Enrolled Agent Prep Comparison Contents
Enrolled Agent Prep Disclosure
My readers have shared their opinions about the best EA review courses (and the worst EA review courses), and I've listened! I've also gathered feedback from participants on major accounting forums. With this information, I've come up with my enrolled agent course pros and cons. Use this information to find the best EA review course for you!
Let Me Find the Best Enrolled Agent Prep for You!
I don’t believe providers who say their EA review course is the only one that works. Different enrolled agent exam courses meet the learning style needs of different candidates. For this reason, I am confident that you will find the enrolled agent course you need to pass on this page.
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Enrolled Agent Prep | ||||
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$629.95 | $1,312 | $499 | $1,400 | |
Enrolled Agent Prep | ||||
NAEA/top tax prep firms endorsement |  | | | |
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Question Bank |  | | | |
# of Practice Questions | 3,500+ | 7,000+ | 1,800+ | 2,100+ |
Audio Reviews | | | | |
Free Trial | | | | |
Money-Back Guarantee* | | | | |
Customer Service | Help of Experts | Online Forum | Technical Support | Expert assistance |
Access Time Limit | Until You Pass* | Until You Pass* | Until You Pass* | 12 months |
Price for 1 Part | $199.95-$299.95 | N/A | $189 | Varies |
Recommendation & Analysis |
Enrolled Agent Prep Comparison - Best EA Review Courses
Gleim EA Review
This course is the most widely-used on the market.
Strengths
Free demo
When you sign up for the free trial, you get full access to Study Unit One of the Gleim Premium EA Review Course.
Great guarantees
The Access Until You Pass lets you take your time passing the exam without worrying about review course expiration dates. And the money-back guarantee lets you purchase with ease.
Thousands of excellent practice questions
According to Gleim, their EA review course has the biggest test bank on the market. Furthermore, their practice questions are high-quality and very accurate.
Weaknesses
A bit expensive
Though the Traditional course is a little cheaper, the Gleim EA Review Course still has one of the highest price tags in the industry.
No videos
One of the biggest downsides to this course is the lack of video lectures. While it does include audiovisual lectures, these are very similar to an animated PowerPoint presentation and therefore don't provide the professor experience as well.
Recommendation
If you have a background in tax and can teach yourself by answering lots of practice questions, then I believe the Gleim EA Review Course is a perfect choice for you.
TaxMama by Eva Rosenberg
Eva has set up an EA live course at UCLA. Therefore, she knows what it takes to make a good course.
Strengths
Unlimited access and unending support
You'll have access to the TaxMama course as long as you need it. And, you'll can go to the instructors and professionals with all your course client-related questions.
The most and best video lectures on the market
TaxMama is the only review course to include an abundance of instructional videos created specifically for the EA exam. Furthermore, the TaxMama videos are the only ones that allow you to ask questions of the professors while you watch the videos in real time. The lectures are also recorded, so you can watch them on your own time if you miss one.
Weaknesses
Price tag
The price of this course is fairly high, so some enrolled agent candidates may not be able to afford it. However, the additional value all the great features justifies the price tag. Discover all my thoughts about the TaxMama EA course.
Surgent EA Review Course
Surgent EA Review is an innovative EA exam prep option best known for one particular course component: software that learns from you.
Strengths
Weakness-targeting technology
Surgent's unique ASAP (adaptive learning) technology uses your performance in each study session to determine your weak areas. I'm sure that many candidates can really benefit from such a personalized system.
Good guarantee
As long as you're a "good student", you can utilize the money-back guarantee. The specifications for this status include how much time you spend on the questions and the percentage of questions you answer correctly in the end.
Weaknesses
Lack of resources
Surgent's course doesn't present as many features as the Gleim and Fast Forward courses. But thankfully, Surgent isn't charging as much for a course that doesn't come with materials like video lectures, audio reviews, or flashcards.
Recommendations
If you know the exam content but want to prepare with test prep software, then the Surgent course is a great choice for you. If you'd like to supplement your main course with an additional set of practice questions, Surgent's course can also fill that need. Learn my thoughts about Surgent EA on I Pass the EA Exam.
Lambers EA Review
Strengths
Pro Guidance
The course has been updated by tax pro Eva Rosenberg (otherwise known as TaxMama). She's also responsible for much of the content featured within Lambers EA.
Flashcards
Additionally, Lambers is one of the few courses to include EA flashcards.
Lambers Discounts
Also, Lambers offers unique discounts, like 70% off to I Pass Readers.
Weaknesses
Video lectures aren't exceptionally engaging.
Recommendation
If you learn best by reading and answering questions, Lambers is likely a great fit for you. Lambers offers unique affordability for I Pass Readers and equips candidates to pass the EA exam on the first attempt.
Read an in-depth review of Lambers if you need more information about this popular EA prep course.
Passkey EA Study Guides
These are books in the tax law category.
Strengths
Affordable
The complete guide comes in at less than $180 for all 3 parts. The workbook containing mock exams costs just another $60.
Quality content
These books are well written.
Weaknesses
Lack of online course
The books do not include access to an online course. By failing to provide this crucial component, Passkey denies candidates the opportunity to practice in a simulated testing environment.
Mixed review on practice questions
While several practice questions represent the exam well, others are hard to understand.
No guidance
If you buy these books, you're on your own. Passkey doesn't provide any customer support or access to Personal Counselors.
Recommendation
If you're looking for just a book, you'll find Passkey's to be pretty great. But because the test is computerized, I personally prefer EA courses to come an online component so that you can experience a recreation of the exam environment. You can monitor your study progress even better with performance tracking and time management tools, and Passkey is, of course, lacking those as well.
Discover my in-depth analysis of Passkey.
H&R Block Income Tax Course
Strengths
H&R provides live classes in over 10,000 locations.
Weaknesses
This course was not designed specifically for people trying to pass the EA exam.
My Recommendation for the Best Enrolled Agent Prep
If you really want to pass the exam on the first attempt, I recommend Gleim EA Review. This course has the NAEA's endorsement, the best practice questions, Personal Counselor support, and an Access Until You Pass guarantee. You can see everything the Gleim EA course includes by signing up for the free trial. And, with our Gleim Enrolled Agent discount, you can get 15% off your purchase. So, you can save big on one of the best EA review courses around! You'll also want to discover the 5 things you absolutely shouldn't do when using Gleim Enrolled Agent Exam Prep!
Best EA Test Banks
The Enrolled Agent exam has 300 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) that cover 12 fairly broad content areas. The exam questions could ask you about anything relating to those content areas, so in order to prepare for such general coverage of federal taxation, you must answer plenty of practice questions.
Thankfully, an EA test bank contains more than enough of these questions. And you'll find EA test banks in enrolled agent exam courses. A test bank is a collection of questions imitating the ones you'll see on the real exam. When you answer these practice questions, you can get more familiar with the exam content and the testing environment. Answering a lot of practice questions also helps you avoid memorizing the questions themselves, which is basically a bad idea.
Though EA test banks come in a range of sizes, Gleim has one of the best EA test banks around.
The Gleim EA test bank offers over 3,500 unique practice MCQs as well as detailed answer explanations for each question. (And when you compare Gleim to other EA exam prep, like Gleim EA vs Surgent EA, you'll find that Gleim includes many more MCQs than some companies.)These explanations are crucial for helping you understand the reasoning behind each answer. Additionally, these questions also reproduce the look and feel of real exam questions more accurately than any other test bank. With so much exam emulation, you can increase your confidence enough to feel completely comfortable on exam day.
Best EA Video Lectures
Using videos to learn sounds like the easy way out, but video lectures really are an effective way to add some variety to your studies and help you stay focused. Video lectures are videos of professors discussing the EA exam concepts and questions. When you work video lectures into your review, you can grasp information faster, remember it longer, comprehend it better, and appreciate it more.
When comparing EA review course video lectures, we need to look at both quantity and quality. I say this because some providers supply well-made video lectures that share a lot of information even if they don't make as many video lectures. Knowing this, I suggest relying on Lamber’s video lectures.
Video lectures are definitely good resources for your EA review. And in my opinion, the Lambers EA video lectures are the best.
Best EA Exam Multiple-Choice Questions
The EA exam has 3 parts, each containing 100 MCQs. These MCQs come in several different formats, so they can be tricky to answer. For this reason, you have to do more than just memorize definitions and formulas to perform well on the EA exam MCQs. Specifically, you've got to understand the exam content on a deep level. Thankfully, you can reach this level of understanding when you answer plenty of high-quality practice MCQs.
You'll find the best MCQs in 2 different enrolled agent exam review courses.
One thing that Gleim always does well is test banks. So, it's no surprise that the Gleim EA Review test bank is the biggest and best on the market. Gleim's MCQs are exceptional because they accurately reproduce EA exam questions' difficulty and functionality. You can trust Gleim to know how to write such high-quality questions because they were the first EA exam review provider. Therefore, these are the questions you need to be completely prepared for test day.
When it comes to good Enrolled Agent exam MCQs, you actually have options. That's because the Surgent EA review course also has over 1,800 EA exam-accurate MCQs. What's more, Surgent's MCQs have you can use to detect your weak areas. When you take quizzes and practice tests, the platform keeps track of what content you're getting right and what you're getting wrong. Using this information, the course tells you which content areas you should work on more so you can master the MCQs.
Remember: every EA exam question is an MCQ. Therefore, you must prepare for the exam with the best MCQs.
Best Enrolled Agent Prep Audio Lectures
During your regularly scheduled EA exam study sessions, you've got to focus on the material so you can maximize your time. But can you also review EA exam content when you're not completing a study session so you can maximize even more of your time before the test? Yes! It's possible with EA review audio lectures. Audio lectures are the auditory content of a lecture, and when you listen to them, you can keep preparing for the exam while you're also doing other things that require your eyes or hands, but not your mind as much. Examples of these types of activities include driving, exercising, cleaning, commuting, and more. With audio lectures, you can pack more EA review into your day and prepare for the exam that much faster!
Sadly, most EA review courses don’t come with audio lectures. Therefore, I only have one recommendation. That was easy!
Gleim has a reputation for being very thorough with their content, and their audio lectures are no exception. The Gleim EA audio lectures are pretty much the books in audio form, so you know they cover all the content. And that’s great, it means you won’t miss important topics if you switch between the audio lectures and the books, which can be very helpful for auditory learners. You can download the audio lectures on play them on any device for your convenience, and they're clear and easy to listen to. So, a great option all around.
If you believe you'll need to use audio lectures a lot during your EA review, then you really should use the audio lectures from Gleim.
Best EA Exam Study Planners
In order to pass the EA exam, you've got to make some plans. And one of these plans must be your EA exam study plan. Making your study plan requires you to establish how quickly you want to pass the exam, where you can add regular study sessions into your weekly schedule, how you can average 1-2 hours of study each day, and when you'll finish your studies at this rate. Gathering all of this information to make your plan and then sticking to the plan is very important. To manage such a big job, having an EA review study planner is super helpful.
In my opinion, the best EA study planners are simple, adjustable, and intuitive. They should also record your progress and hold you accountable. Thankfully, the only 2 study planners available check all these boxes, so you can't go wrong with either!
The Gleim EA Review study planner is top of the line because it lets you input your test dates and hours of availability, then produces a detailed study session schedule for you. The study planner tracks your study history and modifies the agenda when you add or remove blackout dates. Finally, it notifies you via text or email if you miss a study session.
To tap into Surgent's study planner, you must first finish a series of quizzes. Then, the study planner tool helps you see exactly how many hours you must commit to preparing for the exam by considering your exam date, specified study days, and current knowledge levels. Finally, the study planner creates a custom review program you can follow to exam success.
When you rely on one of the awesome study planners to guide your EA review, you can ensure you pick the best test dates and be completely ready when they roll around.
Best EA Exam Prep Customer Support
Customer service is a reliable tell-all for good EA exam prep. If your course has great customer service, you know you've picked a great course! What does fantastic customer service look like? Well, it goes beyond the ability to contact the company via phone, email, live chat, or social messaging. Instead, it also gives you access to a team of experts who are always ready to assist you with any problem. And the one provider who offers such a high level of customer service is Gleim EA Review.
Three factors enable Gleim’s customer service to stand out. First, as soon as you get your Gleim course, you're also assigned your very own exam mentor. Gleim calls these mentors Personal Counselors and trains them to help you create a study plan, answer your questions, and encourage you until you pass. Second, you also have the ability to speak with technical gurus about any computer or course access problems you're having. Finally, you also communicate with accounting experts through the practice question inquiry system within the course. These experts can assist you in getting a better grasp on the exam concepts.
With such outstanding customer service available to you, you clearly don't have to go through the EA exam process alone. Instead, you can enjoy the impressive support systems with Gleim EA Review.
Best Enrolled Agent Review Course Flashcards
Now, I know flashcards are not the most high-tech resources around. But, they remain a pretty effective tool for exam preparation, even the EA exam. Flashcards are a simple yet powerful way to make sure you know the definitions, formulas, terms, and more that the exam will ask you about.
If you want to really increase your comprehension and retention of the exam information, you can make your own flashcards. But if you want to save time and now that you've got all the necessary content in hand, you can use the pre-made flashcards that come with your EA review course.
Definition of an Enrolled Agent Prep Course
What exactly is an Enrolled Agent exam review course? Well, it's a compilation of self-study resources designed to prepare you for the Special Enrollment Exam (SEE), also known as the Enrolled Agent (EA) exam. These courses focus on teaching you the content on which the EA exam tests. Many EA exam review courses are accessible online, so you must have internet access to use many of the course materials. The best EA review courses usually have:
- Digital or physical books
- A bank of practice questions
- Video lectures
- Audio lectures
- A study planner
- Performance tracking software
- Customer service access
- Limited time access
You can buy an EA review course in 3 parts (1 for each EA Exam part) or as a complete set.
Benefits of Using an Enrolled Agent Exam Prep Course
Why do you need an EA review course? Is it necessary? The answer to that last question is yes because of all the reasons that answer the first question.
In short, using an EA review course is very beneficial because exam experts created it to help you pass. But specifically, these are the ways in which an enrolled agent exam prep course prepares you for exam success:
An enrolled agent course teaches the exam content in an efficient and effective way.
The EA exam's 3 parts assess your knowledge of various tax preparation and representation topics.
- Part 1: Individuals
- Preliminary Work and Taxpayer Data
- Income and Assets
- Deductions and Credits
- Taxation and Advice
- Specializing Returns for Individuals
- Part 2: Business
- Business Entities
- Business Financial Information
- Specialized Returns and Taxpayers
- Part 3: Representation, Practices, and Procedures
- Practices and Procedures
- Representation before the IRS
- Specific Types of Representation
- Completion of the Filing Process
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reveals what the EA exam covers in the Candidate Information Bulletin and other documents found on the Prometric website. And while these documents are very detailed, but they're not specific enough to get you ready for the exam. So, if you want to earn the enrolled agent designation, you discover and learn more about the exam content yourself. You also must make sure you have all the required skills that go with the information on the exam. This might not sound so bad, but thoroughly researching the exam content on your own would take a significant amount of time and effort. As such, this could make passing the exam take at least twice as long.
But thankfully, you don't have to do all of this work yourself. Instead, you can just use an enrolled agent course. An Enrolled Agent exam review course collects and condenses all of this information for you. What's more, a quality enrolled agent exam review course comes with expertly-authored textbooks and lectures that lead you through every topic on the exam. By letting an EA review course assemble the exam information for you, you have more time and energy to commit to mastering the material.
An Enrolled Agent exam course ensures that you can acquire the knowledge and skills you need to pass by exam day.
A worthy EA review course not only supplies you with the exam content but also monitors your study progress. These courses utilize tools like performance tracking software and study planners to make sure that you can learn and retain all the essential information in a timely manner.
The EA exam uses multiple-choice questions (MCQs) to determine if you're educated and capable enough to fulfill the enrolled agent position. One main part of many EA review courses is the test bank, a collection of practice questions that you can answer to demonstrate your knowledge and increase your confidence. When those test banks also emulate the look and feel of the EA exam, they let you see how the exam will operate before you even get to the testing site. Why is exam emulation important? Because with it, you can experience maximum self-assurance and minimal surprises on exam day.
An Enrolled Agent exam review course supplies a support system for receiving extra information, advice, and encouragement.
Thankfully, just about every Enrolled Agent exam review course offers customer service in some form. In some special cases, such service involves assistance from friendly experts and mentors who answer questions, explain information, impart encouragement, and practice accountability. It may also afford the ability to work with an IT team on computer or course access issues. At the very least, you can get in touch with your review provider via phone, email, or social media whenever necessary. So, when you buy one of the EA courses listed on this page, you can communicate with EA experts all throughout your exam journey.
The Cost of EA Exam Prep
Good news! While the review courses created for some professional accounting certification exams can have $2,000-$3,000 price tags, EA review courses rarely cost so much. In fact, as you can see in my chart at the top of the page, most EA courses come in at less than $1,000. This really is wonderful when you factor in the other EA exam fees you'll have to pay. And you can see other ways in which the EA is different by reading my article CPA vs. EA.
If the enrolled agent course you select doesn't have unlimited course access, then you may also have to pay a course renewal fee at one point. To avoid this fee, you must either pass each part the first time or simply purchase a course with access until you pass. Plenty of good EA courses include this candidate-concerned guarantee.
To dodge the tragedy of buying the wrong course (which would only be clear after you failed the EA exam) and having to pay more for another course, take advantage of the free trials many providers present. When you sign up for a free trial, you can explore the course to see what it includes, how it functions, and how it addresses your learning style. Once you’ve worked through all available demos, determining which courses will work best for you should be pretty easy.
Best Budget Enrolled Agent Prep Course
As I mentioned, enrolled agent review courses are certainly not the most expensive out there. But that doesn't mean that you're able to pay for the most expensive EA course. In fact, I can definitely understand if taking the money-saving route is the only way you can get to the EA designation. If that's your situation, I suggest buying the Enrolled Agent exam course I believe is best for EA candidates on a budget: Surgent EA Review.
With its proprietary A.S.A.P technology, Surgent EA Review is one of the most innovative courses on the market. Surgent's adaptive technology analyzes your current knowledge to discover your strengths and weaknesses. Then, using this information, the course produces a personalized learning plan that can lead you to EA exam success. On top of that, Surgent’s course holds almost 2,000 MCQs with answer explanations, has up-to-date IRS publications built in, presents unlimited practice exams, and supplies an access until you pass guarantee. This course is both a great value for new EA exam candidates and comfortably priced for re-takers.
The best part about choosing Surgent is the fact that my Surgent EA Review course discount lets you get study materials for all 3 exam parts for less than $500 (!). Therefore, when you purchase Surgent’s technologically advanced EA course, you can save both time and money.
My Recommendation: Surgent EA Review
Determining Your Learning Style
Did you know? Everyone learns differently. We all have a unique learning style, which is a combination of the tools and experiences we need to understand information. So, to best prepare for the EA exam, you have to study with the review course most suitable to your learning style. To find that course, you must find out what kind of learner you are.
- If hearing someone explain a concept helps you understand that concept faster, you might be an auditory learner.
- Does constant movement intensify your concentration? If so, you’re a kinesthetic learner.
- When watching a video really jumpstarts your learning process, you’re most likely a visual learner.
- If writing and reading written words increases your comprehension, you are a linguistic learner.
- Need to grasp the logic behind every concept? If so, you’d qualify as a logical learner.
- If you prefer to research a topic on your own, you may be a solitary learner.
- Do you embrace every opportunity to join a group of equally interested individuals in exploring a new idea? Then you definitely sound like a social learner.
- And, if you discover yourself opting for a different learning approach based on the information you’re trying to gain, chances are that you have more than one learning style. This is quite common.
So, once you know your learning style, you can use that information to compare all the enrolled agent courses. You must do this to see which courses could satisfy your learning style. This is another reason why accessing the course demos is a good idea. Sign up for every free demo you can and examine it until your access expires if necessary. You've got to discover the review course that best addresses your learning style before you give a provider your money, and the course trials enable you to do this.
Selecting the Best Enrolled Agent Exam Prep
When you’re ready to pick your perfect enrolled agent review course, evaluate all your options according to these factors:
- Course reviews
- Fit for your learning style
- Number of practice questions
- Value for the price
- Course guarantees and access periods
- Course authors
- Lecture presenters
- Industry longevity
- Quality of customer support
- Availability of course demos
- Frequency of content updates
- Exam emulation
This is a long list that might not be in order of importance for you. So, feel free to use your own unique priorities to retain, remove, and rearrange these items however you want. Then, weigh each review course against your personal standards and preferences. Of course, different courses work best for different candidates, but I know you can find your ideal enrolled agent course by following this method. And with that course, you can pass the EA exam!
Best EA Exam Prep for Candidates Who Failed the EA Exam
Though you can certainly pass the EA exam if you commit to it, you might fail a part or two before then. While the EA exam difficulty level is lower than other accounting exam certification exams, it is not an easy test. And the reason for your failure may be that you didn't study well enough, long enough, or with the right materials. That last one can be the most tempting to blame, but you mustn't do it to soon. Instead, you should thoroughly assess your own study habits first. Then, if you're be able to say with certainty that you put everything you could into your studies, used your course exactly as instructed, and still failed, you can officially hold your review course accountable. And in that case, if you believe new EA exam prep is the answer, I recommend turning to Surgent EA Review.
If you ever do find yourself needing a new EA course, you'll also find that the Surgent EA review course is a friend to EA exam re-takers. Surgent's adaptive technology will help you uncover all of your remaining weak areas and drill down into the right content areas until you've mastered all those exam topics. To make the switch to Surgent even easier, they provide a free course demo and a great guarantee. And of course, my Surgent EA Review discount will keep you from having to break the bank on another course. Personally, I find Surgent EA Review to be the support candidates need when they're struggling to hold out for EA exam success.
My Recommendation: Surgent EA Review
Best Enrolled Agent Prep for Accounting Students
Did you know that the EA designation is one of the most student-friendly accounting certifications in America? It's true! As a student, you can both take the EA exam and officially earn the enrolled agent qualification before you even graduate! As you may know, other certifications, such as the CPA and CMA, don't let you finish both the exam and the qualification process nearly so soon. Therefore, you can become an EA whenever you want!
Knowing that you can become an EA while you're still in school, you're going to want to prepare for the EA exam with the best review course for students. And in my opinion, that course is Gleim EA Review. Gleim is simply a solid course all-around, and many EA candidates have found success with Gleim. So if you're a student and you're studying for the EA exam at the same time, you might as well study with one of the best courses, right? After all, that's the best way to make the most use of your study time!
My Recommendation: Gleim EA Review
Best EA Exam Prep for Accountants
Are you perchance a full-time accountant hoping to augment your career with increased skills, income, job opportunities, and more? If so, the EA designation is what you need, and you should plan to earn it ASAP by passing the EA exam fast. And when you team up with an EA review course that covers all of the exam content clearly and concisely, you can pass the exam faster than you think.
Because Gleim EA Review has the most content coverage, that's the course you need. One of Gleim's specialties is easy-to-read content outlines, so their EA course will give you all the information you need in a simple, digestible format. With comprehensive audio reviews, Gleim's course equips you to deepen your knowledge, and it also gives you every opportunity to reinforce your comprehension with the biggest test bank available. So, if you're already a veteran in the accounting field, you can still sharpen your accounting skills enough to pass the EA exam with Gleim EA Review.
