Published: 01 Sep 2021

Many students want to get scholarships abroad but are still confused on how to prepare their English skills. To answer this question, President University (PresUniv) held a casual talk entitled "English Tests Prep for Scholarships: Fulbright & LPDP" through the Clubhouse application, Friday (27/8). This casual talk presented Ani Pujiastuti, Ph.D., Head of Center for Language and Culture (CLC) PresUniv who is also an alumna of Fullbright scholarship, Ohio State University, USA, and Yogi Saputra Mahmud, S.Pd., M.TESOL, lecturer of Primary School Teacher Education (PSTE) PresUniv and awardee of Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) scholarship at Monash University, Australia.

Ani explained that the selection process to get a Fullbright scholarship began with selecting documents containing study objectives, study proposals, curriculum vitae, and IELTS/TOEFL results. Then, proceed with the interview and wait for placement if it succeeded. The process took about a year. For TOEFL, Ani advised PresUniv students to practice diligently if they want to get maximum results. “I believe practice makes perfect. So, the more you practice, the easier it will be to master the formula,” said Ani. In addition, reading novels or English texts will also be very helpful in working on TOEFL questions, especially in the reading section.

Meanwhile, Yogi shared his experience of getting a scholarship from the government through LPDP. He said the selection process took five to six months. The LPDP Scholarship also accepts various kinds of English language proficiency tests, such as TOEFL IBT, TOEFL ITP, and IELTS. For the IELTS test, said Yogi, it is essential to study various topics because it will make it easier to work on the questions. “On the IELTS test in May, I got a geography question. This is my favorite topic, so it became my advantage in doing the questions,” he explained. Yogi also suggested learning scanning and skimming reading techniques. According to him, these techniques are needed to do the IELTS test, especially in the reading section. (Steven Chaniago, PR team. Photo: Steven)