Young Cell Scheme

Round XIII

Tips for the written exams YCS Round XIII

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Dear Applicant to YCS Round XIII, We wish to bring to your attention the explanations provided in the Rules of Procedure (pp. 16 to 19) about the contents of the written exams.

Advices in view of the Written Exams:

All exams are multiple choice papers, with 4 possible answers for each questions and only one answer is the correct one.

English Knowledge exams:

This test will be composed of 3 parts/sections, as described in the Rules of Procedure (Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension and Structure & Written Expression). We strongly advise you over the next week to be exposed to English language as much as possible (read books and newspapers in English, review your grammar knowledge, and try to listen as much as possible to broadcasts in English - radio, news, movies, entertainments, etc.). Use every possible opportunity you may have to practice your skills in this language. The time for this test will be of ca. 3h00 (divided in 3 different parts, 60 minutes for each Listening and Reading part, 45 minutes for the Structure & Written Expression part) and you will not be allowed to leave the room during the whole of the test. If you finish the individual parts before others you will be required to stay at your place quietly.

Verbal and Numerical Reasoning:

This test is designed to assess your abilities in verbal and numerical reasoning by reading and understanding short paragraphs in English. For each paragraph you will have then to answer 3 to 4 multiple-choice questions related to the contents of the specific paragraph. The questions will require from you to elaborate and work with the information contained in the specific paragraph in order to find the right answers. You do not need prior knowledge of any kind for this test. You only need to use your logical reasoning with both words and numbers. The exam has 2 parts, one “Verbal Reasoning” and one “Numerical reasoning”. In the “Verbal reasoning” part (25 questions) you will need to reason on the wording of the paragraphs in order to provide the correct answers. In the "Numerical reasoning" (15 questions) instead you will have to reason on numbers, ratios (hence fractions) and percentages, and you will be required to make elementary operations (additions, subtractions, multiplications, divisions and percentages). The use of a calculator will not be allowed for this test as the numerical operations required to answer the questions are very simple. Use your logics and remember that on this exam time management is crucial. You will have a maximum of 1h30 min., which means ca. 2 minutes per question as there are 40 questions. We suggest not to exceed the time for each question. The best way to prepare yourself for this test is to search on the internet for this kind of exams, digit Online Verbal and Numerical Reasoning tests, and practice similar tests a few times until you feel comfortable.

EU General Knowledge exam:

This test consists of 80 questions and you will have 1h30 min for this test. Prepare yourself on the following documents: 

  • James McBride (2022): How Does the European Union Work?
  • EU Commission (2017): Europe in 12 lessons
  • EU Commission (2021): EU &ME
  • State of the Union (only the following Leading the Green, Digital and Fair Transitions pp. 56-68 and The Pillars of EU Democracy pp 69-79

Also consult the following website https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en the highlights section

Questions for the EU General Knowledge exam have been drew from above mentioned material, therefore if you study well the suggested documents you will not have problems with this test. 

Exams Preparation Material for EU

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Chapters 3 & 4

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All information regarding Round XIII Selections will be published regularly and in a timely fashion on our website.

It is your sole responsibility to regularly check the website for relevant news, which will be displayed as planned in the calendar shown in the Rules of Procedure (available as of today on the website). During this selection process we will also send you emails every time something new is published on the website, yet it is your duty to regularly check your internet address.

Good luck!

Yours sincerely
YCS Secretariat