Wiley CPA Review – 3 Pros and Cons
Wiley CPA Review Series is one of the most popular CPA exam preparation materials out there: The Wiley CPA exam prep books are readily available in major bookstores around the country, as well as online.
But the most important question for you is: Is Wiley CPA Review good enough for you to pass the CPA Exam? What are the considerations when choosing Wiley vs Becker and other competitors? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this program.
Pros
1. Very Impressive Software. Officially known as the Wiley CPA Exam review test Bank CD, this practice test preparation in CD format is a must for every CPA candidate.
First of all, the format is convenient to use and highly organized: 2,000 multiple choices and simulations are included in the “test bank”, together with guidelines, pointers and tips on how to build knowledge in a local and reinforcing way. Interesting features include:
* The “study mode” that you can structure and monitor your practice study based on your own objectives.
* Diagnostic feature that helps you self-evaluate and find out your own strongest and weakest areas.
* Question status (e.g. “not seen before”, “answered incorrectly”) is marked for every question so you know how and where you should concentrate your efforts.
2. It’s Cheap! The Wiley textbook and/or software is the most affordable you can ever find for your CPA exam preparation. The Wiley CPA exam classic guide, which gives you a detailed outline, study guidelines, questions and answers, costs $45-55 for each section. The wonderful Wiley practice test prep CD costs $79 for each section — dirt cheap in the world of CPA exam review courses and guides.
3. Materials Most Up-To-Date. Since Wiley does not hold any CPA exam review courses (neither live classes nor guided review on DVD), the publisher is able to focus all its energy in researching and updating its book and CDs on a very frequent basis. Also, the sheer volume of text books sold makes annual renewal of materials affordable for Wiley, thus keeping the cost low.
Cons
1. The Book Reads Like A Dictionary. Don’t let the colorful cover fool you — the whole book is in newspaper print! The font is small and the format is not user-friendly, to say the least. For example, the questions straddle between pages and you have to flip back and forth to get the answers, which could get very annoying especially when you don’t have a lot of time each day to study for the exam.
2. The Book Overprepares You. This is another nightmare for CPA candidates. Wiley CPA review does a good job in covering everything, but the problem is that it covers too much. While other CPA review courses do the extra job of sifting through the most important concepts for you, Wiley lets you decide, which could be a very time consuming and discouraging process.
3. No Guidance. It is clear that Wiley is not a guided review, which means that you’ve got to have the discipline to schedule your study time and finish the reading, multiple choices and simulation questions on time.
My Recommendations
If you are the type of person that can lock yourself in a room and crank out practice tests for hours, and that you know the accounting concepts very well, Wiley CPA review is great for you.
Otherwise, you may want to consider the following guided review that uses Wiley books and practice test CDs: Yaeger CPA review is a DVD course that guides you how to get the most out of the Wiley materials. This program has an excellent track record with 88% passing rate for first-time candidates, which means that almost 9 out of 10 students can pass the CPA exam on their first attempt. You can find out the pros and cons of Yaeger CPA review here.
Pick the best CPA review course for you is one of the most important steps to pass your CPA exam. Best of luck to you!
Stephanie shares her experience in planning, studying and passing her CPA exam on her first attempt at IPassTheCPAExam.com.
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