[jackson]

Has anyone out there used Bisk? I’ve been using Becker but I’m looking for a little something extra and was thinking of watching a few Bisk lectures (for my trouble areas) and to see some new MC. If anyone out there has used Bisk can you tell me if you think its worth it and also how long the Lectures are for (FAR and REG).

Also, does anyone think this is a bad idea, as I’m using two study material? Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

[Anonymous]

I used BISK and really loved the program. It more than prepared me for FAR, Audit, and BEC. I am waiting on REG to see how I did, but I felt that BISK prepared me quite well for that exam (though it was still really difficult). The lectures aren't any more helpful than any other program (I'd imagine, though I only used BISK).

Let me know if you have any other questions about my experience with BISK.

[75 CPA]

I own the Bisk “Classic” review for REG. I do not recommend it and I did not use it to prepare for the CPA exam on regulation. The lectures are so bad that I ordered the Becker review course before I finished 20% of the Bisk REG lectures! I wasted my money on the Bisk “Classic” review.

The Bisk lectures are terrible! The teachers, with the exception of Bob Monette, talk very fast and rush through the material. Bisk does not even go over multiple choice questions in their $1,780 program! I did not learn anything from the Bisk lectures. I have used four CPA review programs and Bisk is the worst!

The flip side of Bisk is Bob Monette. What a gifted teacher! Bob Monette (Bisk Hot Spots) is great, but I do not like the other instructors. Bisk has a special, buy two Hot Spots and get one free. Additionally, they have free freight on this special. Buy the Hot Spots if you have trouble understanding a particular subject.

Bisk's Intensive Review is for review two weeks before you take the exam. Bob Monette teaches FAR and AUD and it is the best! In REG Bob teaches taxation and it is great; however, Fox tries to teach business law and it is terrible.

I loaded up on FAR Hot Spots. I bought 8 Hot Spots by Bob Monette for FAR. I also bought Bob's Intensive Review for FAR. Additionally, I bought all of Bob Monette's Hot Spots for AUD and his Intensive (Final) Review for AUD.

Bob Monette (Bisk), Cindy (Yaeger) and Dr. Plil Yaeger are all great teachers and they make up for my deficient college education.

[jackson]

how are the Bisk MC, thorough answers eplanation? thats what i would really be using this for, because i've hear the bisk MC are more up to date then becker.

[Anonymous]

The Bisk MC are the core of the course and are probably the primary source of understanding the material. There are hundreds upon hundreds of questions for each section and most of them have pretty good descriptions for all answers, right or wrong. Occasionally there was the “This is not the correct answer, please choose a better answer” response but then the correct answer explained why others were wrong.

Back to your first post, the lectures for FAR and REG are usually around 15-20 minutes each although this can range between 10 and 30 minutes. For FAR there were about 90 lectures and for REG maybe 50-55. Bob Monette (all of FAR and AUD, part of BEC) and Ivan Fox (part of REG) were great lecturers but the others were only so-so.

[Anonymous]

CapitalGains,

I must agree with you on the lectures. Bob was awesome, Ivan was pretty good, and the rest were quite terrible. However, the books gave great advice about answering the MCs. That was the most important part to me. I don't learn really well from lectures or reading chapters. I have to actually do the questions to internalize them. I felt that BISK provided many MCs in the book and online that were helpful to me. The lectures were just a secondary source of learning.

[jackson]

How are the BISK MC and how many hours are the lectures you guys are speaking of.

[Anonymous]

The BISK MC are largely the same as every other review course because all of them use the same questions released by the AICPA. The difference between the courses then is how the editors explain why the answers are right and wrong. Additionally you will find questions written by the editors here and there but I didn't find them as helpful as the actual questions.

Judging by the values I gave in my previous post you can expect the lectures for FAR and REG to be approximately 25 and 16 hours, respectively. It's probably a bit less than that but that's a reasonable estimate from what I remember.

[Author]

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