[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

So, I am preparing REG with Becker of course, and I am almost done with chapters 5-8..

After that I will be doing chapters 1-4 .. In college, I took individual taxation and took corporate taxation..

I wouldn’t say I’m good at tax because I’m not..

MCQ I can deal with given my FAR exam experience. My only problems are the sims. A trusted friend of mine who is very smart and hardworking told me he left 2 sims blank on REG because he didn’t understand what the question was asking, and he ended up with a 75. That tells me that sims need some sort of preparation not concept wise but to understand what the examiners are asking. So, what should I do? My exam is on July 20, so I have plenty of time to establish my loving relationship with REG sims.

Thanks

[MaLoTu]

I personally didn't find the sims as bad as I found FAR and AUD sims. Things that prepare you for REG sims are the subjects/concepts that have calculations. Definitely know how to get to AGI and definitely know basis. I found the sims to be fairly straightforward. However, with FAR and AUD I did have the same feeling as your friend, like WTH are they asking! I guess it is the luck of the draw.

[LoneMount]

Based on my experience, I never prepare for SIMs in particular. I just focus on MCQs to make sure that I understand the concepts there. Then, right before the exam, I go through Becker SIMs to make myself familiar with the format of the questions. From my point of view, there's nothing special about SIMs. I think it's just an extension of MCQs, more specifically, a combination of multiple MCQs. So I think if you can do MCQs well, you can do SIMs well.

I agree with your friend. Sometimes, SIMs are hard to understand, and you may find you made some mistakes that you have to start all over again. So my advice is be sure you have enough time for SIMs.

In addition, I think it would be helpful if you are familiar with doing researches with the authoritative resources. When I took REG, I got some concepts that I don't know in SIMs, I tried to use those literatures, but I was not good at it.

CA Candidate
FAR - 96 (Feb 2015)
REG - 95 (Apr 2015)
BEC - 89 (May 2015)
AUD - 99 (July 2015)

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys for the input! It's much appreciated. I guess I will go over REG sims once, and try to spend most of my time mastering the tax calculations. I will mostly focus on what Becker is focusing on; this is what I did for FAR; I only studied what they underlined/highlighted. I don't know if this is the case in REG, but I don't know any better, so I'll do exactly what I did in FAR.

[Anonymous]

Practice SIMs in Becker and Ninja ($47 is more than worth it for different SIMs). I saw that I would learn about 10 MCQ worth information through the average SIM (assuming it wasn't a silly research one).

[Anonymous]

I hate to say this but you cant! lol Like Jeff says do your best to understand the concepts through the MCQS and come exam day apply it the best way you can! Good Luck and keep grinding!

[Anonymous]

I hate to say this but you cant! lol Like Jeff says do your best to understand the concepts through the MCQS and come exam day apply it the best way you can! Good Luck and keep grinding!

[Author]

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