[Lentilcounter]

For those of you who use Wiley’s software and have done practice exams, how have your practice exam scores compared to your actual scores? When I took audit in Q3, my practice exam scores averaged a 79 and that is what I got on the actual test.

I’m taking FAR yet again in Q4 and wondering how the practice exam scores compare.

Thanks!
 

 

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[maj1028]

Mine was pretty close to actual as well:
FAR – 83 ; 81 on actual
AUD – 97 ; 94 on actual
REG – 86 ; 87 on actual

These were all based on last practice exam taken. I took 4 practice exams for each section. One every Saturday, 1month prior to scheduled exam

BEC was a different story since I had to grade myself on WC. But as I measured it as -5 points each WC, I was pretty close to actual as well. I got 87.

[Lentilcounter]

Thanks for your feedback!

Did you take FAR and REG this year?

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[CoachEmUp]

@Lentil I found the SIMS in FAR and AUD on Wiley to be a waste of time. You don't get any partial credit and as anyone whose used their software knows sometimes they don't specify to use parenthesis for negative numbers or not.

Conversely, for REG I found the SIMS to be the best yet for practice and I scored better on them in the practice tests than I did the MCQ's which is very rare for me.

To answer your question: FAR I averaged high 70's on the two practice exams and scored a 90 on the real thing.
AUD I averaged low 80's (boosted by 90%+ on MCQ's) and scored an 89 on the real thing.
REG I just took so I don't have a score, but I averaged high 70's on the practice test and probably scored better on the exam.

The point I'm trying to make is assuming you aren't getting partial credit for the SIMS you should be scoring better on the actual exam. My focus always has been to knock the MCQ's out of the park on the practice exams. I couldn't do that on REG because the test bank for Wiley had too many BLaw questions (which I was poor at) and it bastardized my scores a bit on the practice exam because of it.

[Lentilcounter]

@CoachEmUp

Thanks! I totally understand what you are saying for the SIMS. I'm doing FAR practice exams right now and averaging scores in the 60s. I'm actually getting killed harder on the MCQ which I think is tougher than Ninja. I went through the entire Ninja FAR MCQ bank and was averaging an 80. It's killing my confidence.

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[CoachEmUp]

@Lentil hang in there. Going through the whole bank was my way of studying. I would do it 70 MCQ's at a time to simulate about that many on test day. Some times I'd score a 70. Other times I'd get the right questions and get an 85. Scoring an 80 is actually quite good. Remember that just about no one is going to score a 90+ % on FAR because the topics are so broad that it's hard to really be that good in any one area.

My biggest advice would be to read the question in FAR. Especially when going through that many problems I found about half the mistakes I made was reading through and actually answering the question they wanted me to. I studied FAR first so I'm not sure if it was just the section or if I've gotten better, but I've found the other sections I didn't have nearly as many problems answer the question they're asking.

[maj1028]

@lentilcounter I took FAR last year, AUD this year under old format and BEC and REG under new format.

SIMS were not as helpful for the new format as the real exam mostly has enhanced simulations or SRS which Wiley doesn't have a lot of, but as long as you know the concepts and can nail down the Mcqs then you should be fine. You just need to apply what you know in answering MCQs when answering Sims. Also, it is very important to read instructions very carefully and organize your thoughts so you can answer quickly and efficiently.

Good luck

[Lentilcounter]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It just very disheartening to do Wiley MCQ. I have gone through all the NINJA FAR questions and my average is an 82% and I'm trending 93%. But when I do sets of 30-40 MCQ in Wiley, I'm averaging between 61 and 67%. The Wiley MCQ feel like they are a LOT harder than Ninja. They are definitely more wordy.

BEC = 72 (6/08/16)
FAR = ?
REG = ?
AUD = ?

[wigitlover]

I feel like I'm the odd one out on this. On Wiley by Far practice test scores were hovering right around 75 (73,74,77). I got a 91 on the real thing. On AUD my practice scores were 91 and 93, and I got an 83 on the real one.

[SuperAccountingGod]

Ouch, I got a 50% on my Wiley practice test for FAR. But I've been told those scores aren't very representative of how the real exam is graded. But I mainly took it just to pace myself for the real thing. But we'll see what my actual score ends up being.

[Cheeks Malone]

First, I firmly believe you get just as much benefit from doing customized MCQ and SIM test banks as you do from tests. I usually only do tests to see how my timing is.

I'm pretty sure Wiley has each section weighted the same (approx. 20% each test section). There is no partial credit on SIMS and the program evenly weights the answers within the SIM (i.e. 5 question prompts = 20% each question). This is what I have concluded from using the program for all four sections in the past year. I'm no expert and could likely be wrong, but this is my experience and opinion.

I track all of my practice exams and MCQ/SIM customized test banks. I don't have my AUD (passed, 86) or REG (passed, 82) stats anymore, but I do have BEC and FAR.

For FAR: I took 1,178 practice MCQs and 87 SIMs prior to test date. My median percentage on MCQs was 66.7% and for SIMs was 78.5%. On test day, I recognized many questions and felt as if Wiley had given me A LOT of the “harder” level MCQ questions during practice. I felt like my second MCQ testlet was the harder level. I felt prepared for SIMs, even though you never know for sure how well you did. I didn't feel “beat-up” after the test and I'm excited to see my score.

For BEC: I have taken 896 MCQs and 30 SIMs. I have a median percentage on MCQs of 80.6% and 89.0% on SIMs. I feel confident with the material and I sit for my exam on 9/7/2018.

Sorry for the long post…good luck!

[DoubleBogey]

The MCQ's are super helpful to prep you for the real exam. The sims do not. They are much less dense in general under Wiley. FOR TBS: the AICPA practice exams are better representative of exam TBS. Below is my list of PT and real exam scores through Wiley.
AUD: PT1: 81
PT2: 84
Actual AUD: 92
FAR: PT1: 67
PT2: 62
PT3: 82
Actual FAR: 79
REG: PT1: 80
PT2: 64
PT3: 80
Actual REG: 84
BEC: PT1: 75
PT2: 78
Actual BEC: Find out 9/11

[Author]

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