Back to Roger vs CPA Wiley (UNA)Debate —Need to hear from someone who took UNA

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  • #1982540
    Ramana
    Participant

    Hey good people,
    If any of you has gone through the UNA Career prep program or taken CPA Wiley to prep for the CPA exam, I would really appreciate if you could chime in.
    So I am painstakingly going through each lesson in Wiley. There are something like 100 chapters (prolly much more) in each of Fin Reporting 1, 2 and 3. Sometimes I can only get through a chapter a day, if that. The Capital Lease examples chapter took me 5 days to get through as there were so many permutations and combinations presented. I’m plain exhausted.

    Meanwhile, I took a sneak peak into UWorld Roger CPA Review’s program that a friend signed up for and it was so bloody simple and concise. He doesn’t delve into leases as much as Wiley does. Even the accounting principle changes/errors chapter was so concise. I am really confused if what I am doing is overkill. Can I just switch over to Roger> I worry I might flunk the UNA tests. This is why i desperately need to hear from someone who did UNA’s courses.

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  • #1983773
    Recked
    Participant

    I did not do UNA or take UNA tests, but my thinking on this, is that the UNA tests probably consist of old CPA exam questions, and both courses adequately prepare you for the CPA exam.
    You should probably wait for other respondents, but in theory your course of action makes sense to me.
    Also, please be advised, I spent about 250 hours on FAR using Roger's course plus the Gleim TB. I am not sure it will save you any time. Wiley told me about 160-180 hours for FAR when I called them while doing my CPA review course research. I would assume some chapters will go faster than others. That's the nature of the beast.

    Memento Mori - Kingston NY CPA & EA (SUNY Albany 2002)

    FAR-93 11/9/17 (10wks, 250 hrs, Roger 1800+ MCQs, Gleim TB 600+MCQs, SIMs)
    AUD-88 12/7/17 (3 wks, 85 hrs, Roger 1000 MCQs no SIMs hail mary)
    REG-96 1/18/18 (6 wks, 110 hrs, 1400 MCQs, no SIMs)
    BEC-91 2/16/18 (4wks, 90 hrs, 1240 MCQs)

    #1984103
    rwkirtz31
    Participant

    I was in the exact same boat last year. I was 3 credits shy and found out about the Fin Reporting 3 UNA class. Roger and Wiley were my top 2 choices, so I was excited when I heard that UNA used Wiley as the course material. After going through the entire course, it was clear to me that Roger was the answer. To me, Wiley simply used the monotone videos as a way to introduce the chapter that you have to later read, not as a way of actually teaching the material. If you are anything like me, you cannot learn by reading accounting textbooks. Roger's videos explain exactly what you need to know to pass. His teaching style, mnemonics, and humor are making this process (almost) enjoyable. I haven't touched the textbooks.

    I got an 89 on FAR and 82 on AUD in the 3Q 2018. Planning to take BEC and REG in Q4 2018.

    Pro tip: Use the 2.0x speed for every Roger video lecture. If you have never done this, start at 1.0, then a few minutes later go up to 1.25 and so on until you reach 2.0x speed. Sounds weird at first, but I can't listen to it any slower. I go through the entire video course twice, then do all the MCQs and a couple SIMs.

    Bonus pro tip: Download the audio lectures to iTunes and make it an audio book to put on your phone. Then listen to that everywhere you go at 2x speed. Repetition is key and I have been able to go through each section 5+ times.

    That's my take on the W v R CPA exam prep course debate. As for strictly passing the UNA tests, I'm sure Roger will get you there, but I would stick with Wiley for the UNA course as the questions seem to come directly out of the Wiley textbook.

    AUD - 82
    BEC - NINJA in Training
    FAR - 89
    REG - NINJA in Training
    .
    #1984139
    Iceman
    Participant

    I’m doing UNA for 21 additional acct credits needed for the CPA. I also used Ninja for review and MCQs. For what I needed they are very cost effective combined.

    So far I’ve scored a 93 on AUD and 90 on FAR so I can’t complain.

    I agree that they do get into fairly obscure areas at times. But then my far exam actually had quite a few obscure questions in the MCQ portion, Not that I was actually able to memorize the tremendous loads of facts needed to automatically know those obscure details. But apparently I was prepared well enough to pass fairly comfortably.

    AUD - 93
    BEC - 90
    FAR - 90
    REG - 92
    CFA charterholder (2009)
    #1985411
    Ramana
    Participant

    I really appreciate these responses!



    @Rwkirtz31
    , loved the pro tips! Never seen anyone recommend CPAexam tutoring. Thanks for the resource. I will try to check it out if time permits.

    Yesterday, I worked on the Retrospective Acct Changes chapter in Wiley where Pam Smith goes into a very detailed 3-yr inventory example of how to do the cumulative adjustment to RE's. And right after that I attacked some of the AICPA past exam questions from the same lesson. I was only able to answer those because of the way Wiley had presented it. What can I say, may be I am slow and need the extra detailed explanation from Wiley? Rogers alone doesn't seem to cut it for every chapter for me at least because I had watched his Accounting changes and error correction chapter and it didn't help with my understanding of what was going on. In fact, I got more confused.

    @Iceman, you must be some kind of pro having cleared CFA exams and now searing past CPA goalposts with those scores in the 90's. Way to go!
    What classes do you plan to take with UNA? I would love some feedback about Business Law and Reg sections as I need 24 credits if you are in fact taking them with UNA.Did you run into issues with exams or quizzes testing old GAAP? I answered based on new GAAP and got marked wrong. It was very frustrating to say the least.

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