My first experience on Ujian Pengambilan Lantikan Baru (UPLB)

Jotting down my first experience on Ujian Pengambilan Lantikan Baru (UPLB). 

I tried my luck and applied for government job in e-recruitment Kerajaan Negeri Sarawak after 4 years of graduation! I knew the chances of getting in gov sector was so low and even if one managed to get in (passing both written & interview & luck), the biggest concern is the placement and the position they offer. They will put you in the location that away from your desire place and if you reject it, you will be blacklisted from gov sector for many many years! Nevertheless, I clicked and tried on my luck!

I received a sms stating I was chosen for the UPLB test on 11/5/16, and the test was scheduled on 14/5/16 (is a Saturday, so you will have to take a day off if you work on Saturday), which mean roughly you will have 3 days to get yourself ready. The written exam will take 1 hour 45 minutes. It is advisable to arrive at the exam center an hour earlier (from my experience to skip queue and wait). There were long queues spotted at the registration counter around 30 minutes before the exam started which may cause some unnecessary delays. Bring only IC, pens (for essay), pencils and erasers (for objectives questions). Calculators are not allowed to bring in.  

According to the facilitator that took care of our class, she congratulated us for being among the 7k to be chosen from 20k of application for the pegawai tadbir N41 position. (If I didn't heard wrongly as her sound was pretty small that I barely hear clearly). H was my first alphabet of my name. I was put in number 239. So you can imagine how many applicants were so eager to enter to government sectors?

There are a total of 60 multiple choices questions (objectives with A, B, C &D only) and two essays. 

1. 30 objectives questions in Malay
2. 30 objectives questions in English
3. 1 essay written in Malay (choose 1 from 3 topics, write in less than 100 words)
4. 1 essay written in English (choose 1 from 3 topics, write in less than 100 words)

For Part 1, there will be 10 questions in Malay. You will have to read a short reading comprehension passages and answer the first 10 questions according to the passages. The rest 20 questions will test you roughly on your logical thinking and some simple mathematics.

For Part 2, there will be 10 questions in English. You will have to read a short reading comprehension passages and answer the first 10 questions according to the passages. The rest 20 questions includes some bilingual understanding and vocabulary.

For Part 3 (Essay in Malay), I could only remember the question that I chose. The essay title roughly : Ramai graduan universiti Malaysia menghadapi kesusahan mencari pekerjaan yang sesuai. Beri dua faktor graduan menyebabkan graduan menghadapi masalah ini? 

For Part 4 (Essay in English). Having a good command of English is very important in workplace. Why English is very important?

I thought there will be some questions about our country dasar-dasar Malaysia. However, I didn't get such questions for that particular exam session! Frankly after the test, I find it unnecessary to study before the exam because the scope is too wide and for me the language proficiency (both Malay & English) are the main keys to pass the Ujian!

Updated 27.07.2016

Oops, sadly I didn't managed to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment. It took about two months plus for them to announce the written exam results. I received the exam failure notification both via sms and email. For those who managed to go to the next level, all the best and good luck!  Do share your experiences to us. Hope my post can give those successful selected candidates a primary overview of UPLB.