Enrolled Agent DONE - SEE Part 2 - Business Passed

Good Evening all! I passed my final section of the Enrolled Agent series today. This was a big personal deal. The poor test people, I had a hard time not crying right in front of them.

With the Enrolled Agent done, I now switch gears fully to the CPA. The first exam I will take is REG which is all about taxation. In theory the Enrolled Agent exam should have helped build foundation for that exam.

As usual, I will sprinkle the test experience with photos.

Fall is coming.

The cats have started stationing themselves in line with the pellet stove every morning...in case I want to start it up.

Now that I have finished all three parts, some thoughts:

I won't know until I finish REG, but I am unclear why the Enrolled Agent is dismissed as easy. Now in fairness I only seem to see that in the CPA forums. It sure wasn't easy for me and I have a major sense of pride to have completing it. So either REG is impossible, or more likely, we all have different threshold for exam and study stress.

I used the Exam Matrix study experience for all three parts and I did request several supporting IRS publications. I am glad I used this study system and I would recommend it. The downside is that I never saw an overlap in the questions between the study system and the real exam, the upside is that I feel like I really learned a lot of material.

My order:
SEE - Part 3 (Regulations)
SEE - Part 1 (Individual)
SEE - Part 2 (Business)

Had I had the choice, I would have done them in order rather than starting with Part 3 mostly because Part 3 had questions that were really more Part 1 and Part 2. I didn't notice as much overlap with the other sections. Still, I survived, and yes, you can take them out of order.

Part 3 was unsettling for me because it was my first experience with the exam format and none of the questions matched the study material which caught me off guard. By Part 1 I was in a subject that I had hands on experience with because of my volunteer work and I knew what to expect from the testing format.

Part 2, which I took today, was the hardest on me emotionally. I struggled to retain the material using the study plan (probably more because of external stress like my job) and I had put a lot of pressure on myself that if I didn't pass I had to stop working on the Enrolled Agent until I dealt with my first CPA exam.

The reason for the added pressure is that when you apply to schedule a CPA exam and eventually get the OK, your invitation to schedule the exam WILL expire. So you are racing the clock on something that cost you over $300 to apply for. (Each Enrolled Agent section is a $105/exam).

Basically I was kind of a wreck for today's exam. The testing center is also located near a major annual fair (Puyallup Fair) and needless to say, the traffic was a nightmare. With all the build up and stress around this final IRS test it is no wonder I almost cried publicly when I passed. :) Something tells me tears happen at a testing center however.

Tomorrow Nim and I are entered in another UKC Rally Obedience competition. Thanks to my accounting related standardized testing experiences, dog trialing now seems like fun. At least I have my partner by my side. :)