IES Practice Test

The IES is MPI Academy's Inclusive Event Strategist certificate, taken by event planners and meeting professionals who want to design events that work for people of different abilities, cultures and backgrounds. This page gives you free practice sets by topic, worked questions with full explanations, a study plan, and answers to common questions about format and cost.

IES Exam at a Glance

What the IES is and how it works

According to Meeting Professionals International (MPI) – MPI Academy, “Inclusive Event Strategist | On Demand Edition | MPI Academy”^[2]

The Inclusive Event Strategist is a certificate program from Meeting Professionals International (MPI), delivered through MPI Academy. It is aimed at people who plan, produce or buy events and want a structured way to show they can design for inclusion: accessible venues and technology, respectful communication, fair budgets and safe operations.

Delivery is On Demand. The catalog listing names it the On Demand Edition, so you work through it on your own schedule rather than at a fixed class date.

Fees listed by MPI are $355 for MPI members and $455 for non-members. Check the MPI page before you pay, because prices and membership terms can change.

We could not verify the passing score, number of questions, time limit, eligibility requirements or retake rules, so we do not state them here. Those details can differ between editions and may change, so read the program page and the course listing in the MPI catalog before you register.

Our practice sets are not the official assessment and are not written by MPI. They are a way to test your recall and judgment on the topics an inclusive event strategist is expected to handle, and to find weak spots before you study the official material.

Worked examples: how to reason through IES questions

These are practice questions written for this site, not questions from the real exam. Each explanation shows why the right answer is right and why the others are wrong.

Example 1

Question: An inclusive event strategist is reviewing a mobile event app. The app uses only red and green icons to indicate session status. Why is this a problem?

1. Red and green are not brand colors
2. Red-green color blindness affects approximately 8% of men, making these icons indistinguishable without additional cues
3. Mobile screens cannot display those colors accurately
4. Green and red icons violate copyright rules

Answer: B. Red-green color blindness affects approximately 8% of men, making these icons indistinguishable without additional cues

Explanation:

The correct answer is that red-green color blindness affects approximately 8% of men, so red and green icons used alone look the same to them. Session status then gets lost for a real share of attendees. The fix is to add an extra cue such as a symbol, a label or a different shape.

Brand color is the wrong reason, because the problem is about how people see, not about branding. The claim that mobile screens cannot show these colors is wrong: screens display them fine, and the issue is the viewer's vision. The copyright option is invented; colors are not restricted that way.

Rule to remember: never let color alone carry meaning. Pair it with text, icons or patterns, and review every design with that in mind.

Example 2

Question: Why is cultural competence important?

1. To exclude certain groups
2. To include and respect diversity
3. To impose one culture
4. To ignore culture

Answer: B. To include and respect diversity

Explanation:

The correct answer is that cultural competence helps you include and respect diversity. It means understanding how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, celebrate, eat and make decisions, then planning an event that fits them instead of leaving them out.

Excluding certain groups is the opposite of the goal. Imposing one culture is also wrong, because it treats a single set of habits as the default and pushes everyone else to adapt. Ignoring culture sounds neutral, but it usually means the planner's own norms win by default and unintended offense follows.

Rule to remember: inclusive planning starts from the attendees, not from the planner's habits. When an option excludes, imposes or ignores, it is almost never the right choice on an inclusion question.

Example 3

Question: Which risk management approach is MOST effective for IES professionals when evaluating potential workplace hazards?

1. Reactive analysis after incidents occur
2. Proactive hazard identification and assessment
3. Relying solely on historical accident data
4. Delegating all safety decisions to management

Answer: B. Proactive hazard identification and assessment

Explanation:

The correct answer is proactive hazard identification and assessment. It finds and reduces risks before anyone is hurt, which is the point of risk management at an event.

Reactive analysis after incidents occur is wrong because it only responds once harm has happened. Relying solely on historical accident data is wrong because past records miss new venues, new layouts and new attendee needs, and they cannot show hazards that have not yet caused an incident. Delegating all safety decisions to management is wrong because safety works best when the planner takes part in identifying and weighing hazards instead of handing the whole job away.

Rule to remember: look ahead and assess before the event, then keep checking during it. Answers built around waiting, relying on old data only, or passing responsibility on are usually the distractors.

How to use these practice tests

Start with the official MPI program page and course listing, so you know what the On Demand edition covers and what the assessment involves. Write down any topic names it gives you and use them to organise your notes.

Then take a practice set from each topic on this page without looking at hints. Use the full range, from Diversity and Accessibility Standards and Event Planning and Inclusive Design Principles to Budget Management and Procurement and Risk Management and Safety. Mark every question you got wrong or guessed.

Next, read the explanation for each marked question and write the general rule in a sentence of your own. Rules travel to new questions better than memorised answers do.

Return to the weakest topics and retake those sets after a break. Add the remaining sets, such as Venue Selection and Management, Marketing and Promotion and Technology and Digital Inclusion, so no area is left untouched.

Finish by working back through the official course material with your notes beside you, and fill the gaps the practice sets exposed. Because the course is On Demand, you can pace this around your own schedule.

Sources & last verified

1. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) – MPI Academy — exam fee (official source). “Members: $355” Verified Nov 1, 2026.
2. mpi-catalog.netexam.com — delivery (official source). “Inclusive Event Strategist | On Demand Edition | MPI Academy” Verified Nov 1, 2026.

How we verify: editorial & fact-checking policy. Report an error: contact us.