Experiences with Executive Assessment - Post Your EA Experience Here

Hi,

I have read a lot about the EA here before taking it last week and just wanted to give a debrief on my experience.
29 year old non-native in English. I have bought the full study package when sighing up for the EA online exam. I studied exactly for 2 weeks and have done all the 350 questions provided and the 4 exams.
I did one prep exam every 4 days. To be fair, I have been studying for the GMAT over the summer for 2 months and ended up with a 640. Was thinking about doing it again but choose the EA. The previous GMAT prep was helpful to answer the questions quickly and I knew all the question types by heart when starting the EA prep.

1. 159 (IR:15; VR:11; QR:13)
2. 164 (IR:18; VR:12; QR:14)
3. 160 (IR:18; VR:10; QR:12)
4. 160 (IR:12; VR:12; QR:16)
Real Exam. 159 (IR:15; VR:11; QR:13)

The score is okay, but I felt like I could have done 160+ and thus I am somewhat bummed. The IR part seemed a little tougher than in the prep and the other two were the same difficulty. On QR I did a silly mistake and knew right after.

Generally the online EA is okay, but I felt very tense during it. When reading I am usually mumbling a little and I got warned by the proctor that if I do it again, the exam will be revoked. I of course stopped, but it put me in a weird mood. Also my neighbour literally started vacuuming above for 20 mins, which was also distracting. If you do the online version, really make sure that it is quite, since you are not allowed to wear earplugs.

I hope this helps!

Thank you klic2rohit

I found the difficulty of the questions quite similar to the one of the prep materials. The scarce data available seem to suggest that people tend to score what they score in the practice assessments + / - 3 points. If you are able to score 155+ in the practice tests, then definitely go for it!

Apologies if I have posted on the wrong thread but just wanted to check if it makes sense for an Indian candidate to give the EA for a full-time MBA program? Is it seen as a negative to send in an EA score after a GMAT score has been sent?

Hi All,

I recently took my EA. My goal is to get into Darden EMBA, McDonough Flex MBA, Stern, and Columbia Part Time. What are my chances of getting into these schools?

Mock 1: 154
Mock 2: 153
Mock 3: 159
Mock 4: 150

Actual Score 1: 154 (IR: 10 VR:9 QR:15)
Actual Score 2: 155 (IR:11 VR: 9 QR:15)

Not likely unless you've been out of school for 8-10+ years. Some schools are making exceptions but not many.

Pretty solid without knowing the rest of your application. Darden's EMBA average is 153 according to a blog post I came across.

HelloItsGrant
Did you find any difference in difficulty level when you attempted the test a second time?

klic2rohit, IR and VR were similar in difficulty. I did notice quant was harder than the first time.

Hi there, any chance you can share the Manhattan book you used? I've gone through their website and it's a bit of a mess!

Does Darden EMBA even require a test? You might be able to get a waiver (your scores seem fine).

What schools did you reach out that said they wanted a 160? Is this for FT or EMBA?

I took the EA exam yesterday and got a 165 (Q15, IR18, V12). I know my Q/V is not that great was wondering if anyone had a sense of whether this is an acceptable split-up for the EMBA/part-time MBA programs. I'm planning to apply to Haas/UCLA and Foster was wondering if anyone has insights specifically on these schools.

That is a fantastic score. That is around 98th percentile. I don’t think your scores split matters all that much at that level. Once you get over 90th percentile in scores, the composition is not as important. There’s also value in diversity and having people who are great in Quant and people who great in verbal and people who are great in IR.

Congrats! You can apply anywhere with that score.

Posted from my mobile device

mbmbmba
Congrats on the great score.

1. You attempted an online test or in a test center?
2. Are the questions inline with Official GMAC EA practice question sets?
3. Any tips/suggestions you can provide.

klic2rohit

1. It was in a test center
2. They are mostly inline with the practice questions, I did think that IR was harder than those in the practice sets.
3. I was preparing a lot from the GMAT books and courses and it felt significantly easier than GMAT. I would recommend using GMAT books as a way to practice.

I am planning to take EA in 1st week of March. I have done some studies for a couple of weeks. Today I took my first test prep exam. I have scored 150 (Q11, V9, IR10). I hope to score 155-160.

The question to people who have passed or mastered the exam, how do you get IR done on time.

You'll have to bail on a question or two. As you're doing practice problems, make mental notes on the questions you consistently get right or struggle with. Those that you struggle with and will take excessive time, skip. It's better to spend a little more time on questions you're likely to get right than ones that will take 5 minutes to get right.