LILY_S2011
offlineMember
Money matters! I bought WILEY instead of BECKER. But after reading some of the posts, it seems that BECKER readers have mostly passed.
My local bookstore does not even carry BECKER for me to just take a look.
Could anyone give me some insight about the differences?
Thank you so much in advance!
dhuffman
offlineMember
The Becker book is more like a 10,000 foot view of the topics, meant to go along with their passmaster software lectures and MCQs. Wiley is more like a 10 foot view of the topics, could be used as a stand alone MCQs or used with the Yaeger lectures. The detail in the Wiley book tends to be much clearer in the MCQ explinations than the Becker MCQs. The Wiley text however takes some time to read as it is very detailed.
Jeff - another71.com
offlineadmin
Both of the books license their questions from the AICPA.
whitesoxfancpa
offlineMember
Wiley goes into a lot more detail than Becker. For some this could be desirable, but I felt that Becker was more than enough. I did not want to spend a ton of time reading and I found that Becker was more concise than Wiley. Wiley's books have a ton of text and probably cover more topics than Becker.
If you're fresh out of school and feel comfortable that the topics will come back to you fairly easily, Becker may be the way to go.
If it's been a while or you don't feel comfortable with the topics and feel you wouldn't recall most of them, then maybe Wiley is for you.
cathyzq
offlineMember
I will recommend Wiley Textbook with Yaeger Program. Today my friend, using becker, checked one MC with me from Becker Software since she could not understand the explaniation of solution. Actually when I read the problem, which is pretty simple and only sorta of theory problem-not as explained by Becker so complicated and confusing-I dont know why Becker use numbers to explain a theory problem-totally misleading the problem, I suggested her at least buy another textbook as supplement for basic concept,e.g. gleim. I dont know how people pass the CPA exam by becker, but by my observation, the person, using becker to pass exam, are the students already mastered accounting knowledge very well. Two of my friends, passed the CPA in the first attempt by Becker, are really most outstanding students in our program.
dwadecpa
offlineMember
I'm a fan of Becker. I passed FAR/BEC/AUD with Becker. I took REG with Becker the first time (did not study correctly though - was nearing the end of end of my NTS and listened to lectures for the first and only time in the car while driving from my laptop), and obviously bombed it. Tried the Yaeger/Wiley route next, but felt so scatter-brained by the time the exam came around. Bombed again (somewhat surprised). Settled down, and used 85% Becker and 15% Yaeger for the last round, and finally passed.
I feel that Becker is much more organized than the Wiley book, which really helped me. They also break up the text into more sections than Wiley. The Wiley book is simply overwhelming for me - huge paragraphs in small font on newspaper-type pages (there are very few true headers - everything is separated into Microsoft Word type outlines, with the different levels you know)? Certain keywords are bolded, and I guess those serve as headings). When I want to go look for a particular topic or rule in the Wiley book, I find it near impossible. (I have to usually check the Index, which I don't think I should need to do for a book I spend so much time with). I actually just went through my Wiley book just now to write this response, and I can't imagine trying to learn from this book alone and keep track of all the topics. Becker is in outline format already, so I can walk through each chapter, see the heading and look up from my book and try to recite the rules to myself. There are 2-4 headings on each page pretty much, so it's much easier to manage.
But Yaeger/Wiley has definitely advantages too. Phil Yaeger explains things pretty well, and he walks you through examples on the board. So if you are a visual type learner, then it should be good for you. He also keys in on certain MCQ for you to do for homework, so you have that database of hand-picked questions too. Overall, the Wiley book is more detailed than the Becker book (I found that they share mostly the same rules when explaining something, but Wiley will add a few extra rules or examples for each topic).
I think using both study programs at once was a strong advantage, because there were some topics I didn't feel Becker explained very well or at all (estate, gift taxes) that I read the Wiley book to understand. Also, having two banks of multiple choice was helpful also. But I think these advantages apply to using any two programs concurrently, not just Becker-Wiley specific.
Overall, I learned the best by doing multiple choice questions over and over, highlighting the ones I get wrong, looking up the topic in the text, and doing those 3x more each after I've re-learned the topic. I'm confident that no matter which review program(s) you choose, as long as you put in the time and practice, you will pass.
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