We know that preparing scholarship applications is time-consuming and can be stressful, so we have put together some tips to help you write your Ruth Titilayo Educational Foundation Scholarship application.
Before you start to write
Check you are eligible
Read all the guidance on the specific funding page on our website. You will find information about eligibility and suitability, what we offer, how to apply and deadlines.
Find out more about the scholarships awarded under the specific scheme that you are interested in.
Gather all the information you need
If you want to get an idea of the information you will need to provide in your application, you can look at our website for the fields required in the form.
Get as much advice as you can – ask other people if they are willing to share their successful and unsuccessful applications with you.
Writing your application
Give yourself plenty of time
it is important that you avoid rushing your application. Allow plenty of time ahead of the deadline.
Make your application easy to read and understand
- Give enough detail so that the reviewers can understand you.
- Write in clear English and avoid technical jargon where possible.
- Keep abbreviations and acronyms to a minimum – define them when they are first used.
- List all references consistently.
- Check your spelling and grammar.
- Finally, ask your supervisor, tutor, family, or colleagues to read your application critically before you submit it.
For postgraduate applicants, as well as submitting a standard application form, which you will find on our website, you will need to provide a personal statement. In this statement you will need to include some or all of the following information:
- Who you are – describe yourself and what you are studying and where.
- A brief outline of your research project (where applicable).
- Your future career ambitions.
- Your current employment situation, and if you are employed, a brief overview of where you work and your responsibilities in the role.
- How you are planning to fund your studies.
- The extent of your financial need.
Preparing for the Aptitude Test:
What to expect:
- Word Problems:
One thing you can be sure to see in your aptitude test are a lot of word problems. The questions are actually set to be fair to students in all faculties, whether science, art of commercial. However, make no mistake, the questions will test how well you can think and how fast as well. The questions you would get in math would revolve around ratio, proportion, percentages, and geometry. prepare accordingly. You can make use of AI to prepare you in regards to these topics or consult past questions like those from MTN scholarships, GRE, GMAT or NNPC.
2. Logic and Reasoning
A section of questions you will come across in the aptitude test will be ones which would test your logical reasoning. Take for example this question below:
“Every time I wear my red socks, my team wins.” This is an example of:
a) Causal reasoning
b) Correlation mistaken for causation
c) Deductive logic
d) Valid syllogism
Those are the kind of questions to expect. Again you could practice by making use of AI to train you on these kind of questions.
3. Grammar
Another aspect of the RTEF aptitude test will be to test your grammar. Kindly brace yourself for A level grammar tests. Familiarize with as much big words as you can as well as synonyms and antonyms for a lot of words as you will find them very useful. Kindly note that comprehension questions will be part of the questions you will come across so kindly prepare yourself to be able to read fast and answer as quickly as possible.
4. Quantitative Reasoning (For candidates in secondary school)
For candidates in secondary schools, it is advised you cast your mind back to the quantitative reasoning questions you solved back in primary school as there is a very high chance that you would meet these questions in your test. Practice effectively, time yourself and make sure that you are able to achieve both speed and precision in your test.
Things to avoid in your test:
- Examination Malpractice: as true with every other exam, examination malpractice is hugely frowned upon by RTEF. The aptitude test will be heavily proctored with features like full screen mode, screen monitoring, and tab switch monitoring implemented. If found guilty of malpractice, your exam will be ended immediately and you will automatically be disqualified from the scholarship. Refuse the thought of cheating. The exams are really something you can handle.
- Using an unreliable network: Avoid using an unreliable network to take this test. Reason being that the test is dependent on your bandwidth being available and steady throughout the duration of this test. Hence, any fluctuation in network performance will affect your test progress and possibly halt your test, robbing you of precious minutes in your test or worse, locking you out. Hence, have a backup network readily available as well to prevent any surprises.
- Using a faulty phone or a phone which always receive calls: Making use of a laptop for the purpose of this test is ideal. Reason being that most laptops have a good enough processor and RAM to handle the process of the test seamlessly as opposed to phones which due to low RAM (e.g 1GB RAM) could result in multiple hitches in your test like bringing out the dreaded ‘Android is not responding’ message. In addition to this, it is a known fact that calls on phones disrupts data connections for the period of the call and as I earlier mentioned, the need for a seamless connection throughout the entire period of the test can really not be overemphasized. So please prepare accordingly to avoid such problems.
- Coming late to your test: The aptitude test for the RTEF scholarships are given by a limited access duration. Your test would only be available to be taken for an hour after which access will be closed. Hence, any minute missed in your test before you log in is a minute less you have to attempt your questions. Therefore, it is advisable that you are settled and ready to take your test at least 10-15 minutes before the test commences. This gives you the chance to stay on top on your situation and go into your exam with a clear and prepared mind.
With these, you have all you need to start your application. We wish you good luck!!!