So this year’s biggest EPSO exam just ended and you just realised that you want to become an EU Administrator? You didn’t pick the best timing, but despair not: here are five things you can do right now to start working toward that goal!
#1 Make a preparation roadmap right now
Since you came to you ’eureka moment’ about wanting to get an EU job at a time when a big competition just ended, take this time to plan out your preparation strategy: approximately when your favoured exam will be announced, what are you unnegotiable commitments that you can’t move around and might disturb your preparation, how much time you will have, and which tests you need to concentrate on (see below).
#2 Take the free demo tests to figure out your weak points
Online EU Training offers a lot of different practice test packages but our free demos are perfect for figuring out one thing: your weak point(s). Take the abstract, numerical and verbal reasoning tests, look at the situational judgement examples and the sample reports and start to prepare yourself psychologically to what will be your biggest barriers to entering the EU institutions.
#3 Analyse this year’s results (once they are out) to get an idea about what score to target
This year’s AD exam results will be out in about a month: look at the minimum scores that were needed to advance to the assessment centre to see what score you need to achieve next year. If this is published, look at the scores test type by test type – this will give you an idea of the relative difficulty of the test types. If possible, look at Online EU Training’s small packages and take a few full-length simulation tests to see how far away you are from your target.
Also note that last year’s results, while instructive, do not constitute a guarantee for next year’s score thresholds.
#4 Bookmark articles, tips and tricks collections, test explanations and read one every week
Make it a habit to look at EU news and policy analysis sites, EPSO exam tips and tricks articles (Online EU Training has a huge cache of them, as well as quite a few e-books and sample tests), bookmark them and develop a routine whereby you read and ’internalise’ one every week.
#5 Pick a ’dry run’ competition
Anxious about the exam experience and what it is like to submit the application file, go to the test centre and take the test under pressure and to a time limit? Pick an upcoming competition that you would otherwise not apply to (the next ones are the linguist exams for translators and interpreters) and you get a chance to see a preview of what’s to come – who knows, you might even grow fond of your ’backup’ competition and the role, and if you’re successful, you might just land an EU job J
+1 Write down your biggest fear about the EPSO competitions (seriously)
We couldn’t believe we actually wrote down this tip, but we are serious. Are you terrified you will just be staring at the abstract reasoning tests, completely frozen, not being able to figure out a single rule? Then write it down:
I will completely freeze and won’t be able to figure out any abstract reasoning rules.
Then put away the note, follow your roadmap (see #1) and look at the note several months from now, in the middle of your preparation: it will seem ridiculous that you were ever afraid of such a thing and you will feel relieved – a sentiment that never hurts in the middle of a stressful time period!