[CRYINGINSIDE]

Hi guys,

I’m a week out from my test, wondering if working on SIMs will be beneficial? Or, should I just be actively studying MCQs. Passed FAR just with MCQs practice, but I have no AUD experience whatsoever.

Just curious! Any advice helps!

[AndreA]

I have the same experience as you are, my exam in 2 days. I did only AICPA practice exam, 2 Mock exams and watched some videos relates to the AUD SIMs on YouTube. My plan is to understand the material and check my knowledge through MCQs.

[Icarito]

In my experience, I have only found practicing SIMS useful as review. I don’t even do them at the end of a chapter as Becker suggests, rather I pick and choose a bunch to look over as review.

Lot of ways to get a 75. I didn’t write any notes for FAR/BEC but did for AUD as it is my weakest area.

[CRYINGINSIDE]

Lol I've only touched like 2-3 SIMs…but I found them not useful for FAR since its like 15 mins to practice 1 area of like 12391204 topics…when in 15 mins I can go through so much more MCQs. Thanks for sharing!!! much appreciated.

[ilovepho]

Do you think that I'm wasting time copy all MCQ to Excel and write down all explanation + answer? I'm taking 15 mins per MCQ. Dont get to do much MCQ per day cause tying my answer in Excel takes time

[CRYINGINSIDE]

Most people I know says that helps them a lot. I don't, but thats bc I take my own notes/flashcards. But 15 mins per MCQs seems to be too much. What worked for me for FAR was just going through MCQs, and really understanding the calculations and JE's even though the ? didnt ask for it. I think thats the whole point of the SIMs anyways- testing to see if you know the AJEs/JEs. If I really was stuck between 2 answers…then I would read the explanation of the one I thought could be right…and see where my flaw is there. But practicing problems is the best teacher of all, don't get too caught up in all the note taking. What's the point if you just end memorizing (passive learning) exactly why that is answer is wrong (and wasting valuable active learning time)…but never understood how to get to the right answer in the first place. Yet again, I'm a crammer at heart…so the luxury of spending hours taking notes isnt something I can afford lol. Hopes this helps! FAR IS TOUGH, hang in there.

[timmyj]

In my opinion SIMS are nothing more than a focused MCQ. You will be asked a question (the question stem) and the fact pattern will be in the documents. I practiced SIMS for my first test (FAR) because I was unsure about them and it was my first test. After my first I only did the AICPA practice SIMS just to get an idea of what they are asking. The only real benefit of practicing SIMS I find is just knowing their format and your strategy to sort through the documents (which as you complete each test needs less and less practice as you have already practiced it even if the material test by test changes. If you know the material you can answer SIMs the same way you can MCQ's. Each blank is essentially an MCQ answer that you need to fill in yourself or use a drop down.

[jeff]

“In my opinion SIMS are nothing more than a focused MCQ.”

A fellow sims-truther. Refreshing. 🙂

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[aaronmo]

I thought SIMs were 100% essential, and the true test of if you actually know the material. I did SIMs for all sections and found them very valuable. I'm honestly surprised at some of the responses here.

[Recked]

I did SIMs for FAR but found them to be “not as effective use of my time as other things”.
Stuck with only the AICPA sample SIMs for the other 3. In all fairness, the SIMs had recently switched over and my review providers I felt did not offer accurate representative SIMs compared to the test.
They may have caught up now.

[Lindsey_p87]

I agree with FloodtheTOWN, I don't see the point in spending 15-20 minutes on one topic when I could spend the same time and hit a bunch of topics doing MCQ. The only time I do SIMS when studying is when I do the AICPA practice exam, or if I feel that I need extra review on one specific topic. It's worked for me so far.

FAR - PASSED 11/14
AUD - TBD
BEC - TBD
REG - First take 2/16

[bigstakk]

I think it is beneficial to practice SIMs because the structure of the questions are similar regardless of topic and you need to get used to looking out for certain instruction quirks like entering zeroes vs blanks, only positives, positives and negatives…etc. Also, helps you practice how to approach the documents you need to open up. You also need to practice looking up the research question and using the search tool properly. Lots of wasted time can occur if you don't know how to use the research tool. You don't need to do the SIMs for every chapter, but I would definitely do a healthy dose of them to get some practice in to give yourself a better chance at passing the exam on your first try. GL!

[Jimmy Dugan]

I think SIMS are a little more important for AUD than the other sections, just because there is very little “application” in the multiple-choice, then all of a sudden they stick a FA rollforward in front of you on your first sim. Not hard per se, but a bigger shift from theory to application than any of the other exams, IMO.

[JFRO]

I just completed AUD exam today. It was the first CPA exam I have taken. I prepared with Wiley, utilizing both MCQ and TBS along the way, although once I reached the stage of hammering questions I focused 95% of my effort on MCQs. Added Ninja to the mix 2 weeks ago to change-up the questions, again focusing on MCQ. The TBS helped insofar as I was not shocked by format or functionality, but the questions were different.

God knows how I did. I anticipate anywhere from 70 to 82% overall.

[CRYINGINSIDE]

JFRO, congrats on just attempting the test! Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm definitely going to check out a couple of SIMs here and there for AUD now…just to get use to the format and the questions they are asking for. Happy holidays!!

[Author]

Replies