Hi
Please share your SIM experiences in any section and any thing you feel one should do to crack SIM.I would like to learn from experiences of you all.
For FAR sims, I think if you have a pretty solid grasp on journal entries and formulas, you'll do decent. I had ONE sim that was literally evil but the other six were somewhat doable and I think I did decent enough. I passed with a 77.
For REG sims, just be prepared to be disappointed. Mine were out of this world difficult and the only one I think I got right was the research sim. They were all on things I had learned but with a twist. Like for example, I learned how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but the sim asked me how to make the bread for the sandwich. So the best bet for REG would be to have a solid foundation on ALL tax stuff (as there will be no business law sims) and you can scrape a few points. I got an 83 but I attribute that to my strength on the mcqs and then using the AL a ton for the sims.
Thank you appreciated ,it would sure help.Just noted “no Blaw on SIM” . I would follow your tips.One question , did AL helped for other then search questions on SIM ?
@reallytired , I have one more questions, how much is calculation/computation in REG and FAR overall ( inclucing MCQ ).This I am asking because I had solved tons of calculations in BEC but relatively not much calc were there.
Definitely, be sure to use the AL for any question you have time for. I used it for one of my FARsims and it had the correct journal entry word-for-word. It is an extremely useful tool. It is necessary for REGsims because tax is so diverse and lengthy.
I think FAR had more calculations for the mcq than REG did. For FAR, I filled up two pages of calculations while taking the exam and only one page for REG calculations. And for all of my sims on both exams, they were all 100% calculations.
For Audit, I had a great experience with SIMS. I got lucky. I got some FAR type like questions which I was happy about. I know I got the research question correct. Took me twenty minutes to find it. The others were straight up Audit questions that was like a guessing game for me. I am not the best in Audit so that is why. I passed with a 78 and I have no complaints! Never have to see auditing again!
@reallytired do you utilize the AL a ton? I have Roger review and never makes mention of using the AL for any sim other than the research. I mean, I passedFAR without using AL other than for the research question. Probably a silly question, but how would you know what standard to view? I'm assuming the logical answer would be to use keywords, correct?
@moeshow, Yeah I used it way more for REG than for FAR! I used it for FAR when I just had no clue where to start. Becker doesn't teach you to use it for anything but the research either, but I had read a few posts here saying that it's useful if you don't know where to start.
REG I really think it's the only reason I passed! I had the mcq down, totally knew everything and could tell the testlets were getting harder (still knew the difficult ones). Got to the sims and wanted to cry. Luckily I had like an hour and a half left for sims so I just used it as best I could for every question. And yes, I just used a few different key words to help find what I was looking for.
@reallytired thanks! I took FAR and didn't finish the SIMs but still passed. I realized leaving a ton of time for SIMs is very important. TBH, I've never realized the testlets getting harder and i've passed two parts. They've all been the same quality to me. I'm assuming it's because I do all the easy questions first and work on the harder ones later.
And didn't you feel as if you were going to fail REG? Nice job! Were you able to finish all the SIMs for REG?
For FAR – I made sure I know the journal entries and I put in more effort on topics I find difficult like business combination. I studied 3 months for FAR with a full time job and a family with 2 kids ( 3 and 2 y.o). I passed on first try with an 88.
For AUD – I memorized the audit reports for each type of opinion. Whatever changes in the exam during my time, I would find time to study them. The journal entries learned in FAR were also applied with audit adjustments thinking that that might come out in my AUD sims. I passed on first try with an 86.
For REG – took me three attempts to pass this beast. On the first 2 attempts, I was weaker in SIMS. For the third round, I pretended I did not study the first 2 attempts, I went back to the book before I hit the MCQs. I also swithced to Gleim from Ninja and studied for 3 months. I list down the SIMS I had during the first 2 rounds. Miraculously, 1 of the previous SIMS came out in my last attempt, passed with an 82. (73,70 & 82)
@melody Did you also use the authoritative literature for help on SIMs other than the research based questions on AUD and REG? Btw, how long did you study for AUD?
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