Any opinion about Becker CPA Review?

Question

Planning to take CPA exam and Becker seems expensive. Is it a good investment?

Answer 1

I was in the same boat as you just over a year ago. I didn't work for a big 4, so I didn't have the luxury of getting the Becker class paid for. But from everyone I talked to and everything I heard, I decided it was worth the "investment" and I enrolled in the Becker course. It was well worth the money! Everything you need to know is in the books they give you (no need to look at any textbooks from previous college courses you may have taken). And the Becker instructors will tell you where to focus most of your time (and conversely, which concepts you should "just be familiar with," or not waste a lot of time on). The passmaster software is great - you get hundreds (over 1000 for some sections) of multiple choice questions, several simulations, and two practice exams for EACH section of the exam (except there were no sims for BEC when I took it last year - not sure if that's still the case). The practice exams are formated EXACTLY like the real thing. I scored at least 10 points higher on the real exam than I did on each of Becker's practice exams (I only took one of Becker's practice exams for each section). It's still hard work (those lectures are no substitute for the effort you must put forth), but if you use their materials and study like they tell you to study, you will have no problem passing all 4 sections on the first attempt.

Bottom line - I passed all four sections in less than 6 months with the following scores (a testament to how well Becker prepares you for exam):

REG 95
BEC 84 - my low score - and that's because I was working 55+ hours/week at work for closeout while trying to study for that section)
FAR 95
AUD 89 (Take AUD after FAR - it's so easy that way! I barely studied for Audit).

The raise I got a month after passing the exam more than covered what I paid for the course, so yeah, it was a good investment for me :)

There are other courses that are cheaper, but sometimes you get what you pay (or don't pay) for. Gleim is a lot harder than Becker, which sounds like a good thing at first glance. A friend of mine was using Gleim until I took a look at his study material. I found there was soooo much extra stuff included in GLEIM that it was just confusing - it was no wonder he was on his fourth attempt at the exam! As much material as there is to study - WHY pile on stuff that's not even tested??? If you want opinions on other review courses (Yeager, Bisk, etc), go to the forums here and ask other CPA candidates their opinions:
http://cpanet.com/cpa_forum/default.asp

that's a great forum full of folks currently taking the exam. I wish I had found it earlier in my studies!

Good luck!

Answer 2

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RE:
Any opinion about Becker CPA Review?
Planning to take CPA exam and Becker seems expensive. Is it a good investment?

Answer 3

This is a tough question for me to answer. I know from experience that Becker works, but my firm paid the bill so I had no personal expense. There are other review courses out there that are less expensive but I have no personal knowledge about them.

My final answer would have to be look at what the larger accounting firms do for their employees. PwC, KPMG, E&Y, D&T, BDO, GT, and BKD all send their emplyees through the Becker program. Granted, this is free to the employee, but when all of the big firms do the same thing it obviously works.

You are obviously looking at this in the right way, as an investment. Even if you had to pay for the price of approximately $2500 yourself, if you pass the exam on your first try, it could save you hundreds (depending on the section) on re-tests. Plus by passing the exam you are instantly more marketable with a higher salary demand. The worst case scenario is that it takes you a few years for the class to pay for itself. Can you say the same thing about your entire college bill?

Answer 4

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