Enrolled agents are also required to follow strict ethical standards to maintain their status with the IRS. This practice makes sense as tax specialists and tax preparers work with sensitive documents such as financial statements and audit information. Before you can achieve EA status, you’ll need to make sure you meet a few essential qualifications. The good news is that you don’t need a college degree or previous experience to become an EA. While five years of working experience with the IRS is one way to go, you can also take the EA examination. Once you’ve obtained your PTIN, go online and register for your exam.

• All score values above passing indicate that a candidate is qualified — not how qualified.
• That might leave you wondering just how difficult it will be to earn a passing score.
• Specifically, about 96% of Surgent’s EA users pass their exams.
• Each part is taken separately and each part contains 100 questions and is 3.5 hours long.
• After you have passed all three parts of the EA exam, you are required to complete Form 23 and pay a $140 application fee.

After you complete a practice quiz, you must go back and read the answer explanations for two reasons. First, they will help you verify that you answered a question correctly for the right reasons. And secondly, they will help you see why you answered a question incorrectly and why the correct answer was right. Just like the other EA exam parts, EA exam Part 1 offers 3.5 hours of total testing time. However, you’ll have to spend 4 hours at the Prometric testing center so that you have 30 minutes to complete your pre-exam tutorial and a post-exam customer satisfaction survey.

Experience the Surgent Difference

Of these 100 questions on the first part of the EA exam, 86 are scored questions. Furthermore, the IRS does not score the 14 experimental questions. So, your EA exam score for Part 1 comes primarily from those 86 questions.

Surgent EA Exam Review plans come with automatic updates, so students can rest easy knowing they are studying the most current information. However, becoming a CPA gives you the opportunity to earn more money and enables you to pursue many lucrative career paths that help you live a fulfilled life. If you pursue a college education in business administration or finance as a stepping stone to the CPA certification, you’ll also have options in a wider array of fields for your career. So, you want to elevate your future by earning an accounting designation or certification.

EA Exam Part 2 Pass Rate

However, 15 of those questions are experimental, and the IRS does not count those questions in your final EA exam score. Once you pass your first part of the enrolled agent exam, you have 2 years to complete and pass the remaining two parts before you lose credit for your first part. However, a 2-year carryover of your EA scores is generous and provides you with ample time to complete all 3 EA test parts. Our AI-powered personalized learning software assesses your knowledge of EA Exam content and generates study plans to get you ready to pass.

Being better prepared for the test experience will allow you to perform better the day of your test. Circular 230, current and prior year versions of IRS publications, forms and instructions are accessible online at IRS.gov. You may also wish to search the internet for commercially available materials and preparation courses in preparing to take the SEE. The IRS has a list of approved CE Providers, some of whom provide SEE test preparation courses.

More Help for EA Exam Part 1

For example, the total number of test-takers for Part 1 is nearly double the number of candidates taking either Part 2 or Part 3. After all, some candidates fail Part 1 and give up tackling Parts 2 and 3. For this reason, Prometric doesn’t feel that effectively comparing the EA pass rates is possible.

The Part 2 pass rate is a bit more consistent from year to year compared to Part 1. The great news is the pass rate has been increasing year over year. The Businesses section is considered the hardest among most tax preparers and often gives Enrolled Agent candidates anxiety. ea exam pass rate If you’re a tax return preparer who’s dealing with those daily, you’ll probably find Part 1 a lot easier to prepare for than Part 2, which covers businesses. What it does mean is that you should feel good about your ability to earn a passing score, provided you study.

In answering questions, candidates should not take into account any legislation or court decisions in effect after December 31, 2022. Gleim EA Review is the most popular EA review course on the market, and, in my opinion, it is also one of the best courses. Gleim’s EA course discusses every exam topic thoroughly in well-written textbooks.