Performing well on the Executive Assessment exam is not the easiest task to do. For those who have just started preparing for the exam, it is very important to start off their journey in the right way in order to make the preparation process fun and end up with a good score. Our purpose today is to help you create a beginner’s EA prep guide for yourself!
1. Research the Exam
The first step you need to take when forming an EA prep guide for yourself is know all the important information about the exam. Take your time to research it fully, making sure you become familiar with the sections, what each of them is about, as well as how the exam is graded. Not only will this help you feel confident about the exam overall, but it will also reveal what sections you need to focus on and how to form your study schedule. Here is a breakdown of the sections: Integrated Reasoning (12 questions), Verbal Reasoning (14 questions), and Quantitative Reasoning (14 questions). As you can already guess, EA is quite comprehensive, and it will require you to allocate appropriate time to each of the sections and practice accordingly.
2. Design Your Study Plan
When you begin your EA journey, it is very important that you take the time to design your own study plan and schedule that will reflect your availability, your current skills, as well as the approximate date of your exam. On the Internet you can find different study plans that will help you understand how to prepare for the EA. The search results might not necessarily be bad, but there is a huge chance that there will be at least one aspect within the plan that won’t fit your goals. That’s why you should carefully review and revise all the aspects of your goals and targets in the scope of the exam and create your individual plan.
3. Work on Your Time Management
As any other exam, the EA requires you to be really good at managing your time and using it efficiently. Although you should never rush when it comes to practicing and making sure that you are confident enough about the questions, it is equally important not to spend too much time both while studying and on your exam day. Always track your time when studying and make sure that you’re allocating enough and reasonable time to each of the sections. As you progress, try to track your time and see if you are spending less or more time on specific question types/topics. This will also help you understand if you are improving your performance. When it comes to your exam day, make sure you do not spend too much time on a specific question. Although it is important to be able to answer as many questions as possible, you don’t want to be spending too much time on a single question and ignore the rest.
4. Take Practice Tests
You will never know if you are making progress if you do not take practice tests. When you are done with the very first phase of your preparation, you might want to take a practice test to better understand your strengths and weaknesses and move on accordingly. You need to keep in mind that although the questions are very similar to the ones that will show up on your exam day, they will not be the same. Another thing you want to remind yourself is that taking too many practice tests won’t be helpful. The frequency of taking practice exam depends on one’s study plan, and usually, it should be taken after studying/revising a reasonable amount of material.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you’ve just planned to take the EA and are about to start your preparation, it is important to take into consideration a few important steps. You first need to research the exam itself and be sure that you fully understand its procedure, sections, timing, etc. Next, you need to design your very own and individual study plan that will reflect your goals and skills. Another thing you want to do is manage your time wisely and use it effectively. Finally, take practice tests to understand your progress and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Using these steps, you can design your own EA prep guide for yourself that will help you get a stellar score!
Regardless of where you are in your EA journey, we here at ApexGMAT are here to help. We offer 30-minute complimentary consultation calls with all interested EA studiers. You can contact us here!