[Anonymous]

Hey Guys,

I take FAR in about two weeks, and I am currently doing my final review for the exam. I think am good with the MCQ- been averaging high 70’s, but the SIMS are killing me. How do you guys suggest I tackle the SIMS? While trying to answer SIMS, is it best to to read the whole question slowly[although some are really long and contain lots of info that are irrelevant to the question] or to carefuly skim through first in order to determine useful info then begin tackling them?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

God’s grace to those of you taking FAR in Q3.

[accountabergs]

I think its a good idea to skim it first to make sure what kind of problem it is and what is being asked. I would definitely make sure to leave yourself enough time (about 1:45), especially because you are going to use the AL function to guide you/check your work.

Thats right, you are going to use the AL function. It may add needed time, but it helped me tremendously when I took FAR in May.

I also went through the Becker SIMS twice for added practice. Good luck!

Passed in 2014

FAR- (5/27) 88
REG- (2/20) 70, Rematch: (7/2)83
BEC- (4/2) 85
AUD- (4/24) 87

Using Becker live classes and online materials

"if you get confused, listen to the music play"

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I'll incorporate that into my strategy.

[Mamabear]

Read the question first then go through the problem to see what is relevant to the question. Make sure you know your JEs and formulas! And definitely use the AL.

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Kimboroni]

First I go to the bottom and read the prompts that they have for the fill-in boxes so that I can be thinking about the relevant information to look for. Then I go back up to the top and start reading and picking out what I need.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate.

[Kimboroni]

To add to the time management info, I had a strict schedule of 45 minutes for each MCQ testlet, which did leave 1:45 for the SIM testlet. Since SIMs are worth 40% of the score, it's important to make sure you have enough time to do a thorough job on them.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Mamabear]

@kimboroni–It freaks me out how alike our strategies and responses are to questions posted on this forum. Once again–great minds think alike. 🙂

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[Kimboroni]

Yep, pretty freaky!!!!!

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[Anonymous]

For me, the two hardest things with the SIMS were 1) knowing which info to use and disregard, and 2) the actual technical aspect of formatting my answers.

For the first point, I am talking about a question where they give you EVERYTHING – but are only asking for this small part. Furthermore, in the EVERYTHING they give you, they may give you calculations, and then the individual info used to get that calculation. For example (and this is a bad one), they'll give you net income, but then also give you Sales, CGS, Expenses, Interest, Dividends, the tax rate, even the taxes. Etc. It's information overload, and there is so much information provided that you almost don't trust that the NI they give you is really the NI needed. Be confident!!

With regards to the technical aspect, I am talking specifically about how to enter your answers. For example – if they give you five lines for a journal entry, but you only need three, do you put “No entry needed” in two of them? Or, do you leave two blank, and put “No entry needed” only if there is no entry at all to be made (e.g., what is the correcting entry needed to reflect the change in depreciation methods?). I'm really not sure what the answer is – but I know it doesn't matter, so you shouldn't worry about it!

Good luck!!

[Author]

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