Executive Assessment: What It Is and How It’s Different from the GMAT

This post was updated in 2024 for the new GMAT.

Are you an experienced manager who is considering entering an MBA program? You may be able to take the Executive Assessment (EA) rather than the GMAT. But how is the EA different from the GMAT? And how can you make sure it’s the right exam for you?

What is the Executive Assessment?

The Executive Assessment (EA) is an admissions exam designed for most executive MBA programs. An EMBA is a type of MBA specifically geared toward established, experienced managers who want to advance their careers to even higher levels. However, not all full-time programs accept the test. It’s important that you check whether it’s accepted at the programs to which you are interested in applying. The EA features Quant, Verbal, and Integrated Reasoning questions. Ultimately, you can think of the Executive Assessment as “GMAT Lite.” The EA has all the same elements as the GMAT, but stripped down to a more basic, “softer” version.

You can take the EA at home or at a test center, and either test will set you back $350. Your score will be valid for five years.

Test Structure

Both tests are computer adaptive which means that the level of questions you get is based on the level of questions you got correct previously. While the GMAT difficulty level will change question by question, the EA works in modules. You will get a group of questions based on how you performed in a previous group of questions. So how does the EA compare to the GMAT? Those key differences have been outlined later in this post.

What’s a good score on the Executive Assessment?

As a rule of thumb 150 (out of 200) is considered a good score for the EA.

For the GMAT, your all-important score (ranging between 205 and 805) is made up of your scores in the Verbal, Quantitative, and Data Insights sections. Similarly, on the Executive Assessment, the Verbal, Quantitative, and Integrated Reasoning sections each count for a third of your score. What’s the difference between Integrated Reasoning (IR) and Data Insights (DI)? Actually, not much. Data Insights is the new name for Integrated Reasoning that GMAT started using after it launched its revised test in November of 2023. The only notable difference is that Data Sufficiency questions are found in the Data Insights section of the GMAT but the Quantitative section of the EA.

Which business schools accept the EA?

While the EMBA is designed for Executive MBA programs, other non-Executive MBA programs sometimes accept the EA from experienced applicants.

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, for example, accepts EA scores for both its EMBA program and its weekend MBA program. As long as you have at least 10 years of experience, you can submit EA scores when applying for either of these degree paths. Full-time MBA programs such as those at Columbia Graduate School of Business and the University of Rochester Simon Business School also accept the EA.

The EA is accepted at quite a few schools around the world. For a complete list of universities and programs that use Executive Assessment scores, go to the official EA website.

Executive Assessment vs. GMAT: Similarities and Differences

The Executive Assessment and the GMAT are both made by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). In spite of this, these two tests have a number of distinct differences.

Differences Between Executive Assessment vs. GMAT

Due to the changes on the GMAT, the Verbal and Quant topics are slightly different on these two B-school admissions tests. For Verbal, both the EA and the GMAT have comparable proportions of Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. However, the EA still has Sentence Corrections, which is a question type that has been cut from the GMAT.

For Quant, certain challenging math concepts occur less frequently on the Executive Assessment, but the GMAT and the EA have a similar range of Quant concepts. EA’s Quant section features a mix of Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency, and, as mentioned earlier, Data Sufficiency on the GMAT is now part of Data Insights.

How hard is the Executive Assessment compared to GMAT?

The EA is not only shorter than the GMAT, but it is also designed to be taken with minimal preparation. This means that the test will be more straightforward and easier than the GMAT.

There is another aspect of the EA that’s easier too: its math content. On the EA, you see fewer of the harder math topics that will crop up on the GMAT. For example, probability, statistics, and combinatorics are less common on the Executive Assessment.

How to Prepare for the Executive Assessment

You can think of the “minimal” preparation required as minimal compared to GMAT preparation. To get your best score on the EA, you’ll still want to become familiar with the test and give yourself time to practice the concepts. It is important to do mock tests to see where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

The Executive Assessment has its own section on the GMAC homepage. This official EA website includes an EA preparation page. On that page, you can access a small selection of free practice questions and purchase additional EA practice materials.

When using GMAT resources for EA prep, just remember to focus on an EA-like mix of GMAT math questions. For a detailed look at the mix of math on the Executive Assessment, consult the official EA Math Review.

Besides that, you don’t really need any official EA prep, GMAT prep resources will do fine. I recommend official GMAT practice from MBA.com and practice from Magoosh GMAT. Get a free 1-week trial to access our expert-created lessons, practice questions with video explanations, and full-length practice tests!

Best of luck with your EA prep!