Becker CPA Review Course – Should You Purchase It?
The Becker CPA review course is one of the most popular and widely used CPA review courses available on the market. Feedback from Becker students are mixed, ranging from positive to negative. Considering that, should or should you not purchase the Becker course?
Your first consideration should be whether or not your employer will be paying for your CPA review course. Many employers will only pay for courses that are endorsed by the Big 4 auditing firms (i.e. Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, and KPMG), and Becker belongs in this category. If this describes your employer, then you have a good reason to consider purchasing the Becker course.
On the other hand, if your employer will not be paying for any course materials, or if you would rather invest your own money in getting the best CPA review course available, then you may wish to check out other review courses such as the Yaeger CPA review course or the Roger Philipp CPA review course, both of which cost less than the Becker course and are found by some students to be more efficient in preparing them for the CPA exam.
The Becker CPA review course is taught in three different formats. Live lectures are delivered internationally in over 200 locations. Online classes are held once a week, where students can re-watch lectures for as many times as they need to afterward. Then there is the self-study CD that contains all the lectures that the student can watch and learn from at his/her own pace. Though delivered in different formats, the course content and questions covered are the same across all media.
The Becker study materials tend to be overly comprehensive, in that they cover every topic and subject area that may possibly be tested on the exam. Becker students are required to do lots of questions, in application of the “practice makes perfect” theory. Although this approach can prepare the student for all and any questions that may appear on the exam, large amounts of study time is also required to go through all the materials and practice questions. This may be a pro or a con depending on the particular student’s study style, preference, and study time available.
The Becker CPA review course boasts a pass rate of double that of non-Becker students. While this is certainly impressive, it comes at the cost of longer study time and higher course fees than some of the other alternatives. If you can afford to spend the money (or if your employer is willing to pay for the course), and willing to put in long hours to exhaustively cover every area you may be tested on in the CPA exam, then Becker may be suitable for you. If, however, you wish to spend less money on course materials, and less study time by focusing only on areas that have the highest likelihood of appearing on the exam, then you are advised to consider courses like the Yaeger or Roger CPA review courses.
To see how the Becker CPA review course compares to other CPA review courses on the market today please visit CPAReviewCourse.org.