The Executive Assessment (EA) is a relatively new exam compared to the GMAT, but nowadays, many business schools accept both. So, why do some people take the Executive Assessment instead of the GMAT for entrance into MBA programs, and which exam is right for you?
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a computer-adaptive, standardized exam that for more than 60 years has been used as a measure to assess applicants to graduate-level business and management programs.
A relative newcomer, the Executive Assessment (EA) was introduced in 2016 and is required for admissions to many Executive MBA programs, including programs at many top business schools. Like the GMAT, the Executive Assessment is a computer-administered, standardized test designed and administered by GMAC, which gathers input from business programs around the world when creating the exam.
In simple terms, you can think of the Executive Assessment as a “mini version” of the GMAT. For one, the EA exam is much shorter than the GMAT. And as I’ll discuss in further detail shortly, the EA doesn’t test quite as many topics as the GMAT does. The EA measures MBA program readiness and uses more “business-focused” questions to test critical reasoning and higher-order thinking skills.
The EA is specifically designed for busy, working professionals who have already acquired many management-level business skills during their careers. Thus, the people taking the EA likely don’t have as much time to devote to preparing for and sitting for an entrance exam and already have a certain baseline of skills that test-takers with less work experience may not have.
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