Tips dan Contoh Jawaban Pertanyaan Penilaian Diri di Form Aplikasi Beasiswa LPDP

Beasiswa LPDP merupakan beasiswa fully funded dari Pemerintah Indonesia untuk melanjutkan program master (S2) atau doctoral (S3) degree baik di dalam maupun luar negeri (LN). Tahapan seleksi bisa saja berubah dari tahun ke tahun, bisa pantau website resminya ya di https://beasiswalpdp.kemenkeu.go.id/ . Seleksi pertama dalam proses aplikasi beasiswa LPDP adalah seleksi administrasi.

*Disclaimer:

1. Tips yang ada di sini adalah poin yang saya tangkap dari obrolan dengan awardee berbagai scholarship ataupun kelas-kelas yang pernah saya ikuti.

2. Contoh essay adalah essay pribadi yang saya submit untuk mendaftar beasiswa LPDP LN tahun 2021. Tidak ada aturan baku apakah jawaban tersebut ditulis dalam bahasa Indonesia atau Inggris. Senyamannya. Namun, alangkah baiknya kalau essay ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris jika tujuan kampus LN.

Dalam proses seleksi administrasi tahun 2021 (mungkin tidak akan jauh berbeda dengan tahun berikutnya), pendaftar mengisi data riwayat pendidikan, riwayat pekerjaan, pengalaman organisasi, prestasi, kemampuan bahasa, pengalaman pelatihan/ workshop, pengalaman riset, karya ilmiah, konferensi dan seminar, penghargaan, upload dokumen, essay personal statement, dan essay kontribusi. Haha banyak ya. Selain itu, pendaftar juga mengisi beberapa pertanyaan terkait penilaian diri. Di artikel ini, kita fokus membahas hal tersebut.

Edited: Berdasarkan pengalaman saya yang sudah membaca puluhan essay dan menjadi mentor LPDP, banyak yang menjawab pertanyaan penilaian diri seadanya. Padahal ini kesempatan untuk menyampaikan value yang kita miliki. To the point, kasih contoh, process, dan hasilnya.

ISIAN

1. Kekuatan/ Kelebihan (Strong Point) Yang Dimiliki

Di kolom jawaban pertanyaan ini, kita dapat menyebutkan beberapa kekuatan/ kelebihan yang dimiliki baik dalam hal kepimimpinan, kontribusi, dan berbagi. Diantara semua kelebihan yang dimiliki, kita bisa tulis point yang relate dengan visi misi LPDP, value yang mereka cari dari tiap kandidat, ataupun rencana ke depan.

Saya mengisi jawaban pertanyaan tersebut dengan membuat list point. Awalnya, saya mencoba untuk membuat jawaban menjadi paragraf beserta dengan contoh nyata hingga 150 kata. Tetapi tidak bisa disubmit karena terlalu panjang.

2. Kelemahan/ Kekurangan (Weak Point) Yang Dimiliki

ESSAY SINGKAT

Sebagai jawaban, kita bisa menyebutkan kelemahan/ kekurangan yang mendorong kita untuk terus maju dan menjadi pribadi yang lebih baik. Kita juga meski tau bagaimana mengatasi setiap kelemahan yang kita sebutkan. Alangkah baiknya jawaban tersebut bukanlah sisi kelemahan/ kekurangan yang akan menjadi boomerang. Point ini bisa menjadi bahan pertanyaan lanjutan interviewer saat interview (seperti saya kemarin).

1. Pengalaman Membanggakan

Pertanyaan ini membantu interviewer untuk melihat definisi sukses dari para pendaftar beasiswa dan seberapa ambisius dalam mencapai goals. Selain itu, mereka juga ingin mengetahui skills yang kita punya untuk mencapainya. Sehingga, mereka dapat mengetahui apakah definisi sukses itu sesuai dengan value LPDP.

Cara menjawab pertanyaan ini adalah dengan brainstorming refleksi perjalanan hidup entah pencapaian karir, prestasi, atau kehidupan berbagi dengan orang lain. Selama refleksi, tulis pengalaman membanggakan apa saja yang muncul dalam pikiran kita. Ini membantu kita untuk memilih pengalaman membanggakan yang sesuai dengan value LPDP.

Metode STAR memudahkan kita dalam menulis jawaban. Situation (contoh kontribusi spesifik), Task (peran dalam kegiatan), Action (langkah-langkah yang dilakukan), Result (impact/ hasil/ dampak dari apa yang kita lakukan).

Contoh:

The proudest part of my life as a human being is when my existence can give a positive impact on society no matter how small the contribution is. The recent event for this was my volunteering experience during the aftermath of the flash flood that hit several sub-districts in Hulu Sungai Tengah in January 2021. At that time, I thought that I should do something that I can. I invited my father and brother to help me as a team in the field. I coordinated with friends from the “Himpunan Duta dan Pendidik Kalsel” community (now changed to Bintang Banua Bersinar) located in Banjarbaru to raise donations. Before doing fundraising, one of my tasks was to find data on the number of victims and the number of houses that were completely depleted. This information can be found on https://nurwahdah.com/2021/01/22/banjir-bandang-terjang-hst-kalsel-148-buah-rumahhancur-tak-bersisa-dan-telan-korban-jiwa/ . Problems arose among the committee such as different opinions on how to collect the funds right on target. To have a common ground, I provided data about what people in the field needed. At the agreed time, the money was donated to help build a prayer room. Another experience happened during my dedication in being the coordinator of the sastra division in Science Goes To Opera. In my prior experience as a member, I learned to find a strategy and apply it to achieve targets and improvement. As the result of our team's consistency in exercising to write a novel and short story with a mentor, we were successful in publishing a novel titled “Nuxvar” before the end of my dedication. This novel tells stories about Nuxvar organizations fighting for their hope, love, and dreams. Besides, one of my members successfully represented South Kalimantan at PEKSIMINAS national level in a short story writing contest in Kendari as long as I coordinated a regular writing exercise program, both of which had never happened before in our period. I can feel that my team and I shared positive energy such as optimism that keeps us moving towards our goals and dreams. To conclude, making positive impacts and delivering my best to inspire and give "makna" is the proudest part of my life.

2. Pengalaman Kurang Membanggakan

Tidak jauh berbeda dengan pertanyaan pengalaman membanggakan. Di akhir paragraf, kita bisa menambahkan life lessons/ insights dari dedikasi dan pengalaman tersebut.

Contoh:

An experience can be considered less proud when I do not reach the target but have done and tried my best. One of the less gratifying moments happened when I failed to be a speaker in The 7th Symposium of the JAPAN-ASEAN Science Technology Innovation Platform (JASTIP). I submitted my paper to JASTIP and my paper was selected as top 50 to be presented in that symposium. About one week before this date, my supervisor told me that I will attend a drafting patent workshop and he will fly to the JASTIP symposium. I felt  satisfied, but sad at the same time because JASTIP Symposium was one of my closest opportunities to meet and discuss with my prospective supervisor to pursue my degree in the Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University. In 2019, one of my goals was to be a speaker in international conferences to level up my ability from being a speaker in national conferences in 2018. Unfortunately, it was not my time. Another moment that had the same feeling was when I received a message about the final decision from  Professor Azlan Kamari, my prospective supervisor from UPSI ( Sultan Idris Education University Malaysia). After my thesis defense and before the graduation ceremony, I met him and we talked about his research grant after meeting in a guest lecture and giving feedback to my paper in a scientific writing workshop. In the end, he decided to accept me as one of his candidate students to carry out his research and finalize my master's degree by research in UPSI. The research grant accepted by him was for Malaysian students  only and afterward, he applied to the Malaysian Ministry of Education to allow me to award it as a research student. An offer was accepted on the condition that I was a UPSI student in early September 2019. It turned out that it was not my fortune since I had not received a bachelor's certificate. Although Allah has not allowed me to achieve what I have been trying to do my best, I believe that one day Allah will give something sweet beyond expectation in exchange for my dedication and I hope being an awardee of LPDP is one of the fruits.

3. Hal Terakhir Yang Diajarkan Pada Diri Sendiri

Pertanyaan ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah kita seseorang yang terus berprogres dan tumbuh menjadi lebih baik dari diri kita sebelumnya. Bisa juga, apakah kita peka terhadap lingkungan sekitar. Kita bisa menuliskan pengalaman hidup yang membuat kita berkembang, dapat mempelajari sesuatu, atau berbuat sesuatu untuk menyelesaikan masalah di lingkungan kita.

Contoh:

The last thing that I learned during a global pandemic is checking and rechecking what we find is one of the attitudes that possibly can break the chain of death. Since there are lots of hoaxes and conspiracies that spread in social media including click-bait information platforms and family WhatsApp groups, checking, rechecking, and thus showing the facts is a must. This can be done by checking the facts based on science. This pandemic reminds me of one quote "every disaster movie starts with the government ignoring science." Based on that, my friend and I have planned to make a science platform (WISE) that bridges science communicators and societies by conveying science into a meaningful story that represents a piece of accurate information. The information published based on the facts and data with credible science communicators, and available references make it easier for people to check and recheck accurate information. Therefore, people will be wiser to make decisions about their health, well-being, and accurate  prevalence. To sum up, we should check, recheck, and reinstate the paramount importance of facts that could be a matter of life or death.

4. Kesalahan Yang Pernah Dilakukan Selama Belajar/ Bekerja

Pertanyaan ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah kita seseorang yang mau belajar dari kesalahan dan memperbaiki kesalahan tersebut. Percaya dirilah untuk menceritakan kesalahan atau kegagalan kita dalam jawaban ini. Sebagai bukti kemajuan, kita dapat menuliskan hasil belajar dari kesalahan tersebut.

Contoh:

For someone who comes from a village that is located far from the middle town, understanding written English was one of my biggest shortcomings. It affected me much when I was a student in my first semester. I used google translate to know the paper translation. I still remember the mistake that probably looked like small things for others but big things for me. [Insert an example in one sentence]. At that time, my brain asked myself "What will happen if I am a doctor and make a mistake in understanding the paper? Whatever my major is, there is one key to obtaining an accurate interpretation. Always the same, language is a bridge". From this, I spent my money collected from being a freelancer to learn English once a week in Banjarbaru. Until the fourth semester, I still could not understand how to translate and write well. Even though I had not yet been able to understand English well for both writing and speaking, I challenged myself to participate in the International Conference on Materials, Membranes, and Water Managements to know how far my ability was. I caught some parts of the materials and I was not able to ask a question that I wanted to know. Instead of giving up, I decided to go to Kampung Inggris to improve my skills. As a result of my enhancement, the paper that I wrote was published in an international journal and indexed by Scopus.

5. Tugas Di Luar Ruang Lingkup Yang Seharusnya

Pertanyaan ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah kita seseorang yang suka melakukan hal-hal melebihi tujuan. Seperti, kita sudah menyelesaikan to do list hari ini lebih awal, dan kita mengerjakan to do list besok hari lebih awal karna ada waktu luang. Bisa juga memberikan contoh dalam pekerjaan kantor, dst.

Contoh:

Enjoying learning new things and seeking out new learning opportunities is one of my principal life. But to do tasks, not in my job description is one thing that I have to consider as well whether this job will impact my future career or not. I had worked as a research assistant in the Ecobiomaterial Research Group led by my thesis supervisor from 2019 to 2020. In my job description, my responsibility was to conduct research by finding the best method to produce nanocellulose from Purun Tikus. Approximately one month later, he offered me to write a book about bioethanol, draft and submit patents and correct students’ scripts. Besides, I also designed book covers and shirt designs for our research group identity. I agreed to do these tasks that can level up the important skills to be a researcher, especially analytical and critical thinking. I believe that the higher our analytical skills would be, the better we can produce research results. 

6. Pembeda Dari Peserta Lainnya

Kita harus memilih salah satu potensi paling kuat dalam diri kita. Tentu, kita menjelaskan keunggulan tersebut dengan menyertakan contoh pengalaman tersebut sebagai pendukung potensi diri.

Contoh:

Everyone can be a leader, but not everyone is willing to take a risk being a leader for something that she or he has no experience of before and that is what differentiates me from others. I am a leader and a risk-taker at the same time. My leadership skills stand out when creating a small business that I had no experience in before. That business was selling practical boxes which can help students easily to organize and prepare practical equipment. Before doing this business, I analyzed target markets and arranged business plans. To make it possible and sustainable, I discussed with my friends either to invest or join in running business plans. There were three people in my team and we shared responsibilities starting from my older brother in senior high school as a material supplier, the second as product developer and marketing, and the last as a driver to pick up products. During running the business, there were no significant obstacles, even our revenue increased every year from 2015 to 2019. Another example of my leadership experiences is when I worked as Chief Executive for TOEFL ITP Preparation that was held massively by Himamia "Redoks" for the first time in FMIPA ULM Banjarbaru (August 1- 31, 2018). This event collaborated with Benraya English Course, one of the informal education institutions in Kampung Inggris, Kediri, East Java. The owner of that institution was my class and private tutor when I studied English intensively in Kampung Inggris for one month in January 2018. I initiated to offer my tutor teaching TOEFL skills since there was no program to improve students' TOEFL scores while our faculty has a higher standard (450) than other faculties. I discussed with my organizations' committee before deciding the next steps. Different perspectives and misunderstandings between the members over the goals. To solve this problem, I introduced a system where all of the members had to present their perspectives. In addition, the other members could also give their comments, critics, and thus harmonize ideas to give a win-win solution. This method was proven to be more effective. After decision making, all of them gave me trust to lead the team including the secretary, treasurer, event division, equipment & logistic division, and public relations division. The most challenging thing to start this program was dealing with negotiations with the head of the chemistry program, the dean of FMIPA ULM, and UPT Laboratorium Bahasa of Lambung Mangkurat University. To get permission and facilities from them, we conveyed a strong background and purpose of this program. In the end, this program was approved and fully supported, especially by the dean of FMIPA ULM. As result, our program was completed successfully and well. Ratna Mei, the owner of the Benraya English Course, contacted me after a year of collaboration to do more projects and hire me as a tutor means that our prior projects not only gave mutual benefit for both of us but also was a satisfying event. To sum up, my two prior experiences in leading small businesses and projects that were carried out in a relatively long period have revealed me as a good leader and a risk-taker. This skill will help me in my future or dream career as a researcher such as leading a research team.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to let me know yaa kalau ada miss dalam poin-poin yang disampaikan.

Have a good day, people 😊