Written By Guest Blogger Amy W.
It’s a happy day here at my house. I passed Part 2 of the EA Exam! So that’s two parts down and one (Part 3) to go.
This will be my final blog for Part 2, so I’d like to provide a recap of how this study process went. Going into it, I knew that the Gleim System was meant to be a review system, not a start-from-the-beginning system. Since all my tax experience is in individual, not business, taxation, I knew that I was facing an uphill battle. I had to do my own research on a number of topics before even starting on the material. This was not the fault of the Gleim system, of course, but of my own lack of experience.
I am nothing if not disciplined. I studied for four hours every day, taking breaks whenever the words started blurring together. As with Part 1, I learned more from working through the problems than from anything else. My process was to read the outline to get some idea of the topic, study from external sources as necessary, and then start answering the test prep questions before going to the Gleim Online material.
After completing the 7th and 14th study units, I switched to review sessions. After finishing all 20 study units, I went back to Study Unit 1 and answered all of the Test Prep questions to see what I needed to study again. Then I moved on to Study Unit 2, and so on. If I scored 90% or better on the test, I moved on; anything less than that meant I started the study unit over again. I also took a 100-question test covering all 20 study units every day and noted which sections I wasn’t doing well on. Every time I studied a study unit, I was able to understand the material a bit more.
Early this month, Monica encouraged me to set a test date. She told me that the adrenalin of having a date on the calendar would push me to complete this process. She was right. The approaching exam date forced me to stop obsessing about getting every single question right. I prepared a 10-page summary sheet and spent the final week before the test studying entirely from that.
Today was the big day. I scheduled the test for the afternoon (because I am definitely NOT a morning person) and slept as late as I could. For me, getting enough sleep is half the battle. Going into the test, I felt calm with just a hint of underlying jitters. Fortunately, my exam skills are good. I usually perform well under pressure. In fact, sometimes pressure will successfully resurrect a memory from my subconscious! That happened twice on this exam.
I finished the test in about 90 minutes. What I knew, I knew very well. All that time spent answering test prep questions paid off. And what I didn’t know, I knew that I didn’t know, and so I didn’t waste a lot of time with those questions. I ruled out the obviously incorrect answers, picked one of the remaining answers, and moved on.
After answering all the questions, I went back through the entire test. There’s some part of me that settles down after I’ve answered all the questions and I’m able to read the questions and answers more closely. Usually, our first answer is usually correct, so I resist the impulse to change answers unless I am certain. I did find two that I had certainly answered incorrectly and corrected those. One of those was a “trick” question and I had initially missed the trick. However, this exact same “trick” was in one of the Gleim questions, so I caught it easily the second time around. Even after reviewing every question, I finished in less than 2 hours. I felt good about my performance. When the nice man handed me my test results and said, “Congratulations!” I was delighted, but not surprised.
There is no doubt in my mind that I could not have succeeded without the Gleim system. The Gleim simulations and online help made all the difference in my study process. I can’t thank the good folks at accounting@gleim.com enough for their patience. I badgered them two or three times a week, trying to understand the finer points of the questions. And many thanks to Monica, who encouraged me when I was feeling overwhelmed.
Where do I go from here? Las Vegas! I’m taking a week off to attend the IRS Tax Forum. Then it’ll be on to Part 3.
