Results of the IRS Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) Exam Pass Rate Survey for Fast Forward Academy

Overall RTRP Pass Rate

FIRST ATTEMPT RTRP Pass Rate

92.7% of our students who respond to this survey report passing on their first attempt.

An education provider does not receive official notification from Prometric or the IRS regarding student results on the Registered Tax Return Preparer exam. Prometric informs each candidate directly of his or her performance, and for this reason, a provider must rely on student feedback to measure program effectiveness. The feedback we receive is a result of ongoing surveys we send by e-mail. We use the responses from the survey to calculate our pass rate. While we send the survey to all users of our study tools, not everyone responds. Our published pass rate only reflects responses we receive, and a pass rate based on this information is only an estimate of student success.

This is real-time data! We send the survey when a student stops answering questions in the online test-bank and practice exams. It is important to note that the system only allows one answer per student, although we do allow the student to update his or her response. Whichever choice is made, the information is sent directly to our server, which immediately publishes the results on our website. Not all choices are favorable to us, and we do not review or manipulate the responses in any way.

As of today, the total of student responses to our survey is 5,398. Some of those students are still in the process of taking the exams. Students who are working on the exams and students who have neither passed nor failed but have elected to discontinue pursuit of the RTRP designation are not part of the pass rate calculation. We may include these students in the calculations if we later receive a response notifying us of a change in status. Of the 3,554 students who indicate completing the examination process, 3,532 report passing the exam and 22 indicate that they failed and are no longer pursuing the RTRP. Passing the exam on the first try is a key indicator of quality and 3,293 of our students report passing on the first attempt. This indicates a "first try" pass rate of 92.7%.

What about those who indicate they are still working towards passing? Of the 1,703 students who say that they are not finished, 205 reported failing an exam. This represents 12.0% of the respondents who are still working on passing the exam. The other 1,498 students indicate that they are still working on the exam, but did not indicate failing on a previous attempt.

The survey is comprised of one question, "It's been at least a month since you last used our free online test bank or took a Practice Exam so we were curious if congratulations are in order. Did you pass the IRS RTRP exam to earn the Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) designation?" The student can then respond by simply clicking one of the following:

1. Yes, I Passed on the FIRST Attempt to Become a Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP);
2. Yes, I Passed to Become a Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP);
3. No, I'm Still Working Towards Earning the RTRP;
4. No, I Failed an Attempt and I'm Still Working On It;
5. No, I Failed an Attempt and I'm NOT Going to Continue;
6. No, I'm No Longer Pursuing the RTRP Designation.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions regarding our survey.