Customer Reviews

EA Exam Review Complete: Individuals, Businesses and Representation IRS Enrolled Agent Exam Study Guide 2009-2010 Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Overall, I think this is a good & economical review book that includes all 3 sections to the EA exam. The material is easy to read and understand. However, be careful when you get to the questions section behind each chapter- I found multiple errors in the answer key. Just don't take for face value when doing questions when the answer says "B" when it really should be "D." Or when the tax year should be "2008" and the answer key says "2006". Luckily if you read through the detailed answer, you should be able to figure out what the correct answer should be.

I recently passed all three portions of the EA exam and I have to say, I don't think this book alone will prepare you for the exam. I used additional materials to help prepare me (thank goodness I did that). And after taking the exam, and looking back at this book, I don't think the book will be enough. I can't say that with certainty of course, because I passed the first time on all sections, and I have no idea what a passing score might be - so take this review for what it's worth...

For a study guide, this book is absolutely FULL of errors and mistakes. They range from silly grammatical flubs, to full-blown wrong answers on the sample questions. Most of the grammar and formatting mistakes occur in the unit readings. I couldn't tell if there were mistakes in what was written since I was learning it as I went along. But the formatting issues definitely made it hard to follow sometimes. Bulleted lists weren't indented properly, sentences sometimes just stopped randomly in mid-explanation, etc, etc. You know how you write something up in MS Word and sometimes the formatting gets all funky, and you get frustrated trying to figure out how to fix that one indent that's different from the rest? Then you just say "F - it" and leave it be? That's how this book appears to be formatted sometimes. Not horrible, but highly annoying when reading.

But the most glaring mistakes are found in the question and answer sections at the end of each study unit. I've read a lot of study guides, and have taken a lot of standardized exams (CFP, Series 6, Series 65, Life Insurance, and now my Enrolled Agent exams). I have never seen a book riddled with so many glaring errors. It was truly as if Pinheiro wrote this book and never submitted it to an editor. Again, having a lot of experience with exams and study books, I can tell what she's done. She simply copied and pasted stuff from either old IRS EA exams, or her own old sample questions, and didn't bother proof-reading any of it. Old phase outs/limits are used, plain-old wrong answers are given, and there are a LOT of instances where topics/concepts are asked about, and they were nowhere to be found in the unit readings. The whole effort just smacks of laziness and is quite frankly unacceptable. She claims that this is the most affordable study guide/method out there. After doing research, that's definitely true - but it's also true that you get what you pay for.

I must add, I highly doubt the veracity of the people giving this book anything over 4 stars. Rank the reviews by Newest First, and notice that the first two reviews after the book came out gave it 5 stars, then REAL reviews started flowing in...

Update - A couple of people emailed me asking for an example of how bad the Q&A section is, so here's one from the practice questions on Representation. This is exactly how it appears in the book (spelling error and all) on page 556:

>>>>>>>

60. Authorized electronic filing providers may not base their fees on a percentage of the refund amount or compute their fees using any figure from tax returns. Which of the following fees is acceptlable?

A. Separate fees may be charged for direct deposits.
B. A preparer may charge a separate, flat fee for e-filing.
C. A preparer may charge a contingent fee for e-filing.
D. A preparer may charge a contingent fee based on the percentage of a client's refund.

The answer is A, True.
Separate fees may not be charged for direct deposits. A preparer may charge a separate, flat fee for e-filing. No contingent fees may be charged on an original tax return.

<<<<<<<

If you could figure that out, then by all means, buy this book!

First of all,I am a senior tax preparer for H & R Block with seven years experience and many other years elsewhere.
I feel the bad reviews given to this book are mostly unfair and unfounded.
I find the type to be too small and it can be a bother after reading two chapters.There are a few mistakes in the index and with a few answers but on the whole it is a good book and it does what it claims
to do-prepare you for the exam. A good rule is to never take any answer to anything at face value-research it for your own knowledge.
Yes,the questions are older but no one has access to the test questions on the Prometric exam.You can pay much,much more for other books that also have test questions and answers from prior IRS exams.They all do so to say this book has them and use that as a negative is unfair.
I also found the fact it is an all in one book a bit cumbersome.A three part book is much easier to take with you to work etc and study.
To my way of thinking these are very minor issues.
Do you get what you paid for ? A solid yes !

I have never left a review before, but my reaction to this book was such that I think it's deserved...

I actually like the format of the book, with very summarized information by topic area, followed by questions testing your knowledge of it. However:

1) The book is riddled with errors and inconsistencies. I believe it must have been updated from a prior year, and not all the figures were updated properly.

2) The questions come almost exclusively out of IRS publications or past EA exams, which are all available for free (though explanations are not).

3) Several people have pointed out problems with the questions. This is true. Many times the right answer will be B, and the book will say "The answer is C." and then go on to explain why B is the right answer.

4) Questions often appear in the wrong section or the wrong subsection if the questions are divided that way. Oftentimes you would not be able to figure out the answer to a question by looking in the study guide. You'd have to go to another publication.

5) In at least one case I can recall, the question was a fair one, though not at all covered in the relevant part. More annoyingly, a table necessary to calculate the right answer was not included as part of the question.

6) After having taken all three parts, I will say that the content hits some topics well and others not so well. For Part I, it missed a lot of topics (gift/estate tax and exclusion, AMT, estate planning, etc.). I thought Part II was covered pretty well. Part III was hit-or-miss (I found the test asked a lot of very specific questions that could have been addressed better).

For the price point, maybe it's an OK buy, but if you have the money I'd suggest going with something better. Or, if you're really cheap, just use the IRS publications.

Product provides clear and fairly comprehensive coverage of IRS publications. It will help you study for the exam and learn taxes. But, as other reviews have said, it needs editing both for content and grammar. For the price of this text, certainly the product should be better. Check out other products before you buy.

This book has many errors, especially in Q&A section. It is very hard to study when the answers are wrong.

If i could, i would give this book a negative star.
I bought the book hoping it would help me to get prepared for the EA exam. After a few pages of reviewing the Q&A's i noticed that some "so called" answers are just wrong. others lacked of explanation. which is really strange, since most questions were taken out of old EA exams published by the IRS incl.answerkey.
I would not suggest relying on this book. there are much better ways to prepare yourself for the Exam.

This is the worst book possible. i tool the test after reading this book thoroughly. most of the question topics on the test were not even covered in this book and lots of wrong answers and tons of mistakes. IF you are new to taxes just working from this book you can not pass the exam. i finally bought the gleim books and review its expensive but now i feel more comfortable taking this test again.

I just took the first part of the exam and passed so it is definitely helpful. My only gripe is that there are more editing issues/mistakes than I would have expected, e.g. some questions clearly had the wrong answers. I have a pretty strong background in accounting and finance and would not have passed without this book. Good value.

I purchased this item to use along side of classroom training that I am receiving. It has been so helpful, especially since I found out that the teacher uses the book to find his teaching material! Definitely recommend!