[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is doing alright and that you all did great this week. So I got my results, like many of you this past week. I thankfully passed AUD with an 88, but failed REG with a 63. The simulations on REG absolutely destroyed me. I knew maybe 1-2 of the 7 simulations, they were completely out of left field. I keep hearing people say they made sure to leave plenty of time so they can do adequate research on the simulation before approaching it. I didn’t have enough time to research each question. Is this an efficient technique?

Also, nearly all of my REG simulations were computational. Is this common? Other than the research questions, every single sim that I had was computational (not mentioning the topics tested). As a result, this made it much more difficult for me to make educated guesses on the problems I was confused about. I’m curious if other people have had similar issues.

Ultimately, I need some advice on how to approach this exam the next time around. I did pretty well on the MCQ, but absolutely bombed the simulations. Any and all advice is appreciated! Thank you!

[smuppane]

I took Reg Following Becker last window. Waiting for result in CA and expecting to get it tonight.

I had simulations similar to yours. All computations. I would suggest you go through all the mathematical stuff in the material in the last couple of days before the exam just so the content being tested in simulations is fresh in the mind.

I have been preparing taxes for 5 years but still had I not done that exercise myself I would have completely failed the simulations. I could do couple of them because of my last minute review before hitting the bed the day before exam.

REG - 07/01/2011 - 93
AUD - 08/25/2011 - 95
FAR - 10/29/2011 - 94
BEC - 11/28/2011 - 90

[MantaRay]

I'm right there with you Chris. The simulations messed me up too (I got a 65 on REG). Some of them were quite confusing on what they actually wanted and how to apply the answers into the fields….grrrrrrrrr Funny thing though, I thought I would score a lot worse than a 65. I didn't even look at the last 3 sections of the Becker REG book..lol Guess, I'll go brush up on Business Law & Commercial Paper before trying again. 🙂

[smuppane]

Just got my Reg score – 93. Again reiterating that I would have not gotten this without that last minute review though I have years of tax filing experience. Mark the areas you see calculations in the book and review them the last day.

Wishing you guys the best in your next attempt of regulation and all the oether parts. I still have FAR and BEC to go.

REG - 07/01/2011 - 93
AUD - 08/25/2011 - 95
FAR - 10/29/2011 - 94
BEC - 11/28/2011 - 90

[Anonymous]

yes, my simulations were all calculations except the one research tab. plus, most of my MCs (very lengthy) were calculations too, as a result, i was running out of time, i only had 1 hour left for the simulation and the first tab caused me more than 20 minutes. i wish i had time to use the research function but unfortunately i didn't. the rest of tabs i didn't have time to think a lot, but i did fill out all the cells(guessed some of course), when i believed i found the research answer, my exam was automatically over….

anyway, long story short, i passed(81). i think it's really important to know how to calculate all the basis, gains, losses from different types of entities, try to memorize them before going in to the testing center and i always did this. it helped me i think.

[Anonymous]

I'm an auditor and tax is not my thing at all. I would really urge you to buy Jeff's NINJA notes and rewrite or type them up. I did this and it really helped me on exam day. He puts it in perspective and I flew past MCQs because of it.Which left me over an hour and a half for the sims.

[sjb1984]

My simulations were computational as well, I thought I failed the exam because I didn't get them exactly right. I ended up getting an 85. My advice use BECKER and you'll kill the MC to the point where you don't have to be perfect on the sims.

Aud 11/23/2010 - 82
Far 8/26/2010 - 76
Bec 12/15/2010 - 73,82
Reg 8/17/2011 - 58, 68, 71 85

[Anonymous]

Agree leave 1 1/2 hours for the SIMs. I completely recalculated one of my SIMs in the last 5 minutes of my exam clock because a light bulb went off — Oh, THAT's what they're asking.

I actually didn't do any research (it didn't occur to me because I passed the other 3 sections in 2010 when the format was different). I think research could help when the SIM is very specific about something you would calculate on a tax form, e.g., which deductions can this person take (just an example, not quoting from my test) or if it's an obscue topic and you're fuzzy on th details. I had at least one SIM where looking at the Code would have been helpful in retrospect.

Understand the concepts, leave enough time to spin some wheels figuring out what they are asking, research selectively. Partly it's the luck of the draw. When do you want to reschedule? You know through some mysterious osmosis the test prep providers are going to get better at teaching to the new style SIMs over time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone!

[Author]

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