[sar_rah]

And I have no idea how to feel.

I felt great about the MCQ’s. Then the SIMS happened. The first one I got was on the ONE topic I dreaded to see most and really didn’t understand 🙁 I wouldn’t be surprised if I got 100% of that wrong. Then I had one that was literally EXACTLY the same as a SIM from Becker. Word for word. Which I thought was odd, but was happy about, so as long as that one actually counts, I should get full credit there. Then I got 2 research questions, neither which I could find. So I’m hoping one of those are a pretest. Then one SIM I MAYBE got 1/2 right on. And the other I have no idea again. Ugh.

So frustrating. I definitely didn’t get lucky with the sims this time around. I was so lost. I got lucky with my weak areas not showing up in the MCQs, but then they came back to bite me in the SIMS.

I’m feeling a fail for this one 🙁

AUD: 98
REG: 91
BEC: 86
FAR: 83

DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!

[sar_rah]

In my experience, the adjusting journal entries were simple. Be VERY SURE to practice the ones in Becker. I believe Becker offers practice on those in B4 and maybe some in B6 as extra review? Know both kinds that Becker has. They have ones where you make simple basic adjustments, and then ones where it tells you the adjustment, and you have to know BOTH the journal entry AND how that journal entry would affect your basic formulas whether they would increase/decrease/no change. Study these up in Becker and you should be good for any kind of adjustment they want to throw at you. One of of my real SIMS I was able to use the AL for a few boxes, but overall it wasn't very helpful. You'll be able to tell by the sims you get, which is luck of the draw. Obviously if you get one about filling in a letter you're golden…vs. assertions, not so much.

My review was about 12 days. Started each day with a 30 question progress test, reviewed each chapter for 1 day, rereading/skimming and redoing HW that I marked and SIMS. Then ended with a 50 progress test on that one chapter followed by a 30 questions progress test on ALL chapters. After I've reviewed, I take a practice test, then review that and the topics i was weak on for a day or 2. Then another practice test and review that. The day before I do all high level review and the things that I noted to myself to review last minute. Thats pretty much how I've reviewed for all 3 exams, and passed all 3. Just my audit results were crazy higher!

Audit: 98
BEC: 86
FAR: 83

Keep pushing!

AUD: 98
REG: 91
BEC: 86
FAR: 83

DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!

[red_rose]

@spartans92: all the websites i know are talked about in the book. What i did was add them to my favs and went to the website everyday for about 2 months. That way when test time came i may not know exactly where to go, but at least i had an idea of how to navigate/topics covered. What ppl are talking about are different topics. Im too scared to give an example bc idk whats on all the exams. But say you have a SIM on a topic that you dont know. They give you answers to choose from. Well you can try to go through the AL and find the answers or some guidance on it to help you answer. I hate that i didnt do that on 1 of my sims, but I was just ready to be done. It def would have helped me. good luck to you. Let us know your experience when you finish the exam 🙂

@cb_6185 awesome scores! I need guidance from you on passing REG. Hopefully i wont have to re-take audit. We'll see. Congrats 🙂 when you takin REG?

BEC: 77
FAR: 64, 75
AUD: waiting results 2/23
REG: TBD

[Jdn9201]

I took AUD back in January and it was definitely the hardest exam out of the 3 I've taken. I wasn't able to use the AL as much as I would have hoped, but that could have been because I didn't spend enough time using it while studying. The AL did bail me out on one non-research SIM where I was completely lost. I thought I nailed the research, but the SIMs can be tricky because of how they are worded. That messed with my mind afterwards because I was hoping I had picked up on all of the important information in the question and interpreted it correctly. The MCQ's got progressively harder, but I thought were manageable. I made sure to read each question twice before selecting an answer because I don't like flagging questions. Overall, my impression was I either did really good or really bad, and wound up performing in the middle. 🙂 Good luck to those taking tests soon!

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Spartans92]

Wow thanks for the responses guys! Cb_6185 awesome score you got there! I hope I can just pass this exam and boost my confidence. I know the anxiety is already kicking in. I guess I will have to pick up the Ninja notes/Mcq for Far next. I will post my experience next Monday. 🙂

BEC- PASS

[CPA2BEE]

For those who are worried about difficulty of the Audit SIMS – getting difficult SIMS can actually be a great thing for you. If you read the AICPA literature “How the CPA Exam is Scored” it will explain how the questions of the exam are graded based off Item Response Theory. Basically what it means is that questions are labeled as either “medium” or “difficult” based on how candidates historically performed in answering the question, this applies to both MCQs and SIMS. It also states the following: “Please note that the taskbased simulations are not chosen based on your performance on the multiple-choice testlets. They are pre-assigned.” So connecting Item Response Theory with pre-assigned SIMS means that if you get easy/medium SIMS, you are going to have to knock them out of the park in order to compare to those who pass. Where if you get a set of difficult SIMS, there leaves a lot more room error since we are, in fact, being graded against each other.

My exam experiences back this up. First time I took AUD, I was laughing at how easy it was – thought I nailed MCQs and SIMS. Got a 71. This last AUD exam, the SIMS blew me away and I 100% guessed on 4 of them. I passed and the SIMS were the only area where I had “Stronger” in the score report and had “Weaker” and “Comparable” under the MCQs. I also had brutal SIMS the time I passed FAR.

So the message I want to send is that if you get some tough SIMS on your exam, don't get scared but be grateful. Still focus and give it hell, but know that you don't have to be perfect.

FAR - 80
AUD - 82
BEC - 80
REG - 85

ETHICS - 90
EXPERIENCE - COMPLETE
Application for California license mailed 8/4/2016

[sar_rah]

@red_rose I'm planning to take REG April or May. I haven't scheduled it and just stared. I'll see how much I can get done. I studied FAR over summer so was able to knock it out in 7 weeks, and did most of audit over winter break in 3.5 weeks. BEC I did during the semester and it took me 2.5 months…and REG looks a lot harder/longer so I have no idea how long this beast will take :'(

AUD: 98
REG: 91
BEC: 86
FAR: 83

DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!

[red_rose]

@cb_6185: thats awesome! i've taken a year & just finished my 3rd exam. I hope I pass AUD so REG will be the last exam. I just started studying for REG too. Its going to be difficult, but they key is nailing topics & having the confidence.(aaaand a little bit of luck lol) Sounds like you have a great study plan 🙂 I'll be right there with you in either April or May. Good luck to you!

[sar_rah]

Yup just scheduled it for mid may….Friday the 13th!

AUD: 98
REG: 91
BEC: 86
FAR: 83

DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!

[Progress]

cb_6185 did you end up passing AUD?

I just got out of AUD and had similar experience. MC was doable but Sims were unbelievable. I used becker and becker final review and felt unprepared for the sims. I also got two research questions which were crazy hard but I believe and I got it correct. I had 2.5 hours for the sims and I used almost half for research. One sim was so confusing I didnt even know what they were asking and just used my best judgement.

This is my last exam and just really want to be done! fingers crossed but I have little hope about this one.

[Spartans92]

Hope it went well for you Progress. I too took audit today! Boy, the Sims for me was awful! The MCQ were doable as you said. Did you by chance see an increase in difficulty. I kept on getting single sentence questions like a lot on my testlets. I was hoping for wordier questions but I didn't see any and that was very discouraging. Got to the SIMS and did not know what was going on. So many FAR based Tabs, at least 4 on mine and that was my weakness. Keeping my hopes up tho! Good luck to you! Guess I will have to order supplement for FAR next.

BEC- PASS

[Jordanlovefood]

I thought the exact opposite. I don't know how the hell I did in MCQ because the answers did not get more wordy. I also did a lot of narrow to 2 choices throughout the test.

The Audit Simulations were great. 3 of them can be looked up in the authoritative literature. There was only one research question for me.

Either I got above a 90, or I failed with a score in the 20's.

[CPANOVICE]

@jordanlovefood what do you mean you can look up the sims on AL? I am really bad with the research questions.

FAR:TBD
REG:TBD
AUD:TBD
BEC:TBD

I am using Becker self study, ninja blitz and Wiley (I am using the paperback version of the testbank)

Brief overview of study method:
1. Skim through chapter quickly
2. Watch lecture videos
3. Take a lot of notes on what the lecturers emphasize
4. Complete half HW after lectures half after rewriting notes

[Author]

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