[Sportiegrl13]

Well, I am back at it again…soon anyways. How many of you have done Becker (and possibly supported it with other study sources like NINJA or Wiley)? For those of you who have done Becker, which version did you use? Live, online, self study? I am thinking about doing the Live. I have tried self study and I am not very good at teaching myself the material. I figured I should give Live classroom a try, only downside is, the closest teaching area is about 3 hours from me, which is fine, but I am wondering if people had pretty great success with the Live classroom setting? Any feedback is appreciated. 🙂

Happy Studying!

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." - Norman Vincent Peale

Starting the CPA journey, again after taking a couple year hiatus!
AUD - 68, retake 7/23/13!
FAR - Early October
REG -
BEC -

[musicamor]

Hands down, Becker live in Dallas, TX with Liliana Hickman-Riggs!!

Texas CPA - licensed in 2012!!!

[Sportiegrl13]

Well, sadly, I don't live in Texas but you feel like you learned a lot by doing the Live Course?

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." - Norman Vincent Peale

Starting the CPA journey, again after taking a couple year hiatus!
AUD - 68, retake 7/23/13!
FAR - Early October
REG -
BEC -

[Da Bears]

Can't comment with regards to Becker, but I have done 3 exams ‘Live' and doing the last one via recordings.

Live:

Pros

Set Time/Forces you to commit

Can ask questions on stuff you don't immediately understand

Face to Face, I am a very visual learner

Cons

Very fast paced

Can be intimidating to ask questions

ADD problems, zoning out, not 100% focused

Recorded/Online

Pros

At your own pace

Stop/Pause/Rewind if you had a phone call/text/email that distracted you

Cons

Can't see instructor when they are doing examples(only if audio recorded)

Audio can very in quality

In both cases my program allows you to email the teacher teaching that specific topic which I find very helpful.

I also use Becker 2011 question as a supplement to my program's questions. Would recommend Wiley in your case. WORKING MCQs is BY FAR the best way to learn, especially after you have gone through and listened to all the lectures. Don't focus so much on understanding the lectures when you first listen to them otherwise you'll be sitting there for hours replaying them. Just read the notes, work MCQs, and carry on to the next lecture/topic. Then during your final review do tons of MCQs and know why answers are wrong and right. During your final review is when you should start “understanding” the topics. I know I offered more than your question asked but thought it would be helpful. I would do online since 6 hours of commuting for one lecture is insane and I don't understand why you would even consider wasting that much money on gas, let alone your time. Only Pro I could see is if you used that time to re listen to lectures but would be hard to really learn since you SHOULD be focusing on driving.

FAR- 8/14/12 91
AUD- 10/16/12 88
BEC- 11/07/12 92
REG- 01/05/13 86
NIU CPA Review

[musicamor]

@Sportiegrl13…YES! The live classes allowed interaction with the instructor, something you do not get by watching a video. You also could get different perspectives, tips, etc from other classmates. Those two items are invaluable in my opinion.

Texas CPA - licensed in 2012!!!

[G35]

I did live classes for AUD – my first Becker section. After that, I switched to self-study. Most of the professors in my experience were pretty bad. I preferred Gearty's and Olinto's lectures either way. You're not going to learn anything new by going to classes, maybe few tips on remembering information. It also a good way to commit yourself to studying.

Taking into account that your closest location is 3 hour away, I would probably do self-study. That's 6 hours that you're wasting on traveling. If that's not big of an issue, I would at least do your first section (or at least a class or two) in live format to get your feet wet.

AUD 88 | FAR 79 | BEC 81 | REG 82 |

[TDKR]

Whichever you choose, do not, I repeat DO NOT select self-study. That is the only format you have to pay sale taxes on. You get the same set of books doesn't matter which format you choose.

REG - 72, 72, 81
BEC - 77
FAR - 70, 81
AUD - 74 "so that's what it feels like." Round 2: 79

Passing the exam is not impossible task. GIVING UP is the only way YOU can make it impossible!

[Anonymous]

I know 5 people that did the live classes and all 5 said it was the biggest waste of time ever. All they do is turn the videos on for you and occasionally answer a question. However, if you get stuck behind, you miss part of the information and they get annoyed when you ask them to rewind.

[MRSJLeon917]

Like G35 above, I actually started with doing Becker Live for Audit and then switched to self-study for every other section. I find it much better to be able to go at my own pace and be able to rewind to take notes on stuff I missed. The only issue I find with self-study is having the discipline and focus to keep committed to a schedule. I would suggest doing self-study but make a realistic schedule for your life and stick to it! There are going to be so many distractions but you have to make sure you keep up with a schedule.

AUD (5/25/2012): 91
FAR (10/22/2012): 89
REG (11/28/2012): 89
BEC (01/05/2013): 82
Ethics Exam: 90

IL Licensed CPA - 7/15/2013

A long journey, officially DONE!

[Starlight]

I did live for my first attempt at the exams in 2008/2009. Some of the instructors were amazing (including the one I had for Bus. Law) but most just put in the CDs and sat there while we watched the video. Not worth it at all. I did self-study this time and was much happier with it. If I'm going to sit and watch the videos, I'd rather do it when it is convenient for me (and be able to break it up instead of 4 hours straight).

REG: 86
AUD: 92
FAR: 84
BEC: 87
Ethics: Passed!
Licensed 11/20/12

Supporting my husband on his CPA journey: 75% of the way there!

[Author]

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