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Surgent CPA Questions: Get the Details on Surgent CPA with These FAQs

Are you a CPA candidate considering Surgent CPA Review as your main CPA review course? If so, getting additional information about how to study with Surgent CPA can help you make your decision. You may have some specific questions about Surgent, like the Surgent CPA pass rate and how it compares to the Becker CPA passing rate. Therefore, you’ll probably find the answers to those questions here. So, get all the details about Surgent with these responses to Surgent CPA FAQs.

Table of Contents

Which Surgent CPA Course Is Best?

First of all, none of Surgent’s courses are bad. Surgent reviews everything that will appear on the CPA Exam, and each Surgent course comes with the core resources you need to pass. These critical study materials include:

  • Full access until you pass
  • Free content updates
  • Mobile compatibility
  • 7,700+ MCQs
  • 400+ TBSs
  • 350+ video lectures
  • Digital Surgent CPA books for all 4 exam sections
  • Personalized study plans
  • Real-time ReadySCORE
  • Lecture study notes
  • Flashcard app 

Surgent Ultimate vs Premier

Surgent’s Premier Pass course is the best value, especially if you compare Surgent CPA Review Essential vs. Premier. Along with the core materials, the Premier Course also includes printed textbooks for all 4 exam sections ($500 value), Surgent CPA flashcards for all 4 exam sections ($150 value), and 3 30-minute sessions with a CPA Exam success coach.

Surgent’s Ultimate Pass course comes with all of the aforementioned features as well as an Excel certificate course ($149 value), an integrated test bank, an audio course, and Surgent’s Ultimate customer support. This customer support supplies candidates with unlimited content and technical aid from Surgent’s concierge team who will respond to inquiries within 1 business day.

How Does the Surgent CPA Course Work?

Surgent CPA Review employs Surgent’s proprietary adaptive learning platform A.S.A.P. Technology to lead candidates through 4 phases of review in preparation for passing the CPA Exam.

First, the course starts with the assessment phase. In this phase, the course directs candidates to take 10 quizzes for each exam section. These quizzes ask you a total of 350 practice questions about the CPA Exam content. The course then uses your performance on the assessment to determine your weak areas. It also assigns your baseline ReadySCORE, which is a prediction of what you would score on the CPA Exam if you took it at that moment.

Next, the course moves you into the study phase. Working through this phase involves following the fully customized study plan the course has created for you by finishing the daily surges on time. The daily surges consist of instructions to answer practice questions, watch video lectures, or read the written materials. As you check off each daily surge assignment, your ReadySCORE will increase along with your knowledge. Then, once you’ve earned a ReadySCORE of 80, the course will take you into the next phase.

The third phase is the review phase. Here, you can take unlimited practice exams that replicate the look and feel of the actual CPA Exam. And once you reach this phase, the course will calculate your cumulative ReadySCORE.

Does Surgent CPA Expire?

No! Each and every Surgent course includes unlimited access until you pass. (However, keep in mind that this isn’t unusual for the other top CPA review courses nowadays. After all, both Becker CPA and Gleim CPA include access until you pass the CPA Exam with their most comprehensive courses.)

Surgent will also update your materials automatically and at no extra cost to you for the duration of your studies. You will always be able to study with the most current materials whether you purchase just one section of Surgent or the Ultimate Pass Course.

How Much Is Surgent CPA?

Surgent offers a variety of CPA review course options. Therefore, the price of a Surgent product varies. So, you should compare the Surgent package offerings.

Surgent’s most economical complete course offering is the Essentials Pass course, which costs $1,599. Next, the Premier Pass course, which supplies a few additional study materials, costs $2,399. Then, Surgent’s most comprehensive course package, the Ultimate Pass course, comes to $2,999.

And purchasing an individual section of Surgent CPA Review will run you $599.

Surgent CPA Discount Code

If you’re looking for a Surgent CPA coupon, then check on my Surgent CPA discounts post.

How Do You Study for Surgent CPA?

To make the most of your studies with Surgent, you should use the course as designed. And what is the daily study time on Surgent CPA Review? Well, Surgent recommends that you study 15-20 hours per week per exam section. Of course, you should also study as regularly as possible.

Study Planner

The course begins by asking you to enter your exam date and the dates on which you can study. Then, the integrated study planner within the course generates a personalized study plan that details how many hours you need to study on your available study days in order to finish the course by your exam date.

As you study, you can add or remove available study days, and the planner will automatically adjust to your new schedule. Therefore, you should communicate with the course so that the course can provide you with the most accurate data about how much longer you need to study.

Assessment Phase

Once you’ve entered your exam date and available study times, the course will start you off with the assessment phase in which it will present you with a thorough quiz of hundreds of practice questions. Using your performance on this quiz, the course will gauge how much you know and determine where your knowledge gaps with the content are.

Study Phase

Next, the course will transition you into the study phase by assigning you a baseline ReadySCORE. Again, ReadySCORE is Surgent’s estimate of what you would score on the CPA Exam if you took it at that moment. The course will also create a hyper-personalized study plan for you by presenting you with a daily surge for each study session.

Your daily surges will instruct you to answer practice questions, watch video lectures, or read through the books. As you finish your daily surges, you will see your ReadySCORE go up. Then, once you’ve achieved a ReadySCORE of 80, the course will lead you into the next phase.

Review Phase

Finally, the course will move you into the review phase in which you can take unlimited practice exams that emulate the real CPA Exam. As you complete these exams, your ReadySCORE will rise even further according to your improved performance.

What Is the Surgent CPA Guarantee?

If needed, you can take advantage of the Surgent CPA refund. If you use Surgent and fail all 4 sections of the CPA Exam, you can utilize Surgent’s CPA Exam Pass Guarantee to claim a refund of tuition so long as you meet ALL of the following criteria:

  1. Register and pay full tuition (less applicable scholarships and discounts) for the entire 4-part course. You can’t participate in the money-back guarantee if you only purchase an individual course section.
  2. Earn a ReadySCORE of at least 75 in each section of the course.
  3. Finish a full practice exam in each section of the course and achieve at least a 75 on each exam.
  4. Start studying for and sit for each CPA Exam section within 4 months and take all 4 CPA Exam sections within 18 months.
  5. Send all 4 score reports to Surgent CPA Review, 237 Lancaster Ave, Devon, PA 19333 within 10 days of the final score release. If you pass one or more exam parts, you won’t be eligible for a refund.

Of course, you should keep in mind that this “guarantee” doesn’t guarantee that you’ll pass the CPA Exam if you study with Surgent. In fact, it just means that you’ll get your purchase price back if you fail your exams. And if you do that, you’ll have to purchase another review course (because Surgent couldn’t get you across the finish line). You’ll need to retake the CPA Exam, too, and that comes with exam retake fees. So you may be better off with another one of the best CPA review courses from the start.

Is Surgent CPA Enough to Pass the CPA Exam?

Many candidates have passed the CPA Exam using Surgent. After all, Surgent includes resources that you’ll find in typical CPA review courses, like practice questions and textbooks.

However, some users have reported errors. Plus, the Surgent pass rate is not as high as the CPA Exam pass rate for Becker users.

Is Surgent CPA Good for Canadians Taking CPA Exam US (IQEX)?

The IQEX is essentially the REG section of the CPA Exam. So, the IQEX only has 1 section, which means you only need to pay for 1 part of the Surgent course to prepare for it. But, even if you just purchase the REG Surgent CPA Review course, you will still receive all of the study materials within the adaptive learning platform that you need to pass the IQEX exam.

What Are the Surgent CPA Pass Rates?

Surgent CPA explains the pass rate that they’ve calculated according to their own analysis in this way: students who use Surgent CPA and get a ReadySCORE of 75 or more in all content areas, topics, and question types pass 92% of the time.

So, the Surgent CPA passing rate applies to fairly specific conditions, but these conditions prove that students who pass with Surgent have used the course properly. What’s more, the course told these students that they were ready to pass, and they were.

Furthermore, a third-party platform has also figured out the average pass rate for all Surgent students (no matter their ReadySCORE), and this pass rate is 84%. And although that sounds high, it’s not as high as the CPA Exam pass rate for Becker users.

Surgent CPA Review vs. Becker pass rates

How does Surgent’s pass rate compare to other companies, like the Becker CPA pass rate? To start, the Becker CPA pass rate statistics are a little higher at 94%. Specifically, the Becker pass rate is based on the number of users who were “Exam Day Ready.” Basically, Becker found that 94% of users who worked through most of their course and scored at least a 50% on 3 mock tests passed their real CPA exams. (That’s what’s called the “Becker bump.”)

Plus, the Becker CPA Review pass rate has been verified by a couple of third parties. First, the Adtalem Analytics Center of Excellence helped to analyze the Becker CPA passing rate. And then, Becker asked a top-10 public accounting firm to perform an examination related to the pass rates. In short, the firm found that the Becker CPA pass rates and its approach to calculating the data were “fairly stated in all material respects.” Therefore, you can trust that the Becker CPA Exam pass rates are accurate.

Feel free to compare Becker CPA vs. Surgent CPA in-depth.

Surgent CPA vs. Wiley

Let’s also go over the pass rates of Wiley vs. Surgent CPA Review. Wiley CPAexcel claims that 9 out of 10 of their users pass the CPA Exam. However, Wiley doesn’t explain how it calculated its pass rates. Nor did Wiley have a third-party organization verify its claims. Therefore, when it comes down to the Wiley CPA vs Surgent pass rates, Surgent’s pass rate is more transparent. (Of course, neither Wiley or Surgent CPA can beat the Becker pass rate.)

Should I Follow a Non-linear Approach with Surgent CPA?

While Surgent does allow candidates to take a linear approach through the course that involves reading the entire book, watching all of the video lectures, and answering all of the practice questions, Surgent designed the non-linear version of the course to save candidates’ hundreds of study hours by focusing only on the exam content they don’t know and strengthening their weak areas.

Additionally, only the non-linear side of Surgent CPA Review provides you with your ReadySCORE, which is the best way of determining when you’re completely prepared to sit for the CPA Exam. ReadySCORE helps you gauge your progress with the exam content and see if you’ll reach your study goals by exam day.

Consequently, Surgent CPA Review only reaches its full potential as CPA Exam prep when you rely on the A.S.A.P. Technology of the adaptive platform and don’t follow the linear path through the course.

So, for these reasons, you should certainly take the non-linear approach if you decide to study with Surgent.

Surgent CPA Review ReadySCORE vs. Actual Exam Score

As mentioned, the Surgent CPA Review ReadySCORE is an estimate of what you would score on the CPA Exam if you took it right now.

Surgent calculates your ReadySCORE at the beginning of your studies after you finish the assessment phase. Your baseline ReadySCORE will probably be a bit lower than 75 (like, in the 40s or 50s).

Then, as you move through the study phase of the Surgent course, your ReadySCORE should increase steadily. Specifically, most students see their ReadySCORE rise from the low 40s to the mid-80s throughout the course of their studies with Surgent CPA Review.

In fact, Surgent reports that their students achieve an average ReadySCORE of 84 once they enter the review phase of the course. This increase demonstrates a 97% improvement from the average ReadySCORE (43) established in the assessment phase.

Surgent also explains that, on average, a student’s combined ReadySCORE at the time when they sit for the exam is within 4% of their actual CPA Exam score. Therefore, the Surgent ReadySCORE is about 94% accurate.

So, the results of the Surgent CPA ReadySCORE vs. actual CPA Exam score are that your ReadySCORE should be close to your actual CPA Exam score.

What Are the Surgent CPA Review Ratings?

Here are our final thoughts about Surgent CPA:

Surgent CPA Pros:

  1. Award-winning lecturers: Liz Kolar, Jack Surgent, and a host of other accounting professionals lead the Surgent CPA Review video lectures. And these individuals bring both a highly effective teaching style and a much-lauded career of experience to the course.
  2. Adaptive learning technology: Surgent’s A.S.A.P. Technology was one of the first to arrive on the CPA review course scene.
  3. Pass guarantee and a free trial: Surgent will refund the tuition of students who meet their terms and conditions if you fail the CPA Exam. And before you even get started, you can explore the Surgent CPA free trial.
  4. Pass rate: Surgent’s pass rate is not only very high, but it is also very believable. Their pass rate of 92% applies to students who earned a ReadySCORE of 75 or higher. And their pass rate of 84% includes ALL students, no matter their ReadySCORE, and is verified by a third party. Although this isn’t quite as high as the Becker pass rates for CPA candidates, it’s still strong.

Cons of Surgent:

  1. Less established brand: Again, Surgent hasn’t been around since the 1970s like some CPA review providers. Therefore, they don’t have a long history of having helped millions of candidates pass. But they are on their way.
  2. Not as all-encompassing and engaging as other courses: Though Surgent CPA Review has everything you need to pass, it does not have the biggest test bank on the market. Moreover, Surgent’s video lectures are very helpful, but they are not as entertaining as the videos developed by some other providers.

Gleim CPA vs. Surgent

So, how does Gleim CPA compare to Surgent CPA?

Well, Gleim CPA Review is one of our top-rated CPA Exam review courses. It’s ideal for candidates who have been out of school for a while and may need to go back to the basics with some topics. Gleim has adaptive technology as well, and its content is exhaustive. Therefore, you can learn the exam content at a deep level and really understand it. Gleim also offers several levels of customer support even for their lower-tier courses. Their exam mentors help candidates get through all the stages of the CPA Exam process.

Gleim CPA Review also has a bigger test bank. Therefore, it’s better for candidates who really like to drill through practice questions.

Comparing Task-Based Simulations for Gleim and Surgent Review Courses

Task-based simulations are a critical component of the CPA Exam, requiring candidates to apply their knowledge in practical, real-world scenarios. As the exam evolves, these simulations now account for a substantial portion of your CPA Exam score. Therefore, ample practice with TBSs is essential for success.

However, when it comes to sheer numbers, Gleim significantly outpaces Surgent in offering task-based simulations.

  • Gleim CPA Review: Over 1,100 TBSs
  • Surgent: About 450+ TBSs

As you can see, this disparity is noticeable. After all, Gleim’s extensive library offers more than twice the number of TBSs compared to Surgent, giving candidates a broader range of scenarios to practice.

Organization of Review Materials: Surgent vs. Gleim

Surgent and Gleim have different approaches to organization their study materials. Surgent structures its content into smaller sections, each focusing on different topics. While these sections might not always be closely related, this method is optimal for quick reference during practice sessions. However, this structural choice sometimes sacrifices in-depth context and background information.

In contrast, Gleim takes a more comprehensive route by dividing content into distinct study units. Each unit delves deeply into a specific topic, incorporating varied perspectives. These study units include thorough explanations, relevant examples, background information, and practical tips to help understand and tackle exam-related questions from multiple angles.

Iff you’d like my personal suggestion, just contact me.

Where Can I Find More Information About the CPA Exam?

If you’d like to learn how to pass the CPA Exam the first time and earn the CPA certification, you can find all the information you need in my free CPA e-course. Learn more or sign up now to get started!

Plus, among my readers, has anyone used Surgent CPA Review? If so, drop me a line and give me your impressions.

About the Author Stephanie Ng

I am the author of How to Pass The CPA Exam (published by Wiley), and I also passed all 4 sections of the CPA Exam on my first try. Additionally, I have led webinars, such as for the Institute of Management Accountants, authored featured articles on websites like Going Concern and AccountingWeb, and I'm also the CFO for the charity New Sight. Finally, I have created other accounting certification websites to help mentor non-CPA candidates. I have already mentored thousands of CPA, CMA, CIA, EA, and CFA candidates, and I can help you too!

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