IRS publications and I have generally had a love/hate relationship. They are often much more accessible and helpful than the standard form instructions, but the accessibility gets considerably less appealing the longer you read them. The reading assignments for the advanced course have been much shorter than those for the Comprehensive Course which is not too surprising considering that this course covers a smaller subset of information. While the shorter reading list makes it easier to get through all the reading, some of the assignments are repeated from the Comprehensive Course. This isn’t a big deal since you can just safely skip it if it is still fresh in your mind (assuming you did the Comprehensive Course right before this one), but for me I think the reinforcement is helpful. While publications aren’t my favorite reading material, they really do provide a lot of helpful information in a relatively concise package considering the subject matter. There may also be some sections that make more sense now or that stand out this time through because of the new material covered in the Advanced Course. I will likely continue to do all the assigned reading even if I’ve read it already because a little refresher on older topics as we move along will be nice.
