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Hey guys! I recently completed classes for all four sections of Becker FastPass and decided to share my experience with you. I’ll go about this just by walking through my summer in chronological order and adding some advice as I go. I’m assuming you are definitely going to sit for the exams and that you have some basic understanding of FastPass. I hope you find it helpful!
Deciding on FastPass
First, around the time of my graduation and while I was working with my state board to be found eligible, I had to decide which review course to do. I ultimately decided to do FastPass because I didn’t want to study and/or take the tests while working or still in school, I learn better in a classroom setting, I like to be able to ask questions, I get CPE credit (104 hours in total for all four classes), I had the entire summer off and I believed that using Becker would be a better guarantee of getting a passing score. Also, with FastPass you get access to the exact same online course, but you additionally get to go to live classes. I highly recommend doing FastPass if you have at least three months between graduation and your start date (I graduated in May and I start work in September) and you aren’t doing anything else (I truly don’t think you can work and do FastPass at the same time). Keep in mind that FastPass is really only offered in big cities, so that alone may rule out FastPass entirely for you. I also chose to take all four classes at the same location and back-to-back, but each class is independent and you can choose to take only one class. I decided to start with the hardest test, so I picked classes in this order: FAR, AUD, REG, BEC.
Paying for FastPass
After I decided to do FastPass, I had to figure out how to pay for it. Big 4 firms will pay for it directly, but I’m going to a very small firm that will only reimburse me once I pass all four sections. I ultimately decided to take advantage of Becker’s 0% financing option (which includes a $125 “lending fee” – 0% financing my ass). I placed my order over the phone and the person helping me was very knowledgeable and helpful. My grand total came out to be $3,534.35 and my fixed monthly payments are $196.35 (through ECSI), which I set up to automatically withdraw from my bank account every 15th. Once my employer reimburses me for the total amount, I will pay off the remainder of the loan. I confirmed with Becker that there is no penalty for early repayment.
Before Class Starts
Once paid for, Becker shipped my books and I wrapped up my application process with the state board. I had about two weeks off between graduation and my first day of FAR class, so I relaxed and didn’t even open my books. I totally recommend taking off any time that you can because you will be incredibly busy studying later. During that down time I received emails from the “class coordinator” regarding the schedule, what to bring to class and an offer to be the TA. The TA either gets monetary compensation or free flashcards, but you have to be at class 30 minutes early and help the professor set up the classroom. It’s super easy, but the benefits didn’t exceed the costs for me.
First Class: FAR & General Overview of Class
After that short break, my first FAR class started on a Monday with “F1.” I was told to bring highlighters, a pen, a notebook and, most importantly, my FAR textbook. You absolutely need your textbook, a pen and highlighters. You do not need a notebook. Class started at 8am and ended at 12pm every day, Monday-Thursday (no Fridays or weekends) for two weeks (FAR is the longest course). Class was a lecture-style; there were about 10 of us in the classroom and the professor sat up at podium with a projector. The projector showed the virtual textbook (identical to your physical textbook) and the professor read through the textbook, indicating where we should highlight and notes we should make to ourselves in the margins. This was really not the way I was expecting to be taught and I thought there would be no way I would learn like this, but this method is actually very efficient. This is the exact same method used in the videos that most people watch on their own, but in a live classroom you can 1) ask questions and 2) not get bored and just pause it or turn it off. We also had small devices that allowed us to answer class questions together and the professor then showed us a breakdown of how well we all did. This was great because if it was obvious we had all missed a concept, he could go back and review it. Also, I should note that I only had one professor for all of FAR, but I think typically you should expect to have several professors for one section. Overall, class was extremely fast paced, but if you force yourself to pay attention and don’t let your mind wander / don’t check your phone, time will fly and you will actually learn a lot. As previously mentioned, class was 4 hours long, but we also got a 10-minute break around hour 2. And, depending on your professor, you may get out early.
Every day after class I would go home, eat lunch and then literally study until I went to sleep. I experimented with many different study locations, but ultimately found that studying at home was the best place for me (and it might or might not be for you). I recommend picking a study spot and sticking with it. My daily studying exclusively meant doing the homework. I would do the multiple choice questions (which are mostly computational, so I recommend having a ton of scrap paper for FAR’s homework) and I kept a notebook and wrote down an explanation for why I got a question wrong for every question that I got wrong. Writing it down really helped me remember it. Also, every day of class correlates to a chapter of the book and a section of homework; for example, my first FAR class was called “F1,” and we went through the entirety of the F1 chapter in the textbook in class, then I went home and did multiple choice questions and simulations for F1. It is literally impossible to go to class and complete the homework for that section (homework should typically take you 13-15 hours per chapter). So obviously you get pretty behind. I recommend doing as much homework as you possibly can the same day you learn the material. However, the next day (e.g. when you go to F2 class), don’t try to go home and catch up on F1’s homework – you need to do F2’s homework the day you learn it. Once all your classes for that section are over, start working backwards to catch up on any homework you haven’t done. Catching up on homework is incredibly time-consuming, so plan your tests accordingly (I’ll discuss that in the next paragraph). To conclude my discussion about FAR, there were 9 live classes (F1-F9) and 1 online class (F10). FastPass never offers the last chapter of any section live; you must watch it on your own, which takes about 4 hours. I do not recommend skipping the final section because it usually includes tons of little concepts that could mean the difference between a 75 and a 74.
Scheduling Exams
While I was still in FAR classes, I received my NTS. I recommend scheduling your tests as soon as you get your NTS because the good time slots and testing locations fill up very quickly. I decided to overlap my classes and my tests, which I believe is the best way to tackle it when you only have 3 months to do all four sections. There were people in my classes who did NOT overlap and instead chose to give themselves no review time, which may work for some people, but would not have worked for me. Let me explain what I mean by “overlap.” You’ll first need to understand how close together these classes are:
FAR: June 6 – June 20 (exam: July 2)
AUD: July 5 – July 12 (exam: July 28)
REG: July 18 – July 27 (exam: August 16)
BEC: August 1 – August 8 (exam: August 22)As you can see, I had quite a bit of time between FAR and AUD, but only a long weekend between AUD and REG and literally only a weekend between REG and BEC. I was able to schedule my FAR exam for July 2, which gave me about two weeks to catch up on homework (again, this takes FOREVER) and review (which really only consisted of taking the 2 practice finals). So here’s where I get into the idea of “overlap.” My first REG classes started July 18, six days after I finished my last live AUD class on July 12 (remember that you still have another day of class to watch on your own time after the last live class). Some people in my AUD class chose to take the AUD exam between July 13 – July 17, so that they would be 100% done with AUD by the time they started REG. I didn’t think 6 days of review would be enough for me, so I scheduled my AUD exam for July 28, the day after my last day of live REG class. This gave me the 6 days between AUD and REG to catch up on AUD homework, then between July 18 and July 27 I went to REG class in the morning then studied both REG and AUD at night. The two days before my AUD exam (July 26 and 27) I did not do any REG homework and focused solely on AUD. To be honest with you, I’m not sure I devoted enough time to REG. If I had to do it over, I would try to push my AUD exam to July 29 or 30th, just to give myself one or two days to breathe, but that was not an option available to me because it is really hard to schedule the appointments you want with Prometric. Anyways, I then overlapped my studying for REG with BEC classes; I scheduled my REG exam for August 16, so I went to BEC classes August 1-8 and studied both BEC and REG up until August 16, again giving myself two or so days before the REG exam to only study REG. I then had about a week to study only BEC because I scheduled my BEC exam for August 22. In hindsight, I may have scheduled REG and BEC too close together, but BEC is a relatively easy exam that draws on a lot of concepts learned in other sections, so ultimately I think it was okay. Also, I managed to keep all this straight by printing out a 3-month calendar (June, July, August) and marking each class and each exam. On top of that, during really busy periods of overlap, I would make myself a daily schedule using Google Sheets. So, to wrap that discussion up, schedule your exams keeping in mind that you WILL be behind on the homework, you need to review and you actually have one more class than the schedule says you have.
The Remaining 3 Sections of Classes & Advice
After I scheduled my exams, I finished my FAR classes and moved on to AUD. AUD has 5 live sections (A1-A5) and 1 online section (A6). Again, like FAR, class was only Monday-Thursday (no Fridays or weekends); this is true for all sections. AUD is mostly concepts and memorization, so I found the homework less time-consuming, but way more boring than FAR. Also, for AUD I had two new professors. I should tell you that the professors are actually phenomenal. Becker is owned by Devry, so I truly did not expect these people to actually know what they were talking about, but they were actually all very knowledgeable. My professors were all older retired men who had work experience in the subjects they were teaching us and clearly knew their stuff. However, if you don’t like a professor you can review them and/or talk to your classroom coordinator.
Next, I took the REG classes (R1-R7, plus R8 on your own). The professor I had for FAR came back and taught us the tax material and then a fourth professor taught us the business law stuff. By the way, I made the mistake of thinking that REG was basically only tax, but it truly is “regulation,” meaning you will learn about a ton of legal issues and other weird stuff like commercial paper. Like I mentioned above, I did not devote enough time to REG – partially because I was studying for AUD at the same time, but also because I thought it would be easy. For REG, you need to thoroughly understand a lot of tricky concepts. Unfortunately, I just had a general idea of most of these concepts and was unable to replicate actual computations on the exam. Do not underestimate REG!
Finally, I took the BEC classes (B1-B5, plus B6 on your own). I only had one professor for this section and it was probably the most boring class out of all four of them. However, I’m glad I took it at the end because I had already seen a fair amount of the material in other sections. For BEC I brought blank notecards to class and wrote down formulas as the professor was going through the book. I also noted the corresponding page number (e.g. B2-35) in the bottom corner so that 1) if I didn’t have enough time to write on both sides I could go back to page 35 and finish it on my own time and 2) so that if I didn’t understand it I could go back to page 35 and easily refresh my memory. I really slacked off on the BEC homework (because I was studying for REG at the same time and because it was so boring), but I do NOT recommend that. I realized that doing the homework on the same day you learn the material is hugely important because it helps cement those concepts in your brain. Anyways, I didn’t do much of the BEC homework until after my REG exam (August 16). I worked backward, but ran out of time and was unable to finish the homework for B2 or B1 before the exam. You really should try to do all of the homework because otherwise you won’t qualify for the Becker Promise. To sum up about BEC: it is boring, but it’s important. It’s mostly equations so the notecard system was incredibly helpful to me; I saved a ton of time making them in class and I brought them with me everywhere so I could study whenever I had downtime. I do recommend doing it last because 1) if you take it first and you pass, you only have 18 months to pass the other 3 and BEC is a lot easier than the other sections and 2) it is a good culmination of concepts from other sections.
Also, a quick word about how absolutely time-consuming FastPass is. You will basically have no free time, especially during FAR. I had one weekend this summer that I didn’t have to study (between FAR and AUD classes), but that was it. Once I spent 48 consecutive hours in my apartment, just studying. I got so burned out towards the end that I started slacking and going out even though I shouldn’t have, solely because I was beginning to lose my mind. There is a really fine line between doing fun stuff to keep yourself sane and slacking off and that line is going to be different for every person. Definitely do take some time for yourself, but know that you have to be really dedicated to get through four consecutive FastPass sections in a three-month timeframe.
The End
In conclusion, FastPass was the best choice for me and hopefully, after you’ve read this, you’ll have a better idea of whether or not it is a good choice for you. The work is absolutely grueling, but once you pass the CPA exams at least you never have to take them again. Feel free to ask me any additional questions that you might have and I’ll do my best to answer them!
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