Do you really read the whole textbook from A-Z?

[sanantone]

It was hyperbole, maybe the TECEP Federal Income Taxation was easy for you or in general. I can't say for sure since there's not enough test taker data. The title sounded pretty in-depth and the 4 comments from the instantcert subscriber forum were generally of the opinion that it's was very difficult and laborious. Is it enough to conclude if it's really the case? No, but intuition/gut feeling on how hellish filing taxes is each year, and the 3-4 comments saying it's tough/not easy isn't a good start.

Here's what people wrote for TECEP Federal Income Taxation:

"Summary: This exam isn’t a piece of cake. It is difficult and you can’t fake much if you know what I mean, especially the computational problems. You can’t even guess on those. To be honest, I have NO clue how I did. I saw elsewhere that in addition to a tax guide, that one should google a 1-5 page summary of how to file a tax return to get the basics. I’d agree with this since you need to know the big picture, and how to look up the details. That’s pretty much what this exam comes down to.

"Congratulations on passing. From what I hear it is very challenging. Do you mind sharing which books/study guides you used?"

"Study Method: Get a physical copy of IRS Pub 17 from your local Library or anywhere you can. Read it once. Yes, the whole thing. You will forget most of it, but will be familiar with some of the caveats in some of the regulations. Put tabs on the pages for the glossary and chapters/sections. This will save you time in the test!.... This test is doable! You can do it! Its no walk in the park though!"

Source: http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...ation.html

Maybe if you can come up with a list of TECEP exams that don't need textbooks and also simultaneously fulfill degree requirements that could help, and and am fully for that. I'm just of the opinion like the OP that reading textbooks is tedious, inefficient, and boring. If data is produced that shows that minimal prep time is needed to pass and there enough students to indicate a consistent pass rate of say something like >90% pass rates, then that would be awesome.

In addition to the tax code, TESC recommends two tax guide books. Of course, one would know these things after looking at the test description. I didn't use the recommended books, but I used a similar one for Enrolled Agents. All you have to do is look up the answers for the multiple choice questions. The tax guide books lay out step by step how to calculate something. They give you three hours to complete the test. Using the tax code would only make the test more difficult. You purposely skipped over the feedback for the exam that said it was easy. That was the feedback I used to determine that I probably didn't need to study for the exam.