[Anonymous]

I was wanting to get some opinions on practicing simulations.

I’ve only passed one section of the CPA exam (FAR) but in my experience, the Becker simulations weren’t helpful at all. I didn’t even work the simulations when I was studying FAR, I just looked at the solutions.

I am studying for REG under a very strict timeline and am wondering if I should scrap trying hard on the simulations and just use the time to go over the material more. I feel like the simulations just reinforce your knowledge of the material and the same can be accomplished through actually reviewing the material during that time.

I’m not one to take shortcuts, but I take REG at the end of the month and am starting R3 tonight and like to go through the MCQ twice and don’t want to spend extra time on SIMS when I didn’t find looking at them for FAR to be that helpful anyway

Thoughts?

 

 

[Jeremy]

I didn't do a single simulation practice for REG, AUD or FAR and passed all three, so it's possible to skip them and still pass.

B- 8/13/2012- 92
A- 7/19/2012- 83
R- 5/30/2012-82
F- 7/3/2012- 90

[Anonymous]

You say the Becker simulations weren't helpful at all, but then you indicate that you never actually did the simulations and just looked at the solutions? Sure, just looking at the solution is not helpful because you won't retain the vast majority of that information by just looking over the solution. At the very least, it would be helpful to practice the research sims, and if nothing else, the sims help you understand/clarify the material, probably even more than MC.

[Minimorty]

I thought the Becker simulations were VERY useful for all three of the exams with simulations. I would really encourage you to tackle most of the simulations available for practice. Answering MCQ where the answer is provided is one thing. Having to answer fill in the blank and computation questions in the format of the SIMS is another. The SIMS really test your understanding of the material. You say you are not one to take shortcuts, so dont take one here.

[Keely]

I looked at most of the Becker SIMs for AUD, but tried not to get too bent out of shape when I didn't answer them correctly. I would go skim back over them to see if the solutions made sense, but I focused more of my efforts of MCQs. There are some people who will tell you it's impossible to prepare for the real SIMs. Having only taken one exam with SIMs, I would agree so far. It was much more beneficial for me to work MCQs than SIMs.

The thing that helped me most was rereading the book over and over, and taking notes each time. The actual writing reenforces the material really well. I will say, when I saw the AUD SIMs on the exam, I laughed, because I had almost no idea what they were even asking of me. You just never know, I guess.

BEC: (4/2012) 88
AUD: (5/2012) 91
REG: (8/2012) 82
FAR: (1/2013) 78 🙂

VA CPA #42010

[Minimorty]

@keely – you had almost no idea what they were asking yet scored a 91? Clearly, you had a pretty good idea of what they were asking. Just sayin'.

[Author]

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