[Plspass]

Hi all,

I read from many of you on how hard far sims are and how it does not seem to be similar with the ones on becker, wiley and cpa excel. Can any of you elaborate on why you think it is hard? Is it because of the materials that you neer seen before from the review, or because the actual sims are too long?

[Minimorty]

I think people find the SIMS hard because they are too focused on banging out thousands of MCQs and not spending time going through enough SIMS. Multiple choice questions generally cover only one topic. It asks you a question and even provides you with the answer. The SIMS, on the other hand, can cover multiple topics within the same simulation. It pulls together all of your understanding of multiple chapters and asks you to apply the concepts to specific questions. The simulations require a deeper understanding and knowledge of the material than the MCQs do.

[Tux]

The review materials should provide practice sims that are more like the exam.

Without that, how else can we prepare?

FAR - 86 - 2/27/14
AUD - 75 - 5/29/14
BEC - 80 - 8/31/14
REG - 89 - 2/27/15
Praise Jesus! I'm done!!

Study resources:
Becker
Wiley test bank

[Anonymous]

I think I'm going to search through my intermediate accounting books to find some of the harder AICPA adapted questions that none of my professors assigned…..don't know if this is a good or a bad idea but I figured it would help to go through a couple large questions so that when I take FAR the SIMs don't seem so threatening.

[Anonymous]

@EELCPA…I was thinking of doing the same thing (int books problems), but I honestly think it's a waste of time. I just practiced the examples in the review materials and did some of the simulations (usually the longer ones) (CPAExcel)…I passed…

[Texas27]

I wouldn't necessarily say that they are hard but they are more time consuming then the majority of the sims in Becker. You might have one or two that you might find hard (I had one that I had no idea how to do). There is almost no way to study for them though other than knowing journal entries and knowing the material. Doing more sims will just help you learn the material better but in my opinion it won't actually help you with the sims on the test because they won't be similar or the same.

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

[Anonymous]

The Sims I hate are the ones that require you to read a book before you get to the actual question. I've wasted time trying to figure out something that I know I'm going to need to answer a question only to find that information was given. Those are the tricky little devils!

[Texas27]

@Kricket… I know what you mean. I hate the sims with the information tabs that require you to sift through a ton of worthless information and do calculations that are a complete waste of time that could easily be given without losing the substance of the problem. Don't even get me started on how stupid it is that we can't use a normal calculator. I mean who seriously ever uses the computer calculator anyways? It is essentially like someone forcing you to dig a 10 foot hole with a spoon when there is a shovel readily available.

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

[Anonymous]

@CPATerminator, well if you've been there and done it I'll take your word. I'll just stick to the SIMs that Wiley provides….some of them are lengthy, others…not so much

[Anonymous]

I passed far last july..the sims were hard…I used Becker…the sims are hard b/c unlike the study sims they combine mulitple topics..they are more in depth etc.

[Anonymous]

“Let's choose 10 randomly selected one-paragraph multiple choice, combine them and throw it at the candidates as a simulation. That shouldn't be too bad. haha.”

-People at the AICPA

But in all serious, I am worried about the sims. Seems like no one has ever said “The sims were somewhat similar to the ones I saw” or remotely. Well, I have been visualizing(as well as writing) JE for MCQs that I do.. I can calculate an answer, but absolutely cannot do the JEs for it(if asked).

[Texas27]

@Home Stretch, practicing JEs is the best thing you can do to prepare for the sims! I started doing JEs for every multiple choice that could be expressed in a journal entry and it helped a lot. The sims aren't particularly hard but they can be extremely time consuming. I felt that the audit sims were more difficult but did not take a lot of time to complete but between the multiple choice and the sims on FAR, it is a lot to do in 4 short hours.

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

[Sapper]

@Home Stretch, actually I wasn't all that surprised by my sims. Really only 1 of my 7 was substantially different from the examples in CPAexcel.

It's not worth worrying about beforehand. Just study as hard as you can and do as many examples as possible, and you'll be fine.

FAR - Feb 2012 - 86
BEC - Apr 2012 - 85
AUD - Apr 2012 - 89
REG - May 2012 - 78
Review: CPAexcel + university review class + NinjaNotes (AUD&REG)

[Anonymous]

@sapper & texas, it is good to hear that! I was feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. I have about one more week before the exam and am still covering material. Yikes I know. But today should be my last day before I churn out practice questions.

[markm]

To me the sims weren't impossible just difficult complete in a reasonable time. If you've studied like a demon, you've seen it before but my trouble was getting it completed. And others have mentioned, they bring in every exception possible.

Lord, please give me a ready recollection of the things I have studied. Amen.

[Tux]

Markm –

Love your prayer! I've been asking for the same thing!

FAR - 86 - 2/27/14
AUD - 75 - 5/29/14
BEC - 80 - 8/31/14
REG - 89 - 2/27/15
Praise Jesus! I'm done!!

Study resources:
Becker
Wiley test bank

[Author]

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