Took the exam at 9am yesterday and I guess my experience mirrors everyone else's. First MCQ testlet was a mix of tax and business law, but generally softball questions. Second MCQ testlet had longer questions or questions where all of the answers almost seemed like they could be correct. I didn't feel a tilt toward any specific topic. All of the biggies were represented: partnerships, s-corps, corps, the different business structures, individual tax, AMT, bankruptcy, secured transaction priority, etc.
The sims didn't catch me off-guard, apart from the fact that most of them required looking at multiple documents. I got one normal research lookup question, but found two spots in the IRC that applied, so that was disturbing. Another question actually told me to go and look up the answers for the 20 boxes using the authoritative literature. I did. It took time. For the person out there that actually knew that specific topic, it'd have been a 3 minute task.
In terms of advice, I'd just suggest people assume every topic is going to be tested and don't take a subject lightly because a review course says it's “uncommon.” With 76 MCQs and 8 sims, the odds are not in your favor. That's true for phaseouts too. I read posts from old exams saying that rarely give you questions that involve phaseouts. Based on what I saw yesterday, they're fair game and not a rarity.
I think I did enough to pass, but I really don't know. I've been studying with Gleim, but used Wiley's test bank as a backup. I also did the Roger cram in the last two weeks. I felt plenty prepared… and yet the sims shook my confidence. Finished with 1m:55s left and was spent mentally, emotionally, and physically when I clicked submit.
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