The EA Exam Just Changed Vendors for the First Time in 20 Years

Prometric had the EA exam contract since 2006. Nearly two decades of candidates knew the drill: show up at a testing center, get scratch paper, score at least 105 on a 40 to 130 scale, pay about $260. That era ended March 1, 2026.

The IRS gave PSI Services a 5-year contract. This is the same company that handles FAA pilot exams and Customs and Border Protection testing. About 29,000 EA exams get administered each year, and every single one now runs through PSI.

This is not a new coat of paint. PSI is writing the exam from scratch. The test-taking experience is different. If you are studying right now or planning to sit before the window closes in February 2027, there are things you need to adjust and things you can ignore.

Remote testing is here, and it changes the game

For the first time, you can take the EA exam from your house. US candidates get a choice: PSI test center or remote proctoring. International candidates get remote only, starting September 1.

The requirements are what you would expect. Laptop or desktop with webcam, speakers, microphone, stable broadband. A room scan before you start. No scratch paper, you get a digital whiteboard instead. Hands visible at all times. No talking. No mouthing words.

Whether remote is better depends entirely on your setup. Quiet room with good internet? You just saved yourself a drive. Thin walls, spotty Wi-Fi, roommates who might walk in? Take the test center. The last thing you want is a proctor flagging you because your dog barked during Part 2.

The fee went up. The IRS said it went down. Both are technically true.

The IRS fee portion decreased. PSI's portion more than made up for it. Each part now costs $317, which is $50 more than last year's $267. Three parts equals $951, and that is before you buy any study materials.

Gleim's premium EA review runs $639. Fast Forward Academy is around $500. Add the exam fees and you are looking at roughly $1,200 to $1,600 to go from zero to EA. Compare that to a bachelor's in accounting, and it is not close. But it is still real money, and the cost went up, not down.

The scoring scale changed. The difficulty did not.

Old scale: 40 to 130, passing was 105. New scale: 200 to 800, passing is 500. This means nothing for how hard the exam is. Same distribution, different numbers. But if you have "105" burned into your brain from old study guides, erase it. Passing is 500 now.

One thing that did change: if you pass, you do not get a numeric score. You get a diagnostic report telling you which areas need more work. If you fail, you get your actual score. This is actually useful. Knowing you failed by 3 points versus 50 points changes how you study for the retake.

The exam structure shifted, slightly

Old format: two sections with a single 15-minute break between them. New format: three sections with two 10-minute breaks. Not a huge deal, but it affects pacing. You get less uninterrupted time per section, and the break pattern is different from what older practice exams may have trained you to expect.

A few things got better

Prometric was strict about jewelry. Wedding rings and religious items only. PSI lets you keep jewelry on as long as it is not big enough to conceal a recording device. You can also bring water now, in a clear container with no label and a lid.

On the other hand, no more provided handheld calculators. Onscreen only. If you have been practicing with a physical calculator, switch to the onscreen one now so it does not throw you off on exam day.

The OB3 Act is on the exam

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025 and rewrote significant pieces of tax law. Since PSI is building the exam from scratch, OB3 changes are baked into the content from day one. If your study materials have not been updated for the 2026-2027 cycle, they are behind. Check with your provider.

What did not change

The three parts are the same. Part 1 is Individuals. Part 2 is Businesses. Part 3 is Representation, Practices, and Procedures. You still have three years to pass all three. The question formats are still multiple choice: direct questions, fill-in-the-blank, "all of the following EXCEPT." Still 100 questions per part, 85 scored, 15 experimental.

If you already passed one or two parts under Prometric, your credit still holds. The three-year clock runs from your first passed part regardless of who administered it.

The credential itself has not moved. An Enrolled Agent still gets unlimited practice rights before the IRS, same as attorneys and CPAs for tax matters. You still need a PTIN, which costs $18.75. You still need to pass a suitability check. You still need 72 hours of CE every three years with 6 of those in ethics.

The fundamentals have not budged

About 600 accounting students graduate each year in a metro area the size of Denver. An estimated 2,000-plus preparers retire each year in that same region. The pipeline is undersupplied by roughly 1,400 people annually. That was the number before AI started pushing more workers into gig and contract arrangements with multi-source tax situations that need a human to untangle.

The test costs $317 a part now. The interface is different. The scoring scale has new numbers. These are surface-level annoyances. The EA gives you unlimited representation rights in a profession where practitioners retire faster than they are replaced. That math has not moved.

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