[ihorses]

3rd time taking this test. Before the test I felt like I know EVERYTHING. I did literally thousands of MCQs, probably couple hundred of sims, read all chapters twice and watched all the lectures several times. There was not a thing in that book that I didn’t know. After the test I literally wanted to kill myself. 4 out of 6 SIMS were completely out of the left field, 2 about the things I haven’t even heard of. 1 of the 2 that I knew was a research tab!

Most of the MC were about minutia that you normally don’t pay much attention too, or just forget because there is so much of it. There were probably 10 questions that were related to ind. and entity taxation TOTAL. The rest were mostly from ancillary material, or not even in the book at all. Bottom line – I think I failed again. So, looking for answers – what now? Different course, test bank, study method? Sorry for the rant, just frustrated…

AUD: Pass
BEC: Pass
FAR: Pass
REG: Pass - I'm DONE!

[Anonymous]

just got back from the exam, here's my 2 cents:

Preface: failed in November and my becker expired so I re-uped on Roger CRAM, Wiley Test bank, and NINJA notes.

1st testlet: was looking forward to easy/moderate questions, not the case. I'd say the first 12 questions difficulty level would be in the 2nd or 3rd testlets after a strong scoring from the previous ones. Abstract and nit picky subjects that weren't covered in detail at all in all of my material.

2nd testlet: I was dejected from the first one so I was expecting some easier ones here but definitely not the case HA! Same story as the first testlet, same subjects and the first 12 questions were much more difficult and detailed than the latter 12. This gave me some hope but again I'm not feeling too confident after the 1st section.

3rd testlet: basically hodge podge from the first and second. Medium to tough questions with long detailed sentence structure. At this point I'm freaking out because I've spent 35-40 mins each for the first two sections. Questions got easier at the end and I didnt have as many highlighted as the first two. (2-3 in this section 6-7 per section in 1 and 2).

Sims: I had to take a break and regroup from that beating so I get back to my test and I have 69 minutes left, oh boy.

Surprisingly, the sims weren't bad at all. Research found in literally 45 seconds. All of the other sims, I was comfortable with but probably made a few dumb mistakes here and there, which I EASILY could have corrected had I had an extra 25 mins to look through authoritative literature.

This was my third time taking REG and I can easily say it was the hardest one thus far. The MCQ sections (from test 1 to test 3) have been progressively getting more detailed and nit picky about material. My theory is the AICPA hasn't released many questions from these topics yet so they are still in circulation. Know your ancillary material (or whatever you want to call it) well.

Hoping for a 75 but I think its a slim chance. Lose my BEC credit April 29 and my firm mandates 65 hour weeks during the busy season. So looking like I will book a April 28 rematch with this hog and hope for the best.

About to get absolutely LIT up then thoroughly enjoy my hungover Saturday at the office.

Cheers!

[Anonymous]

I'm on the same boat as @chef. I took Reg for the first time on Wednesday. The testlets didn't get any easier. I couldn't tell if it was hard for me because I didn't study the right stuff or if I was reading the question incorrectly. All 3 testlets were difficult. I flagged half of the questions in probably every testlet. And the sims…..nothing what I expected. I almost wanted to laugh out loud because I thought what a big joke this was….I also used Becker and felt very comfortable with the questions. I did well on the Becker Practice Exams and the simulations were a piece of cake…oh boy, did I underestimate eveeeeerything 🙁

When I finished the exam, I ran to my car and from the very questions that I remembered, I tried to look them up in my Book and yep they were all there…right under my nose. Pay attention to the ancillary material. I cannot emphasize that enough. It's a lot of pages in the Becker book, but you gotta learn it. So much for being done in April 🙁

[KasiaS]

Try not to worry about it. I walked out of my REG exam 99.9% sure that I failed miserably. I was expecting to see a score in the 40s for sure because I felt so awful about my experience. As soon as I was done, I took an extremely long walk before getting on the train home and I posted on A71 about just how horrible I felt. Lo and behold, by some miracle, I passed! After that, I learned that you never know until you see the scores posted.

Keep the faith alive! And if (god forbid) you don't see the 75+ score posted then I recommend using NIU Correspondence. I used it for al 4 sections and I have nothing but good things to say about the course.

FAR 88 (07/15/11)
BEC 83 (08/31/11)
AUD 81 (10/15/11)
REG 83 (11/26/11)

Used NIU Correspondence CPA Review

[Anonymous]

I just had my REG today, and I am totally freak out with the MCQ…. I think ancillary material play an important role on my exam. I, however, did not put much time on it when studying. Also as Becker mention business law contains 17-21% in the exam, I think it is not true since I got a lot business law MCQ in my exam… for Taxation…. forget about it, I got very few question on the part.

Sims is doable… I did use the research tab to answer some of my short questions.

Good luck guys!

[yankeeaccountant]

@ihorses

UGH, the dreaded “after” the exam feel. I know how you feel, and it sucks. I think you got alot of great comments on this thread. Try and keep the faith, this process is so hard, it doesn't do you any good to beat yourself while waiting for scores.

I have seen so many people posting the same thing you have only to find out that they have passed. We tend to fell worse after the exam.

All in all, I really hope that you have a passing score and are done with this!! Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

REG is actually a pretty easy exam if you have excellent memory. But my memory sucks and I have difficulty remembering absolutely everything for this test. All those small details that I try to remember keep slipping away from my brain. If someone here can give me a tip on how to develop a photographic memory, please do so. 😀

[xzam20x]

I know exactly how you feel.

I took my REG exam on Thursday. I devoted the entire 6 weeks of my winter break (finishing up my MBA), literally full time from 8am-1am everyday studying. I used Becker. I studied everything so thoroughly.

When I got to my test I was so nervous after reading everything on another71 about how horrifying this test is, I pretty much had it in my head I would fail, and I am a 4.0. never failed anything in my life, everyone figured I was just panicking.

My first set of MCQ weren't bad. Definitely some I had to guess on, but most I felt like I knew. Definitely a lot of info marked ancillary in Becker, or that Becker had mentioned but not gone into as much detail as AICPA wanted, like many posters already said.

I got much harder questions on my second testlet. Definitely struggled with this one. Tried to answer them as best as I could but I'm nervous because my 3rd testlet seemed to get easier, so I must have dropped down to moderate.

My third testlet was a breeze at first, answered the first 9 questions without a second thought. Then I got the same question from testlet 2 that I didn't know. I couldn't believe they tested me twice with the same question (ended up getting it wrong both times of course) But overall I felt I did well on that testlet.

I know I definitely have 5 multiple choice wrong so far.

I was extremely nervous for the sims because they are so hard to learn when Becker has the solution sitting in the corner during practice. I was terrified to get am AMT one because I always struggled with that, and of course, I did.

I found my research no problem. I had a filing dates one that I'm positive I nailed and an underpayment estimate question that I'm fairly certain I did well on.

The remaining three however I'm not so sure.

I did the AMT the best I could, and it wasn't that it was difficult, but the way they wanted it formatted could make or break me.

I had another one that was focused on trusts and DNI, I probably made some silly mistakes and got some of those situations right.

and the last one– something I have never even seen discussed on Becker on any multiple choice question, the book or simulations. Tried my best to look everything I did up in research. Know that I got some of it wrong.

Overall I am just so completely devastated. Ran out to my car and cried like most of you. I wanted to start off with REG, get it out of the way and pass my remaining parts before I start work late summer. It is defeating to feel like I failed the very first time I tried, especially after putting in so many hours.

I'm in the same boat with everyone else, and I hope it all ends up better than we think.

[Anonymous]

For those who just finished the REG, I am wondering how heavy the Business Law is in your exam…=(

[ihorses]

So, cpa001, how was your test and how do you think you did?

AUD: Pass
BEC: Pass
FAR: Pass
REG: Pass - I'm DONE!

[katiekanton]

Am I the only one who sees the OP's username “ihorses” and thinks of Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle?

I haven't taken REG yet, but your experience is exactly what I experienced in AUD, and I came out fine. I'm starting to wonder if you do really well on MCQs, do they give you the worst sims? I don't know. But DEFINITELY don't start worrying yet.

AUD - 88
FAR - 90
REG - 85
BEC - 88

[Anonymous]

I would definitely say that you shouldn't feel too dejected just yet. I felt exactly the same way about REG (third time really was the charm for me), and was even considering just giving up on the CPA exam in general. I didn't feel confident on any part of my exam and was so sure that I would never pass it, but I passed with a comfortable margin! Just don't throw in the towel just yet; it's almost impossible to predict how these exams are graded.

[ihorses]

You know what guys? You were right!

I DID PASS! Got only 77, but who cares? I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!

Feel soooo relieved. I seriously thought I'll have to re-take it. I have no idea how I passed.

Good luck to everybody, and thanks for all your support over the last few months.

AUD: Pass
BEC: Pass
FAR: Pass
REG: Pass - I'm DONE!

[yankeeaccountant]

@ihorses,

Love to read a happy ending to the story!! Congrats to you on being done. I am prepping for REG now and freaking out a bit , so AAAAAHHHHH!!!

@alohio12,

Third time for me, so I am hoping it is the lucky charm this time!!

[Anonymous]

I like it when people exaggerate by saying they bombed so badly and then lo and behold, a passing score! It's the main reason why people didn't believe me when I walked out of REG and knew for sure I failed.

[katiekanton]

CPAMan, I understand what you're saying, but I don't think it's exaggerating per se. We are all so trained to think of exams as being graded on a “xx points out of yy” type score. I wonder if anyone's EVER walked out of an exam thinking they actually got 75% of the available points (except for that guy who got a perfect score on it). It's just a side effect of the lack of clarity about how the scores are assigned, and it takes a while to transition to a different way of judging how you did.

AUD - 88
FAR - 90
REG - 85
BEC - 88

[Author]

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