Saturday, 21 November 2015

Factors To Consider When Preparing To Take EA Exam

By Marci Nielsen


Being an enrolled agent is very crucial for anybody who wants to advance his/her career as a tax expert. This is because enrolled agents are usually not restricted as to which clients they can represent, the type of tax matters they can handle and which IRS offices they can represent clients in. However, before one can become an enrolled agent, he/she must pass the special enrollment exams. However, passing EA exam requires a lot of hard work, patience and planning. Below are a few pointers to make your task easier.

As usual, the most important tip when preparing for any exam, enrolled agent exam included is to start the preparation in advance. The earlier you start, the better. This will give you ample time to go through past papers and be adequately prepared. Starting revision early enough will also help you avoid the unnecessary last minute cramming; cramming all that information in a few study sessions will not help you retain the knowledge you need and may only compound your stress and anxiety.

Before you sit for the test, it is also important that you go through past IRS test papers. This will ensure that you are familiar with the format of questions to expect. Of course you should not expect to find the exact questions in the exam papers but you should at least find similar questions.

The next tip is to focus on the key concepts. As you start preparing for your EA test, you will realize that you have a lot of things to read about. However, not everything that you learn will be tested. As such, you need to focus your attention on what is testable. You may wonder how to differentiate the key concepts from the rest. This can easily be done by looking at the old exam papers for guidance on key concepts. You may also find testable concepts on prometric websites, which not only list testable concepts but also assign weight to each of them.

Before you schedule a test, you should also be fully prepared. Most candidates do the mistake of booking exams when they are totally not ready. Because of this, you need to take your time and prepare fully before booking an exam. Remember that you can only sit for these exams at most four times in a calendar year. Furthermore, sitting for Enrolled Agent Exams is very costly. It is therefore important that you only register when you are fully prepared.

Joining a study group can also be of help. These days, you do not necessarily have to look for physical location to meet with your group members. You can even form a whatsapp group or meet via facebook and discuss.

As the exam date approaches, you will also need to dedicate more time to relax and unwind. This is not the time to start panicking or cramming. In fact, you should not cram when preparing for the test as it will prove counterproductive.

It is also important that you arrive early on the test site. This will help you avoid being over anxious. Of course anxiety is a normal process of any performance related process. However, too much of it usually have negative consequences.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment