My Experience as a Foreign Student in NYP

What is life like as a foreign student in NYP? Jevin Gan Ching Wey, Year 2 student, shares his experience studying in a foreign country for the first time. He has some advice for foreign students too!

I love doing experiments. The experiments help us 

to greatly understand the topics we have studied. 

I am a Malaysian who pursued my tertiary education in Singapore after I graduated from secondary school. When I first came to NYP, the initial difficulty I faced was communicating with new friends. To me, it is always tough and challenging to communicate with strangers. But fortunately, there were some students who were really enthusiastic in introducing themselves during orientation. I met all of my classmates during the orientation day. Although they were all so new to me, they gave me a very good impression and I felt like they were all very welcoming.

Another difficulty I faced is adapting to a new environment without any friends. I took it upon myself to resolve all the problems I faced in campus. Apart from telling my new friends about my situation, I also approached the lecturers. Fortunately, all of the lecturers were very kind and guided me throughout the semester. I am so glad that I have done quite well in all of my modules so far.

I actually learnt a lot from NYP while studying there. I still remember that I had to do a presentation in front of my classmates during my first semester. Presenting is one of my weaknesses; in fact, I would actually tremble when I present. The worse thing that happened during my presentation was when I forgot all the information I had already memorised beforehand. That spurred me to work harder than others. Now, I can feel myself improving in terms of presentation skills.

Besides presentation skills, I also learnt more about teamwork and studying for exams.  For the latter: studying for exams is part and parcel of poly life. All tests, reports, assignments and even attendance contribute to our overall grade. We have to really work hard for our exam papers. It is much better to prepare earlier than doing last minute revision. By having a target, such as aiming for ‘A’s, is a big step towards achieving your goal. Always set a target. It will help you towards strategising the most efficient way to study.

An outing with friends after the lessons is relaxing and funJ

Lastly, hanging out with a group of people is the BEST thing to do after school or during lesson breaks. I always feel glad to have my classmates with me on outings together as this is a great time for me to relieve stress.

For foreign students like myself, here is some simple advice:

1.  Try your best to adapt to the environment here within a few weeks or months.
2. Do not to hesitate to ask questions when you are in doubt.
3. Try to finish every tutorial sheet quickly so that you can ask questions during tutorial sessions.
4. Try your best to make good friends in school so that you can form study groups.
5. Studying among friends does help. However, it doesn’t mean that you can just rely on others. You should also revise on your own and voice out important questions to your study group.

I hope you guys are enjoying your poly life in NYP as much as I am. I wish you will adapt quickly to life here and get perfect results J