IMPORTANT: this article refers to the previous EPSO exam system before March 2010 and may only be partially relevant for the new one
In the last days of exam preparation, you surely ask yourself: which information is crucial to know for the written exam? EPSO has some favourite topics that you can always count on. Below we try to identify some of these, so you can expect and prepare in a fast and efficient way!
1. First and foremost, print out and read the best summary on the web for EU competitions: the ScadPlus EU Glossary. There you can learn about the most important concepts, names and Treaties that should guarantee a 30% passing score if memorized well. Some concepts may not be fully up-to-date, so if you read about 25 Member States or 321 votes in the Council of Ministers, you’ll immediately know that the entry has not been refreshed since Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession in 2007.
2. Try to read 4-5 times the full list of EU acronyms and abbreviations that you can find under this link. Though this may look like memorizing the phone book, do not despair! By reading through this list once every day until your exam, you will be able to passively recognize the meaning of each abbreviation – after all, you only need to pick one answer out of four, you will not need to know the answer all by yourself!
3. Browse through the main EU institutions, most important EU policies (Environment, Agriculture, Transport and Energy, Enlargement, Budget etc.) with the help of another excellent summary called European Parliament Fact Sheets. In some places a bit too long to be called a summary, it still provides a great structure to understand the key dates, names and events that will be essential for your success in answering EU questions the best you can.
4. Finally, if you are preparing for the RELEX exam, do not forget to check out our special collection of useful links by clicking here! We have tried to provide a great collection for most of the sub-profiles our users have asked us about.
Questions? Lost in the system?