Failed EA Part 2 twice — what finally worked for me?

by Sofia R. 15 views3 replies
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Sofia R.OP
May 27, 2026

So I finally passed Part 2 (Businesses) last month after two failed attempts and I honestly can't believe it took me this long to figure out what I was doing wrong. My first two tries I was scoring in the low 60s on practice exams and thought that was good enough. Spoiler: it's not. The real exam humbled me fast.

What changed everything was switching how I used my EA practice test materials. Instead of just taking full-length tests and moving on, I started doing question-by-question review and writing down WHY each wrong answer was wrong — not just what the right answer was. That sounds obvious but I wasn't doing it. Also, I found a solid study guide that organized the business entity rules by entity type instead of by code section, which made the partnerships vs. S-corps distinctions actually stick.

Anyone else here studying for Part 2 right now? Happy to share more specific exam tips on the schedule C vs. schedule K stuff if it would help — that killed me both times before I really nailed it down.

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Sofia R.
May 27, 2026
This is so relatable. I passed Part 1 last year but Part 2 is a different beast. The entity comparison stuff is brutal. I've been doing timed EA practice test sessions — like 30 questions, 45 minutes — and tracking my weak spots in a spreadsheet. My score jumped from 62 to 74 in about three weeks doing it that way. What study guide did you end up using?
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Ravi S.
May 28, 2026
Congrats on passing! I'm curious about your timeline — how many hours total did you log between your second fail and the third attempt? I'm trying to figure out if I should push my test date back. I've got about six weeks and I'm consistently hitting 68-70 on practice exams. Not sure if that's enough buffer or if I'm just running the same gaps over and over.
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rachel_s
May 28, 2026
The why-not-just-what approach for wrong answers is genuinely the best exam tip I've seen on here. Wish someone told me that before Part 1. Saving this thread for when I start Part 2 prep in the fall.

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