime in March or June in Year 6. If you can’t make it on the dates, don’t worry, you will have a chance to take it again at the end of the year, or after you submit your PSC application.

So what is the psychometric test like? There are 4 components – logic, math, English and a personality test. The logic component is similar to the test taken for GEP selection – a bunch of shapes with 1 missing, and then you choose the shape that fits the pattern (Raven's Progressive Matrices). The math component is just a ton of simple math (but you can’t use a calculator!). The English component consists of a few passages where you read it and see what you can infer from it, and the personality test is just what it is, a personality test (it was the Cattell 16 Factor Personality Test in my year).

I don’t think that any of these tests are ‘muggable’ per se, and I really don’t think you should ‘mug’ for them, the best advice I can give is that time is really tight and if you don’t know the answers you really should skip it because it is a very real possibility that you wouldn’t be able to finish the test. Each question also carries the same amount of weightage so it really doesn’t make sense to dwell too much on one question.

I got my psychometric test results back in about August, but they weren’t very informative other than just saying that I was above average in some components and average in some. If you don’t get the results that you were expecting to get, don’t worry because there are so many factors that PSC takes into account anyway and your psychometric test is just 1 out of the many factors. (small caveat: I am not the board and I don’t know how much weightage they give to the psychometric test)

The application opens at about September/October (I can’t remember), and that’s when you fill in things like your grades, etc. That’s pretty straightforward and I wrote a post about what I filled in so you can look at that if you like. I am inclined to believe that the earlier you submit your application, the better (and if you want to know why come ask me). I have heard that they process applications in batches so I guess the earlier you apply the earlier it gets processed, and possibly an earlier interview?

I got my notification for a psychologist interview sometime at the end of January. The psychologist interview is just what it is. They assign you to a psychologist who can be from any affiliated board like Civil Service College, Prisons, Hospitals, etc, and the psychologist will sit there and talk to you for ~4 hours just asking you questions about yourself. Right before the interview commences though there is a very short personality test for about ½ hour. This is probably the easiest component as you just get to talk about yourself for 4 hours. You really don’t have to prepare for this other than BRINGING LOTS OF WATER.

My board interview was sometime in the middle of February. It is held in the PSC office in the National Library, and really they can ask you about anything. Anything goes, be it about yourself or current affairs. The whole PSC board will be there (~10 people) and it can feel a bit intimidating. The questions do come very quickly and they are very sharp (well of course, they are the board members for a reason). The best advice I can give for this section is DON’T PANIC and be calm. There is no better way to prepare for this than to read the newspapers every day (as early as possible, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO START IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY) and take a keen interest in what is happening in Singapore. I don’t think this is something that is ‘muggable’ as well, it isn’t like textbook recitation but it requires you to think about the issues surrounding the world today and how they all affect Singapore.