Get Your CPA

CPAExcel is an experience provider of CPA exam review courses.  One of the major differences between CPAexcel and the other review courses is CPAexcel offers their study materials in “bite sized” modules rather than longer chapters or video segments.

CPAexcel offers 5 main options for study.

1.  Online Self Study - This includes online study text, online exam questions, online flash cards, online discussion group membership, and online final review that helps you with last minute study before the exam.

The “online self study” does not include any printed materials, video, or audio guidance.  The materials and questions are all online in an electronic format.

Price - $265 per part / $795 for all 4 parts

2. Text Self Study - This course includes everything in the “online self study” and adds in printed textbooks.  The texts are developed by CPAexcel.

Price - $310 per part / $930 for all 4 parts

3. Video Self Study - This course includes everything in the “text self study” and adds in streaming online video of professors teaching the course material, the same videos on CD-ROM (not DVD), and access to the slides the professors use.

Price - $490 per part / $1,470 for all 4 parts

4. Online Professor Guided - This course includes everything in the “text self study” and adds professor guidance.  This guidance is all online, and text only.  It is through email, graded assignments and discussion forums, not audio or video.

During this course, the professors assign work to the students.  The students have 3 days to complete each assignment.  Students can send questions to professors and receive answers throughout the course period.

Price - $400 per part / $1,195 for all 4 parts

5. Video Professor Guided - This course includes everything in the “video self study” and the “online professor guided” courses.

Price - $580 per part / $1,690 for all 4 parts

The Good

1.  There is a 20% discount on all purchases if you are a college student.

2.  CPAexcel offers unlimited updates to the course materials.  If you do not pass as quickly as you want, you can still get updated materials without paying extra.  Other CPA exam review courses have expiration dates after which you need to pay to get updates.  You do have to pay for shipping costs if you order updates, though.

3.  The 84% pass rate is about double the national average pass rate, but is lower than some of the other review courses.  CPAexcel makes a big deal on their website about how other review services calculate pass rates, but in my conversations with other course providers, they all calculate pass rates based on surveys of students, the same as CPAexcel does.

4.  CPAexcel synchronizes your scores on practice questions and exams on the downloaded and online versions of the software.  This means that if you answer practice questions both online and offline, CPAexcel will combine your performance when you go back online.  This is a handy feature some of the other review courses do not offer.

The Bad

1.  Access to the professors is online only and not live or real-time.

2.  Getting the course on USB costs extra, so if you need to access the course on multiple computers, you have to be online.

3.  In my opinion, the “online self study” and “text self study” courses are not an efficient way to study for the exam.  Audio and video support are much more helpful and work well to reinforce test questions and text study.

4.  The “final review” touted by CPAexcel is an exam only.  It is customized to your strengths and weaknesses, but it is not comparable to the “cram courses” offered by other CPA exam review courses.  CPAexcel tries to make this comparison on its website, but I believe that is misleading given the content and structure of other final review courses that are more comprehensive.

5.  You can get more materials and options from other review courses for similar pricing, which means CPAexcel is a bit overpriced for what it offers.

There are a lot of things to like about the Yaeger CPA Review.

1. You have the best chance to pass the exam as Yaeger has the top pass rate of any CPA review course (88%).
2. When you call, you get Phil Yaeger (the owner), not some customer service representative.
3. You get the most up-to-date information because the review videos are re-filmed in their entirety every year.
4. You do not “run out” of study questions - there is unlimited use.
5. For convenience and flexibility, you have 3 study formats to choose from.
6. The price of the review course is cheaper than its 2 main competitors.

There are a couple of potential draw backs to be aware of.

1. If you answer test questions on DVD or USB, the scores to not transfer over if you answer some questions online.  This results in having different scores in different places that you’ll have to combine to get a complete picture of how you’re doing.
2. The review is conducted entirely through video, books, and test questions.  There are no “in person” classes.

Check out this CPA exam review course comparison chart before you decide which course to buy.