Malaysian Sikh student Baldeep Kaur came up tops across an international Australian-based pre-university programme.
Baldeep, 20, received the Highest SACE International Student Achiever Award 2015.
SACE stands for South Australian Certificate of Education, an internationally recognised pre-university program and said to be the most popular Australian-based pre-university program in Malaysia.
“My goal was to prove to myself that I could do better,” she tells Asia Samachar in a phone conversation.
Baldeep and her parents attended the graduation ceremony at the college in Subang Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.
Baldeep scored ATAR 99.90, which was the highest achievement across the entire SACE International programme, reads a statement in an advertisement ran in a Malaysian English newspaper.
SACE students are provided with a university aggregate score (out of 90) and an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). The ATAR is a percentile ranking recognised without modification by all tertiary selection agencies in Australia and is used by universities around the world for entry selection purposes, according to SACE website.
Baldeep studied at Tarcisian Convent in Ipoh where she scored straight A’s in SPM, an O-level equivalent Malaysian board examination. She then took up the SACE programme at Taylor’s College.
Her mother Ghelgeth Kaur said Baldeep had very supportive teachers, studies about 5-6 hours a day and reads many story books and other materials.
“I have very supportive parents,” Baldeep adds.
Her dad, Balbinder Singh, is a founder of Compu Studies, an online study portal in Malay for courses in computing and English.
Baldeep who has won a scholarship from Malaysian national oil company Petroliam National Bhd (Petronas), will continue her studies at University of Melbourne where she intends to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in accounting.
“I think I will do even better. That’s my next challenge,” she said.