Written By Guest Blogger Amy W.
The out-of-town company is gone; the birthday party is over. With only twelve days until I take the EA Exam, my focus has gotten narrow and sharp. Of course, there are still family responsibilities that don’t go away, but I manage to take a 100-question test every day. Then I review the questions I got wrong. Did I not read the question thoroughly? If this is the case, I chastise myself – yet again – for going too fast. Or was there a fundamental misunderstanding of the information? If this is the case, I note the section number of the question and settle down to re-review the material. For the past week, I’ve scored at least 90% on my 100-question tests.
Now, you might think that this means I’m a shoo-in to pass this test. But, having taken Part 1, I know there will be questions on the test that I have never seen or heard of. I know I will have to use whatever passes for common sense in Tax World to answer them. So this means that I have to know the Gleim material cold in order to make up for those unknown questions that await me.
Because my real-world tax experience is limited, there are areas of this knowledge base that I’m just not going to really understand in the next twelve days. AMT comes to mind as the most obvious example. I have actually memorized the AMT formula, but I do not have a deep understanding of this subject. I’ve learned the Gleim information on farming, but I know nothing beyond that. I can answer the questions in this study unit easily, but it wouldn’t take much to throw me. Different methodologies of inventory identification and valuation are also not my strong point, but it’s hard to imagine there would be more than one question on this subject. I’m comfortable with basis, like-kind exchanges, involuntary exchanges, and business expenses.
Twelve days…and counting!
