[reagan045]

alright everyone – I’m back after taking a month off and need some advice!

I got my score back in June for BEC and ended up failing… and now I have to retake REG also 🙁

For BEC, conceptually I did fine and I did comparable to those that passed on the MCQ according to the report. However, the SIMS were unlike any I have seen on the exam before and I wasted so much time on them and know I bombed them which resulted in me running out of time when I finally got to the essays.

Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare for the SIMS? Any other supplemental study material anyone uses that they have found helpful for preparing for them? Has anyone used a tutor before? This was the 3rd time I’ve taken the exam, so I am open to any and all suggestions! Thank you!!

[allusuc]

Do the AICPA practice sims and do all the sims in your review course.

[Jimmy Dugan]

You just need to get some focused practice. It can be demoralizing doing the sims in your review course because they are tough, but the main thing you want to work on is getting to the root of the problem as quickly as possible. Most people try to read all of the setup info and exhibits before they even have an idea of what the problem is asking for. Scroll straight down to where you need to enter the answers and get an idea of what you need to do to answer the questions. THEN read all of the setup info and scan the exhibits; you'll have a better idea to what information is relevant and what you can disregard.

Also watch your times on MCQ's during the exam. The less time you spend on those, the more time you'll have for sims.

[reagan045]

Jimmy, thank you for that advice! What approach did you take to get that more focused practice? Did you study something other than practicing the SIMs or did you get there by practicing the SIMs a lot?

[Jimmy Dugan]

I had Becker, so I spent a lot of time watching their Skillmaster videos, which have an instructor walk you through each sim in their test bank. I thought it was the most valuable aspect of the course, outside of the Becker books. If you use Becker, eat a steady diet of those videos and practice a few of the problems. If not, just practice a bunch of sims using the same strategy you'll use on exam day. That means you need a strategy other than “deer in the headlights”, which is how most people approach them and how I did on my first exam. As I mentioned before, I think the best strategy is going immediately down to where you input the answers and seeing what information you need to enter, thinking about the format as well as the necessary calculations. Once you have an idea of what to look for, THEN read all the setup material and see how well you can do on the problem. Don't get demoralized if it's not all that great when you are practicing. The main thing you are practicing is your strategy.

[Author]

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