[Guppy]

Hello! I’m new to this website, and I have been doing research for the past few hours trying to decide which CPA exam review material to purchase. I’m 23, and recently graduated with my Masters in accounting along with starting work in a public accounting firm. I’ve been reading people’s opinion’s on this website, and the general theme I’ve noticed is that it depends on your personal study habits. I definitely plan on buying the Ninja MCQ as the general consensus on here seems to be that it greatly supplements a study material. I’d like to talk about myself a bit, however, as I feel that maybe people may be able to give a more informed opinion on which review course would be the best.

I have always been bad to procrastinate things, and I feel it helps if there is something to help keep me accountable while studying. I’m not sure that will be a problem with this, as I will have no free time to do much anything else other than study, but extra accountability would be a plus. I feel that online questions that provide clear feedback to your answer is very beneficial. Those are the two main things that I feel I should mention. Becker seems to be the most popular pick I have seen, but I would really appreciate some personal opinions. Thanks for your help!

Created with Compare Ninja

[wombataholic]

I used Ninja materials, but I'm also a self starter and I'm very aware of my learning style. If you don't need the material spoon fed to you, Ninja is perfect as a standalone review program. If you're an auditory learner, a course with videos is probably a better choice, but Ninja MCQ is still a great investment – especially since you'll be able to see a detailed explanation of the answer.

As far as staying motivated/accountable, no course is going to light that inner fire for you. I suggest making a spreadsheet or calendar with what you need to get accomplished each day written in, so that you can see if you're getting off track and take corrective action before things snowball out of control.

Licensed CPA
Passed each section on the first try with Ninja Notes/MCQ/Audio

[Jdn9201]

Congrats on starting your CPA journey! I'm sure NINJA products are good but I only used Roger. You are right – it does depend on your personal preferences. Some say Roger doesn't go into details enough. I didn't feel like I was missing anything. His lectures are fast paced but very engaging. If you feel like you are behind or missing something, his textbooks are very good too. I skipped lectures on my stronger sections, but I'm an auditory learner and picked up pretty much everything the first time through. For motivation, I think you should keep in mind why you are doing this and what it will help you accomplish. I also picked my exams in order of what I thought would be easiest to pass to hardest to pass. Passing the first 2 without suffering too much built a lot of momentum for me. I do agree that study plans are helpful – but I personally never kept one. Some days I studied more than intended, others less. I tend to procrastinate if given too much time, so I purposely scheduled my exams over short windows so I wouldn't have time to procrastinate. Once you figure out how much time you need, I'd caution you against studying over too long of a window because it's much tougher to remember what you learned in the beginning. I would also say keep in mind how you studied in college and apply what worked well for you now. There's a lot of good tips on this board, but I think sometimes people get too caught up in what other people do that they don't even know what works best for them. Good luck!

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Anonymous]

Does your firm offer any kind of discount on Becker? Its my opinion that Becker is a more complete study program than any other material offered. However, I know the price can definitely be scary. I would check and see if your firm can help you out with that.

[Anonymous]

I've been using CPAexcel (plus Ninja MCQs for BEC and FAR) and so far I've been able to pass my first three exams on my first attempt. And I definitely don't consider myself to be particularly good at accounting. That said, I think the program did its job. I didn't really watch the CPAexcel videos or use the flashcards, but I found the rest of the material very helpful. If your firm will pay for Becker, though, I think there's no reason not to go with that, and supplement it with Ninja MCQs. As far as staying motivated, I suggest scheduling all of your exams at once and sticking to a schedule. If you keep a tight timeline, there's less opportunity to get sidetracked. Good luck!

[Vanessachy]

I bought Gleim and it wasn't working for me. I didn't want to buy Becker since it is so expensive, so I purchased 2014 version Becker book, I personally think Becker books are the best. They summarize material really well and the books are not overwhelming. For MCQ I use NInja and it is perfect. I do use Gleim for Sim practice sometimes.

Far 10/26/2015, 64, 1/4/2016, 82
Reg 7/10/2015, 60, 2/27/2016, 86
Aud, 5/9/2016, 74 (ouch), 7/26/2016, I cannot wait to take this test again
Bec, 6/10/2016, 70,9/8 retake

[Andyred04]

If you're a self-starter Gleim is for you. The text will encompass everything you could ever expect to see on the exams. The lectures and audio-visual powerpoints aren't that good (they pretty much just read the book to you). The MCQs are very wordy in both the questions and the explanations which makes the questions you will see on the exam seem easier.

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[Guppy]

Thanks for all of the responses so far! I feel you all have given some really valuable tips that I will implement in my study habits. Also, I haven't noticed a reply button on this website, so I'm going to reply to some people with an ‘@' symbol.

@wombataholic – I'm not sure the Ninja study material would be best as I'm not exactly sure how I learn best, which leads me to believe that I may be better served with a course that really walks you through each step. I definitely plan on creating a spreadsheet to create goals for each day like you mentioned, however.

@jdn9201 – Rodgers has been one of the courses I have been most interested in, as I hear the courses are really engaging, and having someone teach me like that has always been a plus. I also think that for me, it would be a good idea to schedule things ahead of time like you did as I tend to procrastinate as well.

@CorporetteCPAintheMaking – No they do not unfortunately. I feel like Becker may work best for me and seems like it's probably the best option, but the price does scare me. Also, the fact that I've heard that the exam will be updating for 2017 makes me not want to buy all study sections for it at once (which would be cheaper). I would feel most confident about getting that program (based off what I have read), but I also don't know if they are really that much better than the other programs/worth the money.

@ASUalum – I've never heard of CPAexcel, but the course does sound intriguing based off your description. I also will be supplementing my study with Ninja MCQs.

@Vanessachy & @Andyred04 – I don't think Gleim sounds like it would be the best option for me. While I will commit to this, I also feel like it is better for me to kind of be walked through things rather than rely on my personal judgment. The fact that Becker's material seems to summarize the material really well, and not be overwhelming is really appealing.

I feel that based off what I have read, Becker, Rodgers, and CPAexcel seem to be my best three options. I feel like Becker sounds like the best option to ensure I will pass, but the price is scary. Do you think it would be worth the extra money if the material would ensure that I will be more likely to pass each exam on the first try? Once again, thanks for all the responses. I really appreciate it, and feel you all have provided some valuable tips that will help me pass this exam.

[mtaylo24]

I think they all work, you just have to find which one matches your personal learning style. Most of these programs have free demos.

Rogers – Good for lectures, but expensive. When I purchased it in 2011, he based everything off of Wiley and made you do the Wiley Test bank, however now I think he has his own TB, just not sure about the difficulty. I like his text, but I don't like how you can't pdf, and I hate physical books.

Becker – expensive, great format in the books, I only have a few books, but don't know about the software. You pay a premium, and it doesn't always work.

Wiley – dictionary and I think the TB kind of fell over the past few years.

CPA Excel – I think they might be comparable to Gleim it may be a little more expensive. They like bite size lectures as well, I tried a free demo, and I was impressed by their layout.

Gleim – I love Gleim, they are cheap, their testbank and sim wizard are great. Their texts takes some brain power to follow tho and the lectures are just reading the book back. I think Gleim's structure is the best organized tho. (20 chs a section, can test on a specific topic in study mode)

Ninja – Also good, Nice layout with the books, the test bank is tough, but its probably the best bang for your buck. You have to renew every 3 months, but it isn't too expensive.

AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
FAR - (8/16)

[TheHoundThatRides]

You should be judging video samples/book samples from your top choices on your own. I picked Roger based on the fact that his Cost Accounting lecture actually made sense to me and Cost was one of my weakest subjects in school. Could work for you, he might not. Don't buy a review before judging samples on your own

BEC - 78 (August 2015)
FAR - 80 (November 2015)
AUD - 73, 67. (Ok I gotta confess I was even more lazy this time around)
REG - August 27th, 2016

[Joe C.]

I would go with Roger. I bought Yaeger and don't at all like the AUD portion. I took BEC 4/7 so we'll see. Their BEC is a lot of reading from the book. Good luck in your quest!

BEC 75
AUD 9/6
REG TBD
FAR TBD

WI Candidate

[Vanessachy]

@GUPPY, I bought Becker older version books and passed two parts. If you don't want to pay for the premium (I don't either), you should think about buying the 2014/2015 books and use Ninja for supplement.

Far 10/26/2015, 64, 1/4/2016, 82
Reg 7/10/2015, 60, 2/27/2016, 86
Aud, 5/9/2016, 74 (ouch), 7/26/2016, I cannot wait to take this test again
Bec, 6/10/2016, 70,9/8 retake

[MrHopeful215]

I personally used YaegerCPA and Gleim MC.

YaegerCPA-It was good, but they are really out there to do what they say which is get you to pass. You wont get a 99 unless you really review the books yourself, but Yaeger will teach you enough to get a 75 which is what really matters in the end.

Gleim MC-Awesome question bank. There were so many questions and they really helped me read more carefully because there are questions with tricky wording. I was able to get 80% or above in most of the topics and it really helped drill in the concepts.

AUD - 82
REG - 78
BEC - 78
FAR - 76

[SamfutureCPA]

@mrhopeful215 – How do you like Yaegar's review course?

[MrHopeful215]

I thought YaegerCPA was good enough to get the job done. They do a good job of picking out what you need to know to pass. However, to be honest with you. I don't know how the other programs work, but the 3 instructors that they had were basically reading out of the book word for word. They werent really adding anything in terms of material except for tips on how to read questions and what you may expect to see on the exam.

Would I buy YaegerCPA again?

Probably because like I said, you can read through the whole book, but that would take days. Yaeger will just skip some parts and save you some time, but it is risky because you may or may not see it on the exam.

AUD - 82
REG - 78
BEC - 78
FAR - 76

[aj2013]

If I were to do it all over again, I'd start with NINJA. It's the cheapest, and the whole plan helped me the most. It gives you a template for daily tasks, that was also super helpful.

If NINJA doesn't work for you, then you haven't wasted too much money and have probably figured out more about your learning style.

B - 80
A - 80
R - 71, 59, 74, 80 FINALLY!
F - 77

Used Kaplan for FAR, BEC, AUD, and the first 2 REG attempts. I started using NINJA about 2 weeks before my 3rd REG attempt. I believe it's why I was so close to passing and why I passed the 4th time. USE IT FROM THE BEGINNING.

[Author]

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