Part 2 is the part most Enrolled Agent candidates find hardest, and a lot of them underestimate it going in. It's 100 multiple-choice questions in 3.5 hours, with a scaled passing score of 500 on the 200 to 800 scale, and I'd budget 80 to 120 hours for it. The pass rate doesn't back up the reputation, though. The IRS publishes no pass rates, and figures compiled by review providers put Part 2 at about 71 percent for the 2024-25 testing window, above Part 1 (Individuals) at 58 percent and level with Part 3 (Representation, Practices, and Procedures) at 70 percent.

Part 2 sits between those two in the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE) and packs in the widest range of technical detail. The IRS writes and owns the exam, and a testing vendor delivers it. FreeFellow is independent and not connected to the IRS, so treat this as my study plan, not guidance from the exam body.

What's on Part 2

Of the 100 questions, 85 are scored and 15 are experimental and don't count. There's no way to tell them apart, so give every question your full effort. The 3.5 hours is testing time, and the full appointment runs a bit longer with the tutorial and survey. You either pass or get a score with diagnostic feedback on your weak areas. It's all multiple choice, with no partial credit and no written response, so recognition and elimination matter as much as raw recall.

You have a three-year carryover: once you pass your first part, you have three years to pass the other two before that first credit expires. The SEE testing year historically ran from May 1 through the end of February. The 2026-27 window runs July 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027 under PSI Services, which took over from Prometric in March 2026, with a spring blackout while the content is updated, so confirm current dates before you schedule.

The IRS content outline for Part 2 has three domains. The exact weights shift a little over time, so check the current outline, but the shape has been stable.

Business Entities and Considerations (30 of the 85 scored questions) is the most conceptual block. It covers sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations and S corporations, and the formation, operation and liquidation issues that go with each. Basis, distributions and how income flows through to owners all live here.

Business Tax Preparation is the largest domain, at 37 scored questions. It covers accounting methods and periods, business income, business expenses and deductions, cost recovery (depreciation, Section 179, bonus depreciation) and the treatment of assets. If you like numbers, this is where practice pays off fastest.

Specialized Returns and Taxpayers covers trusts and estates (including fiduciary returns), exempt organizations, retirement plans and farmers. At 18 scored questions it's the smallest slice of the exam, but it's a common source of surprise questions, and a lot of people lose points here because it feels like a grab bag of unrelated topics.

I wouldn't spread your hours evenly. Entity taxation and business tax preparation carry the most questions and the most rules that depend on each other, so weight your time toward those two.

How I'd study for it

If you prepare business returns in your day job, the low end of 80 to 120 hours is realistic. If your background is individual returns or you're new to tax, aim higher and give yourself a longer runway. Here's the timeline I'd use at about 8 to 10 hours a week:

  • Weeks 1 to 3: entities. Sole props and partnerships first, then C corps, then S corps. Build a one-page chart comparing formation, basis, distributions and loss limitations for each entity type. You'll use it constantly.
  • Weeks 4 to 6: business tax preparation. Accounting methods, income and expense rules, and depreciation. Work lots of small numerical problems here rather than reading.
  • Weeks 7 to 8: specialized returns. Trusts, estates, exempt orgs and retirement plans. Cover them briefly, but don't skip them.
  • Weeks 9 to 10: mixed review and full-length practice sets under a clock, then cleanup on your weakest domain.

If you can only give the exam 5 hours a week, stretch this to 14 to 16 weeks rather than cramming.

Reading alone won't get you through Part 2. The exam tests rules that look similar but differ by entity, and you learn to tell them apart by answering a lot of questions. Here's the loop:

  1. Read a focused chunk, like one entity type or one tax-preparation subtopic.
  2. Do 20 to 40 questions on just that chunk right away.
  3. Review every miss and every lucky guess, and write one sentence on why the right answer is right.
  4. Once a domain feels solid, mix it into cumulative sets so it stays fresh.

In the final two weeks, switch to full-length timed blocks. You have about 2 minutes per question, and you want that pace to feel automatic so test day feels like a normal practice session.

Where people lose points

  • Treating Part 2 like Part 1. Individual-tax intuition doesn't carry over cleanly, and partnership and S corp basis rules trip up experienced individual preparers.
  • Skipping the specialized returns because the domain is small. Those are often easy points.
  • Memorizing depreciation instead of practicing it. Cost recovery is procedural, and you learn it by working problems, not rereading the rules.
  • No timed practice. Running out of time is avoidable, so simulate the clock at least three or four times before test day.
  • Ignoring the diagnostic feedback on a retake. If you don't pass, the score report tells you which domains were weak. Rebuild your plan around those instead of studying everything again.

The IRS updates the content outline and testing calendar periodically, so verify both before you schedule. FreeFellow's EA Part 2 question bank has 1,083 original practice questions with step-by-step solutions and 19 written lessons, free with an account. Mixed practice is free, and practicing one topic at a time is part of Fellow. Use the explanations to write your own note on each rule instead of memorizing the answer letter.