If you are a week out from your Executive Assessment (EA) and starting to feel the nerves, I’ve got you covered! In this article, I’ll share some test-day tips, which will help you maximize your performance.
Here are the tips we’ll discuss:
- Have a Solid Time-Management Strategy in Place
- Be in the Moment
- Do Not Try to Predict the Outcome While Taking the Test
- Avoid Trying to Be Perfect on the EA
- Guess or Skip Questions When Necessary
- It’s OK to Struggle With the First Question in a Section
- Eat Healthy the Day of Your Exam
- Be Careful in Your Consumption of Caffeine
- Properly Time Your Trip to the Test Center
- Do Some Warm-Up Problems to Wake Up Your Brain
- Be Familiar With the Dry-Erase Pad and Marker
- Relax and Do Some Light Studying the Day Before Your Exam
- Mentally Prepare for a Winding Road on Test Day
Tip #1: Have a Solid Time-Management Strategy in Place
I’m sure you already know that the EA is a timed exam. Let’s quickly review the timing breakdown:
- Integrated Reasoning: 12 questions – 30 minutes
- divided into 2 modules of 6 questions each
- Verbal Reasoning: 14 questions – 30 minutes
- divided into 2 modules of 7 questions each
- Quantitative Reasoning: 14 questions – 30 minutes
- divided into 2 modules of 7 questions each
A nice feature of the EA is that, within each module, you can skip and come back to questions. So, if you don’t understand a particular question, you can skip it, complete the rest of the questions, and return to it before completing the module.
We can see that, given the time constraints of the EA, timing is critical. So, having a solid time-management strategy is key. Ideally, you want to devise this strategy well before test day and perfect it during the practice-test phase of your study plan.
Also, if you cannot complete one of the test sections on time despite your best efforts, feel free to check out our article about how to get faster at solving EA questions.)
TTP PRO TIP:
Perfect your timing strategy well before test day.
Tip #2: Be in the Moment
Your success on test day depends partly on your ability to maintain focus and concentration. To keep that focus, you should always have one priority: focus on the question in front of you! Don’t think about the upcoming questions or previous questions, just the question you are working on at that moment.
Furthermore, get all the noise about the big picture out of your head. Yes, doing well on the EA will significantly affect your future. However, there are better times to think about that than test day.
TTP PRO TIP:
On the EA, focus just on the problem in front of you. Nothing else!
Tip #3: Do Not Try to Predict the Outcome While Taking the Test
The EA is module-adaptive, meaning that the difficulty level of the second module of a section depends on how well you answered the questions in the first module. Thus, one thing EA students love to do is try to determine how well they are performing, based on the difficulty of a section or set of questions. Please do not do this!
Trying to judge the difficulty of questions or sections is a losing strategy. Beyond the fact that it’s quite challenging to assess the difficulty level of any given question, there is not much you can do with that information.
Moreover, the last thing you want to do is incorrectly guess how you are doing on any section of the Executive Assessment. For example, imagine you incorrectly thought you did poorly on the Integrated Reasoning section, without any verification. In that case, it would be no surprise if you mentally checked out for the rest of the exam. But what if, at the end of the exam, you found out that you had crushed the IR section? Sadly, you would have wasted a fantastic opportunity to get a great EA score.
TTP PRO TIP:
Never try to guess how well you are doing on the EA.
Tip #4: Avoid Trying to Be Perfect on the EA
The quest for perfection can hold you back from true success on the Executive Assessment. Remember, even for a great score on the EA, you don’t have to be perfect! In other words, you can get questions wrong and still get a great score.
The main issue with striving for perfection is that test-takers are so focused on getting a correct answer that they completely ignore timing and ultimately run out of time at the end of every section. So, keep in mind that you don’t need to be perfect on the EA!
TTP PRO TIP:
You don’t need to be perfect to earn a high score on the EA.
Tip #5: Guess or Skip Questions When Necessary
Guessing on questions and skipping questions are essential parts of EA test-taking strategy. However, it’s important to note that if you have to guess on multiple questions in each section, you likely need to improve your skills to achieve your score goal.
Assuming that you’ll guess on just a few questions across the entire EA, you need to have a strategy for when to skip a question or mark a question for review. Furthermore, you need to have a plan in place for when you’ll come back to a skipped or marked question. Of course, your ability to return to questions will depend on how much time you have left in a module, but having a strategy in place before your test is super important.
When devising your strategy, it’s helpful to have a handle on your strong and weak areas, so you know which questions it makes the most sense to skip. For example, let’s say you know that functions are your weakest quant topic. Well, if you see a function question, you know you have a low probability of correctly answering it, so you could guess and mark the question for review. This is a strategic move, given that you know functions are a weak topic for you. Making that move will give you more time for other questions in the module that better suit your strengths.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use your knowledge of your strong and weak areas to guess or skip questions strategically.
Tip #6: It’s OK to Struggle With the First Question in a Section
I can’t tell you how often students have come back to me after their EA exams and said they spent too much time on the first question in a particular section. So many times when students struggle with the first question in a section, this issue is not the result of a skills deficiency but nerves. So, if you see a question you know you should answer correctly but can’t, mark it for review and keep moving! Don’t let one question be the downfall of an entire section.
TTP PRO TIP:
Don’t get hung up on the first question on any section of the EA.
Tip #7: Eat Healthy the Day of Your Exam
The food you consume on the day of your exam can significantly impact your performance. Therefore, choosing nutritious foods that will provide the energy and focus you need to do your best is important.
For breakfast, consider eating a meal that includes whole grains, protein, and healthy fats, such as oatmeal with almond butter and berries or eggs with avocado and whole-grain toast. Remember that you won’t have any breaks during the EA, so fuel up properly before arriving at the test center. Additionally, drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated.
All that said, ensure you are consuming the foods you typically eat. Test day is not the day to experiment with a new diet. By incorporating healthy food choices into your routine before test day, you can ensure you’ll be in the best shape to tackle the EA.
TTP PRO TIP:
Make sure to eat healthy and power-inducing foods on the day of your EA.
Tip #8: Be Careful in Your Consumption of Caffeine
How much caffeine you consume on test day should be based on your daily habits. For example, if you usually have a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, then there is no reason not to on the day of your exam. However, I would caution you against trying to double or triple your caffeine intake on the day of your exam. You may think doing so will help make you more alert, but the last thing you want is to throw yourself off physically or mentally on test day.
TTP PRO TIP:
On test day, adhere to your typical caffeine intake.
Tip #9: Properly Time Your Trip to the Test Center
The last thing you want to worry about on the day of your EA is being late for your exam. So, give yourself plenty of time to reach the test center around 45 minutes before the start time of your exam. If you get there even earlier, no problem. You can sit in your car or at a nearby coffee shop and review your notecards until you’re ready to go in. Also, if you are unsure of the driving time to the test center, either check a map app or do a dry run to the test center around the same time of day as your exam.
TTP PRO TIP:
Do not be late for your exam!
Tip #10: Do Some Warm-Up Problems to Wake Up Your Brain
Just as you would warm up before a sporting event or recital, warming up for your EA is advised. Certainly, you don’t want to tire yourself out, but doing a few easy questions is helpful to get your brain working. Also, doing a last-minute read-through of your equation guide is not a bad call. The overall point is that you want to be warmed up and ready to go the moment that exam clock begins!
TTP PRO TIP:
Do some easy EA warm-up questions before the exam.
Tip #11: Be Familiar With the Dry-Erase Pad and Marker
As you’re taking practice exams in the weeks leading up to your EA, be sure to use the same dry-erase pad and marker you will get on test day. Some students prefer to use those tools throughout their prep, but it’s OK if you use them just for the practice exams.
Additionally, on test day, when you receive your pad and markers from the proctor, test out your markers to ensure they are not dried out. And if, for any reason, you use up all the sheets in your dry-erase notebook during the exam, you can always raise your hand and alert the proctor to bring you a new pad.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use a dry-erase pad and marker during your EA practice exams.
Tip #12: Relax and Do Some Light Studying the Day Before Your Exam
The day before your EA is not the time to overload your brain or do last-minute cramming. You have learned all you can at this stage, and now you must mentally prepare yourself for the test tomorrow. Doing some light studying, such as some easy questions or flashcard review, can be a good way to remain in GRE mode. But resist the urge to do any heavy lifting. Also, under no circumstances should you take a practice exam.
I also suggest doing things that will take your mind off the EA. For example, go for a walk, go to the gym, do yoga, or go see a movie. You don’t want to sit around all day worrying about how your EA will go. Lastly, eat healthy, hydrate, and get a good night’s sleep.
TTP PRO TIP:
Avoid overstudying or cramming the day before your exam.
Tip #13: Mentally Prepare for a Winding Road on Test Day
Since you have hopefully been taking practice exams leading up to your EA, you understand well that not everything goes as planned during a test. In other words, there will be ups and downs. However, as long as you are prepared for those ups and downs and never give up on yourself during the test, you should be able to come out of your EA victorious.
So, even if there are a few questions that you can’t solve correctly (but otherwise know you should be able to), keep pressing forward and live to fight another day. Your success on the EA will be partly defined by how well you respond to adversity.
TTP PRO TIP:
Your success on the EA is partly defined by how well you respond to adversity.
Key Takeaways
In this article, we have covered 13 important test-day tips for taking the Executive Assessment:
Tip #1: Have a solid time-management strategy in place.
Tip #2: Be in the moment.
Tip #3: Do not try to predict the outcome while taking the test.
Tip #4: Avoid trying to be perfect on the EA.
Tip #5: Guess or skip questions when necessary.
Tip #6: It’s OK to struggle with the first question in a section.
Tip #7: Eat healthy the day of your exam.
Tip #8: Be careful in your consumption of caffeine.
Tip #9: Properly time your trip to the test center.
Tip #10: Do some warm-up problems to wake up your brain.
Tip #11: Be familiar with the dry-erase pad and marker.
Tip #12: Relax and do some light studying the day before your exam.
Tip #13: Mentally prepare for a winding road on test day.
You can benefit tremendously from following these tips to make your test-day EA experience successful and stress-free.
What’s Next?
If you’ve taken the EA before and were dissatisfied with your results, you may want to check out these common reasons why EA test-takers experience a score drop on test day. You also may be interested in our article about whether to retake the EA.
