Thus, the psychologist concludes, the behavior of four-year-olds during the «marshmallow test» is twice as powerful a prognostic factor for their future assessments for the test of academic ability than their IQ level at four years. Otherwise, the ability to postpone pleasure makes a great contribution to our intellectual potential, regardless of mental development (IQ) and is the basis of emotional self-regulation [21, 22].

Underestimation of the prognostic possibilities of the values of the components of emotional intelligence, in relation to the success of students in learning and, especially, in future work, can be traced in many studies of the author. Therefore, in this paper an attempt is made to eliminate this shortcoming.

Fortunately, the components of emotional intelligence can be improved in the process of learning and practice. That is why it is possible to have a significant impact on the future success of our graduates through the formation of high performance components of EI.

Let’s consider the results of testing first-year students of Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics according to the method of N. Hall in 2017 and 2020 for individual components of EI. 80–85 % of first-year students took part in testing every year.

The results of the research presented in Table 3.1 show changes in the components of emotional intelligence in first-year students of the university during this period. The emotional and intellectual portrait of first-year students is changing.