[Anonymous]

I am using Gleim CPA Review for my CPA studies. I’ve done 11 of 20 so far in AUD. Will take it next month. My weakest average goes from 65% to 82% for my unit. The MCQs are hard but doable especially with the study sessions but it brings me to doing the SIMs. Those are difficult and not as many MCQs for me to start getting confidence in it. Although I sometimes do well on SIMS, other times like my most recent its a confidence killer. My question is how hard are Gleim’s SIMS compared to the exam’s SIMS? I already heard some word that Gleim’s MCQs are harder than the exam’s. Is this true for SIMS?

 

 

[Lauren]

I felt that was the case for both REG and FAR.

[Andyred04]

I used Gleim primarily and supplemented with Ninja when I was studying. I can't really speak much of Gleim's SIMs because I focused more on hammering MCQs than SIMs because if you know the material covered by the MCQs you'll know the material covered by the SIMs (something I learned from Jeff). However, the few SIMs that I did, I felt that they were more/equally as challenging as the exam itself. If you're doing the Gleim SIMs and completely bombing them, you probably have quite a bit of work to do, however, if you're getting the majority of the questions correct, just read through what you did incorrectly and you should be fine. Again though, I would focus more on hammering the concepts through MCQs (yes they're tough as nails) than spend too much time on the SIMs.

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[Anonymous]

If you're doing the Gleim SIMs and completely bombing them, you probably have quite a bit of work to do, however, if you're getting the majority of the questions correct, just read through what you did incorrectly and you should be fine.

Depends on what you mean by correct or bombing. I've ranged from 58% to the 80%s, so I'm over the place in this case. How am I doing so far?

[Tim]

I've only taken FAR. The Gleim sims were more challenging, but with fewer documents to review compared to the actual exam. I'm now studying for BEC and some of the Gleim sims for BEC are trivial and others are like absurdly difficult and I can't imagine there will be sims that difficult on the actual exam. No idea about AUD sorry.

[Andyred04]

@docflellis 58% – 80% isn't too bad at all. I would try to get that trending up a little bit before your test date but that's not bad. Gleim likes to throw in some tricky wording to throw you off so make sure you're reading each question very carefully. Like I said in my last post, just make sure you take some time after you complete the SIMs to read through their explanation (and write down the important topics as you'll learn the material more if you write it down) as to why you missed a portion of the SIM and learn from your mistakes.

When I was studying I never really did SIMs except as a checkpoint/change of pace to check my progress on how well I was grasping the material. I would typically read the book cover to cover once, then hammer MCQs until I was doing them in my sleep (you couldn't pay me to take this test again, lol). It isn't the preferred method Gleim draws out but it worked for me. Good luck!

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[joonpark1212]

Ive used Gleim for REG. I would say that gleim mcq is a bit harder than the actual exam since it goes in more depth for each material. For sims i would say the difficulty i on par with the actual exam.

[nalratoss]

If you're using Gleim AUD there is one thing that deserves mentioning.

The Gleim AUD authoritative literature review is a cake walk, basically you just search for the key word and 95% of the time you will nail it.

That is NOT the case in the actual AUD test. Likely you will spend significantly more time than what you spend on the Gleim AUD counterpart. I'll just leave it as that.

[nalratoss]

And yes, I used Gleim AUD and already took AUD test.

The SIMs on the actual test feels much harder than Gleim AUD SIM, at least that's how I felt.

[Anonymous]

The SIMs on the actual test feels much harder than Gleim AUD SIM, at least that's how I felt.

Yikes!!! I range from 60%-80% on that. Actually, come to think of it, that's how I have been doing on the units? Did 12 of them so far. Lowest is 65%. Highest is 83%. Can't tell if I'm blowing this or on target? Any Gleim people wanna share their stories? On how they did come final test day?

[Author]

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