IRS EA Exam (SEE) Moves to PSI: What Changed in 2026

Effective March 1, 2026, the IRS Enrolled Agent exam, the Special Enrollment Examination (EA-SEE), is no longer developed and administered by Prometric, LLC. PSI Services LLC now builds and delivers the exam. This is not a cosmetic vendor swap: the passing score is now reported as a scaled 500 on a 200–800 scale, the fee is $317 per part, and the current testing window runs July 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027. It applies to every candidate sitting any part of the SEE from July 1, 2026 onward — there is no grandfathering by registration date, because the old vendor no longer offers the test. Parts you already passed under Prometric still count.

Does this affect you?

• You are testing on or after July 1, 2026 — Yes. You will register through PSI at test-takers.psigov.us/irs, pay $317 per part, and receive a 200–800 scaled score. Everything below applies to you.
• You passed one or two parts under Prometric — Your credit is safe. The three-year carryover survives the transition unchanged, measured from the date you passed each part. You do not retake anything.
• You had a part expiring between May 1 and June 30, 2026 (domestic candidates) — Yes, and in your favor. PSI extended the three-year carryover period by two months for you, because the window that would normally have opened May 1 did not open until July 1.
• You had a part expiring between May 1 and August 31, 2026 (international candidates) — Your carryover is extended by four months. International testing does not begin until September 1, 2026, and it is remote-proctored only.
• You passed all three parts already — Not affected by the exam changes. Your obligation is to file Form 23 within one year of passing your third part.
• You are already an enrolled agent — Not affected. This changes the entry exam, not your continuing education or renewal.
• You are enrolling through the former IRS employee experience route — Not affected. That path does not involve the SEE.

Before and after: Prometric vs. PSI

The right-hand column is drawn from PSI's SEE Candidate Information Bulletin, revised June 24, 2026, and from the IRS Enrolled Agents page. Where a figure below is not confirmed by a currently published official source, it is labeled as such.

A note on 500 versus 105

The number 105 does not appear anywhere in PSI's current Candidate Information Bulletin as a passing score. There is no published conversion between the old 40–130 scale and the new 200–800 scale, and neither the IRS nor PSI has stated that the standard of knowledge required to pass has moved. A scaled score is a reporting convention, not a difficulty setting. Treat any source telling you the exam got harder or easier as speculation — the honest description is that it is reported differently.

Current content outline (scored questions per domain)

• Part 1 — Individuals: Preliminary Work with Taxpayer Data 14; Income and Assets 17; Deductions and Credits 17; Taxation 15; Advising the Individual Taxpayer 11; Specialized Returns for Individuals 11.
• Part 2 — Businesses: Business Entities and Considerations 30; Business Tax Preparation 37; Specialized Returns and Taxpayers 18.
• Part 3 — Representation, Practices and Procedures: Practices and Procedures 26; Representation before the IRS 25; Specific Areas of Representation 20; Filing Process 14.

Each part's domains total exactly 85 scored questions. These allocations line up with the distribution candidates have been studying for years, so your content-level outline is still sound — check your provider's domain labels against the bulletin, but do not expect to relearn the syllabus.

What to actually do differently

• Retire the 105 target. If your prep software reports readiness as "your predicted scaled score is 112," that number is now meaningless. Track raw percentage correct on 85-question equivalents instead, which is vendor-neutral and always transferable.
• Practice in three blocks, not one. This is the single most practical change. Because you cannot reopen a section after acknowledging it, the habit of flagging hard questions and sweeping back at the end no longer works across the whole part. Rehearse a 34 / 33 / 33 rhythm and finish your review inside each block.
• Budget your time per section. 3.5 hours across 100 questions is roughly two minutes each. Set an internal checkpoint at each section boundary rather than one at the halfway mark.
• Decide your break policy in advance. Both 10-minute breaks are optional and the clock stops for them, so declining a break buys you no extra exam time. There is little reason to skip them; unscheduled breaks, by contrast, run your clock down.
• Confirm your tax year, not just your vendor. For exams taken July 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027, all references are to the Code, regulations, forms, instructions, and publications as amended through December 31, 2025, and "current tax year" means calendar year 2025. Disregard later legislation, court decisions, and penalty amounts. Material keyed to 2024 law is out of date regardless of who administers the test.
• Re-verify logistics from scratch. Your old confirmation emails, phone numbers, and test-center addresses are dead. Appointments must be booked at least 24 hours ahead, and cancelations inside 48 hours forfeit the fee.
• Expect a thin market for a while. PSI has not published a full practice question bank; its bulletin points candidates to IRS forms and publications and suggests searching for commercially available courses. The IRS sample questions for all three parts remain available.

What did not change

This is the reassuring half, and it is why your existing materials are mostly still good:

• The credential and the requirement. Three parts, a suitability check, and a personal tax compliance review.
• Exam length and shape. 100 multiple-choice questions per part, 85 scored and 15 unscored, 3.5 hours, four-hour appointment.
• The three question formats. Direct question, incomplete sentence, and "all of the following except."
• Domain weights. The scored-question allocation per content area is as listed above and matches long-standing practice.
• Four attempts per part per testing window, after which you wait for the next window.
• The three-year carryover, measured from the date you passed each individual part.
• The March and April blackout. Testing is unavailable those two months every year while the exam is updated.
• PTIN first. You still need a Preparer Tax Identification Number before you can schedule, renewed annually by December 31.
• Enrollment mechanics. Form 23 via Pay.gov within one year of passing your third part; score reports are not submitted with it.
• Passing score reports show no number. A pass shows a passing designation only, with diagnostic feedback; only failing reports show a scaled score.

In short: your tax knowledge transfers completely, your passed parts transfer completely, and what you need to rebuild is the score target you aim at and the pacing you practice with. Once you have your 2025-law materials in hand, drill the three-block rhythm on a free IRS Enrolled Agent Exam practice test until finishing your review inside each section feels automatic.