2:56 p.m. - 2010-07-12
CPA Review Course - How Should You Choose?
Many accountants studying for the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exam make use of a CPA review course to help prepare. A high quality review course lowers study time and improves the chances of successfully passing the CPA exam. 1) Course Materials
Every course will cover the same subjects likely to come up in the exam, although tutors use their own methods. Great review courses are only taught by absorbing tutors who are able to explain hard concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. Instead, they will use lesson time effectively to teach the harder concepts. Top CPA review courses normally make sample lectures freely available so you can see how the course is planned out. There are lots of message boards and websites which offer valuable insight to the best review courses. The feedback provided on those sites will almost certainly help you make the right choice.
As well, the lessons can be available through a variety of media, such as live or recorded webcasts, CDs, DVDs, or USB. The portability of how course materials are delivered should be taken into consideration when evaluating a review course.
Valuable simulation software may become unusable when access terminates and this can lower the probability of passing the exam. As well, some courses have materials which are only made available to a student for a set periods before they become inaccessible. If you opt for a course without access expiry, you need to ensure you make use of the material before it becomes redundant.
2) Practice Questions
Each of the CPA review courses take different approaches with practice questions. A lot of courses aim to tackles every possible question likely to show up in the CPA exam. While this may be the safest approach, it can also be quite time-consuming. Other courses take different approaches and restrict sample questions to provide a basic overview of all topics. This also results in students not having adequate preparation. Again, this situation is far from ideal also.
The best CPA review course will concentrate on the most likely questions to come up in the CPA exam. This approach ensures students use their time efficiently and have a high probability of learning questions most likely to appear in an exam.
Many CPA review courses provide different levels of student support. Naturally, you should check whichever course you buy offers the right type of support suitable for your requirements.
CPA exam materials are regularly updated due to accounting prodecure changes. Some review courses update their course materials and practice questions more often than others, so make sure to consider this when selecting a course.
Something to consider, that has not been discussed, is price. However, price is only an issue if you do not pass the exam. This because CPA certified accountants can expect significant pay increases. Bear in mind it is possible that more than one section results in failure if the 2008 Uniform pass rate is taken into consideration - the average pass rate was between 47.49% and 49.10%.
Find out which CPA review course is the most highly recommended amongst the many CPA exam review courses on the market today.
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