Monthly archive: April, 2012

Summer Classes and Part Two of the EA Exam

April 30, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by guest blogger KP.

So I am pretty excited about this weekend because it’s the first weekend in a while that I will finally have a large chunk of time available for EA exam studying!  I am almost finished with the semester (one and a half weeks to go!). I will have the next month and a half to dedicate to EA exam studying, minus the time I am at my full-time job.  I know I need to set an exam date; otherwise, I won’t feel the “pressure” to study.  When I set up my first EA exam date (exam 3), the month and a half before the exam were my best, most efficient, weeks of studying. I am sure that same feeling will exist this time.

I am taking summer classes again this summer, and those start up mid-June. I am debating whether to schedule my 2nd exam for the end of June or stick with my original plan of taking one at the end of the summer and then my final one at the end of the year.  I am just not sure if I will be able to get that much more studying done once school starts again. I know if I schedule my exam sooner than later, that I will be “forced” to study in an intense way over the next couple months.  The first 2 chapters have gone by pretty quickly for me (Filing Requirements and Gross Income), especially since I started taking simple notes on the “key” items so I didn’t feel required to remember every little thing as I was going through the book.  I am finding Chapter 3 to be going a bit slower for me now.  I just have to remember that the Gleim review for part 3 (I took this exam first) did a really good job of reinforcing the main points in the book, software download, and online review. The concepts repeated in these 3 areas were tested very frequently on the test, so I felt very well prepared during the exam. I have no reason to believe that Part 1 won’t be the same.

I just don’t know if I am being impractical, but I would love to get another exam under my belt.  I really want to have my EA license by the end of this year, so I can start working part-time as a tax preparer next year!  It will depend on how much farther ahead I can get this weekend…so stay tuned. :)

 

The EA Exam v. the RTRP Exam

April 30, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Enrolled Agents Registered Tax Return Preparers
Representation Rights Unlimited* Limited to representation before certain IRS officers and employees and only in connection with returns they signed
Test Special Enrollment Exam Registered Tax Return Preparer Competency Test
Test Topics
  • Individual Taxation
  • Business Taxation
  • Representation
  • Ethics
  • Form 1040 series
  • Ethics
Number of Questions 3 parts, 100 questions for each part 120 questions
Length of Test 3 parts: 3.5 hours per part 1 test: 2.5 hours
Fees $105 for each part $116.00

 

* Former IRS employees who become Enrolled Agents without taking the Special Enrollment Examination may be granted limited or unlimited representation rights.

Note: Information courtesy of the IRS.  Please read more at the IRS website for information regarding the RTRP and EA Exams.

 

 

Crunch Time: CPA Exam Studying & The Final Push

April 30, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by guest blogger Anne R.

This week it feels like I have been doing nothing but studying. Someone today asked me what I did last weekend, and I couldn’t remember anything . . . only to realize I didn’t do anything except study! How unexciting. But it will be worth it when I pass Audit!

I am flying home, back to the US, on Tuesday, May 1. My short-term goal is to be finished with Chapter 20 by May 1. I originally had planned to be finished reviewing by May 1, so I could take the exam within a couple days of being home, but that is not going to happen. I should get my NTS in my e-mail any day now, and I am going to schedule the exam for May 10. This will give me the most time I’ve ever had to review before taking an exam, which I’m very excited about. The longest I’ve ever had to review before an exam is 2 days, usually because I schedule my exam far in advance, and then I’m behind on my studying. This time, I’ve waited until the last minute to schedule, so I should have 9 days to review. I have passed Audit before, and I let my credit expire (please take my advice and don’t let this happen to you!), so I’m very anxious to pass it again!

I am headed into chapter 15 tonight, so I have a lot to do – 5 chapters in 6 days, but I can do it! Chapter 15 is the last chapter covering audit evidence, which I have actually enjoyed. I feel that studying how to collect evidence for the different assertions is very practical. It makes sense, and it is definitely useful! Some sections of Audit are harder for me to study if I don’t think I will ever need to know that information, but audit evidence is a topic I definitely need to know. I think Chapter 16 will be difficult. I’ve heard that it’s a really good idea to memorize (or be extremely familiar with) the Auditor’s standard report. It looks like I’ll get to that tomorrow, so that will be a lot of work. I hope I get a few of those easy questions on my exam where that memorization will pay off!

I’ll update in a few days, hopefully with a post announcing that I have finished chapter 20! Good luck to everyone and keep studying hard. It will be worth it to be a CPA!

 

Internship Over…Studying On!

April 30, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by guest blogger David G.

Now that my internship is over I will enjoy a couple of weeks off before my last semester of school starts. Enjoying time off from school is not time off from studying. It just means that I have more time to spend studying Audit. I spent half of my first day off studying and the other half celebrating the end of semester. Now that I have downtime, I plan to really buckle down and knock out this first section within a matter of weeks.

I am working on a plan of action for studying that will carry me to test day. I have much to do and a short amount of time to do it. There are many good schedules that you can find that lay out the weeks and sections to study based on how many weeks you have before the exam. However, I think it is best to develop your own because you know which areas you are weak in and which ones you need more time for. This is especially true for me because I have been through the majority of the sections already, albeit some sections were not completed thoroughly.

I have committed to taking the Audit section of the exam by the end of May. I will contact those in charge of scheduling the exam soon to set the date. It is exciting and unsettling at the same time. I now have to know it and learn it or risk failing, and that would be hard to deal with knowing how much I am working on it and how much I want to pass it.

 

Creating a Notebook/Notes for Your Studying!

April 29, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Note: This is technically an article regarding the EA Exam, but the importance of notebooks and notes is huge and I wanted to make sure it got into every exam category!

Written by Guest Blogger Amy W.

I’m happy to say that my Gleim books have arrived and I’m already filling my Part 2 EA Review book with my notes, question marks, and exclamation marks. I’m partial to written material; having the book makes me feel…yes, more in control of the material.

In my last post, I mentioned Amy’s Notebook. When I studied for Part 1, I found it very helpful to create my own set of notes for studying. The work involved in creating the notes helped my learning process; the notes themselves were invaluable for final review just before taking the test. The Notebook is a very personalized study tool as it is entirely focused on the stuff I don’t know.

When I got stuck on Section 1231, 1245 and 1250 property last week, I got out my Notebook and found all my notes, helpful hints and examples from Part 1 on this subject. I re-wrote the notes with the additional material provided in Part 2, Chapter 6. With that background work behind me, Chapter 6 was…well, I don’t want to say “easy” because that wouldn’t be true. But at least it was doable.

On another subject, I sometimes feel frustrated by the really lousy wording of the previous IRS questions. I understand the IRS often throws in badly worded questions – to test our mind-reading abilities, presumably – and that Gleim is trying to prepare us for this. Example: One question includes the following two sentences: “The depreciation deducted as of Dec 31 of the current year was $243,000. In the current year, the depreciation deducted was $27,000.” Now, what are we to assume from this? To me, this meant that this year’s deduction was $27,000 but the total deduction taken to date was $243,000. But no – as it turns out, to get the total deduction taken to date we are meant to add these two numbers together! That seems to me like quite a leap from the language employed. It makes me nervous. It isn’t enough to know the material; we have to also guess what the question really means. It’s a daunting prospect.

I like Blogger Yolanda’s concept of working toward 100% on the quizzes. I’ve applied that idea to the Test Prep software for each part of Chapter 6 and am re-taking the test for each part until I get that 100%. Right on, Yolanda!

Till next time,

Amy

 

Steady Study Progress on the EA Exam!

April 25, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by guest blogger KP.

I have been making pretty steady progress on my studying so far – it was hard for me to find a groove while running into a busy part of my grad school semester, but now that I am nearing the finish of the semester, I would like to stay with about a chapter a week (and there are 13 chapters total).  I am finishing up chapter 2 now, and that would put me about 3 months out for trying to take the exam.  I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with how much material there is in part 1 compared to part 3, and it gets discouraging at times because it feels like I am never going to be able to understand it all.  And of course, this makes me want to push out my proposed exam date even further.  I would LOVE to be able to last 2 parts of the EA exam by December, but I am not sure if that is being too aggressive.  After next week, I will have a month and a half off of grad school, which would allow me to set more time aside for studying at nights after work and on the weekends.  I would love to be able to sit for the exam in July, so we will see how my studying goes over the next few weeks now that I am almost done with the semester.

 

One thing that I have noticed that is making my studying go a little bit longer is focusing a ton on the little details and not realizing how much information I am really retaining.  For example, when I was studying for part 3, Circular 230 was a bit part of the exam and as I am sure many of you know, there is a lot of information in Circular 230.  I got so lost in trying to prepare for every possible exam question, that it would take me forever to get through the information.  Finally, I just started writing down the main points from the sections of 230 covered by Gleim’s Part 3 book and limited myself to only a half page of notes.  When I did my final review using Gleim’s exam software, right before I took the practice tests, I glanced over the notes and realized how much information I really did retain just by looking over key points of information.  It was like I would see a key word or phrase, and automatically it would all come back.  I just have to trust that Part 1 (Individuals) will be the same and need to trust that I am really retaining what I need to know, with the help of Gleim of course :) .

My Passion for 100% – RTRP Exam

April 24, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by Guest Blogger YL.

I love to see those scores!   Every time I take one of the quizzes, I try for 100% – I absolutely love that I can keep taking the quizzes and tests until I get 100%.  For me, it really motivates me to see why I missed that point.

 

Today I am trying to figure out how to learn what each form number is for in my head.  I get them so scrambled.  I get the use of the form, but to give it a number is really escaping me.  So I finally got so worked up about it that I sent a message to Dr. Gleim.  Now THAT is a very nice feature.  I can ask a question about anything and I will get a prompt answer.

 

Ok, I need to get back to studying and learn those form numbers!

 

Talk to you later.

 

Yolanda

 

Beginning studying for the EA Exam, Part 2

April 24, 2012, by 1 comment

 

Written by guest blogger Amy W.

I’m now one week into my studies for the EA exam, Part 2. I had a good time with Chapter 1, Accounting Methods and Periods. I don’t yet have my written materials, so I relied entirely on the material that is available online as well as my dim memories of this subject from my 20-year-old MBA. Happily, physical concepts like inventory are easy to grasp because you have a mental picture to hang onto – boxes of blue widgets – so LIFO and FIFO make sense in a very direct way. I went through the quizzes and the slide presentation, then to the Gleim EA Test Prep software. I tested myself with all 68 questions and scored 80% – which indicated to me that I had a good basic grasp of the material and just needed to iron out some fine points. Not a problem; I felt confident.

Such is not the case, however, with Chapter 2, Income and Property Transactions. My score on the initial test was a terrifying 45%. The audiovisual material went way too fast for me, and I had to stop it several times to re-read the slide. I will read the online Knowledge Transfer Outline and I know that will help…but the truth is that I’ve been delaying it because I would really prefer to read this material in hard copy. I want to write on the pages, highlight, draw smiling and frowning faces, etc. Where, oh where, is my Gleim book? Hurry, friendly UPS man! Re-encountering Section 1245 and 1250 property in this chapter was a humbling experience. Yes, I had drummed Section 1245 and Section 1250 property into my head when studying for Part 1, but the intervening four months of a crazed tax season have pushed that learning into some dusty, moth-ridden and little-visited corner of my mental attic. I felt a moment of panic and then remembered: Amy’s Notebook.

Next week’s blog will cover the importance of having a Notebook (yes, with a capital “N”) during the test prep process – stay tuned!

Amy

P.S. Fascinating things learned this week: income from being a notary isn’t taxed for self employment… involuntary conversion of inventory is taxed for self-employment…livestock of different sexes does not qualify for like-kind exchange…gross income from farming and gross farm income are different things…

 

FAR Studying & Late Nights to Stay on the Study Schedule

April 23, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by Guest Blogger John E.

Hey everyone John here. I am up late again on a Sunday night just wrapping up my 3 hours of study for FAR. On the weekends I find it best to get my studying completed either early in the morning or late in the evening, so that I can make time for the family, chores, errands, etc. (life)  By the time I finish with studying on Sunday, I should have around 21 hours for the week. I am actually proud of myself to stay on target with my schedule. Believe me when I say there are many distractions and excuses one could use to break away from the studies.

 

On a side note…I have a little less than four weeks away before CPA exam day. I am quite anxious, yet more confident about passing this go around. My goal is to walk into the testing center knowing I over-studied. I really hope the 20 to 22 hours a week I put in studying late at night, during lunch breaks and sacrificing weekend fun among the countless other things gets me the payoff. Ultimately I believe it will. I think it is really a good thing and beneficial for candidates going through this difficult exam process to be able to have someone like you to talk to, vent to and also to discuss different study methods and techniques to improve material comprehension and retention. I find that self-study programs are inherently difficult to begin with, so it is important to have a regiment or plan thoughtout. I do realize that in my last post I was a little vague about my study plan for conquering FAR. In fact I don’t remember saying much about it, so allow me to take a few lines to discuss my method for reviewing.

 

So this is what I am currently doing:

First 6 weeks – Using Gleim test prep software and taking 20 question practice exams for each Study Unit. I will complete each Unit after scoring a 75% or better. At this point I will move on to the next unit. It will take a few times to crack the 75% threshold. I figure that taking a couple of tries to be good thing as this shows me that I have more to learn. The test prep software is good about explaining why the response you selected is wrong and why the response selected or not selected is correct. If I am still unable to grasp the concept, then I will consult my textbook.

Weeks 7-8 will be comprised of more multiple choice questions. Instead of doing the standard 20 questions per Study Unit, I will lump a few Study Units together at 20 questions per pop. I will hammer out multiple choice questions until the final week.

Last week of review will be made up of multiple 90 question practice tests until one day before the exam. The night before the exam will involve zero studying and only relaxation. At this point there is no need for cramming as it may cause more harm than good. I plan on getting plenty of rest to start the day fresh.

Well that’s all for now. I’ve got to run. Happy studying!

 

EA Studying and Studying with a very packed schedule!

April 23, 2012, by No comments yet

 

Written by guest blogger KP

So due to family emergency, I was unable to get as far ahead on my EA studying as I had hoped, but I did find time to finish all the audio sections for section 1, so I made it halfway to my goal.  I am noticing that when I let longer breaks go in between studying (longer as in a few days) that it takes me awhile to get back into the studying groove, and I feel like I have to repeat or re-read information…so it feels like two steps forward, one step back.  I know that with my first section (exam 3) of the EA, I did a lot of off-and-on studying while I was finishing up my fall semester of school, so felt like it took me a couple months to get through only 25% of the book!  When I finally buckled down, it only took me 6 weeks to get through the remaining 75% and complete my final review of the 3rd exam part.

 

I have an already very busy schedule with grad school and a full-time job, so I have been trying to find little ways to sneak in studying over the past week.  Namely, I can listen to the EA Exam audio reviews during my bus ride to work and while working out.  These were the only times I was able to study this past week, but it did allow me to complete all the audio reviews of the first chapter.  Even though I was only able to fit in study time for about 15-20 minutes at a time, it still made me feel like I was working towards a goal and helped me pick up some more momentum to actually feeling comfortable with setting an exam date.  I now need to finish the end of chapter questions for the first chapter and then I will feel more comfortable with where I am currently.  Getting started was the hardest part for me with my last exam too because it felt like I was reading so much new information at once, and I was so worried about learning and remembering every little detail, which is just simply not necessary.  I just need to keep this in mind and keep my momentum going into the next week now!