Roger vs. Surgent: A CPA review course comparison

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When it comes to choosing a CPA Exam Review course, you want to make sure you’re getting the best course for the value and, more importantly, the best course for you. The best CPA Exam prep courses help you build a study plan individualized to your learning, reducing your study time, increasing your study efficiency, and helping you pass on the first try. In this post, we’ll compare Surgent with Roger CPA Review to help you decide which review course is right for you.

Course expiration and cost

Whether you purchase an individual study course or the Ultimate Pass, Surgent’s courses never expire. The courses are also continuously updated to reflect new exam additions and updates by the AICPA. See Surgent’s pricing below:

Individual Section (BEC, REG, AUD, or FAR) $599

Essentials Pass (includes all four sections) $999

Premier Pass (includes all four sections) $1,599

Ultimate Pass  (includes all four sections) $1,999

Surgent has a money back guarantee if you meet the requirements.

Roger CPA Review’s Elite Course Package features unlimited access, the Premier Course Package has 24 months of access, and the Select Course has 18 months of access. Free updates last for 24 months. See Roger’s pricing below:

Premier Package (includes all four sections) $1,899

Elite Package (includes all four sections) $2,999

You can also purchase individual exam sections through the Select Course Package. Roger CPA Review offers a money-back guarantee, provided students who have used the program meet specific, strict guidelines.

Overview of the technology and exam prep

Below, we’ll cover the essential parts considered in adaptive learning technology, and how well Surgent and Roger stack up in each category.

Assessing your knowledge

One of the key features of adaptive learning technology is its ability to judge how much you already know and compare it to what you need to know in order to pass. The whole idea behind adaptive learning technology is it improves your weaknesses and fortifies your strengths, helping you study less overall. Pre-study assessments must be thorough enough to identify your weaknesses; once you finish them, the results should directly impact what you study and for how long.

Surgent – The A.S.A.P.® Technology features an Assessment Phase consisting of 10 quizzes with a total of 350 questions. These quizzes contain questions pulled from all areas of the exam. You answer these questions using the knowledge you currently have; Surgent then creates a detailed diagnostic report and shows you your ReadySCORE once you finish answering. This baseline ReadySCORE™ correlates to what you would get on the exam should you take it that day, giving you an idea of how you stack up against the exam before you even start studying. Your results in the Assessment Phase are directly reflected in your personalized study plans; the algorithm will create an individualized study path for you.

Roger  – The SmartPath Predictive Technology™ does not have a way to assess your knowledge coming into the course.

Study planner

True adaptive learning technologies should include an interactive study planner that takes into account when you can study, for how many hours, and your exam date. The study planner should adapt to how well you’re progressing through the material so you study the correct material and correct amount on each day.

Surgent – The Study Plan is built to close the gaps identified in your Assessment Phase, taking into account when you say you can study, as well as your exam date. The planner is continually updated based on how you’re progressing through the materials.

Roger – A static study plan is introduced at the beginning of the course.

Adaptation throughout the course

Since the point of adaptive learning technology is to optimize the learning path for each student, what a student needs to study should be continually updated as they progress throughout the course. If they excel in one area and are weak in another, the materials should adjust to help them work on weaker areas. This type of adaptation gives CPA candidates a truly individualized experience and has them study the right content at the right time for them. 

Surgent – The real-time algorithm is constantly adapting to the student’s progress, while also considering real CPA Exam content weighting. Unique study recommendations are presented via the Daily Surge, where a student can choose to answer multiple-choice questions (MCQs), watch bite-sized video lectures, review reading materials, or practice simulation questions. A student’s ReadySCORE is also continually updated to reflect any changes in progress. As the ReadySCORE improves throughout the review course, students get an accurate reflection of what their actual exam score would be in real-time.

Roger – The technology is based on targeted recommendations that compare a CPA Exam candidate’s progress and scores with other successful candidates who have passed the exam. Targets that update throughout the course allow students to see how they compare to successful CPA candidates. The technology mines a candidate’s data to see which and how many practice questions they need to be presented with in order to hit pass rate targets, providing a more individualized experience. It is then recommended that candidates watch video lectures or take an Adaptive Smart Quiz. Once a candidate hits target scores, she can move onto the next section.

The problem with creating an “adaptive” program solely based on comparing student performance to other successful candidates, is that those successful candidate personas are based on historical candidate behavior. They cannot prepare new candidates for real-time changes (like CPA Exam changes), since they won’t have enough data to adjust their personas until well after those changes have occurred. Further, persona-based adaptive software isn’t crafted around each user’s unique knowledge, and fails to account for factors like their area of employment, time since graduation, and learning efficiencies.

Final exam review

Before taking the exam, candidates need to make sure they’re prepared for many aspects of the exam, including how to manage their time and how to use exam resources. Below, we’ll look at the final exam review portion of both Surgent and Roger CPA Review courses.

Surgent –  Students may take unlimited practice exams which mimic the real CPA Exam, with both multiple-choice practice questions and simulations. The exams include the same timing and tools as the real CPA Exam so candidates can practice time management and get familiar with the tools presented on the actual exam. Students are also presented with their cumulative ReadySCORE; a score of 80 or more means candidates are likely to sit and pass.

Roger – A cram course is featured with the Elite Course, and there are unlimited practice exams. The CPA Exam simulator and practice exams are meant to get candidates familiar with the real exam. However, Roger doesn’t mention a final review specifically.

Average study hours per section

CPA Exam candidates often lead busy lives, whether they are just out of school or are working full-time. It is therefore essential that candidates choose a course that helps them pass as efficiently as possible. Below are the estimated average number of study hours per part of the CPA Exam for Surgent and Becker CPA Review. Surgent hours reflect actual recorded average times of all students using the course. Since the experience does not change for individual students using the Becker course, hours are estimated based on the amount of time it would take an average student to study all of the materials in the course.

Surgent – 46 hours per part (184 hours of total study time)

Roger – 192 hours per part (769 hours of total study time)

Support outside of the course

Your CPA course’s CPA Review study materials will be your number one tool to prepare for the CPA exam, but sometimes candidates need a little extra boost from a real person to help them pass. Below, we’ll compare the resources offered outside of the CPA Review materials for Surgent and Becker CPA.

Surgent – Both Premier Pass and Ultimate Pass come with three 30-minute 1-on-1 sessions with a CPA Exam prep success coach.

Roger – Candidates have unlimited access to the Homework Help Center. Candidates with the Select Course have read-only access; those with the Premier and Elite courses have full read and post access. The Elite Package also features customer support.

Remember, choosing a CPA Review course is highly individualized. How you study and how long you need to study may be vastly different from another student looking to pass the exam. When choosing study materials, make sure you choose the review course that is individualized to your needs, and you’ll be opening that passing score to your last exam in no time.

If you’ve previously used another CPA Review course, like Roger, you are eligible to save up to $1,000 when you switch to Surgent!

For a more in-depth look at how Surgent CPA Review’s course technology compares to that of other leading CPA Review course providers, check out our Technology Comparison Grid.

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Liz Kolar, CPA, CGMA, has been teaching CPA Review for more than 25 years in the United States, has personally taught more than 2,500 live sessions, and has helped thousands of candidates pass the CPA Exam. She founded Pinnacle CPA Review and co-founded Surgent Kolar CPA Review.

She is a recipient of the ASWA Business Woman of the Year Northeast Region, Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year, and PICPA Outstanding Educator of the Year. Liz began her career in Public Accounting with a Big Four accounting firm auditing financial service clients after graduating from Pace University with an MBA in Public Accounting. Liz’s teaching career spans almost 30 years. She has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Pace University and Seton Hall University, and is currently a professor at Delaware Valley University.