FAR Gleim Supplemental Course (2026): Condensed Lessons for Gleim Students
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA · 2019 CPA Exam Scores · 95 FAR · 98 BEC · 91 REG · 90 AUD
You bought Gleim for FAR, you have been working through it, and the pace is slowing down. The chapters are long, the question bank is enormous, and some topics are not landing no matter how many questions you do on them. That is often a "the concept has not clicked" problem rather than a "not enough practice" problem.
I am not going to tell you to drop Gleim. If you own it, keep it. Gleim has one of the two largest question banks in the category, along with UWorld, and I will say so plainly. What I can offer is short FAR teaching that sits alongside it, for the topics where you need the idea explained a second way.
Quick answer: keep Gleim as your main FAR course for practice and reference, and add short, teaching-first lessons only for the topics where your results show the concept is not landing. That is what a FAR Gleim supplement should do.
On this page
Last updated October 2026. Gleim information is from Gleim's own course, FAR and Mega Test Bank pages as read on October 14, 2026; those pages do not always agree with each other on counts, so I use only the figures that appear consistently. Competitor prices are from Gleim's and NINJA's own pages (NINJA checked on October 10, 2026). Maxwell student figures come from Maxwell CPA Review onboarding surveys as of October 2026.
Who is a FAR Gleim supplement for?
- You already bought Gleim and you are behind on the reading, with your exam date not moving.
- You can finish a quiz and read the explanation, then miss the next question that changes one fact.
- You are working full time and need one topic explained in one evening, not another chapter.
- You are retaking FAR and want specific topics explained a different way, not the whole course again.
My own data points the same direction. Among students who told me how they did, the ones who reported a pass and the ones who reported a fail had answered about the same number of practice questions, roughly 1,300 each. What differed was how much of the lecture content they had watched: 71% for passers against 54% for those who failed. That is a correlation in a self-reported sample, not proof of cause, but it says the answer is rarely more questions.
Keep Gleim if you have it. Gleim's pages describe 12,000-plus multiple-choice questions and 1,200-plus task-based simulations across all sections, SmartAdapt adaptive coursework that quizzes you on weak concepts until you are proficient, and explanations for right and wrong answers on every question. Those are real strengths. A supplement only needs to fix the part that is not working, which is usually the explanation of a handful of hard topics.
How does Maxwell CPA Review work alongside Gleim?
You do not follow two courses in parallel. Gleim stays your practice engine. You use Maxwell CPA Review by topic, when your results show a topic is not clicking.
- Work Gleim as planned. When you keep missing questions on a topic, stop doing more questions on it.
- Watch my lesson on that topic. Every FAR topic is a short lesson you can jump to directly.
- Do its quiz set the same evening. About 30 questions, so you find out right away whether the explanation landed.
- Go back to Gleim for its question bank, mock exams and timed practice on that topic.
Both are built to the same AICPA blueprint, so the topics line up. You are hearing the hard parts a second way, not learning a different exam.
Which FAR topics should Gleim students prioritize?
The AICPA weights FAR by content area: Financial Reporting 30 to 40%, Select Balance Sheet Accounts 30 to 40%, and Select Transactions 25 to 35%. If your Gleim results show weak spots, these are the topics I would fix first, because each one rewards understanding over memorizing:
- Lessee accounting (Select Transactions)
- Revenue recognition (Select Transactions)
- Accounting for income taxes (Select Transactions)
- Statement of cash flows (Financial Reporting)
- Consolidated financial statements (Financial Reporting)
Area weights and topic names are from the AICPA Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 2026. The topic priorities are my own study-priority judgment, not an AICPA classification.
What does the teaching actually look like?
Here is the kind of explanation students tell me they needed, using lessee accounting, a topic where long chapters can bury the one idea that makes the entries make sense.
So, let's say we lease equipment for three years and pay $10,000 at the end of each year. The rate is 8%, and we will assume this is a finance lease. On day one, we do not record the $30,000 of payments. We record what those payments are worth today.
| Day one | Amount |
|---|---|
| Present value of 3 payments of $10,000 at 8% ($10,000 × 2.5771) | 25,771 |
| Debit: Right-of-use asset | 25,771 |
| Credit: Lease liability | 25,771 |
Now year one. The liability is $25,771, so interest for the year is 8% of that, about $2,062. The $10,000 payment covers that interest first, and the rest, $7,938, reduces the liability. The asset is amortized straight line over the three years, about $8,590.
| Year one entries | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Interest expense | 2,062 | |
| Lease liability | 7,938 | |
| Cash | 10,000 | |
| Amortization expense | 8,590 | |
| Right-of-use asset | 8,590 |
The liability ends year one at about $17,833, which is $25,771 less $7,938. That is the whole pattern, and it repeats every year: interest on the opening balance, the payment pays interest first, the rest reduces the liability, and the asset amortizes on its own schedule. Students who memorize "a finance lease has two expenses" get the answer to one kind of question. Students who see why there are two, one for financing the asset and one for using it, can rebuild the entries for any version the exam throws at them.
What is included for FAR?
| Video lectures | 7 hours, in short topic lessons |
|---|---|
| Practice MCQs | 800 |
| Task-based simulations | 36 |
| Textbook and study outline | Both follow the lecture order, chapter by chapter |
| Also | Baseline assessment, final review, mock exam, 10 interactive apps |
For comparison, Gleim's pages describe more than 100 hours of professor-led video lectures across the course, 12,000-plus multiple-choice questions and 1,200-plus task-based simulations across all sections, mock exams and a personal counselor for study planning. Gleim's FAR page does not give separate FAR counts. Gleim has far more material than I do. What I offer is less material, selected and taught.
The course includes all six sections, so if you also use Gleim for AUD or REG, the same approach works there.
What does it cost compared with buying a second full course?
Maxwell CPA Review is $49 a month for all six sections, billed monthly, cancel anytime. You can use it for the weeks you need it and stop when FAR is done.
| Option | Published price | What it adds to Gleim |
|---|---|---|
| What your Gleim course already includes (Traditional, Premium or Premium Pro) | $2,499 to $3,499 list | A full library of reading, video and questions |
| Gleim CPA Mega Test Bank | $999 for all sections, or $250 per section | More questions, which you may not need |
| NINJA Supplement | $67 a month | More questions, notes and audio |
| Maxwell CPA Review | $49 a month, all six sections | Condensed teaching on the topics that are not landing |
Competitor prices are from Gleim's and NINJA's own pages (Gleim read October 14, 2026; NINJA checked October 10, 2026), and they change often, so confirm them before you buy. Gleim runs promotions and student discounts, so list price is not what everyone pays.
If your problem is practice volume, you already have one of the biggest banks. If your problem is that FAR concepts are not clicking even though you keep answering questions, another test bank does not fix that. Teaching does.
Who teaches it?
I do, all of it. I am a CPA who scored 95 on FAR, 98 on BEC, 91 on REG and 90 on AUD in 2019, and I create every lecture, textbook page and study outline in Maxwell CPA Review myself. There is no content team, which is why the course is short: one person decided what the exam rewards and taught that.
If you are comparing the two courses side by side, see Maxwell CPA Review vs Gleim. Using another course? See the FAR Becker supplemental course or the FAR UWorld supplemental course. Retaking FAR? See what to change after a failed section.
Sources: AICPA Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 2026 (area weights and topic names); Gleim CPA review course, FAR section and Mega Test Bank pages (gleim.com/cpa-review), read October 14, 2026; NINJA (ninjacpareview.com/faq) published pricing, checked October 10, 2026; Maxwell CPA Review onboarding surveys, practice data and course specifications, October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Maxwell CPA Review as a supplement to Gleim for FAR?
Yes. Keep Gleim as your main practice course and use Maxwell CPA Review by topic when your results show a topic is not clicking: watch the short lesson, do its quiz set the same evening, then return to Gleim for its question bank and mock exams.
Do I need to cancel Gleim to use Maxwell CPA Review?
No. If you already own Gleim, keep it. Maxwell CPA Review is built to the same AICPA blueprint and works alongside it.
Is Maxwell CPA Review enough on its own for FAR?
Yes. It is a complete course with 7 hours of FAR video lectures, 800 practice questions, 36 simulations, a textbook, an outline, a mock exam and a final review. In my onboarding survey, 30 of 44 students use it as their primary course and 14 use it as a supplement.
My Gleim FAR scores are stuck. Should I do more questions?
Not as the first change. In Maxwell CPA Review's practice data, students who reported a pass and students who reported a fail answered about the same number of questions; the difference was how much of the lecture content they had watched. Fix understanding in the weak topics first, then practice.
What does a FAR Gleim supplement cost?
Maxwell CPA Review is $49 a month for all six sections, billed monthly, cancel anytime.
Try it on the FAR topic you are stuck on
CPA 101 is free: all 25 of the 2026 AICPA released MCQs and a free study outline, with a FAR track. No credit card required.
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA scored 90 or above on every section of the CPA exam in 2019, including a 95 on FAR. He is the founder and sole instructor of Maxwell CPA Review, where he creates every lecture, textbook and study outline himself.
Reach him at MaxwellCPAreview@gmail.com.
Double-click to edit...