Written by Surgent 2 min
When you’re preparing to sit for the Enrolled Agent Exam, one of the choices you’ll have to make is the order you should sit for the Exam in. Because the exam sections do not have to be taken in order, it can be tough to choose, and it can be even tougher to know why you would choose each one.
But don’t worry – we have you covered. Below is our recommended order to sit for the Enrolled Agent Exam, along with why we recommend it – though, of course, it’s always important to consider the Exam curriculum and consider what makes the most sense with your personal experience. You can see a breakdown of the Exam sections and what content topics you will see on them here.
Part One – Individuals
We suggest that you start with part one, because this is based on individual tax returns – this directly relates to the work and tasks that you will have been doing as a tax preparer to date.
Part Three – Representation, Practices, and Procedures
After you sit and pass the first part of the EA Exam, we recommend you begin studying for Part Three. This is based mostly on circular 230, the governing document foe ethical behavior of tax preparers – again, something you likely have existing knowledge in but will need to fine tune.
Part Two – Businesses
We suggest you sit for Part Two of the EA Exam last, because this is by far the most time-consuming (and commonly reported as difficult) section. This part focuses on corporate taxation, which is inherently more complicated than individual tax returns.
Even though the Exam has three parts, they are not created equal in terms of difficulty. In fact, Part Two takes up roughly 50% of the study time, because it requires more. So, by getting the easier (and less time consuming) sections out of the way first, you’ll have more time to focus and less concerns about fitting the other Exams in.
You can try our method out for free, with our free trial – get started today!
