My Experience With the Executive Assessment Test

Yes, that’s true. They did tell me that. They’re definitely not as forthcoming as folks would like. But the information makes sense. The best EMBA programs consider 150 to be a respectable score. And some people have scored above 160 but it’s a minority of the EA population.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Jay,

I see that you took the EA and worked on about 120 IR questions. What material did you use? I am also finding IR really hard, especially keeping up the timing. What are some of the tips that you could share? Also, were the EA questions on the actual exam the same level of difficulty as the practise ones?

Pramod

Jay and forum members who have taken the actual test. Would you say that any of the actual exam questions exist on the study material?

Kuddos to all with great success stories here

Posted from my mobile device

HI all

just did my test yesterday and scored a 161 - 18, 13, 10

in general I think it was about in line with the practise materials and exams that you can buy from the website - and would definitely recommend doing all the questions you get there.

Time wasn't a massive issue for me - but if I had to give some advice it would be to not take more than an extra minute more in the first section - if you have not scored well, I think the second half of the test adjusts accordingly to give you some easier questions, which you should be able to get correct and you definitely don't want to run out of time to get those easier marks.

Key thing to do is not get rattled or spooked by the questions, and better to invest the time and answer the question than skim it and skip with the hope of coming back to them.

Cheers and good luck everyone !

Richard

If you are looking for a quick introduction to the Executive Assessment Exam, Chicago Booth offers a 2 hour prep for EMBA applicants. Everyone is welcome! They are recorded so if you miss the original dates, you can get access to the recordings. Just head over to the Booth Executive MBA site (I can't post a link here) and you will find more information.

Hope to see you there!
Kathleen

Hi All -

Is it true that IR section is adaptive and divided in 2 sets. Each set with 6 questions? Can someone confirm please? Thanks.

Note: I understand that Verbal and Quant sections are adaptive.

Thanks for the details. I prepped for the GMAT but didnt score too well..so school i am applying to asked to consider Exec Assessment.

How similar or close are the questions on these sections to GMAT? The duration and structure is different. I will be purchasing the EA practice tests but wondering if it's worth purchasing EA practice quesitons or should i use the GMAT ones.

Hi All,
Just passed the second Practice Assessment test on Official EA account and reached 146 after a 142 score...
I am french and even though I was thinking having a correct level in English, I feel that this is far from the required level. I am working in parallel of my studies since end of february and I feel that I struggle a lot on speed reading.
I have been through once on 300 questions, but intend to take those questions again twice. I have a personal maths teacher as well for 30 hours and made great progress on this topic.
My goal is to apply to Insead 1st of July is the deadline and I should need a 12 Quant, 10 verbal and 10 on IR.

Need some advices or experience of non native english speaker maybe? Thank you very much for your support, I can't wait to get rid of it!

Hi there. I craved to find out more about the EA test since most material relates to GMAT, which is considerably different. I'll therefore add my experience, having taken the test a few days ago.

- I’m 45 years old with barely any numerical exposure in my line of work. Almost all material in the test (especially quant) was alien to me. I had studied some algebra and arithmetic in my school days, but nothing I would remember without picking up books again.
- I had to travel 5+ hours to get to a test centre in the Netherlands, since there are none in my country.
- I bought the official two mock tests and question pack offered on the GMAC site.
- I didn’t finish the IR and Verbal study materials but finished the quant questions. I also tried a few extra problems and read some material via a trial membership to the Target Test Prep site. If I had to restart studying, I would dedicate myself to that site over anything else as the material is quite polished, though focussed on GMAC rather than EA.
- Total study period was three weeks, give or take. About 1-2 hours daily. I took both timed practice tests, one week apart (obtained my target score on both occasions). I stopped studying two days before the official test, due to work pressure and travelling to the test country a day before.
- Basing myself on previous users' experiences, I opted to quickly complete questions I knew I could answer, then go back. Time management was thus less of an issue.
- Like others in this thread, I thought the GMAC study questions were harder than those found on the test, but I did come across questions that had no equivalent in the sample question pack.
- The test machine had a cheap low-res monitor and clunky keyboard and mouse. Took me a few minutes to acclimatise since all my practice and mock tests were done on a better machine. I suggest that you make peace with this before you step into the test centre, so you can focus on the questions not the environment.
- Final score: IR 9 / Verbal 12 / Quant 10 / overall 151
- I did badly in the IR section compared to mock tests, which must have led to easier quant questions. I think this ruled out a higher overall score for me, since easier questions carry less points.
- Final score secured me the target school admission, so I'm satisfied overall.
- An incident which may be irrelevant to most candidates: I arrived 45 minutes before the scheduled test time. Ten minutes before start time, the administrator could not log into the PearsonVUE candidate identification module and went on a lengthy tech support call. An hour later, candidates were given the option to reschedule the test or wait. They still could not get the ID module to work. I insisted that rather than fixing the module, they work on bypassing it through manual check-in. Administrator took this up with PearsonVUE and I was offered a manual ID and sign-in (endorsing a printed form), so the test could start. It was a stressful 90 minutes, so if this ever had to happen to you, do know that you can log-in the old-fashioned way, and insist that you do so.
- Happy to answer questions.

I agree that there is very little info about the EA, so I will also add to this forum since it has been a wealth of information for me about the exam.

I took the EA yesterday scoring a 151 - 10 IR/12 V/9 QR

Slightly lower than the two GMAC practice tests I took one and two weeks prior to the official exam - 152, 156.

I purchased the official GMAC practice questions with two practice tests and spent about 5 weeks studying for the exam - 60-90 mins a day going through practice questions in each of the three test categories. This was the only dedicated EA prep I could find. Prior to this I had been studying for about a month to take the GMAT using a combination of Magoosh and the GMAT official guide (online and actual book). I would highly recommend Magoosh based on their study guides and video explanations for every practice question. Magoosh really helped with re-learning many quant basics, which I had forgot over the past 20 years.

My background is in the creative field - 14 years of photography and film making. Needless to say, my quant skills were a bit rusty.

I went though all the practice questions 3x and each practice test 2x. Recognizing each section's question structure became second nature and allowed my answer times to become much quicker. Before the actual exam, my biggest fear was running out of time, which did not end up happening. I attribute this to knowing the landscape of the test. During the practice questions my IR times were not great, but after about 150 questions the concepts started to click.

Test Day Experience:
-All of my prep was done alone in my home where it was quiet and distraction free. My actual test was in a room with approx. 15 other people, separated by cubicle walls. It was definitely quiet, but there was a lot of movement from the other test takers taking breaks, finishing exams etc. I was provided with a pair of noise cancelling headphones which I used and helped me dial in my focus. As other members here have stated, the dry erase marker and sheets also provided were somewhat cumbersome to use, but not terrible. I asked to test both pens provided before I entered the exam room. The computer interface that the test is administered in is highly dated. At the onset of the exam I was given all the instructions on screen about how each section works, reviews etc. I think I had 15 mins to go through this - which I took nearly all that time to allow myself to adjust to the font etc. Additionally, during the exam at the start of each section (IR, VR, QR) another set of instructions is presented. Do not read through these again because you'll notice that the clock has already begun counting down. I felt like this is a little deceptive on GMAC's part. All these little differences felt somewhat distracting, so definitely be prepared to encounter them. And use the bathroom before taking the test! I couldn't imagine taking a break during the EA, every second is crucial.

-From my understanding the test is adaptive, so the answers to the first half of the questions in each section dictate the second half. I agree with the member that said not to spend too much time reviewing the first half because if you did poorly, the second half of the questions will be easier. I found this to be the case for the Quant section of my test. The second half questions were very simple, likely because I did poorly on the first half.


Hope this helps and good luck to everyone taking this test!

Hi, Do we have an idea on how many incorrect questions in the Executive Assessment test result in the the associated score and how much should I score across all three sections to get a score above 175 / 200 ?

Hi!
I will be attempting the EA at the end of this month and I am working on the official EA GMAC prep material.
I was wondering if some of the questions are a repetition of what you can find on the prep material, or just the style of questions is identical.
I am struggling with Quant...
Any advice would be welcomed.

Warm regards,

S.