[Anonymous]

Background:

I took REG the last day of the testing window before the exam change and ended up failing with a 74 and of course was devastated. In my fail report it was clear that the sims were what caused me to fail.

Leading up to the Exam:

I took about a two week break after my fail and then studied for an entire month, starting from scratch by doing the entire new Becker REG review (which is pretty much the same as the old one), including every single Sim in each chapter and every Sim in the practice test. I did almost everything I could possibly do to prepare. I knew the most difficult material that people pass over: 1231’s, Like-Kind Exchanges, S-Corps, Partnerships, Estates, and Trusts. I took two practice tests on Becker and got an 86, & 85. Then I did a NINJA Practice Test and got an 81.

Exam Experience:

Going into the exam I was confident that my preparation would allow me to pass this time. When I walked out of the exam, I couldn’t believe how unprepared I felt. The exam was twice as hard compared to the first time I took it, even the first testlet.

I reached the sims with 2 hrs and 10 minutes to go which I thought would be plenty of time to do the sims and boy was I wrong. Of my 8 sims, 6 were document review simulations. I even had one that had 10 different documents that I had to refer to. With how small my screen was, I couldn’t even fit two windows on my screen at the same time. It took me about 30 minutes to do this one sim. When I started my fifth testlet of three sims, I only had 23 minutes left to go and that was after I had just entered in 0’s in a few blanks on the last sim of my 4th testlet, since I knew I was running out of time.

My last testlet I quickly had to answer the research question, which I was unsure about and then do a client engagement document review sim in like 5 minutes and then I just put zeros in for my last sim, bc I ran out of time.

I feel like there’s no way I passed this time and I don’t really know how else to study for this exam. I felt that Becker’s review didn’t come close to covering what would be tested. I feel almost certain that I will not get at least a 75 when I get my score back in August.

BEC 08/31/2016
AUD XX/XX/XXXX
FAR XX/XX/XXXX
REG XX/XX/XXXX

[Anonymous]

Keep us posted on the results of this. I am also a Becker user and will take my first REG exam May 27th. It's really nice to get some good insight. How many hours a week do you study? I am studying full time right now. I just finished R5 and will be done with R6 by Sunday.

[CPA788]

hey @micalda1 – though my MCQ experience wasn't quite like yours, I have to agree on the SIMs. I went in to them at the 2 hour mark and thought I would be fine. I found it most frustrating that I didn't know what sort of SIMs were waiting for me in the T4 and 5 and how to allocate my time. What if my last 3 SIMs were DRS and I didn't leave enough time for those? I scrambled all over T5 and just my overall SIMs experience bummed me out. SIMs were my downfall last time too, like you. The scoring on this is going to be realllllll interesting.

But going back to MCQ – I wasted hardly any time there. I went as quick as I could and I didn't sit and ponder any extra time. The fact I was still crunched for time on SIMs is super frustrating. I just couldn't have gone any faster.

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[Anonymous]

Good luck, I am in the same boat but will be re-taking my REG exam sometime in May. Sucks we will have to wait until AUGUST to even get our scores back.

I first took REG on 3/15 after just over a month of studying and scored fairly well, but not enough to pass. I did write down all the questions I had trouble with or second guessed myself during the exam onto the notepad Prometric gives us. I memorized all of them and typed them up in a document when I got home so that way I can remember to focus on those areas thoroughly the second time around. I hope it helps.

Best of luck to ya, thanks for sharing your experience.

[Author]

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