Preparation
The purpose of AEA is to assess a test taker's abilities in a range of cross-curricular skills that have been identified as important for the study of Engineering and Computer Science. These include the ability to reason and solve problems; analyse information and make logical deductions and form judgements.
AEA does not draw on particular subject knowledge; hence a test taker can not be coached to improve performance. However familiarity with the question types typically presented in AEA is an advantage. For this reason some sample questions are provided on this site. Test takers should note that ACER does not endorse any commercially available courses claiming to offer AEA preparation.
Test-taking strategy
It is not advisable to spend too much time on any one question. Read the stimulus material a few times before starting the questions. Read through all the alternative answers to a question, even if you think that the first one is correct, before making your chosen response. Check whether there are any options that you can discard immediately because they are obviously wrong. If you think you know the answer to a question, mark it, even if you are not certain. Go to the next question and come back later if you have time. This will prevent you from getting your answers out of sequence with the actual questions, and will give you some chance if you run out of time. Be careful not to spend too much time using your dictionary.
Points to note
- All questions have the same value. Attempt as many questions as possible in order to maximise your score.
- No marks will be deducted for a wrong answer.