[StuckBelow60]

Took Reg today and I had an interesting experience:

The MCQ were tons of basic Acct and B-law information with a few individual tax and Corp tax thrown in. Not too hard, but deffineatly more conceptual then number problems. MCQ didn’t seem to harder (i that bad?) and it was the same as the 1st. I flagged a few B-Law ones (kinda wish I had brushed up more, but it’s fine) but overall not terrible. I know one I got wrong (grumble grumble), but the ones I guessed on I think I did ok.

The first set of Sims I realized on the beams I messed up the 2nd portion of one (isn’t that just the worst? Like it just puts you in a mood), but I was like “gotta move on”. Both had lost of exhibits. I used AL to make sure if some smaller things.

Second set the AL took me literally 3 minute to look up, if that. Very easy. Also an easier Ind tax question- i recommend using the AL when possible. The 3re set was a lot of the similar questions. Overalll, I had 40min to spare! I don’t think I rushed either.

My advice- go over your entity transactions, B-Law, and know about propert transactions. Not as hard as I’ve seen in the past (this is my 4th time- don’t judge. We can’t all pass on the first), and know how to use AL.

Not sure if I passed- but I felt better then I have on others.

[amens]

I'm taking reg at the end of the month, thanks for posting this really helpful tips! Fingers crossed for a pass for both of us.

[Recked]

sounds like you did well this time around
best of luck!

Memento Mori - Kingston NY CPA & EA (SUNY Albany 2002)

FAR-93 11/9/17 (10wks, 250 hrs, Roger 1800+ MCQs, Gleim TB 600+MCQs, SIMs)
AUD-88 12/7/17 (3 wks, 85 hrs, Roger 1000 MCQs no SIMs hail mary)
REG-96 1/18/18 (6 wks, 110 hrs, 1400 MCQs, no SIMs)
BEC-91 2/16/18 (4wks, 90 hrs, 1240 MCQs)

[Red]

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for sharing StuckBelow60! I just finished (less than an hour ago) the 1st Becker mock exam and scored a 53%, and have spent the last 40 minutes in meltdown mode. Prior to taking the mock exam I was feeling positive about taking REG this Thursday. It seems like ppl have said there are a lot of B-law MCQs even though the Becker videos indicate there are not so many. I studied B-law thoroughly and there were very few MCQs on the 1st Becker mock exam.
Do you have any suggestions for the AL? I had no problems searching and finding information for AUD and FAR but it seems as if I can spend 30 minutes looking for something in the IRS AL. Thank you.

AUD - 78 (10/2017) Becker
FAR -  77 (09/2018) Becker/Ninja, 65 (4/2018) Becker
REG - 79 (08/2018) Becker
BEC - 80 (12/2018) Becker/Ninja

[Tncincy]

@stuckbelow60 You probably did fine, and I agree we can't pass them all the first time or the second (lol). thanks for the study tips. I completely for got about AL. I guess I'm studying to not have to research, but I'll work it in. My concern is being able to complete the sims. everyone says don't practice them. Best of luck and blessings to you and stay posted. Which section will you work on now?

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader.....time to pass

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Anonymous]

I took REG on 8/4/18 but my experience was different than @stuckbelow60. Most of my MCQs were calculation and very tax-heavy. (I hope that isn't too much disclosure.) I do not feel at all confident. The 2nd MCQ testlet did not seem to get harder which does worry me. There were a few that I had to completely guess on – my calculations didn't match any of the answer choices. I had plenty of time to complete the sims, but my problem was that they always seem to throw some twist into the the concept that makes you question everything you know! I had a fairly solid grasp of most of the concepts, but then the sim will present it in a completely different way or add some nuance to it that makes it different. I definitely used the AL quite a bit to help me get through the sims, and I hadn't used it at all for FAR or AUD. I ended with about an hour to spare and I wish I had spent more time triple-checking my calculations in each sim testlet. I usually don't change my MCQ answers from my first answer (because usually my first answer was correct), but I wish I had triple-checked all my calculations in the sims.

I would say that practicing sims is a waste of time because what you see on the actual exam will likely be different concepts/topics than what you practiced. If this is your first exam it's good to do a few from your review course or the AICPA sample exam, just to get a feel for what they are like, but using them to review concepts is a waste of time because they take so long to get through. I would recommend just doing as many MCQs as you can during your review phase.

[Anonymous]

@Red on the actual exam using the search bar in the AL works a lot better than in the review course (I'm using Wiley). I was able to use it a lot to drill down to the correct section and it worked really well.

[Red]

Well, now I'm nervous again considering @Panders' MCQs were calculation and tax heavy 🙁 Thanks for the tip on the AL!

AUD - 78 (10/2017) Becker
FAR -  77 (09/2018) Becker/Ninja, 65 (4/2018) Becker
REG - 79 (08/2018) Becker
BEC - 80 (12/2018) Becker/Ninja

[raj]

Took REG today and first testlet went fine. 2nd testlet.. last 15 questions were pretty tough. Overall, the there was bits and pieces of all of the topics – honestly don't even remember most of what I was tested on. Once I got to the sims, it was tough. People say REG sims are tough and they lived up to the hype. I had to look at AL to find rules regarding topics and try to figure out the answer. On most sims, there were documents to look at so I would definitely recommend getting used to that. Overall, I would have definitely failed today without AL, I hope that the authorative lit helps me get over the 75 hurdle. I took two mock exams and got 48 and 68 so hoping for the best. Good luck to everyone who is taking it!

** I used ninja mcqs and I felt that questions I encountered there put me in a good position for the mcqs**

AUD - 79
BEC - 92
FAR - 87
REG - 95

 

 

BEC - testing 9/10/18

[CS]

Best of luck to you all.

@Panders – I had the same exact feeling as you. Once I hit the SIMs, I really felt like I was pretty strong on those subjects walking into the exam, but the nuances they threw in spun me around and had me scrambling like a maniac through the IRC, which I'm not great with. There's so many subtopics, I was struggling to pinpoint the material I needed. I practices very few SIMs (Gleim) for this test, 3 or 4 and barely finished them, and didn't regret it after because like you said, you really never know what you're getting. As I've gone through the exams, I found myself practicing more MCQs and less SIMs but scoring higher.
Also for anyone studying, I found Gleim's version of the IRC identical to the exam, whereas Roger points you to the website.

 

 

[Anonymous]

@Red – have confidence! This thread just goes to show that everybody's exam is different. Let us know how it went!

[Maitoure]

I am taking it tomorrow and only had 15 days to study and do not feel confident at all – So I have been redoing B Laws questions because the mock exam I took was full of it and threw me off. I dnt think Ill make it tomorrow 🙁

AUD - 87
BEC - 78
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

@needstobeover

[Anonymous]

I took REG on 8/4 as well. I agree with more conceptual questions than calculations on MCQ but I felt it was not easy and it got harder on the second testlet.
The sims were very tough. I had one sim I have never seen anywhere and I just put whatever I think the best but I had no clue what is right. I just hope that was pretest.
One was AL which was fine. I had two DRS and one was pretty long with bunch of exhibits. I had only 11 minutes left at end and reviewed the last testlet again and found one error. I left the room with 1 minute and 30 seconds left.
Overall I felt it was tough. I felt the same way with all others but I passed other three at one try. I hope this is the last exam.

[Red]

My exam (8/9) was similar to @Panders. Both MCQs testlets were tax heavy calculations. Second set of MCQs actually seemed a little easier, which makes no sense to me. I thought the exams were set at both MCQ testlets being of medium difficulty but if you do well on the 1st testlet, the 2nd testlet will be medium-hard. SIMs seemed fairly straightforward but then I began to doubt everything I thought I knew…FMV…no, use NBV…no, use FMV…no, use NBV. Normally I would go back to my original answer but my brain was drowning and I wasn't sure what my original answers would have been. LOL, I can only laugh at this point. Spent too much time changing answers and wasn't able to complete one of the SIMs.

Now back to FAR.

AUD - 78 (10/2017) Becker
FAR -  77 (09/2018) Becker/Ninja, 65 (4/2018) Becker
REG - 79 (08/2018) Becker
BEC - 80 (12/2018) Becker/Ninja

[Anonymous]

….”wasn't able to complete one of the SIMs”…As in NOT any one of the SIMs? They’re 50% of the CPA test.

[StuckBelow60]

Update: I PASSED with a 78! This was my 4th try and I FINALLY PASSED! Hope everyone else did well too.

[Author]

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