[whitesoxfancpa]

In a better instructor match, who ya got?!

I’m going with Olinto all the way. While both are very intelligent and know their stuff, I think Olinto brings more to the table to help with the exam. Gearty will tell you little things here and there and have you re-write the same thing over and over to drive home a point. It works. It drives home the point. The problem is that it often doesn’t really help me. I’ll remember it, but I’ll never use it to help me with any questions. For example, in REG, I can’t tell you how many times Gearty used the “Non-taxable, None, NBV” thing to refer to an event being non-taxable and having no income if you use the net book value as the basis. He said to remember the three N’s. For whatever reason, I never once actually thought of that or applied that when doing any questions. I really honestly don’t even know the relevance. If you use an item’s NBV as its basis it’s never taxable??? I don’t even know. I never really even thought about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Gearty is a good instructor; just slightly below Olinto.

Both are great and I wouldn’t have passed the two exams I did (and hopefully the third today) without them. Gearty carried me through AUD and I thought he was great. I also thought he was great for REG especially for corporate taxes, where I generally struggled.

But with Olinto, one way or another, I’ll be working the practice questions and for at least one or two, I’ll be struggling with the answer and think back to a little sidenote mentioned. Perhaps Olinto looks at the practice questions and incorporates in what the lecture didn’t cover? Maybe Gearty doesn’t? Who knows?

Both are my best friends and have been since I started the CPA. I will gladly send them both $1.00 if I pass all four on the first try!

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[Joey J]

I am not sure who is better. I liked them both, but for sure, the most funny part of that whole lecture series was in REG when Gearty was talking about qualifications for dependency for individual taxation, and he imitated Olinto saying “Okay Folks, let's get busy FOLKS, we got a lot do to FOLKS, come on FOLKS, let's go FOLKS….now you HAVE to think he's handicapped and would qualify for the deduction, right”. I thought that was a crack-up.

[MPoni123]

LMAO @ whitesoxfancpa. Dime sized piece of something??!! hahaha I would have done the same thing – rewind!

AUD - 84; REG - 90; BEC - 79; FAR - 75; ALL DONE!!

[jeff]

I've never heard anyone say MAC-ers.

MAKE-ers for me.

It's like when I started working for my company – some people said CWIP (KWIP) and C-WIP (SEE-WHIP).

Then the auditors told us we were saying it wrong, so I had to think before I said it so that I wouldn't annoy them 🙂

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[Anonymous]

PUFE

I know there is no real answer to this but Gearty says “poof” and Olinto says “puffy”. I think Olinto likes to throw in his Puff Daddy glory-days-tackle as much as he can.

[whitesoxfancpa]

It's “puffy” for sure. “Poof” is just stupid!

AUD 96 FAR 95 REG 94 BEC 88

[Anonymous]

Peter reminds me of Mario Lopez in Saved by the Bell (I'm dating myself a bit I know).

Overall I liked them both. Peter is more concise in his presentation compared to Tim. I am from the south and found Peter's accent interesting at times. Peter's humor is more general. I liked Tim's humor, but I can see where some might not like it or it would take time to grow on you (like a fungus?).

My wife finally told me every time I started a lecture with Peter she was going to go spend all our money. The “inverse relationship between happiness and likeliness to pass” repetition drove her nuts.

And while we are at it, the obligatory:

and the best for last:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxurvsjFDMg

[magic_8_ball_did_i_pass]

You guys are funny. I think it is where you went to school (north south east west). I went to U of I –champaign urbana and we said MACrs. I personally agree with whitesoxfan that poof sounds silly. Pufe sounds better…kinda like puff the magic dragon …with an e…pufe

IL - BECKER=============> DONE
REG - 80; FAR - 65,79; AUD - 53,78; BEC - 71,68, 75 (used becker and yaeger for 3rd BEC)Ethics 95

I'M GONNA CELEBRATE AND LIVE MY LIFE SAYING AYE OH BABY LETS GO!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I think Olinto is much better, Gearty sometimes just reads the text to you; and Olinto makes you write thousands of little notes and explanations.

[StudyInRI]

I'll agree with those that say both are great instructors, and their different personalities are really useful depending on the section.

Gearty is great with a lot of the calculations, and he goes slow enough where you can keep pace. Sure, he's a bit monotone, but he is at least consistent when it comes to highlighting important information and making notes.

Olinto is great with a lot of the other stuff, but he's too fast and it's easy to get lost. He babbles on and on, and I feel like every lecture he does is too long because he rambles on over useless stuff. His accent is also quite annoying, and doesn't help build much credibility. What he is good for is trying to keep you focused on is the end goal, and building confidence.

If you take Becker courses in-person and they play the DVDs, it's quite a stark contrast with Olinto vs. Gearty… you're generally out much sooner with Gearty. That's a good thing when it's nearing 10PM.

REG - 97
BEC - 82
FAR - 86
AUD - 96 ... DONE!

[Anonymous]

Both are annoying to me but Gearty drives me absolutely nuts when he uses double negatives and saying “brackets” instead parentheses.

[Anonymous]

Gearty's “BAE-BAE” freaks the XXXX out of me. Olinto's equally annoying by wiping his face with dollar bills… I feel like screaming all the time when I watch the Becker videos… but that being said, Becker works for me. =) I can't wait till all is done that I can throw both of them out of my window!

[No2pencil]

I have to say that I'm glad there were two main instructors for Becker. I don't think I could have stood watching one of them for all four lecture series. Olinto cracked me up more, which was a welcome (but very small) relief valve. When he started talking about Gearty wearing pink dresses when relaxing, I bust a gut (that's midwestern slang) — my wife wondered what could be so funny about a CPA lecture.

I do owe these guys. I'll definitely send them the dollar, and maybe a pink dress to Gearty, to add to his collection.

FAR 86, BEC 82, AUD 80, REG 83 Done, thank God - CA

[JPino23]

Olinto is definitely more entertaining to watch, and keeps you engaged but he flies through the material and really dosen't help me retain anything. Gearty is a little more boring but he drives home the key points. The two of them put together is good stuff.

Favorite quote is when Olinto goes off telling a story and ends it with “I know, right now you guys are saying ‘shut up stupid and finish the lecture.'”

REG 94, AUD 87, FAR (10/8), BEC (11/24)

"Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't."

[Sam2k]

They both have their moments. Some of the things that Gearty says are so dumb they're hilarious (BAE BAE, etc.) and some of the things that Olinto says are so politically-incorrect that you can't help but bust a LOL. I will admit, though, that doing REG and BEC back to back, I got tired of constant Olinto. Having them alternate sessions would be refreshing.

FAR - 98; AUD - 94; REG - 95; BEC - Waiting;
Becker Scholarship for Success (I got it free :))

[Anonymous]

I vote for Olinto! There were times when I thought I would pull my hair out if I had to look at/listen to Gearty for one more minute. However, his corniness definitely helped me remember things during the exams. Yes, I was sitting in the Prometric exam center thinking of him saying BAE BAE….

My kids would come in and say “let me know when he comes on the screen” because they wanted to see my instructors and make fun of them (and me!). Oh well, Olinto & Gearty helped me pass all 4 on my first try!

I say MAKE-ers, and I think PUFE sounds better!

[Author]

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