[misoc23]

So I took my first practice exam that was provided by Becker for Auditing.

I did well with the timing where I finished 30 minutes before the end.

The multiple choice were okay but a lot were ones that I have never seen before.

As for the sims, they were super hard…definitely brought down my overall score.

I am not satisfied with the score and now it has dropped my confidence. I have been doing will on the progress reports and much better on the homework! I reviewed almost everything!!!

My exam is Saturday and I don’t know how I should feel. Anyone else do poorly on the practice exam provided by Becker? Any comments would help, please and thank you!

[Anonymous]

Saturday is still 6 days away and a lot can be done between now and then to bring the scores up. Don't feel like it's over just yet!

The difficulty with the practice exam vs. the homework is that the practice exam pulls from everywhere randomly, so it makes sense that you'd score lower on it. I'd suggest for the next few days doing sets of questions from all chapters (I didn't use Becker's test banks, but is there a way to do – say – 30 questions pulling from all topics?) and have it show the correct answer immediately after you answer it so that you can see what you did wrong, why it was wrong, and what was right, as soon as you answer. That way you can learn from your mistakes much more effectively than seeing it all at once after 3 hours of doing a practice test. If you do this, your score on your next practice final will probably go up drastically! 🙂

[misoc23]

Yea Becker has these progress test you can take with as many questions as you want and it allows you pick either some or all of the chapters. I have been doing them quite often but I guess I just need to do some more studying!!

I was just really disappointed with my sim score and the questions they gave were pretty tough!

[Anonymous]

The key with SIMs is to really thoroughly understand the material. MCQs you can do with a bit of logic and luck (eliminating wrong answers, etc.), but SIMs require you to really understand what you do and why you do it. So, if the SIMs were your real struggle, I would suggest trying to look at them and figure out why they were so hard and see if you should review the material for the sections the SIMs were over, and maybe some other sections that you feel like you don't truly understand.

P. S. At least if it's like Wiley's TB, the SIMs probably grade “all or nothing”, but on the real exam they're supposed to give partial credit…so, you might have gotten a better SIMs score if it was the real deal.

[Tux]

Yes, I did not pass either of the two Becker practice exams for Audit (in fact, I did a little worse on the second one than on the first) and I passed Audit (barely with a 75)

Just go over the practice exams with a fine tooth comb. Look at each question and understand why you got it wrong.

Then, Keep practicing more and more MCQ's in the time that you have left.

You can still do it.

Practice exams are there for you to learn from.

Keep going! Stay motivated. Learn as much as you can before test day.

It ain't over yet!

FAR - 86 - 2/27/14
AUD - 75 - 5/29/14
BEC - 80 - 8/31/14
REG - 89 - 2/27/15
Praise Jesus! I'm done!!

Study resources:
Becker
Wiley test bank

[JamesBJames]

On average, people score 12.5 points better on their actual exam than they do on Becker's practice exams. There are also a lot of people who get 55-60ish on the practice exam and then end up passing on the real thing. Unless you got, like, below 50, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Focus on your weak areas and tackle AUD head on.

FAR: May 1st, 2014 - 91
AUD: May 29th, 2014 - 97!
BEC: July 16th, 2014 - 91
REG: August 29th, 2014 - 88

Licensed December 2015

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn by clicking my username!

[Kimboroni]

I don't have Becker, but other than that your story sounds very similar to mine for AUD, which was my first test. I did a full practice test about a week before and didn't do that great, and boy did it kill my confidence. I ended up stopping doing MCQs entirely and just reviewing the material so I could bring my confidence back up.

I've decided, and read here, that practice tests aren't that great for prep except from a time standpoint– practicing your time management for test day. Much better to do what Lilla suggested so you can keep reinforcing the material. Otherwise, you are reinforcing wrong answers and potentially bringing down your confidence because of a practice score (which is NOT scored the same way as the real exam, so it isn't all that meaningful).

With AUD, make sure you are not rushing and misreading questions because of it– one little missed word like “not” changes the whole meaning.

Anyway, I ended up doing just fine on the real test. That's the only score that matters. So keep forging ahead– you've got this!

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[i3ekah]

Don't stress too much about the practice exam. Instead, take several 12-18 question progress tests and try to identify which chapters/concepts you are weaker on. Flip through the book and read the pass keys. Look over the reports – memorize the diagram that illustrates the types of opinions and why (GAAS vs GAAP). Be familiar with the assertions. Know the different types of risks and what they mean, how they are assessed, and how they change (inherent risk, control risk, detection risk, etc).

I took AUD today, and last night my husband sat down with me and quizzed me on the glossary in the back of the book. It calmed my nerves, made me more familiar with the concepts, and it was nice to hear and say the terms and definitions. After that I did about six 18 question progress tests, and this morning before the exam I went over some of the main financial ratios. I'm not 100% sure I passed, but I had four days to study with chapter 5&6 MCQ untouched, and I got through it all and felt fairly confident today.

Good luck! Four days is plenty of time to bring it all together.

[misoc23]

Thank you all!

[Author]

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