[aggies21]

Hey guys –

Has anyone found a good way to improve on REG simulations? I am nailing the multiple choice, but can’t seem to improve on the sims enough to pass. I have failed REG 3 times now. Any advice would be beneficial. Thanks

AUD - 80
FAR - 78
BEC - 78
REG - 72 (11/30)

[yankeeaccountant]

That is the million dollar question. I am taking my second try at REG on Tuesday. For me, I am steering away from Becker sims, they just seem too easy. I have done the Wiley sims for practice. I also went thru the tax forms just for review as well. I got the Roger cram and his book has 2010 and 2011 AICPA released mcq's and sims. So, I am giving that a try as well.

Have you done the sample test on AICPA's site?

I am just trying to do as many as I can because I was weak in sims last round. If you find any good sources, please share!!

best of luck to you!

[jamesjohnson11]

How do you like rogers cram? When did you use it, at the end of your studies or mixed in with?

R PASS
A PASS
B PASS
F AUGUST

[yankeeaccountant]

@james

I took REG last window. At that time I listened to all the Becker lectures and then listened to the Yaeger cram in my final review. So, this time, I didn't want to listen to Becker again, so I redid the Yaeger cram. UGH. IMO, I just don't get anything from Phil. He is all over the place for me. I just got Roger in my final review week and am glad I did. I actually wish I had gotten it right from the beginning. For me, I am having so many light bulb moments that I think i could have benefitted from listening to some portions twice (i.e. corp tax, part tax, scorp). It comes with a book that has notes and then mcq's. There is an appendix that has mcq's and sims form AIPCA released for 2009, 2010, and 2011. I also like the way he lays out the notes, it seems to be the thing I need to get through this. it is definitely more of a teaching review. Very detailed.

I am going to get his cram for Audit. Best of luck to ya James.

[jamesjohnson11]

Thanks for the info. Yea I am not feeling too confident with my reg studying so far. I think I am definitely going to get rogers cram course. I really haven't minded becker for far or aud but i just think they aren't doing a good job of covering all the little details that reg has. In my opinion it seems like reg is a lot harder than far. Far was mostly memorization, whereas reg is more knowing it, knowing how to do it and making sure you remember the exceptions.

R PASS
A PASS
B PASS
F AUGUST

[aggies21]

thansk for the help on this. I am going through Becker simulations again and giving the Wiley test bank sims a shot too. I haven't really put a lot of time into practicing simulations in past attempts, based on info I read on this site. I am hoping dedicating the time needed to complete all Becker and Wiley sims does the trick. Not sure what else to do at this point.

AUD - 80
FAR - 78
BEC - 78
REG - 72 (11/30)

[tnyfn20]

I haven't really put much of my time into SIMS either that is why I'm terrified about REG. I hear they are brutal!

AUD- 78
BEC 79
FAR 78
REG 77

[aggies21]

@tnydn 20 – They are definitely brutal. This is the one section I can't pass and each time it has been because of weaker simulation scores. I am hoping I get a little luck this time around and finally put this exam away.

AUD - 80
FAR - 78
BEC - 78
REG - 72 (11/30)

[Anonymous]

So I also did “weaker” on the simulations last exam. I didn't pay much attention to the research tab and guessed so trying to spend more time practicing that. Is there a research “advanced search” function on the actual exam like the one on beckers practice exams?

[Anonymous]

I don't think the exam has advanced search. At least I've never seen it. Took REG for the third time Oct 19th. There is a “search” button and a “search within” button that you can click on.

[Anonymous]

I noticed that you guys are looking for some REG sim advice, so I thought I'd share my thoughts after finding out I passed REG today! The key really is to use the Research Tab A LOT. I would say allocate approx. 1 hr 30 min for the sims since it takes a lot of time to research. When I first saw my sims, there were some tabs that I thought looked easy, but I really didn't know the stuff in enough detail to be able to complete them. Then there were other tabs that I thought…there is NO WAY I know this topic in enough detail to fill this out at all. I thought…great..I don't know how to fill any of my sims out except the research question. The key here is to 1) not panic 2) identify the topic 3) use the research tab and search for the rule (it helps if you know the general topic to narrow it down). I would say I probably spent 80% of the time allocated for the sims researching and 20% actually filling it out. The IRC is a lot easier and more straightforward to read than the U.S. GAAP is for FAR (research tab was pretty useless for FAR sims I thought) and I'm by no means a “tax person”. So, just wanted to let you all know that there is hope for the REG sims. The answers are pretty much all in the IRC, so you just have to spend time to look for them. I went from not knowing how to fill out ANY of my REG sims, to filling out 100% of my REG sims after the 1 hr 30 minutes and I'm pretty sure I did them all correctly thanks to the research tab (totally saved my butt) and I ended up getting Superior on my sims.

[gottagetmycpa]

no offense but that is baloney. especially that part with answer are pretty much in the IRC. I wish I could disclose but I searched and searched and searched some more and found nothing relating to my sims which left me to use my best guess ( did not work out for me). So for an example ( and this was not on my test). If you want to search for how to calculate section 1245. you mean to tell me that if you type in 1245 or section 1245 it will tell you what to do???

FAR 76
REG 76(2x)
BEC FAILED (2x)
AUD FAILED (2x)

"When you don't give up, YOU CANNOT FAIL"

[Anonymous]

@ gotta. Well okay…if you know absolutely nothing about a topic (don't understand what the question is asking)…it'll probably be difficult. <- I'm not saying that this is you or anything. Similar to how the ASC is not going to simply spell out the journal entries for you (FAR), the IRC is not going to tell you to add A + B = C. The research tab helps if you vaguely remember the topic (have a very surface level understanding) and just need help remembering the specific rule. You really need to know specifically what you're looking for…”What do I do when XYZ happens?” “Is there an exception for ABC?”

[gottagetmycpa]

okay I see and that is what I think the confusion was when I took the test. Some of the topics I was tested on becker barely covered so when I saw my sims I was like REALLY you want to ask me this??? I researched for so long but could not find enough information to put a better answer together. what study material did you use?

FAR 76
REG 76(2x)
BEC FAILED (2x)
AUD FAILED (2x)

"When you don't give up, YOU CANNOT FAIL"

[Minimorty]

The research tab was useless for me as well. There were two sims I could have used a little guidance. The research provided no help at all.

[Anonymous]

I used Becker (no lectures) – just the book and the MC. I had the Wiley book as well and used it to fill in some gaps about Section 1245 / 1250 etc…that property section. I didn't have time to go through the Wiley book much for REG though.

My MC on my test got super hard in the 2nd testlet and I probably guessed on half …so going into the sims…I knew I had to do well on the sims otherwise I'd probably fail. I spent sooo much time researching (I was super desperate). For some of the tabs I thought I couldn't find the answer in the research at first, so I'd jump to a different tab and research that one (totally inefficient of me I know) and I'd see one of those subcategories that made me think…”oh maybe I should look in there for the answer to my other one”.

I totally understand that it could've been just my test…but couldn't hurt to frantically research when you've exhausted all your resources.

[Author]

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