Universal CPA Review is a recently launched CPA review course provider. The company is based in New York and offers a dedicated adaptive learning based test bank product with an attractive price point.
The product is targeted to students looking for a supplemental test bank to sharpen their skills before taking the CPA exam. We take a detailed look at the new test bank product to see if it makes sense for your study plan.
New Text & Video Study Material
Universal recently launched a new enhanced study material package. This new course includes the following:
- Over 40 hours of video based content.
- 1,500 pages of text based study material.
- Step by Step video & audio practice question answer solutions.
- Available for single test sections or as part of a comprehensive bundle for all 4 sections.
For more information, click here to see the study package options.
- See an example of the new audio book problem solving feature.
What Does Universal CPA offer?
Universal offers two primary products: a dedicated test bank and text and video based supplemental study material.
Students have the option of purchasing individual products for each of the 4 CPA exam sections or they can purchase access to all 4 sections of the exam.
Comprehensive Test Bank
The company’s flagship product is the comprehensive test bank product that covers all 4 sections of the exam. This product includes the following features:
- Lifetime access to all 4 sections of the exam including all future test bank updates.
- Over 4,200 multiple choice questions and 200 task based simulations.
- All questions include detailed answer descriptions and are designed based on an adaptive learning platform.
- The test bank is conveniently accessible on your desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- Lifetime access for just $299.
- 40% of the questions are licensed by the AICPA. Newly released AICPA questions and original questions will be added to the test bank on an annual basis.
Individual Test Banks
For students that are already part way through the CPA exam, Universal offers the option of purchasing test bank access to single sections of the CPA exam. The individual courses include the following features:
- Any single test bank product is available for just $99.
- Lifetime access for each product.
- Each course offers over 50 task based simulations and over 1,000 multiple choice questions.
- BEC includes 1,050 questions
- REG includes 1,100 questions
- AUD includes 1,200 questions
- FAR includes 1,250 questions
- Like the main test bank product, each individual course is accessible on your desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- All questions are sorted using adaptive learning software and track your individual progress.
How does it Compare to Other Test Bank Products?
Universal compares very favorably with other supplemental test bank products. We’ve included a quick comparison below:
- Ninja test bank: $67 per month or $804 per year; access includes test bank product & additional study materials.
- Surgent – Required to purchase test bank access as part of a larger course package. Individual sections are $599 each or a combined package starts at $1,899 to $2,999.
- Roger – Required to purchase test bank access as part of a larger course. Individual sections are $595 to $695 and comprehensive course packages range from $1,699 to $2,999.
- Universal: $299 combined product or $99 for individual sections of the exam. The combined product offers 4,200 total questions. Lifetime access is included.
The major benefits of Universal’s test product include lifetime access, the high number of questions, and the highly competitive price point. Universal’s software is quicker and more structured than some of the other platforms as the majority of the competitors products were created through WordPress and are a little bit slower.
Universal’s platform offers a user friendly design that focuses on simple navigation and ease of user access compared to other test banks that are less intuitive.
My Experience Using Universal’s Test Bank
The test bank layout is clean and easy to navigate. Inside the test bank your greeted with a main dashboard that helps keep track of your overall progress in terms of total study time, your average score, and the number of questions you’ve tried as well as the number of questions you’ve correctly answered. You can easily dig down further for detailed results based on the date you answered practice questions. The detailed tracking by date helps you keep track of your own progress and allows you to dig deeper into your results for more precise insight into your strengths and weaknesses by topic area.
Within in the test bank, you have the option of taking practice questions focused on certain topic areas or setting multiple choice tests that broadly cover all topic areas. You have the ability to finely tune your question options within each category. The main options include:
- Number of questions (5, 10, 25, 50, or 100)
- Question type (all, last seen, incorrectly answered, difficult questions)
When you take the task based simulations, you can focus on problem questions or just focus on questions within certain topic areas. The explanations for the task based questions are detailed and provide step by step explanations of the solutions.
The test bank software is also accessible via your mobile or tablet. I found the test bank to be just as user friendly and viewable on a smaller mobile screen. The multiple choice question explanations appear on the bottom of the screen as a small popup on your mobile browser. Explanations for task based simulations appear as a separate tab on your mobile browser.
The explanations for the task based simulations could be a little bit hard for some people to read on a small screen because of the small font size on the phone, but it’s very easy to zoom in closer if you need to read the explanations in larger text.
Do You Need a Supplemental Test Bank?
The single most important thing you can do to prepare for the CPA exam is to regularly practice test questions. This is really the only reliable way to know where you stand with the various topics on the exam. By using a supplemental test bank like Universal, you benefit by accessing a larger universe of test questions for a very reasonable price point.
Some of the larger test prep providers only package their test bank product within larger and more comprehensive study material packages with a much higher price point. It becomes harder to justify the expense of purchasing a supplemental test bank product if you have to spend an additional $500 to $1,000 for a 2nd product that includes extensive videos and text packaged with an extra test bank.
This is where Universal really shines, they are offering a high quality test bank without the extra features you won’t need if you already have a primary CPA review course. Universal provides access to this product at a very low price point that makes it easily affordable for every budget.
Pros
- Comprehensive test bank product at a very affordable price point.
- Lifetime access to the product.
- Clean and simple design allows for easy navigation on all of your devices.
- Website designed to be fully mobile accessible.
- A variety of options to fine tune your practice questions based on topic area, question difficulty, and the number of questions.
Cons
- You need to have an internet connection to access the test bank. However, Universal does have a mobile app that is in development.
- Universal doesn’t currently offer a comprehensive study solution. You most likely need additional study material in combination with the test bank product. We note that Universal is currently in development of a cram course product that will offer more in depth study material to students to address this need.
Final Thoughts
Universal offers a really nice supplemental test bank product at a very attractive price point. The product is an ideal fit for students that already have core study material and are looking for an extra edge to help pass the CPA exam. There is no shortcut to passing the CPA exam. However, students that regularly practice test questions from a wide variety of sources benefit tremendously on test day.
*Be sure to include the Discount code: “INSIDER123” during checkout to receive an instant 20% discount available to our readers.
