This tutorial paper presents the design methodology of system-level simulators targeted for code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular standards such as EV-DO (Evolution-Data Only) and broadcast multicast service (BCMCS). The basic structure and simulation flow of system-level simulators are delineated, following the procedure of cell layout, mobile drops, channel modeling, received power calculation, scheduling, packet error prediction, and traffic generation. Packet data transmissions on the forward link of CDMA systems and EV-DO BCMCS systems are considered for modeling simulators. System-level simulators for cellular standards are modeled and developed with high-level languages and utilized to evaluate and predict air interface performance metrics including capacity and coverage.