Pengalaman Mengikuti Tes CPNS Kemlu 2013 (I): Test, Test dan Test lagi....

(As this article is aimed to share my experience and help Indonesians aspiring to join the prestigious institution to undergo the tests, the article will be written in Bahasa Indonesia)

Jadi… ini artikel berbahasa Indonesia pertama saya, semoga yang saya tulis bisa membantu.

Alhamdulillah, malam tahun baru kemarin dapat hadiah akhir tahun yang indah. Situs e-cpns Kemlu yang biasanya saya cek tiap hari untuk berita/pengumuman hasil tes final akhirnya mengepos berita yang ditunggu-tunggu. Setelah mengikuti seri tes-tes Kemlu dari bulan September (kalau yang seleksi administrasi dihitung) sampai Desember (dengan masa PHP yang lama banget) akhirnya berhasil juga.

Dibanding dengan penerimaan CPNS instansi pemerintahan lain, tes CPNS Kemlu tergolong yang bersih. Dari awal sampai akhir, saya tidak mengeluarkan biaya apa-apa kok, kecuali biaya transportasi ke tempat ujian (bolak-balik Bangka-Jakarta, terus rumah keluarga-tempat ujian). Status saya sekarang masih menunggu panggilan diklat, jadi sendirinya belum tahu isi Kemlu itu bagaimana tapi masih nekad tulis sekarang karena takut lupa.

Jadi, sebelum benar-benar berniat ingin masuk Kemlu pastikan niat teman-teman dahulu. Untuk tahu sistem karier di Kemlu, boleh membaca majalah internal-nya Kemlu di sini. Selebihnya silakan tanya saudara atau teman yang sudah di sana ya. Sudah pasti? oke, mari kita jabar satu-satu tesnya

Tes-Tes di CPNS Kemlu 2013 

Tes CPNS Kemlu 2013 ada lima tahap (kalau administrasi ikut dihitung), dimulai dari akhir September sampai akhir Desember 2013 (pengumuman hasil tes akhir).

1. Seleksi Administrasi

Untuk tes administrasi, saran saya lengkapkan berkas sesuai dengan yang diminta di dalam situs e-cpns kemlu di sini (sebagai situs pendaftaran dan yang wajib dicek terus selama ujian) dan kirim berkas lamaran ke Panitia. Untuk formasi CPNS Pejabat Diplomatik dan Konsuler/PDK (yang saya ikuti) ada 12.125 orang yang melamar dan 6.248 yang mengirimkan berkas. Yang diterima hanya 4.874 orang saja. Kalau sudah diterima, print kartu tanda ujian peserta-mu, kalau boleh rangkap dua, takut yang satunya rusak. Oh ya di sini juga ditanyakan tentang kemampuan bahasa kita dan bahasa apa yang akan kita ajukan untuk dites, jadi ajukan yang kita paling mahir saja (Bahasa yang dites untuk tahun 2013: Inggris, arab, mandarin, jerman, perancis, rusia, spanyol, jepang dan korea). Kalau merasa tingkat bahasa asingnya masih kurang, jangan coba-coba deh diajukan.

2. Seleksi Tes Kompetensi Dasar (TKD)

Tahapan TKD Kemlu dilakukan dengan MenPan-RB, untuk yang tahun 2013 ujian sudah berbentuk CAT (computer-assisted test). Jadi tesnya dilakukan dengan komputer. Soal akan muncul di layar dan kita jawab dengan meng-klik pilihan jawaban dst. Kalau tidak salah, ada 90 soal yang harus dijawab dalam satu jam, dengan materi soal berupa TWK (tes wawasan kebangsaan), TIU (tes intelejensia umum) dan TKP (tes karakteristik pribadi). Setelah selesai menjawab dan men-submit jawaban kita, nilai akan langsung keluar di layar (deg-degan banget). Di luar ruang ujian, panitia menyiapkan layar LCD yang akan menampilakan daftar nilai peserta ujian dan rangking peserta ujian di ruangan tersebut sesaat setelah ujian selesai (tambah deg-degan).Untuk tes TKD, harus latihan soal-soal CPNS yang banyak dijual di toko buku atau kalau mau lebih dalam, pelajari kembali pendidikan kewarganegaraan, sejarah dan matematika tingkat SMP karena soal TWK dan TIU banyak keluar dari sana. Passing Grade TKD ditentukan oleh MenPan-RB (jadi masa menunggu pengumuman hasil bakalan lama) yang kali ini ditetapkan sebesar 250 (70 TWK, 75 TIU dan 105 TKP) yang berdasarkan nilai rata-rata peserta ujian. Dari 3.923 orang PDK yang ikut, hanya 1.450 peserta yang lulus.

3. Seleksi Tes Kompetensi Bidang (TKB)

Untuk tahun 2013, TKB berbentuk pilihan ganda dan essay (95 pilgan dan 2 essay berbahasa Inggris, CMIIW) untuk peserta dengan pendidikan S1. Soalannya dalam bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris, kebanyakan tentang kebijakan dan politik luar negeri Indonesia, isu internasional serta diplomasi secara umum. Banyak-banyak baca koran Jakarta Post dan Jakarta Globe, juga artikel-artikel di situs Kemlu itu sendiri, pemahaman makroekonomi dasar juga saya rasa perlu karena untuk TKB yang saya ikuti ada beberapa yang keluar. Tesnya diadakan di aula yang gede di arena Pekan Raya Jakarta, Kemayoran dan menjawab di LJK, jadi siap-siap bawa papan LJK dan pensil 2B serta penghapus. Perasaan waktunya dua jam, jadi kerjakan mana yang dianggap mudah dulu di pilgan dan sisakan sekurangnya setengah jam untuk soal essay. Untuk soal essay, pertanyaanya tentang apa yang boleh dilakukan Indonesia dalam penyelesaian kasus konflik di Suriah dan prospek serta tantangan yang akan dihadapi Indonesia pada tahun 2014. Dari 1.386 peserta PDK yang ikut, 714 peserta yang maju ke tahap selanjutnya.

4. Seleksi Bahasa Asing

Seleksi bahasa asing ditentukan sesuai bahasa yang kita pilih pada saat pendaftaran. Untuk yang bahasa Inggris, Kemlu bekerja sama dengan LIA, sehingga tesnya dilakukan di LIA Pramuka. Soalnya berbentuk TOEFL paper-based test, dengan struktur soal dibagi tiga: listening, structure dan reading. Bagi yang merasa kemampuan bahasa Inggrisnya cukup mumpuni, jangan ge-er dulu, karena soal di bagian structure cukup susah dan waktunya sedikit. Banyak grammar dan struktur kalimat yang jarang saya jumpai keluar. Trik dalam soalan ini sekali lagi banyak-banyak latihan dan simulasi soal TOEFL terutama bagian listening baik dengan tape atau software sehingga tidak kagok saat tes mulai. Tidak ada interview dan writing. Jadi peserta PDK yang udah ciut 707 (yang hadir) disaring lagi menjadi 232 peserta. Jika ingin mundur dari seleksi CPNS Kemlu (mungkin karena dapat pekerjaan di tempat lain atau lain hal) maka lakukan sekarang juga. Ini karena bila lulus dan ikut tes akhir terus berhasil diterima sebagai CPNS Kemlu, proses pengunduran diri akan memakan biaya dua puluh juta rupiah.

(berlanjut)

Internship and Travelling in Christchurch, New Zealand

Well, as mentioned in earlier post, I did visited New Zealand (NZ) and stayed there for two months in purpose of internship which was required as one of qualification to complete my master studies in Malaysia. It began in late April to late June 2013. Yeah, it’s been too late to post but I still think it is still worth sharing. Why New Zealand? because the center wherein I interned received me with open arms when I sent my application letter. Otherwise, I would have my internship in Thailand or Singapore (closer to home and cheaper living cost).

After they confirmed my internship there and the contract has been signed, then I had to deal with visa, ticket and accommodation. Since the NZ embassy in Malaysia did not offer visa processing service then I had to send it via courier to Singapore and the cost was quite highly (both the courier and visa fee). Alhamdulillah, there was no problem with visa application (which was rumored difficult) though they left me worried due to no news about my application for a week. I got Qantas return ticket for about 1,000 USD from Jakarta-Christchurch. The institution wherein I interned has provided a list of hotels and guesthouses around the university, so I just picked the cheapest. The flight journey was fine (my first intercontinental flight!) though I was suspicious of racial-profiling in Sydney Airport (for transit) when the security officer scurried me to a tube-of-glass-wall-like metal scanner (which most travellers did not have to pass through). 

So there I arrived at Christchurch on mid-Autumn 2013, then immediately reported to the Institution to start internship. I will omit you the details of my work there and share what interest both you and me, travelling. Christchurch is located on the main South Island of NZ, surrounded by hills and close to the sea. You might have recalled the city due to its shocking earthquake news in 2011-2012 (if I’m not mistaken). The city was still in recovery when I visited with the city center’s still cordoned off. Nevertheless, the city is still a beautiful place to visit which was the first impression I got when I came. The second one was quiet, very quiet. For those of you who has visited lively city such as Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta, the contrast would be felt greatly as in autumn most shops close around 5 p.m. and night life was scarce (maybe due to the earthquake?). The surrounding hills and beaches are stunningly beautiful and if you’re a nature lover or looking for nice photography hot spot, Christchurch is the right place. Here’s a few photos I captured there

Luckily, the Queen’s birthday holiday gave us (me and my intern friends) extended weekend which we used to visit Queenstown, an amazing resort town in the south west of NZ’s south island. Unfortunately, it rained in most of the days we spent there. Not willing to waste what possibly once in a lifetime experience, I insisted to go around the city when it rained all day long heavily and later found out my wet passport due to rainwater leaked into my bag (which cost me a hundred of NZ dollar to replace ). On the way back to Christchurch, our journey was interrupted by snow blocking the road. The driver from Queenstown who supposed to wait for oncoming bus from Christchurch refused t do so since it was unclear when the road would be safe to go anymore (they sort of exchanging their buses so that driver from Christchurch would return to Christchurch and vice versa). So, we are sort of stranded at Lake Tekapo, with options: taking another bus going to Christchurch (more money), taking the same bus on next day or hitchhiking. With pressure from my friends, we resorted to hitchhike (I preferred waiting for another bus). After a half hour waiting at the road side, a Korean lady kindly offered a ride. On the bright side, she stopped the car to let us enjoy the snow.

 

 

It was also the first time I tried Vegemite (I can only say I truly wonder how Australians and New Zealanders enjoy eating it). If there’re any drawbacks of staying in NZ, they will be difficulties to find halal food for Muslim (like me), expensive internet fee and unpredictable weather.We're lucky that we had a kind and friendly Malaysian couple who helped us through our stay in NZ greatly (thanks Bang Rafiel and Kak Faridah).

For full album of my NZ journey, you can visit my Facebook album through this link.

Allah, I miss NZ….

An Update After Years Past

             So it has been like almost three years since my last post in this blog, the readers (if any) must have abandoned the blog and even spam messages stopped coming to my chat box widget. This long pause was not because of me not having time to spare to my blog, it's just that I was easily distracted whenever I wanted to write a post. Once I sat facing my laptop, time was spent on finishing my assignments, watching videos on YouTube, compulsively reading random articles on Internet, checking my Facebook, etc. Hence no post since October 2011.

             Enough with self-defending already, let me recap what happened in my life since then. Instead of chronological description of events in my life (Facebook Timeline does it better than me), I'll just point out important ones. Here they are:

• Finishing my undergraduate project paper and graduate (finally :) ) I finished the paper on time only to knew that the deadline was delayed due to others still worked their papers. No intention to brag but if only I knew the delay beforehand I would have sent the draft to any editing service and had it corrected (so my teachers would not critique on my "common" English writing). Anyway, the paper scored nice and I finally graduated

Me, my paper and father

• Visit to Japan and New Zealand (easily one of the best moments in my life). To visit Japan was like a dream come true for manga-lover like me. Thanks to Zakaria-sensei and friends from East Asian studies, I could go to Tokyo and stay there for two weeks. It was something like study tour and to collect enough money to fund it we spend almost one year selling nasi lemak and other snacks (plus some fund from sponsor). And we did it. Days in Japan were filled with fun and nice memories (though halal food was scarce and everything was expensive). Visit to New Zealand is for my postgraduate internship and.... traveling (only in weekends and holidays, but that's what always in my mind during weekdays). Those were the days when I mostly traveled alone in a nearly-perfect country with tolerant people and amazing landscapes. I stayed for two months in Christchurch and few days in Queenstown (an amazing resort town) wherein my passport got soaked in rain when I insisted to goes around the town in a very wet day. (still many stories to tell, maybe I'll leave it for another day).

Pardon the narcissistic author

In NZ, around autumn-winter 2013

•  Continuing my studies to postgraduate degree (Master) and land a job (finally) right after my undergraduate program was completed (not yet graduated) I directly continued to postgraduate program still in the same university. The master program was quite short, only lasted one year but God it was so packed, the daily class schedule was full from morning to evening not to mention the tasks and assignments. Alhamdulillah it was offered in full scholarship and provided a chance to go abroad for internship (isn't that sweet?) which sent me to NZ. Later I realized that I have to face another project paper (again for Master program qualification to graduate). After some sleepless nights, episodes of tired eyes, liters of tea and hours of reading, eventually I finished writing the paper and submitted it around September 2013. Right at that moment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Indonesia opened a few vacancies which I immediately applied. Long story short, after four months of following the MFA's series of tests I got accepted (another stories for another post).

Of course, my life was not always rosy back then. I fell sick due to Malaria and Dengue Fever (which happened in the same time, with sore throat in the beginning) right before my master studies program started, the governor who supported my scholarship passed away and me being useless (in M'sia) during my family's difficult moments (in Indonesia). Anyway life's a b****, if you have it easy then you're doing it wrong.