The Best CPA Exam Review Courses of 2020

Who Is Eligible to take the CPA exam?

Candidates will need to meet eligibility requirements set by their regional board of accountancy before they take the CPA exam. There are 55 different jurisdictions in the United States, each with their own specific requirements. You can find out more about your local state accountancy board on the NASBA’s website.

How Hard is the CPA Exam?

Although some sections of the 4-part CPA exam are easier than others, all of them are notoriously difficult. On average, roughly 50% of people who take the exam earn a passing grade.

How do I Prepare for the CPA Exam?

The best way to ensure you are capable of passing the CPA exam is to identify your unique learning style, find CPA review courses geared toward your learning style, and set aside enough study time to ensure you go over all the material covered on every exam section.

The benefits of being a CPA are both tangible and intangible. With that designation next to your name, you get a better career trajectory, a higher salary, respect from similarly accredited peers, and the potential to secure corner office positions. Over the course of their careers, CPAs make $1 million more than their non-certified counterparts.  The C-Suite is more likely to be made up of people who are CPAs than those who lack the title—executive search firm Spencer Stuart noted roughly 45 percent of CFOs have a CPA.

What Are the CPA Exam Requirements By State?

The requirements to sit for the CPA exam aren’t especially varied from state to state, but there are certainly some outliers. Understanding these CPA exam requirements is necessary, however, as the first step to becoming a CPA is being able to sit for the exam. For the most part, you’re going to need 150 credit hours of accounting education, along with some work experience. There’s definitely more to the requirements than just 150 credit hours, but you’re going to have that as a basic educational foundation to sit for the exam.

Applying for the CPA exam is a complicated process, especially given the date restrictions and many requirements. Understanding how to apply will help with scheduling and time management, so make sure you cover all of the bases. 

The basic application process involves school transcripts, submitting the fee and application, receiving the ATT from your state board,  getting your NTS from NASBA, going to the Prometric website to schedule the exam dates, and then finally studying and taking the test. The CPA exam application process is very specific and can be confusing, so make sure you follow every detail exactly to a T.

Finding the motivation to carry on with studying after a failed test is heartbreaking for many people. However, if you can make the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel a tangible goal or event, it will ease the process of starting over. Many people fail at least one section, so it’s certainly possible to keep studying if you know WHY you’re taking the test. Failing a section also doesn’t mean you’re not cut out to become a CPA—many people who occupy corner offices of Fortune 500 companies have failed one section of their exams. The important thing with regard to failing is to make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.

Recognizing your learning style is the key to cutting hours and hours off of your studying time. Once you know what works with regard to specific types of prep tools—videos, audio content, or practicing by doing via test banks or books—the whole process becomes easier and each minute of studying becomes more valuable. If you’re wondering what your learning style is, I suggest you check out the above post and determine exactly how you process and consume information. Not knowing how you learn best before you invest in a CPA review course is basically burning money!

The test is broken down into the quarterly fiscal schedule on which all businesses rely. So, for the first quarter, you get to take the test within the first two months and an additional ten days into the second month. Once this testing window is over, the schedule simply repeats that pattern. Basically, there’s a 20-ish day period per quarter in which you cannot take the test. If you’re able to plan your studying and schedule your exams correctly, you’ll be able to knock out the CPA in roughly a year!

Creating a CPA exam study schedule is reliant on you making an honest assessment of how many hours you can devote per week. If you’re working full-time, you’re going to want to study a certain amount per day, with somewhat longer sessions on the weekend. If you’re not working, you can devote larger chunks of time per day—the key is to keep a consistent level of studying, as you don’t want to do too much on one day and none on another. Knowing how to study for the CPA exam will be the difference between passing and failing each individual section.

Your first CPA exam section should be the one that you feel most confident about passing. Check out the video below to find out why!

Which is the easiest part of the CPA exam?

The AICPA reports AUD being the statistically easiest class. The FAR, AUD, BEC, and REG respective pass rates are 45.42%, 45.82%, 55.54%, and 48.41%. With the lowest cumulative passing rates on FAR.

How Should I Study for the CPA Exam?

You should focus on completing the exam sections that you feel most confident with first and then move on to the ones that you need to work on more. The general rule is that you should study about 80-100 hours for each section of the exam. This might be overkill for some candidates. It might not be enough time for others. The best thing you can do is work through your CPA study materials and see where it takes you. 

If you get through the materials before you reach the 80 hour mark, good for you! A lot of college students and grads ask which course is best for them since they are freshly out of school, and already in course mode. Keep in mind that there is not such thing as “the best” course. The most important thing about picking a course is finding one that fits your learning style. 

You should try out each course you are interested in by taking advantage of free trial offers. Test them out and see which one you like the best. I’d recommend looking into Surgent, Roger, and Wiley CPAexcel first.