Top 10 CPA Exam Review Courses: A Comparison

Here is my analysis on the pros and cons of the CPA Exam review courses based on my own experience, sharing of friends working in Big 4, and comments from participants in all major accounting forums.

Let Me Find The Best Course For You

I don’t believe in people who say their course is the absolute best, because different courses cater different needs. But I am confident that you will find one that suit you the best here.

Becker | Bisk | Wiley | Gleim | Yaeger | Lambers | Roger | Kaplan | CPAExcel | CPA Review For Free

You can also go straight to My Recommendation here

Becker CPA Review

Strengths

• Excellent lecture notes, MCs and software. The materials are comprehensive and user-friendly.
• Big 4 endorsement. The live lectures are recommended by the Big 4.
• Materials constantly kept updated. Becker has a professional team to update the materials on a very regular basis. Their proof-reading is also done well so there are few typos and errors. If there are errors, Becker does a good job in posting in their website and letting everyone to see.

Weaknesses

• Overpriced. If you are paying full price on your own you are subsidizing those who get deep discounts from their employers through Becker’s partner program. Not Fair!
• Live classes way overrated. They show you a DVD in a classroom, tell you to “circle this, highlight that” for 8 hours straight. Quality of “lecturers” (whose main job is to turn on and off the DVD) is really mixed. Check out my experience at the Becker CPA Review Course.
• Expensive re-take. Software license expires in 12 months and this is often not enough time for many candidates. Re-take of classes costs $1,000+ (50% of retail price) with harsh attendence rate which I find ridiculous.

Recommendation

SKIP Becker. They do have great notes, but so do Yaeger (for lectures) and Wiley / Gleim (practice tests). Live classes are a waste of time, for me at least.

Bisk CPA Review

Strengths

• Recommended by Big 4. Recommended by 2 of the Big 4 for self-study courses.
• Bob Monette, one of the instructors, is legendary and is a nationally recognized CPA expert.
• Money-back guarantee is available for the software products — if you complete the course and fail the exam, you can get all the money back (see limitation below).
• Interesting features on CD on exam test customization and diagnostics.

Weakness

• Really mixed reviews: especially on Bisk CPA’s classic series. Many students believe Bisk is not enough to prepare for the exam and that the materials are not updated as frequently as other competitors (notably Becker and Wiley).
• The text book is exactly the same as the CD — so make sure you don’t buy both (CD is better)
• The other lecturers aren’t as good
• The money-back gurarantee is very restrictive — so restrictive that I don’t think many of us can ever qualify

Recommendation

• Can’t think of a reason to pick Bisk when competitors are offering more at a better price — make sure you read the pros and cons of all programs below.
• Check out my evaluation on Bisk CPA Review

Wiley CPA Review

Strengths

• Authority in practice tests. The homework and simulations are very popular and proved to be useful for many CPA candidates. Even competitors (Yaeger and Roger) choose Wiley to bundle-sell as supplementary material.
• It’s cheap! The software costs $79 (all 4 costs $229) — a good bargain in the world of CPA exm prep course.

Weaknesses

• Book is overwhelming. Especially when there is no guided review, it is very discouraging to go over the entire guide. Too much material in my opinion.

Recommendation

• Get the software, not the book.
• If you are an accounting major you may be tempted to get yourself only a Wiley book. But in order to pass the CPA exam, you need both knowledge AND tactics. There is no tactics in the Wiley book.
• Check out my evaluation on Wiley CPA Review

Gleim CPA Review

Strengths

• Great practice tests. Practice tests being very organized. Good supplementary to lecture-heavy courses.
• Affordable – see price comparison for details.

Weaknesses

• No lecture — the Gleim online is simply a voice reading the text on the powerpoint slides.
• Books and audios not useful — as quoted from a forum member, Gleim “reads like a dictionary”…

Recommendation

• Good for the disciplined and those who are good at self-study.
• Otherwise, forget about the full pack (which looks like a great deal) and opt for the practice test only if Wiley is not enough or not for you.
• Check out my evaluation on Gleim CPA Review

Yaeger CPA Review

Strengths

• Champion of the old-school approach. If you like someone who writes on the board and explains concept to you in the old-fashioned way, you’d appreciate Yaeger. I personally like the way they “hold your hand” and explain the multiple choice questions and possible tricks.
• Live phone support. This is quite unique, and you can often reach and talk to the owner (Phil Yaeger) himself.
• Good value for money. One of the most affordable guided review courses out there.

Weaknesses

• Old school. Obviously this can be a turn-off for some people.
• Somewhat disorganized. There are times when you would expect the team to retape the video (e.g. a typo on the white board, or the guy accidentally talked to his wife…) but Yaeger just let it go live. The ones I spotted did not affect the quality of the course itself but I can see some candidates find it annoying.

Recommendation

• Great for people who need help in accounting concepts, or a “real person” that can explain things to you (by phone).
• Check out the demo to see if you are fine with the old-school teaching style.  No worries on lecture notes etc because everyone says it’s good. They also provide quality supplementary materials from Wiley.
• Check out my evaluation on Yaeger CPA Review

Lambers CPA Review

Strengths

• The ipod format is a “must-buy” if you are busy and want to utilize all your “dead time” during commute and between meetings and children’s naps.

Weaknesses

• Low key or not good? You don’t see a lot of past students actively promoting their products other than the ipod format, but it could be a reason of its low-key approach. Afterall, 200,000+ CPA candidates have picked Lambers for the past 43 years.

Recommendations

• Get Lambers if you like the ipod idea.
• Check out my evaluation on Lambers CPA Review

Roger CPA Review

Strengths

• Entertaining lectures: Roger Philipp (the founder) writes his own notes and lectures for every class. He is a good speaker.

Weaknesses

• Some access and viewing restrictions. Only 9 month access for online format.
• Relatively slow response in message forum (main help channel) and no live phone help.
• It’s essentially a one-man band. Roger is good now, but can he keep up with the expansion and quality?
• Check out my evaluation on Roger CPA Review

Kaplan CPA Review

Strengths

• Established name: Kaplan is well known for standardized test preparation, and its Schewser brand is an authority in CFA exam preparation.
• Free BEC course: believe it or not, Kaplan is offering their full BEC course for free if you are willing to pay the shipping cost (around US$15 if within the US). The audio course and flash cards are among the most popular study tools.

Weaknesses

• Too comprehensive: If Wiley / Gleim book is a dictionary, Kaplan is an encyclopedia.
• No one talks about Kaplan CPA: If you are good, people talk about it. But it is difficult to find any discussion at all on Kaplan CPA…

Recommendations

• If you have extra time, you can check out the BEC freebie first
• Check out my evaluation on Kaplan CPA Review

CPAExcel

Strengths

• Bite-sized lectures: This is a god-send for those who hate long lectures as much as I do. The lecture length ranges from a couple of minutes to ~ 30 minutes. A more efficient way to learn in my opinion.
• Unlimited upgrade: Most generous in the industry — a real, no-gimmick no-nonsense offer. No more pressure of not finishing within 12 months and have to pay an extra $1,000 for a retake!
• State-of-the-art technology: CPAexcel fully utilizes the online capability and churns out personalized exam plan and a collection of diagnostic charts and analysis for you, which I (as a financial analyst by profession) finds very attractive.

Weaknesses

• A Bit Confusing At First… candidates can pick and choose the offering and I find it quite intimidating when I first visited the site. But then when you think about it, the fact that they give you a choice could be a good thing, if you are willing to spend some time to navigate around and learn about the various offers.
• Better Suited For The PC-based learner.  Since everything is delivered online or DVD, if you are a type of learner who needs “live support” (a real person to explain something to you, either in person or by phone); or if you are accustomed to highlighting, circling and dropping notes on the side of the textbooks, then CPAexcel may not fit your learning style.
• Lower Profile. Given how unique and efficient the program seems to be, I am surprised that no many people talk about CPAexcel. At the same time, I recently realize that some forums are baised towards a few CPA courses they like. So while it is hard to get second-opinions through forums I don’t think this is a big deal.

Recommendations

• Another highly recommended program – users achieve 87% passing rate and the course is endorsed by one of the Big 4.
• Especially suitable for busy candidates juggling with work/family commitments
• Feel free to check out my evaluation on CPAexcel

CPA Review For Free

Strengths

• The questions are quite comprehensive and signing up is easy. There is no string attached (they may promote an ebook or something but they aren’t annoying)
• Some of the practice questions e.g. Information Technology within BEC are very helpful.

Weaknesses

• You can’t work on the questions in the Exam Mode: that is, do all the questions, time it, and
• I may not have spent enough time to make a firm conclusion, but I think the overall “usefulness” or relevancy of the questions is not as high as Wiley, Gleim and Becker.

Recommendation

Definitely a site that you want to bookmark to get some extra MCs to work on in the future, but I personally wouldn’t rely solely on CPA Review For Free for my study.

You can check out my evaluation on CPA Review For Free here.

My General Recommendations

OK. I try to keep this list as objective as I can, but since many of you are asking which provider I generally prefer (and I have a hard time keeping it with responding to comments, let alone emails), here you go…

Go For Yaeger CPA If You Want To:

• Have an instructor to walk through hundreds of multiple choices with you
• Get an excellent value for money (good lecture, unlimited access, live phone help, quality homework)
• Learn from someone with an impressive record (88% passing rate)

Go For CPAexcel If You Want To:

• Study in short intervals by watching the bite-sized lectures
• Track how much you study and how well you study using CPAexcel’s robust system
• Have no worries about any extra cost if you decide to take some time off or need a retake

OK! Thanks for going through this long post with me. I hope you will be able to make a decision today with this information. Let me know how it goes. Good luck!

If you have a quick question, comment or if you would like to share your experience in any of the review courses above, please go over to our Facebook page. See you there!