[Ntw6817]

Coming into studying for the CPA, I heard Becker was the best and although it was a little costly, it was well worth it. But coming from my own experience, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Definitely Becker is useful and I like the format of it and all but it just never seems up to date. Even now, they are still using 7.5% for medical expense instead of the new 10%. If I hadn’t been on here, I wouldn’t have caught that and would probably miss points on the exam.

[NYIACCT89]

@oilgaslb I spent 8 weeks studying for FAR – 5 for the lectures and 3 for review. I did this while working full time. You have plenty of time if you start now while working. Towards the end I started feeling like I my review may have been too long.

Just make sure you adhere to the schedule you set out for yourself, and do progress tests every week to keep all of the chapters fresh in your head. Good luck!

FAR - 7/1/13 - 98
AUD - 8/31/13 - 94
BEC - 11/23/13 - 89
REG - 1/13/14 - 86

Study Materials:
Becker - Online Course and Flash Cards

[MintsRGood]

Becker vs. Wiley vs. Yeager vs. CPAExcel all boils down to your personal learning style! Becker does a great job packing all the info into slick mnemonics and memory aids and their lectures seems legit. If you learn well from presentations, then I think Becker is a good fit. I've heard nice things about their software as well.

Wiley+Yeager is more of a traditional “college style” learning format. You watch a lecture from ridiculously smart yet crusty professor and take notes with your Wiley textbook and then address the problems in the back of the chapter. I'm a Wiley+Yeager fan as the Becker style doesn't click with me but I do think they put together a very tight CPA package!

The important thing is to dial in what works best for you before you plunk down your visa for anything!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[MintsRGood]

Becker vs. Wiley vs. Yeager vs. CPAExcel all boils down to your personal learning style! Becker does a great job packing all the info into slick mnemonics and memory aids and their lectures seems legit. If you learn well from presentations, then I think Becker is a good fit. I've heard nice things about their software as well.

Wiley+Yeager is more of a traditional “college style” learning format. You watch a lecture from ridiculously smart yet crusty professor and take notes with your Wiley textbook and then address the problems in the back of the chapter. I'm a Wiley+Yeager fan as the Becker style doesn't click with me but I do think they put together a very tight CPA package!

The important thing is to dial in what works best for you before you plunk down your visa for anything!

REG: 75 DONE 🙂
AUD: 61, 71, 68, 92 DONE 🙂
BEC: 76 DONE 🙂
FAR: 72, 74, 79 DONE 🙂
Licensed Michigan CPA 🙂
-Some people dream of success...others wake up and work hard for it!!!
-The cowards never start and the weak die along the way!
-You better work, b***h!
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.-JFK

[tough_kitty]

My personal opinion – I think Becker textbooks are really good because they tell you in the “pass key” sections what will be tested on the exam and a lot of very detailed questions I had on the exam came from the ancillary material, so do not ignore those parts of the textbook! However, the lectures were useless…..

I got Becker for free and didn't take the full advantage of it until it expired (I was still taking MBA classes & started a new job), so had to invest in Roger and absolutely loved his lectures, especially for FAR and AUD. He explains all the material to you as if you haven't seen it before. He did VERY good job explaining governmental accounting, which sounded so easy after his 4 hour long lecture….and I hated the govt acct class!

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[tough_kitty]

My personal opinion – I think Becker textbooks are really good because they tell you in the “pass key” sections what will be tested on the exam and a lot of very detailed questions I had on the exam came from the ancillary material, so do not ignore those parts of the textbook! However, the lectures were useless…..

I got Becker for free and didn't take the full advantage of it until it expired (I was still taking MBA classes & started a new job), so had to invest in Roger and absolutely loved his lectures, especially for FAR and AUD. He explains all the material to you as if you haven't seen it before. He did VERY good job explaining governmental accounting, which sounded so easy after his 4 hour long lecture….and I hated the govt acct class!

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[Anonymous]

I dont think you can learn by just highlighting and circling things. I agree with whoever above said that.

I do think that you learn by taking notes, making your own outline, doing multiple choice, and then adding little facts you learn to those outlines.

A majority of what I learn comes from the multiple choice. Going through the Becker homework questions the first time I almost NEVER get above a 60. But, as said before (89 FAR, 91 REG)

[Anonymous]

I dont think you can learn by just highlighting and circling things. I agree with whoever above said that.

I do think that you learn by taking notes, making your own outline, doing multiple choice, and then adding little facts you learn to those outlines.

A majority of what I learn comes from the multiple choice. Going through the Becker homework questions the first time I almost NEVER get above a 60. But, as said before (89 FAR, 91 REG)

[SeattleAccountant]

Here is my 5 cents.

Overall, Becker does a good job and one can certainly pass without utilizing other resources. Having that said, note I've stated “good” job not “excellent” job. For excellent results one must supplement & put forward extra efforts.

I would say it is good for 80-89 scores which is clearly passing but not EWS level scores (exception: @barelystayingsane)

Now, specifically about BEC. Personally, I found Becker (and Wiley 24hrs free trial) did not address a lot of BEC issues that showed up on my exam. Again, I got passing & great score but did not feel comfortable as with other sections.

____________________________________________

Used Becker + supplemented, passed all on the first try within 8 mo.

CPA Exam – done as of 09/11/2013 🙂

Becker Class of Jan - Aug 2013: FARB DONE!!!!
CPA license pending 🙂

[SeattleAccountant]

Here is my 5 cents.

Overall, Becker does a good job and one can certainly pass without utilizing other resources. Having that said, note I've stated “good” job not “excellent” job. For excellent results one must supplement & put forward extra efforts.

I would say it is good for 80-89 scores which is clearly passing but not EWS level scores (exception: @barelystayingsane)

Now, specifically about BEC. Personally, I found Becker (and Wiley 24hrs free trial) did not address a lot of BEC issues that showed up on my exam. Again, I got passing & great score but did not feel comfortable as with other sections.

____________________________________________

Used Becker + supplemented, passed all on the first try within 8 mo.

CPA Exam – done as of 09/11/2013 🙂

Becker Class of Jan - Aug 2013: FARB DONE!!!!
CPA license pending 🙂

[Phebegg]

@barelystayingsane I guess you are the smart one. I have to use both Becker and Gleim to just get the average scores. Anyway, it is over, time to apply to be a CPA.

[Phebegg]

@barelystayingsane I guess you are the smart one. I have to use both Becker and Gleim to just get the average scores. Anyway, it is over, time to apply to be a CPA.

[evesocal]

Becker worked for me. I took live classes and the instructors were excellent. I found the books rather difficult to read but passed all four parts the first time. Not with great scores – 75 through 81 – but good enough! I work full time and more as tax deadlines approach.

With FAR, I supplemented with CPAExcel which was easier to read, but the software is very much inferior to Becker.

B: 75
R: 80
A: 77
F: 81
Ethics: 84, 92 and done!
Licensed in California

[evesocal]

Becker worked for me. I took live classes and the instructors were excellent. I found the books rather difficult to read but passed all four parts the first time. Not with great scores – 75 through 81 – but good enough! I work full time and more as tax deadlines approach.

With FAR, I supplemented with CPAExcel which was easier to read, but the software is very much inferior to Becker.

B: 75
R: 80
A: 77
F: 81
Ethics: 84, 92 and done!
Licensed in California

[kmaahs]

I liked cpaexcel. Got the job done for me. 15 min lectures beat 4 hour ones IMO. I never personally used Becker, however, so take that with a grain of salt.

C.P.A.

[kmaahs]

I liked cpaexcel. Got the job done for me. 15 min lectures beat 4 hour ones IMO. I never personally used Becker, however, so take that with a grain of salt.

C.P.A.

[Author]

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