CPAExcel

Passed BEC

by gaap toothed on May 21, 2010 · 3 comments

in BEC

I got my BEC scores in today… I passed BEC with an 80.

BEC Diagnostic Report

BEC Score: 80

  • Business Structures – 15hrs
  • Economics – 10hrs
  • Financial Management – 10hrs
  • Information Technology – 10hrs
  • Planning & Measurement – 3hrs

I guesstimate that I  studied about 40-50 hours total for BEC.

While studying, Business Structures seemed so simple and straightforward, but of course the exam questions are always wordy and use discriminatory language to keep things vague.

Economics – I felt like I spent too much time studying difficult questions I would never get asked, but this definitely helped me grasp economics.  Allan Bizzel of CPAexcel made Economics so easy to learn.

Financial Management – Again, props to Allan Bizzel of CPAexcel for his lectures which made studying for this section effortless.

Information Technology – Dan Stone of CPAexcel is awesome.  Definitely prepared me well for IT.  CPAexcel has the BEST IT study module out there.  Anyone having problems with BEC’s IT (or Economics and Financial Management) should definitely check out CPAexcel.  Yaeger’s coverage of IT and Economics is TERRIBLE.  In fact, Yaeger doesn’t cover those sections… they just tell you to read the chapter.  CPAexcel actually covers the material with their lectures using slides to drill down the hierarchies and definitions (and cheesy umbrella hats aka preventative controls).

Planning and Measurement – I didn’t have enough time to really study for this section.  I only covered basic Cost Concepts dealing with terminology and only glanced over balance scorecard and TQM-like stuff.

I passed using CPAexcel and Wiley book for extra questions.  Yaeger didn’t help me at all (and I’d like to mention that I only watched the first 3 or 4 disks which were a complete waste of time).

Tagged as: BEC, CPAExcel, incomplete blog originally unpublished

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From Yaeger to CPA Excel for BEC

by gaap toothed on May 3, 2010 · 1 comment

in BEC,CPA Review Programs

I started with Yaeger as my main review program, but I think I’m going to switch to CPA Excel.  Yaeger BEC Disks 1-3 (Business Structures, Economics, and Financial Management) aren’t good.  Business Structures is ok, but the rest are blah when compared to CPA Excel.

CPA Excel’s coverage Business Structures, Economics, and Financial Management have been AMAZING.  I love the organization of the material which really helped me out with Business Structures and Economics.  Economics was split into several small topics that built on each other which meant that I needed to understand (e.g., score 90% on practice exam questions) each topic before I could move on to the next.  Unlike Wiley’s random organization of Modules, CPA Excel organizes BEC almost exactly like the AICPA Content Specification Outline.

Although at the end of Yaeger Disk 3, Cindy finally comes back to cover Capital Budgeting.  I might go through Yaeger Disks 4-6 because I’ve read that Cindy is supposed to be amazing for BEC (she was great in FAR!!), but I’m content with CPA Excel.  The best thing about Cindy is that she always makes it clear why you should cover certain areas and gives a convincing explanation as to why.  So finishing Yaeger might be worth it for Cindy’s tips on which topics to focus on and which to forget.  She was ridiculously accurate for my FAR exam.

BTW, I went through the intro videos for CPA Excel’s Information Technology section and they do a great job of explaining concepts.  They use graphics and illustrations which helps out with explaining hierarchies and different levels of organization.  Wiley only had 2 or 3 illustrations which pale in comparison to CPA Excel.  I have a degree in MIS, so IT never really worried me.  For CPA candidates worried about IT, check out CPA Excel’s coverage of IT.

IT is not difficult to understand, but it can be tricky if you only study it as vocab terms.  I think having the concepts explained with visual aids to show similarities/differences/flow of information makes for much easier (and faster) studying than forcefully memorizing terms like hub, date warehouse, data mart, DML, DDL, etc.

For example: Categories of IT Systems by Purpose

Tagged as: BEC, CPAExcel, Yaeger Homestudy

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Yaeger Homestudy VS CPAExcel

by gaap toothed on February 21, 2010 · 2 comments

in CPA Review Programs,FAR

1.  Study Units/Lessons Format:
Yaeger Homestudy
Yaeger Homestudy says to 1) watch the video lecture, 2) do the assigned MPCs/Sims, and 3) review the previous lesson after completing a lesson.  It typically takes me 1-1.5 hours to complete a video lecture while taking notes.  This is fine for me because I’m only working part-time and can basically study for hours at a time as I wish.

CPAExcel
Study units are organized into bite sized lessons that can be completed in 15, 30, or 45 minutes.  The beauty of bite sized lessons comes into play when you’re pressed for time.  If dedicating 2-3 hour blocks of your time to studying is difficult because of your schedule, then CPAExcel is for you.  Also, accounting gets pretty boring and when studying the same topic for so long, I get bored.  CPAExcel mixes things up with its bite sized lessons and keeps me interested/tuned in.

Winner: Yaeger Homestudy
Reason: Short, bite sized lessons allow for flexibility when studying, but lacks organization and structure which kinda left me feeling like I wasn’t prepared.

2.  Video Lecture Content Quality:
Yaeger Homestudy
High quality video lectures with good lecturers (most of the time).  They explain concepts in detail and drop hints and exam tips allover the place.  The videos go great with the Wiley books and give you confidence as they prepare you to answer the end of chapter MPC/Sims in Wiley.

CPAExcel
Videos are flash (youtube-like) quality.  They are brief and do not waste your time with filler.  They cover the concepts and expect you to learn from reading the text and doing practice questions.

Winner: Yaeger Homestudy
Reason: After watching Yaeger videos, you feel it’s ok to skip reading the text and go straing into multiple choice questions because Cindy kinda holds your hand and comforts you through most of FAR.  CPAexcel is less personal.  They expect you to learn from reading and practicing questions.  Kinda cut and dry, some of their professor’s lack personality (but nowhere near as awful as Michael from Yaeger).

3.  Program Provided Notes/Handouts and Textbook Quality:
Yaeger Homestudy
I know for FARS, Yaeger gives you 100+ pages of handouts arranged (mostly) in order of the Wiley modules, but with no continuity from page to page.  The handouts were meant only to be used along with watching the video lectures.  I’d say only about 5-7 pages of the handouts are worth studying or even looking at again.  Otherwise, I can’t really see myself using the handouts after finishing the lectures.

Yaeger uses the 4 volume set of Wiley CPA Review books as its textbook.  Yaeger shines here because of the fact that Wiley pretty much sets the standard on Intermediate Accounting college textbooks.  Even if I didn’t buy Yaeger Homestudy, I would buy the Wiley CPA Review books based on the Wiley reputation alone.  Basically, Wiley is an EXCELLENT supplement to any CPA review course.

CPAExcel
Textbooks range from 300-500+ pages for each section.  The information on the textbooks are short and on point.  I feel like it was written assuming that readers have a general understanding of accounting and only highlights of important concepts.  I’d say its more of an outline format than compared to Wiley which is more detailed (which isn’t always a good thing).

Winner: CPAExcel
Reason: CPAExcel books are written and updated by current college accounting professors.  CPAexcel also gives you the opportunity to save paper by letting you access their book online (and even print it!!).  Have a shoddy ISP?  No worries, you can also purchase a printed textbook from them for those rainy days.

4.  Question and Sims Bank:
Yaeger Homestudy
Yaeger Homestudy comes with all 4 Wiley books and combined the Wiley books have over 3800 multiple choice questions and 90 Sims.  I’ve noticed some of the exact same Wiley questions used by Gleim and Becker.  This is because the questions are available to any company because the AICPA sells its retired questions and posts some retired questions on the internet.

CPAExcel
CPAExcel has 5,100 Past exam questions, with self-scoring software and 50 Sims.  Also, CPAExcel has 5,400 Proficiency Questions which are either MPC or True/False questions that are more straight forward and not as difficult.  If you read and understand the study unit, then the Proficiency Questions should be easy.  If you miss more than a couple Proficiency Questions, then you should spend more time reading the study unit.

Winner: CPAExcel
Reason: More questions and custom made questions by college accounting professors.  Also, questions are scored for you and keeps your stats which saves alot of time compared to writing your answers out on paper and grading them yourself.  Seriously, it’s 2010… why should I waste time and paper grading hundreds of multiple choice questions.




TIE-BREAKER: Goes to CPAexcel
Reason: CPAexcel is ahead of the curve because (believe it or not) they are a non-traditional CPA Review Course.

What do I mean by non-traditional?  Well, unlike other review courses (Becker, Rogers, Yaeger) CPAexcel kinda bends over backwards for their customers.  Their customer policies are borderline ridiculous!

First, they allow customers to install their software on multiple computers without any problems.  It’s as if they understand that people use multiple computers either for work, home, and travel.  Their software is amazing and looks exactly like the actual exam.  I love the progress tracking and how their stats are broken down to specific topics so you can easily identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Second, free updates till you pass.  No hidden fees or hassle about it.  Yaeger course updates will eventually nickel and dime you to death ($5 “admin fee” for a webcast that used to be free).

Third, bulletin board/forum access to CPAexcel authors and professors.  CPAexcel has 15-20 professors reading their forums and responding to questions until the person asking the question is satisfied.  Yaeger’s only got 4 lecturers (+ 1 if you count his awful receptionist that patronizes customers for asking questions on a hotline) so quality help is rare because they are usually overrun.

Do not be fooled by CPAexcel’s hokey website design (kinda dated, late 90′s/early 2000′s, Web 1.0 era design).  CPAexcel is a very high tech, feature rich, e-learning course.

Tagged as: CPAExcel, FAR, Yaeger, Yaeger vs CPAexcel

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