SEE Part 2 study scenarios: example profiles

SEE Part 2 puts 37 of its 85 scored questions in Business Tax Preparation, 30 in Business Entities and Considerations and 18 in Specialized Returns and Taxpayers, so how you study depends on which of those you already use at work. The study plan assumes six weeks at 8 to 10 hours for someone who prepares returns, and eight weeks if business returns are new. The three profiles below show where that budget moves.

Example profiles, not real people. The profiles below are illustrative planning examples built from the official exam outline. They are not reviews or reports of anyone’s result.

The preparer who already files Forms 1065 and 1120-S

Starting point. This candidate prepares partnership and S corporation returns, knows K-1 reporting and has worked with basis and depreciation. Most of the entities and tax-preparation domains are revision, though perhaps not the corporate side.

Where the time goes. To the least common work: Specialized Returns and Taxpayers (18), which splits among trusts and estates, exempt organizations, retirement plans, farmers and rental property, five bodies of rules for three or four questions each. Then to C corporation topics inside Entities (30): section 351, earnings and profits, and liquidations or redemptions, which pass-through specialists see rarely.

The trap. Under-studying the small domain. Each specialized topic looks minor, but skipping one or two can lose a block of marks, and these are the topics with no daily practice to fall back on.

Suggested order. Specialized returns, C corporations, then partnership and S corporation basis as a timed refresher, then depreciation and financial records.

Planning assumption. The six-week plan has weeks 1 to 4 on entities and tax preparation. For this profile a reasonable planning assumption is to compress those to roughly two weeks of revision and to double the specialized returns allocation, for about 40 to 50 hours in total (five weeks at 8 to 10 hours, including the practice week).

The individual-return preparer, perhaps fresh from Part 1

Starting point. This candidate is comfortable with the Form 1040, Schedule C and K-1 items received, but has seen a Form 1065 or 1120-S only as an input to a personal return. The difficulty guide puts an individual-return preparer without business clients on the eight-week plan.

Where the time goes. Into Business Entities (30) and Business Tax Preparation (37), together 67 of the 85 scored questions. That means default classification and elections, partner basis built from scratch, stock and debt basis, section 351, E&P ordering, then MACRS, section 179, recapture and book-to-tax reconciliation.

The trap. Reasoning like an individual. Contributed property keeps the contributor’s adjusted basis, partnership liability changes act like cash, and S corporation distributions behave differently from C corporation dividends. The difficulty page lists these as classic wrong answers.

Suggested order. Entity types, partnerships, corporations and S corporations, then business income and deductions, depreciation and records, specialized returns last.

Planning assumption. The plan says to stretch weeks 1 and 3 by a week each: eight weeks at 8 to 10 hours, 64 to 80 hours, which follows from the 30 and 37 question counts.

The bookkeeper or accounting graduate with strong records knowledge

Starting point. This candidate reads income statements and balance sheets easily and understands accounting methods, so Schedule M-1 and reconciliation questions may be comfortable. Tax-specific rules, thresholds and forms are what is missing.

Where the time goes. Into tax rules rather than accounting concepts: which form carries which item, the 2025 limits for section 179 and the special depreciation allowance, the QBI deduction and its specified-service limits, employment tax deposits and worker classification, and partnership and corporate basis, where accounting basis and tax basis differ.

The trap. Using book logic where tax logic applies, such as treating depreciation, inventory capitalisation or loans from owners according to financial-reporting habits, and drawing on remembered figures from a different tax year.

Suggested order. Entities, then business income and deductions, depreciation with recapture, specialized returns, then timed practice.

Planning assumption. Six weeks at 8 to 10 hours, 48 to 60 hours, with the first four weeks on tax detail and week 6 for timed practice.

SEE Part 2 profiles side by side

How to check which SEE Part 2 profile fits before booking

Work the free sample questions cold and mark each miss by domain, then try the self-assessment in the difficulty guide: three or more yes answers fit the six-week plan, fewer the eight-week one. Misses on trusts, exempt organisations or farm returns point to the first profile, misses on partnership basis to the second, and misses on forms and 2025 limits to the third. Follow the study plan, take the practice test in the final week and check the three locked sections and the tax year tested (tax year 2025, law as amended through December 31, 2025) on the exam format page. If you have not yet sat the individual part, see the Part 1 guide.

These hour counts are planning assumptions, not guidance from the IRS, and they do not guarantee a pass.