[whitesoxfancpa]

In a better instructor match, who ya got?!

I’m going with Olinto all the way. While both are very intelligent and know their stuff, I think Olinto brings more to the table to help with the exam. Gearty will tell you little things here and there and have you re-write the same thing over and over to drive home a point. It works. It drives home the point. The problem is that it often doesn’t really help me. I’ll remember it, but I’ll never use it to help me with any questions. For example, in REG, I can’t tell you how many times Gearty used the “Non-taxable, None, NBV” thing to refer to an event being non-taxable and having no income if you use the net book value as the basis. He said to remember the three N’s. For whatever reason, I never once actually thought of that or applied that when doing any questions. I really honestly don’t even know the relevance. If you use an item’s NBV as its basis it’s never taxable??? I don’t even know. I never really even thought about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Gearty is a good instructor; just slightly below Olinto.

Both are great and I wouldn’t have passed the two exams I did (and hopefully the third today) without them. Gearty carried me through AUD and I thought he was great. I also thought he was great for REG especially for corporate taxes, where I generally struggled.

But with Olinto, one way or another, I’ll be working the practice questions and for at least one or two, I’ll be struggling with the answer and think back to a little sidenote mentioned. Perhaps Olinto looks at the practice questions and incorporates in what the lecture didn’t cover? Maybe Gearty doesn’t? Who knows?

Both are my best friends and have been since I started the CPA. I will gladly send them both $1.00 if I pass all four on the first try!

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[GayerT]

Top ten most annoying things that have ever been said repeatedly by a human being:

1. Alright Gang!

2. Let's get back to the materials!

3. I hope you did REALLY well on those multiple choice questions!

4. BAAAAAAAAAHHH BAAAAAAAAAAAAHH (side note: how in the world does anyone get that out of BAE BAE)

5. Again…..(followed by an explanation which betrays discomfort in not being able to read from the book word for word)

6. REALLY happened in the REAL world!

7. Tim Gearty here!

8. My good friend Pete Olinto!

9. MACKers

10. Gang!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it really bugs me how Tim says “Again” all the time.

[WI_11]

GAYER T _ I like your list, if accounting doesnt work out for you, then i'm sure you can get a job on the letterman show!

I think these guys did a really good job in all. The REG series contained the most back and forth and was the best IMO. There we a few time when I did actualy LOL. Thats pretty good considering they are lecturing on accoutning!

AUD 89
BEC 84
FAR 87
REG 94!! ALL DONE

[Ichabod]

How many of you remember when Rick Duffy was one of the lecturers for Becker? He looked like Tim Allen, wore funny ties and sounded like Ben Stein. I believe that he was the hardest to listen to during the lectures… but he's gone so I suppose it doesn't matter. He used to do the Econ and IT lectures in BEC and I think he did some of the Audit lectures? I'd have to go back and see if I still have the discs from back in 07-08.

[LostHighwayCPA]

I like Tim better. Olinto needs to chill out imo. I don't mind Tim's use of “gang” and “again.” I've passed FAR and AUD thus far; he taught most of both those sections.

[Ibrahim]

Gearty is best. He can explain things in more clear way than Olionto. Olionto sometimes hurries a lot.

[Anonymous]

Only watched the AUD and REG lectures so far. I think Gearty and Olinto are both good at what they do but Olinto is definitely less boring, both of them make jokes but a lot of Olinto's jokes are actually funny. I find it's easier to listen to Olinto for four hours than Gearty. I wouldn't say either is a superior lecturer over the other though..they just have different teaching styles. I think what makes Gearty tolerable though is that he knows he isn't that exciting of a person and tries to spice things up in his corny sort of way.

Boring people who don't know they're boring are the worst!

[Tebowwwww]

Olinto all the way. Gearty is great, but he just repeats himself endlessly for no reason. Come on man, I don't need you to explain what an issuer is 1,734 times in Audit. I feel like a good 20% of Gearty's lectures were wasted on stuff like that that you really don't need to go over more than maybe three or four times.

“Again, let's make a note in the margin, ‘issuer' = public company” Did anyone seriously not want to hacksaw their face off by AUD 3 for hearing that so many times?

REG (7/7/11) 75
FAR (7/28/11) 76
BEC (8/27/11) 81
AUD (10/15/11, 1/20/12) 63, 91

DONE!!!

[kmwgrace]

I prefer Olinto too. And whoever said that about Gearty saying “again” all.the.time. hit the nail on the head. “And again, we're going to, again emphasize this topic, again, because it's, again, HEAVILY TEEESSSTED.”

FWIW I say “MAKE-ers” too.

~ Kate... MTX!
CPA exam on hold while I homeschool my 6 year old!

[Anonymous]

sorry Gearty but I have to agree that the “again and again” part is so annoying, just hope that you see this and make improvement on your lectures, but still thank you for getting me through cpa 😀

[Anonymous]

Hahaha, somebody should do a tally of how many times Gearty says “again” for the Becker 2012 lectures.

I remember the first time I heard him say that word in A1..I got nervous because I thought I missed something he said in the first ten seconds of the lecture…since he said “again' for something he was talking about for the first time- then I knew better as time went on.

[Anonymous]

To quote Tim Gearty,

I'm so happy I don't have to take AUD “again”.

[Anonymous]

I don't undertand the comparison. Gearty reads to you, and Olinto teaches. Personally, I learn much better by reading on my own, so for Gearty to read to me was a waste of time, and Olinto teaching was a waste of time, because I eventually had to go back and read the sections he didn't word for word read to me. All-in-all, I think they should hire someone who can more efficiently combine both methods, teacher and reading, then they can take the year off, we can learn in a consistent manner, and everyone will be happier.

[jokami]

I know I am VERY late to comment in this thread; but here it is.

I think both of them are very good educator in their unique form… It depend on what is your preference! I will say that it annoys me VERY much when Gearty limits himself to say and use the amounts in the book… It feels like they recycle the recording and the use them over and over and he want to limits his word with the amounts so that it could be used in future lectures.

Using phrases like:

“these thresholds amounts”,

“underline that amount”,

“these amounts as we went to press”

“and again, there is the amount for this particular year”.

For the amount of money they are making with this review I think; that it wouldn't be a hassle to record once a year.

For everything else they both are very good educator and I like them both!

B - 62, 70, 72, 79!!!
A - 68, 81
R - 70, 82
F - 84

"The limit to your abilities is where you place them" - Fortune Cookies

[Anonymous]

I prefer Olinto. Gearty basically just highlights and reads everything. Thanks, but I can do that myself. Olinto adds much needed humor, motivation, and examples to liven up the material.

Based on my count (not factoring in ambiguous responses), Olinto is currently winning 13-9 over Gearty.

[Author]

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