Is "felt like I did awful on SIMS and passed" a myth? Do people feel that way?

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  • #202003
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    So discouraged! Just took my Regulation exam

    I flagged probably 5-6 in each section, but for the most part narrowed THOSE down to two and made an educated guess. I think my testlets went med-med/hard-med/hard. It was hard to tell because there were tough ones but also had no brainers mixed in. Historically I can never tell the difficulty of testlets, and I’ve passed the other 3 exams.

    The SIMS, man oh man! I think I got the research right. My first sim HAD to be a pretest, it was extremely detailed. One or two others I had moderate confidence in my answers. The final two…who knows! I at least filled them out and am hoping to get partial credit. It sucks it was calculation and not drop down answers.

    So basically, felt pretty decent going into the sims, then my confidence got kicked in the face! Is it still possible to pass when you’re not too confident in your performance on SIMS? I felt so terrible!

    I was trending in the 80s on ninja, did a TON of MCQ. Had the ninja 10 point combo.

    Is this whole “I thought I failed but passed” really just a myth? I feel like it happens to those kids at school who say that then get 90s lol!

    Any encouragement welcome :/

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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  • #776552
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    BBallKid23, I took the REG exam yesterday. I felt it was challenging to tell if the testlets were getting harder or easier. I had some no brainers mixed in with ones that required you to think. I saw more conceptual questions then mathematical. The SIMs were challenging, but I felt over all on SIMs I did well. I completed the exam and felt great in knowing I did enough to pass, at least I hope I did. But I guess we both have to wait till May 24th to see our passing scores. Remain positive, and if you have more exams to take, move forward with your studies.

    #776553
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    That's the thing, it's my last exam! So I'm freaking out haha

    #776554
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have seen people on here who were convinced they had failed after they took their exams, and then later they passed. I have seen people on here who specifically said the SIMs were brutal, and then they passed. So, it's not a myth. However, I've also seen a lot of people who were convinced they'd failed, and said the SIMs were brutal, and they were right – they failed, and their score report showed weaker on SIMs.

    So…best I can tell you is that May 24th can't get here soon enough. 🙂

    Looking at this mathematially… You defiinitely can do poorly on SIMs and still pass. IIRC, the SIMs are 40% of the grade. If a 75 was a 75% (which of course we all know it isn't, but for the sake of discussion, if it was…), then you'd get 60 of the needed 75 points by getting all the MCQs right. That'd leave you needing just 15 of the possible 40 points from the SIMs. That's 37.5% of the points available from the SIMs. If you nailed the research, and if it's weighted equally, then it's 8 points, or 20% of the points available from the SIMs. That would leave you needing 7 more points from the last 32 points available in the SIMs, or just 21.87%. So, some partial credit can get you there. Of course you probably didn't get 100% on the MCQs, so you'd need more than the 21.87%, but my point is just to illustrate the math of how you can pass while doing poorly n the SIMs.

    #776555
    Trele6
    Participant

    I'll let you know on the 25th if bombing sims will allow you to still pass FAR..

    I felt like I did pretty good on my REG sims to be honest. The AL really helped me confirm two or three of them that I did it right per the tax code. I definitely had wrong answers filled in and changed after reading the full code.

    B - 80 Jun16
    A - 74 Aug16, 77 Oct16
    R - 87 Nov15
    F - 79 Apr16
    Ethics - 98 Nov16
    Licensed in New Mexico Dec16

    First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
    Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
    Far / Apr 2016 - 79
    Bec / May 2016 - 80
    Aud / Aug 2016

    #776556
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Lilla well I hope I'm in the first group, but I don't consider myself lucky haha. Your math does make sense. So best case scenario I picked up some points here and there and maybe enough for a 75. We'll see!

    If I have to retake, has anyone heard if REG is going to be THAT much harder? It already sucks

    #776557
    sar_rah
    Participant

    I just took reg too. But I was positive I bombed the sims for audit and far, and managed to pass those! I literally didnt even think i got a 50% on my audit sims…and then I got a 98? SO that makes me skeptical of how much sims even count.

    AUD: 98
    REG: 91
    BEC: 86
    FAR: 83

    DONE DONE DONE and DONE all on the first try! It IS possible, just keep on studying!

    #776558
    Tcohle
    Participant

    That's so frustrating. I guess we sincerely do not know how things will be graded

    AUD - 84
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 76
    REG - 87
    Ninja Notes/MCQ/Book/Audio for all

    FAR- 5/11/15 76!!
    AUD-10/31/15 63, 84!
    REG-7/12/16 72
    BEC-8/31/15 75!! Perfect Score!

    Wiley CPAExcel Platinum
    Ninja 10 pt combo for FAR/AUD/BEC

    #776559
    Vanessachy
    Participant

    I have a friend who was so sure that she failed far, then she passed. She thought she passed Aud, then she failed. Who knows, let's wait, I am dying to see my score as well.

    Far, 64 82
    Reg, 60 86
    Aud, 74 82
    Bec, 70 81
    Done done done! I did it!!!
    Licensed CPA in MA, issued October 2016

    Far 10/26/2015, 64, 1/4/2016, 82
    Reg 7/10/2015, 60, 2/27/2016, 86
    Aud, 5/9/2016, 74 (ouch), 7/26/2016, I cannot wait to take this test again
    Bec, 6/10/2016, 70,9/8 retake

    #776560
    Tcohle
    Participant

    It's crazy! I think they just like to mess with us haha

    AUD - 84
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 76
    REG - 87
    Ninja Notes/MCQ/Book/Audio for all

    FAR- 5/11/15 76!!
    AUD-10/31/15 63, 84!
    REG-7/12/16 72
    BEC-8/31/15 75!! Perfect Score!

    Wiley CPAExcel Platinum
    Ninja 10 pt combo for FAR/AUD/BEC

    #776561
    TheHoundThatRides
    Participant

    I felt like I nailed FAR SIMS and BEC writing sections and I did. I got “stronger.”

    I felt like I had to guess on 2 AUD Sims and I took educated guesses on 2 more AUD Sims. Felt terrible. I got a “comparable.” Doesn't necessarily mean I did well. Just that people passed with similar performance. If I had nailed a bit more MCQ I would have passed. 🙁

    BEC - 78 (August 2015)
    FAR - 80 (November 2015)
    AUD - 73, 67. (Ok I gotta confess I was even more lazy this time around)
    REG - August 27th, 2016

    #776562
    Tcohle
    Participant

    @TheHOund It HAS to be curved then. There's always that group of people who “think they fail” and score crazy high. I'm wondering about the people who legitimately think they failed sims and just passed. I'm not skilled/lucky enough to get 90s lol

    AUD - 84
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 76
    REG - 87
    Ninja Notes/MCQ/Book/Audio for all

    FAR- 5/11/15 76!!
    AUD-10/31/15 63, 84!
    REG-7/12/16 72
    BEC-8/31/15 75!! Perfect Score!

    Wiley CPAExcel Platinum
    Ninja 10 pt combo for FAR/AUD/BEC

    #776563
    Pete
    Participant

    They basically preemptively curve the exam. Essentially, the exams aren't equal difficulty, especially because the exam adapts. The difficulty on two similar exam teslets (ie. difficult-difficult, medium-medium) could vary in difficulty, i think. To adjust for this, the AICPA gives more points to the harder exam, since you will probably get more wrong. I think the SIMS might vary in difficulty as well, based on the percentage, who get them correct. Again, to adjust for this, the AICPA gives different point values to different questions. The SIM's AREN'T based on performance though, like the multiple choice.

    B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
    A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
    R=81 I LOVE taxes
    F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

    #776564
    Tcohle
    Participant

    I know the difficulty of the sims are independent of mcq performance. I always wondered if certain sims gave a lot of candidates trouble, would they curve it, thus giving those who “bombed” them a better chance to pass

    AUD - 84
    BEC - 75
    FAR - 76
    REG - 87
    Ninja Notes/MCQ/Book/Audio for all

    FAR- 5/11/15 76!!
    AUD-10/31/15 63, 84!
    REG-7/12/16 72
    BEC-8/31/15 75!! Perfect Score!

    Wiley CPAExcel Platinum
    Ninja 10 pt combo for FAR/AUD/BEC

    #776565
    JSPERBER
    Participant

    I enter zeros for all the cells for one sim… If i end up passing, I'm buying coffee for everyone.

    #776566
    Pete
    Participant

    Not a huge coffee fan. Can you buy me a latte instead? Mask the taste of the coffee.

    B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
    A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
    R=81 I LOVE taxes
    F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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