Becker Cpa Course Fees
Brian Bezdicek
I paid for my own material, too. Becker was the course that was pushed at my university, but there was no way I was paying over three grand. I use Kaplan (link below) and that in and of itself was a painful investment for me ($1,800). I think it's a great course, though, it includes the manual, flash cards, online video courses, MCQs, testlets, True/False, and my favorite feature, a study calendar. The calendar feature lets you put in your test date, which days you want to study and any days you want to take off and it gives you assignments to make sure you cover all the required material in an order that helps with understanding and retention. I don't know what all is included with Becker, it might have all this and more, but I felt that Kaplan was more than sufficient for my AUD section and I don't have any complaints on the other sections I'm working on.
Sadly I paid the full price plus the final review and the note cards. The note cards was no help and sold them all on eBay. I did there 0% finance for 18 months so it didn't hurt that much paying for it.
Sometimes your state CPA society will offer a discount on review courses- and they are sometimes pretty cheap to join if you are a CPA candidate. I know in IL you can join for pretty cheap and they give you a discount on Becker and some other courses. Just another option- whatever you choose, good luck!
It was free for me so of course using it was a no-brainer. Considering how costly Becker is, I would not have paid for it if I had to pay full price. Even if the other courses aren't as thorough, I don't believe that the benefits outweigh the marginal cost. I have old Gleim books someone gave me for free and while I would definitely prefer Becker, I think I could make due with them.
I was lucky enough to purchase the Becker Textbooks from a friend who passed all 4 parts in 2012. Her employer paid for Becker and she was very eager to accept my cash offer for the books and flashcard set! ? She was not into highlighting or marking up the text, so I feel very fortunate that I have excellent condition secondhand books and flashcards for all 4 parts! Personally I learn best from a textbook and my friend was much more into the software (and cash), so it was a win-win for each of us! I'm also supplementing with Wiley Test Bank and Ninja Notes.
I'm trying to make the best use of my purchase so I took and thankfully passed REG before 12/31/12. I am desperately trying to finish off AUD at the end of the month so I don't have to mess with the changes come July! Then on to BEC and FAR as the changes from 2012 to 2013 are minuscule. I think Becker does a great job and offers a quality product!
I paid $2,800 for my Becker Material with the aid of a $400 discount from my college. On reflection that was still a very hefty price and I wished I shopped around better. When I was at school, we got taught that Becker was the leader of CPA material. I personally think the Becker material is indeed the best amongst all. However, I dont think its worth $2800. I took the live lectures, but in reality it was kinda a waste of time. I took the 8-hour Saturday course and I was so brain dead after hour 3 already. I was just highlighting the book like a zombie.
I suggest trying cheaper alternatives like the Wiley Test Bank. It offers you a lot of questions, about the same amount of Becker. Becker's system and questions I think are a little better. And also the material I learn from the Becker books I feel are so much more knowlegeable than ninja notes(obviously). However, the price difference between the two is huge.
You should also consider what the trade-off is. Using Becker would increase your chances of passing more than any other material. But if you can save $2000 and risk using lesser materials go for it and especially if you have a solid accounting knowledge, I think you can get away with it. Re-application fees per failed exam is around 170-190 and you gotta calculate the time lost due to restudying too.
I think if you're financially sound, just go with Becker. Especially if you not working. You can actually have time to read the books. The ninja notes are very condensed notes. Overall, the true value is in the multiple choice problems. And several of the multiple choice problems from the Becker system is word for word the same as for Wiley.
Does anyone have any experience with Becker and getting a refund? Stupidly bought all four sections with them at once for the live course and now have realized that their courses are not really designed for someone who is working a demanding job at the same time. The first course for the financial exam has already started but the other 3 sections have yet to start and have not touched the books for them. I called them up requesting a refund for the other 3 courses that have not yet started and they refused saying that you only have within 5 days of when the first class you scheduled starts to ask for a refund or you must pay for ALL classes that you paid for.
They have so many hidden fees associated with rescheduling their classes that I am just done with Becker. I also paid for this out of my pocket! To reschedule 3 Exams would cost you $400. Free first exam re-schedule, and then $195 per each other exam.
Let me know if anyone has any advice for dealing with them or anything. Not sure I can justify spending another $400 with a company where you have to wait 15 minutes to reach a representative by phone, pay for additional features when you already have the most expensive course, listen to the instructor try to sell you on other Becker CPA products, and have to deal with a website that goes incredibly slow or times out when you are using it.
Ok that makes more sense. I would just go at your own pace. The online classes offered very little of anything extra anyway and I've heard the same for the live classes.. Supplement with NINJA notes if you feel you need something extra.
My software expires on July 17th. I'm scheduling FAR for August 10th and hoping they will work with me and extend my software date out a couple of weeks. I'm making sure I get through all of the lectures and notes before it expires in case they won't extend it. If it expires at least I'll have the book/notes and I'll have to spend 80 bucks on the wiley test bank to take the place of the passmaster Becker software.
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