[mike_terror]

I’ve been searching around and trying to read as much as I can on the UWorld Roger CPA Review and what people think about it. I’d figured that I’d see if any new CPA candidates can chime in with their current or past experience with the Roger CPA review course.

To give some background for myself, I have failed FAR in the past with the Yaeger course. I originally went with Yaeger because of the good reviews and how it has a traditional teaching method to it. However, Yaeger videos were EXTREMELY boring to me (especially Phil) and made me want to toss my laptop out the window. I have a really short attention span and just could not stay focused. I’d often catch myself pausing their video every few minutes and browsing the web for 15 minutes back and forth. Or sometimes I’d just zone out and cant stay focused with their lectures. As hard as I try, I don’t think Yaeger is for me.

Also with Yaeger, I felt very unorganized without a good system because of all the extra handouts that were used to go along with the lecture videos, and connecting it with the content in the Wiley Book, referencing back and forth along with my own written notes, and also with their sheet of updated changes / errors.

With that said, do you guys think the Roger Review Course will be a good fit for me? I’ve viewed the demo videos and they do seem very engaging with a lot of energy which will prevent me from falling asleep or zoning out. Can anyone who has used the Roger review course chime in on their experience? Did you use his course for all 4 testing sections? Are his material sufficient and engaging enough to help pass the CPA exam along with the wiley test bank?

Most importantly, what is the SYSTEM that is used for his course? Do you watch the video lectures, then read his self-written book, then do the MCQ HW questions? Another member here on the forum named “LongJourney” said “(Roger can be difficult to use if you need a highly systematic studying schedule)”. If you read this LongJourney, please chime in and elaborate on what you meant by that!! I think I’m the type who needs a systematic studying schedule.

P.S I have purchased the Ninja Notes for FAR and although it isn’t as detailed as I’d like it to be (I understand that this was totally intended to be an outline), I think it will supplement my new re-studying schedule, but I am thinking of possibly jumping to Roger from Yaeger.

[LongJourney]

@mike_terror

It seems I need to clarify more on “Roger can be difficult to use if you need a highly systematic studying schedule”. I tried at the beginning to follow Roger's study planner but it didn't work out for me due to the discrepancies between lectures and Wiley's questions (Roger doesn't follow Wiley's sequence, some questions are covered earlier, some later. Some obscure topics aren't covered at all). I couldn't handle the disappointment of trying to solve questions immediately after a lecture and feeling completely clueless (to be fair, the course warns you about this) so I decided to view all the lectures first and review later. This basically means that you need to develop your own study schedule instead of relying completely on the study planner.

I still recommend Roger with flying colors. I'm kind of a short attention span person myself so I really liked how Roger would throw in a joke every once in a while to keep my attention. I wanted to finish from the CPA exams as soon as possible without killing myself out of boredom and with the minimum study time. I studied for all four parts in less than two months and took all exams in ten days period and passed.

REG: 80 (02/02/2012)
FAR: 91 (02/06/2012)
AUD: 89 (02/09/2012)
BEC: 79 (02/12/2012)

Ethics: 90 (02/11/2012)

[surfer4life949]

So far, Roger has been great to me. I don't know if I passed my first section yet, we'll see next tuesday. BUT I can say that although it might not be as streamlined of a structure as Roger, it still has a good study structure to it.

I agree with Longjourney above. At first I would try and do the sections in the Wiley Test bank that Roger recommends but the structure for Wiley has changed so you will get different questions you may not have seen yet.

Here's what I did: Watched the Roger lecture once along in my book (he's very engaging as you might already know). Then I'd go back through the section and type up some notes in my own language (I like to separate out paragraphs more, simplify terms etc. even though my final review notes were 100 + pages long). Then, I would do the assigned homework out of the Wiley/Roger homework book since these correlate almost exactly to the material in the section you have just gone over. Then for my final review, I just banged out 800+ Wiley test Bank questions. I would do 100 at a time with all the sections included, then take a long break. Each next session I would select “questions not yet seen” so I wouldn't be memorizing questions I've already seen.

Hopefully this helps. Not quite as structured as Becker's program, but it still works out just fine. Roger's notes are pretty awesome too.

B-85 OCT 2012
A-84 NOV 2012
R-90 JAN 2013
F-89 AUG 2012
Ethics-92 (3rd try)

I am DONE BABY!!!
Used Roger 2012 + Wiley + NINJA Notes

[mike_terror]

@longjourney & surfer4life949

Thank you both for your input as it really helps with my decision on going with Roger. Right now I'm definitely interested.

Can you guys go over on what the “Roger Study Planner” is? Does he recommend watching his lecture, then go do the assigned Wiley Questions, then read his self-written book? I'd like to get an idea of what is his recommended step by step structure / system. Does he also recommend reading the Wiley book in addition to his own book?

Regarding the Wiley Test Bank that is included with the Roger Review Course, will this be an online test bank access that is constantly being updated like what Jeff is offering or a CD offline copy of the test bank. Would you guys recommend the USB course or Online Course? Since it is already heading towards the last quarter of 2012, if I purchase the full 4 part course, I wonder if I can get 2 parts now, and 2 parts in 2013 so I have the most up to date material.

[LongJourney]

Roger basically recommends watching the lecture, study the corresponding text from his book, then solve questions from Wiley. Even though the Wiley textbooks are with the course, Roger doesn't recommend reading the actual text (use them only for practice questions). I was kinda skeptical about this approach since I felt that he didn't cover all of Wiley's materials but it turned out that this approach actually works!

I believe that you will get both the CD and the online version of Wiley. I do recommend the online course since you'll get updated videos for a whole year and there are some nice updates on the online interface that were implemented recently. It doesn't seem that the CPA exam materials will change that much next year so you should be OK (you'll get free PDF updates in all cases).

REG: 80 (02/02/2012)
FAR: 91 (02/06/2012)
AUD: 89 (02/09/2012)
BEC: 79 (02/12/2012)

Ethics: 90 (02/11/2012)

[mike_terror]

@LongJourney , thanks for your response. Everything is making much much more sense now.

So it sounds like your approach was simliar Jeff's Ninja method which is to watch and complete ALL the lecture videos first, then go back and review Roger's self-written book, then start hammering out the Wiley MCQs correct?

[LongJourney]

It was something like that though I experimented with multiple approaches till I found the one that suits me the most. Truth to be told, I should have practiced as many questions as I should (tight schedule, bad personal circumstances, short attention span, and laziness) and if I had to do it again I would have used Jeff's Ninja approach from the start.

REG: 80 (02/02/2012)
FAR: 91 (02/06/2012)
AUD: 89 (02/09/2012)
BEC: 79 (02/12/2012)

Ethics: 90 (02/11/2012)

[mike_terror]

How humble of you LongJourney, you were lazy and had a short attention span, but yet when I look at your signature of scores and test dates, it makes me wish I was you!

I wish this was like the Matrix where I could just download new skills into my brain and sit for the exam….

[Sandra]

Roger is awesome. He can sneeze with his eyes open (cool) but doesn't cover his mouth when he sneezes (gross even on video). His teaching is great. I still get distracted by shiny things when I watch lectures but much less so.

I passed FAR, am waiting for REG and actually take AUD in 3 hours. I really like his approach and so far I have not been surprised by anything on the tests. He gives simplified explanations on things that help me “get things”. Fpr me it was between Roger and Yaeger and watching the Yaeger sample lectures made me want to forget about being a CPA right then and there.

[jeff]

Free Stuff to supplement with: https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-study-plan/

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

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

[mike_terror]

Thanks Jeff, I looked more into Roger's terms & policy and it looks like there's a $100 refundable deposit for going with the USB course. I think I'll follow everyone else's advice and go with the Online Course since there will be updates on the video and material along the year.

@ LongJourney, Sandra, and surfer4life949

Did you guys feel confident in Roger's course prepping you guys well enough with knowing the material when tackling the practice MCQs on the Wiley Test Bank? and during the actual CPA exam?

[Sandra]

I have now taken FAR (passed), REG and literally just got home from AUD. As with the other two tests I really feel like the review did a GREAT job covering all the material. Once again all my sims were things I had seen. There are always a few questions in the MCQs section that are weird, but nothing super left field.

I was under prepared for REG because I got lazy, but really think Roger did a great job with that too. My background is more with the FAR and BEC stuff so I had to learn REG and AUD from scratch. Really felt like things came together pretty quickly with the way things were explained.

Rogers books are AWESOME I think. I also have the Becker books and they realyl aren't my cup of tea.

For FAR the Wiley test bank wasn't as helpful to me, and I didn't do a lot of the questions for REG, but for AUD the Wiley questions will really help you. None of audit is really hard, but the questions can be tricky. Doing all the Wiley questions certainly helped with that.

[LongJourney]

The short answer is Yes. Roger's course enabled me to solve Wiley's MCQs (except for some minor topics) with initial average scores. The actual exams went smoother than I expected, the only exception for me were REG tax simulations. In terms of the course strength I would say that Roger is best at AUD then FAR. REG was mostly OK especially the business law portion but I did suffer a little bit with the taxation simulations. BEC isn't Roger's strongest point but I do believe that the course is more than enough to pass.

REG: 80 (02/02/2012)
FAR: 91 (02/06/2012)
AUD: 89 (02/09/2012)
BEC: 79 (02/12/2012)

Ethics: 90 (02/11/2012)

[sgboy22]

I'm using Roger CPA right now, I'm planning to take it on April. Any suggestions on how to do well on FAR? Does the homework suggestions from Roger enough to pass? Or should I focus more on the Wiley Test Bank? I'm really nervous and anxious!

[RonBurgundy]

So far I have passed FAR and BEC (waiting for REG tomorrow) using Roger CPA Review, and I thought I would share my method of studying, which has proven successful so far.

1. Watch each lecture and highlight in the book.
2. After each lecture, do the corresponding multiple choice questions.
3. After going through all the material once, take the first practice exam.
4. After completing the first practice exam, go back and read each section and do all the simulations.
5. After that, do all and as many Wiley questions as possible and the questions in the back of Roger's books from previous exams.
6. On the day before the exam, do the practice test in back of the Wiley book and take a final practice test using the software.
7. Stop studying around 7 or 8 pm and enjoy your night.
8. Do not cram for anything in the morning, it won't help. It will only stress you out.
9. Knock it out.

Also, don't follow Roger's study schedule to the “T” because it will only give you 1 or 2 days to review. Make sure you give yourself at least 1 week for review. I hope this helps.

~ You Stay Classy, San Diego

~ You Stay Classy, San Diego

FAR - 77
BEC - 82
REG - 81
AUD - 84

[Author]

Replies