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REG - Exam Experience

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Started 1 year ago by Jeff - another71.com
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CPA628

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It took me three tries to pass REG. My failure wasn't due to "too much information" or anything else, but rather not studying everything and not being productive.

For my last try, I supplemented Wiley testbank with Becker. I didn't bother watching all the videos again (only watched couple which I couldn't understand just by reading). I read the Becker book at least twice, and did all its MCQs/SIMs 3-4 times. I kept going back and did progress tests to make sure I wasn't forgetting old information. Then, I did all tax related SIM/MCQs in Wiley testbank and it was very beneficial. I also read Ninja notes for few topics that I couldn't understand in Becker.

Basically, study like it's your first time, and don't skip anything. I would skip watching the lectures again and focus on reading the book and doing MCQs until you get tired of them...then do some more:) Don't underestimate law, and study it just as much as you would study tax (even though you were stronger in law).

Seeing your other scores, I'm pretty sure you'll pass it next time, Good Luck!

AUD: 73, 75 (Becker),
REG: 71, 72, 92 (Becker, Wiley Testbank & bit of Ninja notes),
FAR: 79 (Becker & Ninja audio. Audio was a lifesaver),
BEC: 83 (Becker & Ninja audio),
Ethics: 93

Failed exams were due to skipping materials and not taking these exams seriously. Passing scores due to reading the book twice, understanding concepts, working MCQs/SIMs multiple times, NINJA audio (FAR & BEC).

Posted 12 months ago #
Red315

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Hello all!

Just took REG today and overall I think I did ok. I just hope I did well enough to pass!

Jeanne Aparicio

B - 75 (11/2011, First Attempt)
A - 88 (2/2012, First Attempt)
R - 89 (5/2012, First Attempt)
F - 79 (8/31/2012 First Attempt)

I AM DONE!!!!!! BECKER IS AWESOME!!!!

Licensed Florida CPA 09/2012

Posted 12 months ago #
Yellowjacket116

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I just got back from taking REG, and I feel a thousand times better than I did when I took it last November. I used Becker & Becker Final review, and there were no unpleasant surprises on the exam. I finished it in about 2 hours. Here's to hoping I will never have to take another exam ever again!

FAR - 83
AUD - 90
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 86

Using Becker online course & Becker final review for all four parts

Posted 12 months ago #

1 (Yellowjacket116)
greenli2

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Just got done... I thought the mc were manageable and only felt a few were tricky, the simulations were hard and I know 1 that I blew completely ugh .... Hopefully enough to pass

BEC - 2/13 - 87
Audit - 4-16 - 99
Reg - 5-29 - 94
Far- 8-13 - 97

I use becker self-study, final review, flash cards, wiley test bank, and I make my own flash cards using studyblue.com

Posted 11 months ago #
TheCPAJourney

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I had the same experience as you greenli2. The MCQ's were okay but some were tricky.Also, I know for sure that I bombed 1 simulation completely. Hopefully, the MCQ's and the other SIMS were enough for a 75...

REG-05/29/12-80
FAR-07/03/12-83
AUD-07/20/12-84
BEC-08/02/12-Waiting

Posted 11 months ago #
BARF_is_the_word

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Here is what I thought of REG. This is my first time taking it, so I was surprised that so few topics were actually covered and they kept repeating one subject over and over again. My sims were hard, I got one that was so vague I know it had to be pre-test. I knew the concept area but the questions they were asking were not covered in WIley Or Becker. Of course I ran out of time. I had 54 minutes to do the sims and they took forever. Only had 8 minutes for my last one and it was luckily the one that was pre-test. I doubt they grade all of the sims but who knows. At least we won't have to wait long!

Posted 11 months ago #
latenight

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I just got home from the test center. I almost came out of prometric and ripped the tires off my car with fury. The testlets were alright, but the simulations were insane. If I pass, I'll be shocked.

AUD - 87
BEC - 76
FAR - 96
REG - 94

Posted 11 months ago #
TheCPAJourney

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So the common consensus is that the MCQ's were okay but the SIMS were insane. We will know in a week's time! Here is hoping we all pass!

REG-05/29/12-80
FAR-07/03/12-83
AUD-07/20/12-84
BEC-08/02/12-Waiting

Posted 11 months ago #
emrld89

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wow reg today just put me in a horrible mood. maybe it was bad luck but the sims i got were seemingly impossible. i sat there legit breaking out in hives panicking because i had felt okay on the MC. i am so disappointed.

FAR (1/13/12) - 83
BEC (4/2/12) - 89
REG (5/30/12) - 90
AUD (7/19/12) - 94

DONE! THANK YOU GOD!

Posted 11 months ago #
emrld89

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@late night....bahaha. agree completely

FAR (1/13/12) - 83
BEC (4/2/12) - 89
REG (5/30/12) - 90
AUD (7/19/12) - 94

DONE! THANK YOU GOD!

Posted 11 months ago #
sacredtheory

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I breezed through the MCQs, and absolutely blew all of the SIMs except for the research. I'm still not past my whining stage, so I'll continue to whine for at least the next two days. Here's why I feel cheated that my SIMS were so absurd:

1 - They were obscure...every single one. You know how I know this? While studying, I actually went through all of the practice SIMS in both Wiley and CPAexcel. They were nothing...nothing, like what I saw. Not even remotely close. I went home to look up the topics in my Wiley book. One of the SIMS was literally covered in three sentences. Not one of the 1,200 practice questions touched upon this topic. Three of my other SIMS were covered in one short paragraph. Seriously AICPA? Seriously? Let me mention that again...one SIM = three sentences.

2 - Partial credit. I feel fantastic about the MCQs, and normally would feel I have a decent shot of passing if I had the chance to get partial credit from the SIMS. But 4 of the SIMS, all of which I blew, were set up in the way that the answers are either right or wrong, there's no partial. Therefore, I absolutely blew 4 SIMS with no partial credit. There's no way I'll pass.

OK, I'm done whining ;-) Time to hit the books again I suppose.

BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed
REG: Passed
FAR: Passed

Jared

Posted 11 months ago #

1 (tiredmom)
futurecpa712

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Aww man I'm freaking out right now since I relied completely on Becker this time. I have an exam tomorrow.. I've taken Reg twice before and gotten a 71 and a 73.. all comments about the SIMS is making me go crazy.. I'm not sure what to expect and dont want to be stuck in 70s again.. what were the topics of the sims? were they similar to becker sims?

Posted 11 months ago #
sacredtheory

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We can't discuss the specifics of what we've seen on the exams. Don't freak out, keep your confidence up. You can do this. Just make sure to keep track of time while you're doing the MCQs. If you do this, you should be able to give yourself some breathing room for the SIMS, and if time permits, use the research function. It's there for all the SIMS, not just the research one. Good luck!

BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed
REG: Passed
FAR: Passed

Jared

Posted 11 months ago #
beachside9

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Now that I am at least through all the tests, (waiting on last release), I figured I'd share my approach to the exams. Having no experience prior to testing, I committed to a rigorous schedule that left about 2 weeks of down time/personal time (cumulative) over the past 6 months. Although I occasionally dropped in on the forum as a reader, I opted not to get caught up in over psyching myself out. Instead I kept my head in the book and made my own flashcards (in excess of 1500) as to learn through my own writing. As for the last test, REG, I found the exam similar to others remarks as the MCQ being manageable (completed all 72 in under an hour) and the simulations a bit more intense. But having the extra time I could relax and ATTEMPT to break each one down.

My personal advice, whether its of any value or not is subjective:

A) FIRST, find a reason or a motivation that drive you to WANT the CPA. (Mine was the fact that I know people that have it that probably shouldn't, so if they can do by all means I can do it)

B) Create a schedule that fits your lifestyle/demands (I wanted to be done by summer so I could enjoy Lake Michigan with my friends all summer)

C) Develop your own study habits; what works for someone else may not be the best way for yourself, and vice versa.

D) Don't overstress; If you put the work it there's little doubt there will be any other result than success..

Best of luck to all and let's hope for good news next week.

AUD: Passed (11/17/11) --- 81
FAR: Passed (2/23/12) --- 85
BEC: Passed (4/12/12) --- 89
REG: Passed (5/30/12) --- 82

BAM

Posted 11 months ago #
Texas27

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I took REG on May 18th and I am just now posting my experience because I have gone completely into no study/think about the CPA exam mode since this was hopefully my last exam. Here is how it went...

First Testlet: Might as well done it with my eyes closed it was so easy
Second Testlet: Difficult but manageable
Third Testlet: Same as the second

Sims: For the most part my sims were easy and I am very thankful for that because it seems that this is not the case for most of the people on here. There was only one that I didn't know at all but I ended up reasoning through it and I believe I got it right. The research was easy and I know I got two other sims 100% correct unless I didn't count my zeros in my calculator or something. There were 2 sims which I messed up on and realized it after the exam but I would say I still got 70% of them right.

Overall, I felt very prepared and did not see that many surprises. Hopefully I am not just overconfident which is entirely possible but we will see in a few days.

Good luck everyone. Hopefully this was my fourth and final exam experience post!

BEC - Feb 2012: 80
AUD - Feb 2012: 84
FAR - Apr 2012: 78
REG - May 2012: 90

Thanks Becker!

Posted 11 months ago #
Whyme

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I had a different experience than most of you. I took the Exam today and Testlet 1 and 3 were manageable, but testlet 2 was absurd. It was probably one of the most difficult testlets I have seen to date. I was able to narrow nearly every question down to two answers, but after that it was an educated guess. Pretty sure I bombed it as the 3rd testlet decreased in difficulty.

The SIMS were mixed, 3 including the research were familiar, but 3 were completely from left field. The 3 were not covered in either the Becker or Wiley SIMS, and the MCQ's barely touched on these topics as well.

I understand passing rates need to be kept low, but c'mon!

AUD- 71, 73, 87 Done!!!!!
BEC- 75
FAR- 72, 77
REG- 77

Posted 11 months ago #
Carl37854

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I think that I am in the same boat with a lot of you here. I thought I did pretty well on the multiple choice with the last set being very hard but doable. The sims on the other hand were an absolute beast! I have been using Gleim but I think I need a study system with harder sims to better prepare me. Does anyone have a good suggestion? How are the sims on the Wiley product? Any good reviews on the Ninja products? I am preparing like I did not pass and if so I will take it again in the first part of July while all the info is still fresh on the brain.

Posted 11 months ago #
Harry

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I took REG yesterday. I was hoping it would be my last CPA Exam. However mcq were harder than I had expected. I would say Becker DID NOT prepare me well. Also, the sims were hard. Probably got 50-60% correct. Does anyone know when they will release the scores, is it June 8th or June 7th?

Thanks

BEC 77
FAR 81
AUD 97
REG 75

Posted 11 months ago #
mgnyc

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Took REG yesterday. Yeager/Wiley prepared me great for the MCQ and really good for Sims. I don't know if the Sim topics were covered in Sim study but they were definitely touched upon at some point in the materials.

Aud 73, 79
Reg 70, 60, 67, 76
Far 70, 66, 72, 87
Bec 77

Posted 11 months ago #
ihatestudying

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just took REG this morning....i feel like I got my butt kicked...
multipe choice were harder then i expected....and the sims were excrutiating...one in particular ( i dont know if im allowed to mention the topic on here) i think i may have gotten completely wrong.....the others, i think i got the research right, and the remaining 4 were hard, but manageable for partial credit..... im really hoping for some luck that some of my guesses were correct.

AUD - 2/27/12 - 76
REG - 5/31/12 - 78
BEC - 8/31/12 - 77
FAR - 12/6/12 - 76

Posted 11 months ago #
TheCPAJourney

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I'm hoping they don't grade the simulations except for the research one haha

REG-05/29/12-80
FAR-07/03/12-83
AUD-07/20/12-84
BEC-08/02/12-Waiting

Posted 11 months ago #
dmoney21

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Hi all,

Just took Reg for the 2nd time. I took Reg last July. I felt better about it this time around than the first. For me, I am nervous because I thought the first testlet was most challenging and the next two were pretty decent. I understand that the better you do the harder it gets so that is what worries me. Sims were ok except for 2 of them which were out of control. I mean not even remotely close to anything I practiced using Becker. All in all I felt better but who knows. Anyone know when they will begin releasing the scores for this window?

Suggestion to anyone out there taking it, try to know a little bit of everything instead of a lot of a couple of things

Posted 11 months ago #
BrookeS

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Just got back from REG, and signed up for this forum after hearing about it from someone in the waiting room at Prometric, so thanks!

That sucked. It wasn't a NIGHTMARE, but it was a mini nightmare. I don't feel like I passed. I'm relying on a lot of my 50/50 "educated guesses" on MCQ's being right. My main worry is that my 3rd MCQ was REALLY easy, so that probably means I bombed the first 2 :/
First MCQ seemed medium, second was hardest, 3rd was really easy and I wish my whole test had been like it haha

Sims were not AS out of left field as a lot of you are describing, but still pretty difficult, and I personally found them to be the same difficulty as the MCQ overall, which for me was medium-hard. There was one particular topic that I did NOT focus on while studying, that I had 1.5 Sims and a TON of MCQ on.

My only stroke of luck was that I KNOW I got my Research tab right, and I found it INSTANTLY, so didn't waste any time there. For once I'm HOPING they grade the research tab, and weigh it equally in comparison with the others so maybe I can get an easy 6-7 points off it.

Oy vey. Im NOT looking forward to retaking this in July, when I start BEC classes this weekend and already have BEC exam scheduled for July 14th. Maybe, by some MIRACLE, I passed? Doubt it.

AUD-99 (April 2012)
REG-82 (May 2012)
BEC-82 (July 2012)
FAR- 80 (November 2012)

DONE in 7 months, TY BECKER!

Posted 11 months ago #

1 (dtomasello)
Haldius

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Hey all! I just took REG this morning and thought I'd share a few thoughts.

I thought the test was pretty tough... The first testlet seemed pretty straightforward to me and then the next two seemed much more difficult (which is apparently a good thing). I must've done decent on the second testlet to merit a hard 3rd testlet.

As for the SIMS, I for some reason struggled finding the research question for a while but eventually think I came across the right answer. 2 of the other SIMS seemed really straightforward (which kinda worries me) so I think I got 80%+ on each of those. 2 of the other SIMS were ok but I didn't know a few of the answers on each of them... Maybe 65% or so on those. 1 of the SIMS was a COMPLETE joke so I'm really hoping it was a pretest SIM. If not, I'd be surprised if I got any of it right.

All in all, I actually felt ok about the test which came as a surprise to me. After reading the comments in here, I expected to walk out feeling completely defeated. While it was hard, I feel like I have at least a 50/50 chance of passing it. It was definitely tough but I'm hoping/praying for the best.

Seeing the harder MCQ's in testlets 2 and 3 gave me confidence that I must be doing well. (Or maybe I'm just crazy and testlets 2-3 were both medium and just seemed harder...) Hopefully my MCQ guesses and SIM guesses were enough to pull me through.

For now, time to study FAR in hopes that REG is checked off!

REG (5/31/12) - 90
FAR (7/12/12) - 85
AUD (8/23/12) - 91
BEC (10/13/12) - 85

Using Becker 2012 Materials, Self-Study

Posted 11 months ago #
BARF_is_the_word

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I've gotta say I always snicker to myself when I hear of someone who tested in the high 90's or even low 90's for that matter say they bombed a test. LOL! You guys are really smart, and trust me you obviously prepare well for exams if you got that high of a score. So relax, you will be fine. It's people like me who have to worry! Back to this SIM conversation because I have a question. Really there is no way to know how they grade the SIMS so I'm just looking for opinions. Like I said, I spent too much time on my REG mc because I didn't sleep for crap the night before. I also like re-reading questions sometimes multiple times looking for a trick in the wording- which I often find. I only had 54 minutes for the sims, which was disappointing because I really wanted to use the research function. The lack of time didn't allow me to do much research. I'm wondering how many of the 6 sims they actually grade in reg? They "say" 5 of the 6, but I just don't buy that! Not when I see some of the scores people crank out. I'm thinking they actually throw out at least 2 of the 6. I knew for sure the one that was pretest because it wasn't telling me all of the details I felt I needed (I hope at least it was pretest). I think I rocked the mc but they didn't get harder. So either I knew the questions they were asking (which could be ) or I was missing them and felt I knew the right answer. Guess I won't know til next Thursday like everyone else. So to Brooke and the other 90's people, you have nothing to sweat. Relax and have a cocktail! I'm the one sweating here! Did anyone ever feel like they bombed the sims on another section and still pass or still pass and get a high score?

Posted 11 months ago #
leha15

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BARF_is_the_word:

I am glad someone finally commented on here that they felt confident on the m/c. I felt like I was almost over prepared...and this frightens me. Yes, the Sims sucked - but if they sucked for everyone there is still hope I am assuming.

I studied using Becker and felt that Becker dove in deep while the actual exam did not for the most part.

Not sure what to think at this point!

B: May 2013
A: 70 Feb 2013 / May 2013
R: 94! May 2012
F: 72 Aug 2012 / 83! Nov 2012

Posted 11 months ago #
DETERMINATION

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Just my 2 cents but I don't think any of the review courses have their arms around a decent study technique (as evidenced by the notes you get when you sign up for the course). It seems (based on my experience and what I've read here) they're all just throwing crap against a wall and seeing what sticks. At the end of the day it's going to boil down to carving your own path...sucks!! I feel like the other sections had much more organized approaches.
REG is a cluster%#!@.

CPA Exam scores (all parts taken 2x):
AUD (11/17/11) - 77
FAR (04/15/11) - 78
REG (08/30/12) - 80
BEC (08/05/11) - 81
ETHICS (09/18/12) - 90
Studied with Yaeger/Wiley/Gleim
===============================
CIA - (passed in 2007)
Studied with Gleim

Posted 11 months ago #
NySinghCPA1985

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Took reg yesterday I felt that the MCQs were not that hard. They didnt question as many topics as covered in Becker. Most of the questions dealt with CPA responsibility and liabilities. I had 3 flagged questions that i wasn't too sure about per MCQ testlet. I finished just in time without a second to spare to go back and review my answers.. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one

FAR 1/22/13 64 Rematch in May
REG 5/30/12 81
AUD 1/22/12 71 Rematch in April
BEC 2/28/13 TBA

Posted 11 months ago #
CPA-Convertible

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Everyone keeps saying Taxation, taxation, taxation! So I studied a LOT on taxation. In fact, I devoted last few days before the test studying taxation. Well, it's important, but they are LOTS of other topics are equally important as taxation! Yes, SIMS sucks!

AUD - Passed - 8-31-11
BEC - Passed - 11-29-11
FAR - Passed - 2-29-12
REG - Passed - 5/31/12
CPA converted - 7/23/12 :-)

Posted 11 months ago #
ddrumm5

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Well I sat for REG on Monday... Hmmm I am an enrolled agent and have been a tax accountant for 16 years. This was fun!!! Not They are evil little trolls who come up with some of the questions. Using Gleim for multiple choice and followling up with Becker Final Review. Hopefully it will be enough!!!

AUD 70 / 87
REG 90
FAR 80
BEC 74 /80 I am done Thank you Jesus!!!
Licensed CPA Florida 12/21/2012 Done & Done.

Posted 11 months ago #

REG - Exam Experience

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