[Anonymous]

Whats the most basic bare bones advice you successful FAR candidates can give to tackling the SIMS?? (Feel free to go into as much detail as you’d like).

Jeff – if you’d like to weigh in as well, feel free (actually, please do…)

I would have passed this section on my first two attempts but for these stupid things!

[rupert]

I know this sounds extremely basic, but in my opinion, the only sure fire way is to thoroughly UNDERSTAND the material. I didn't practice any SIMS because I felt comfortable with my understanding of the material.

FAR 90 Oct. 6, 2012
AUD 96 Dec. 8, 2012
REG 93 May 30, 2013
BEC 84 Aug. 31, 2013

NIU CPA Review Correspondence and Wiley Test Bank

[Anonymous]

Learn how to use the Authoritative Literature!

[littlenumberrobot]

Don't overcomplicate things. I found this my best weapon. Drill down to get the simple facts straight then deal with the extra info(sometimes there to trick you) later.

CA CPA - All because of the journey listed below
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FAR - 53('10), 8/25/12 79 PASSED!
REG - 66('11), 69('12), 12/06/12 77 PASSED!!
BEC - 58('10), 74('12), 01/05/13 77 PASSED!!!
AUD - 43('11), 66('12), 69('13), 74('13) 7/29/13 85 PASSED!!!!!

(Combinations of Roger, Yaeger, Wiley Book, Wiley TB, & NINJA Notes)

Ethics 90%

[rupert]

@Kricket – That is an extremely valuable piece of advice for the AUD exam. I didn't even think to use it when I took FAR. I wouldn't have had time to use it anyway…I finished with under a minute remaining and still didn't review my answers as much as I would've liked.

FAR 90 Oct. 6, 2012
AUD 96 Dec. 8, 2012
REG 93 May 30, 2013
BEC 84 Aug. 31, 2013

NIU CPA Review Correspondence and Wiley Test Bank

[g_freeman]

You're taking Financial…SO KNOW FINANCIAL. There is no way you're going to get an easy ticket out. KNOW your journal entries, KNOW the financial statements, KNOW accrual accounting concepts, and KNOW your effective interest method.

The SIMS hinge on the fundamentals. They will throw curve balls, but the bulk is the raw concepts that you must be able to apply.

FAR - 94
AUD - 99
REG - 88
BEC - TBD

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the honest/quick responses…

I find it extermemly difficult to understand how I can score ~85% on the MCQ and not understand the concepts on the SIMS to the point where it would pull me into failing range…

Additionally, for example, on my last exam, 5 of 7 were JE based…and the majority were NOT your standard JE's…one 5 step JE SIM was over a topic covered in becker…but NO JE problems/examples were shown…I triple checked.

Is it possible to just get a run of terrible SIMS?? I would think that with the level of SIMS that I got that the MCQ performance and SIMS difficulty would be related, but thats not the case per authoritative sources.

[Pippy Longstocking 93105]

Know the material! Very well said.

Practice those AJEs. If you're really well prepared you'll do fine. Know the obscure ones, there are not that many weird ones. Easy way to pick up points is to review and understand the AJEs a couple days before the exam.

FAR covers so much depth of material you can't guess what is going to be on the exam. So instead you have to be ready for all of it.

The problem with Becker is they take too many short cuts. You can do their program and walk into an exam not as well prepared as you'd like.

Problem with Wiley is that they cover way to many areas.

Somewhere is a happy medium

Passed all 4
Done!
If I can pass, you can too!

[LEFTHOOK]

FILL OUT EVERYTHING!!!! Don't EVER leave blanks even if you don't know the answer, especially on J/Es.

*FIN!!!* It was a long 7 months!

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for the responses guys.

I should have clarified that the 85% on MCQ I mentioned above are “actual” exam results, computed the best I could using the information provided along with FAIL notification. Maybe I'm just still not over it, but how can you perform at that level and not understand JE's, financial statements, etc. I've been in public for 6 years…trust me, I know how to draft up the former.

I really wish I could detail the SIMS I had…if for no other purpose than to compare for difficulty.

I guess the only route to the take at this point is to take the review prep one step further by not only doing more multiple choice practice questions, but write up the journal entires even when not required. Anyone do this?

[Anonymous]

@Lefthook – What if you were in a scenario that provided room for a four entry JE and only two entires were required? If you entered zero's in four of the spaces where nothing is required, wouldnt this do harm?

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with the majority here, you have to know the material, more specifically your JE's. Sure there are gonna be some curve balls in there that many of us will struggle on, but if you have a fairly good understanding of the material you should be able to navigate through them with some educated guesses…..at least enough to get a passing score which at the end of the day is all that matters.

These test are set up in a complex way by very smart people to see if you have enough knowledge to be a CPA. There is no beating the system with shortcuts

[Anonymous]

@ Beavis – Totally agree…i'm not trying to dispute anything anyone has said. And I do understand what you and others are REALLY saying. When I see others trying to take shortcuts and leverage information without effort I get frustated too. I should note that this is my section left to pass and missed FAR in the last window by two points…all due to SIMS.

I'm just at a loss for an explanation. I think I'm going to just chalk it up to bad luck, move on, and HAMMER JE's for every possible set of circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Goodluck endless02. Another thing i think is very important is to nail the research question……i almost feel like those are free points. For all we know it could even be weighted more because of the simple fact if you cant cant look up a simple research topic, should you be a CPA?

Just a thought…i could be completely full of s**t though

[Anonymous]

Beavis – definitely agree. I will qualify that by saying the AICPA's version of research through their own database, query, and search results differ than that in the “real world” research databases.

I'm actually really suprised there arent any excel (even basic) related tasks. In my opinion, if you can't operate excel proficiently as an auditor, especially in the scope of large engagements, your value to your firm goes down significantly.

[Anonymous]

Look first at the questions which are asked……there are often distractor facts and data put in there to bulk up the SIM so that you get overwhelmed. Looking at the question/objective will help you throw away useless data.

Be SURE to check and make sure you digest any and all supplemental data on other tabs. I had a fear that I had forgot to look for more information on one of my SIMS.

Find and do the research SIM(s) first. Easy points that will hopefully calm your nerves and give you a guaranteed win to bolster your confidence. Do a very brief look at the other SIMS and then rate based on difficulty. Usually the pretest SIM will be considered more difficult so by doing the difficult SIMS last, you will prioritize your time on the SIMS that should count. Also remember you are building points so doing the SIMS that you are more comfortable with first will help maximize points. There's nothing worse than leaving points on the table because you did the hardest SIMS first or ran out of time struggling up front.

Be sure to use all your time and revisit SIMS that you think are done to confirm you didn't miss a small detail in the explanation and to feel more comfortable with your answers.

Read the SIMS as they sometimes have specialized instructions for non-entry cells.

[Author]

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