Kozak and ice86, if you are still reading these forums, I am curious as well.  Have you guys found out any more information?  I just got my final score and have a 390 total. 

According to this link, a 2008 winner also had 390 total (search for Elijah Watt in the below)
http://www.cpaexcel.com/candidates/success_stories.html
However, I see from the previous page that there is another cpanet member who got 390 last year and did not get the award.

Let's keep each other posted if we hear more about this award or otherwise find out more information.

Btw Kozak, I see that like me, you got your lowest score on BEC and got perfect scores on the rest.  I hope our BEC scores did not take us out of the running (I could use anything to make my resume look better!), but maybe BEC is just graded extra harshly.  Like many other people on these forums, I actually walked out of BEC feeling most comfortable (and FAR feeling the worst) but got my lowest score in BEC.  I don't think I have heard of anyone scoring above 94 on BEC in recent years.

FYI I found this list that cpaexcel publishes of its top scoring students, gives us some idea of what other high scorers have gotten, although I have seen Becker advertise that how most or all Elijah Watt Sells award winners use Becker:
http://www.cpaexcel.com/student_center/student_award_recogni tion.html

KJ -

I think you've got the highest cumulative score I've seen so far.  I'm interested in any additional information anyone hears too.  I felt great coming out of (and going into) BEC too, but given Kozak's score and yours, I wouldn't be surprised to see it around 90.

But I have a theory.  I think that how you feel going into an exam is a better indicator of how you did than how you feel coming out of it, because you could get a very difficult exam that knocks you down a few pegs but it ends up getting graded leniently because of its difficulty.  On the other hand, you could get an easy exam which makes you feel like a genius but gets graded nit-picky.  For example:

I felt good going into REG and bad coming out of it, it was a bastard of an exam...99

I felt okay going into AUD and great coming out of it (so great in fact, that it made me question how I'd done on REG), there wasn't anything on it I'd never heard of, like on REG...98

And I felt mediocre going into FAR and mediocre coming out of it, but again there hadn't been anything I hadn't heard of...98

I felt great going into BEC, great coming out, even though there were one or two things I'd never heard of...?? (coming next month)

I realize that there's only a one point spread on my data but it's all I have to go off of.  What do you guys think?  Which is the better indicator of scores - preparedness (how you feel going in) or impression of the exam (how you feel coming out)?

Gina

P.S. Great scores everyone!  And congratulations on just PASSING!

Gina, congrats on the great scores so far!

I agree that how you feel going into an exam is a better indicator of how you did than how you feel coming out of it.  However, I prepared very thoroughly and felt the same going into all 4 exams.  I felt pretty bad coming out of FAR, felt OK coming out of BEC, and mediocre coming out of the other 2.

BEC seems to be the lowest score for many people, especially the high scorers, and it is the exam many people feel best coming out of.  My theory is that it is an easy exam that is graded harshly.  The MCQ testlets of the other sections are adaptive, so when you do well, you get one "medium" and two "hard" testlets, and the "hard" questions are worth more points.  BEC is the only non-adaptive section, see
http://www.cpa-exam.org/download/How_the_CPA_Exam_is_Scored. pdf
Maybe all BEC testlets are medium, so you would need a higher raw % right to get a given score on BEC than you would on the other exams.  Depending on what raw score you need in order to get the 99s on the other sections, I wonder if it is not possible to get 99 on BEC.  Too bad it's so difficult to find out about the scores of the Elijah Watt Sells winners, but I've heard of plenty of 99s on all exams in recent years except BEc.  Note that the BEC as we have it now has been around only since maybe 2004, when the CPA exam was rewritten and computerized, so I don't think higher scores from years before 2004 are comparable.

Good luck on the BEC score, Gina, and do let us know when it comes out next month!

KJ,

Oh, I didn't realize that BEC wasn't adaptive!  I didn't feel like the questions were getting harder, like on the other exams, so it had me a little worried!  I just figured I had answered too many Becker/Wiley questions to even be able to recognize difficult questions anymore.  Well, that's a relief.

Interesting what you're saying about the raw scores and the possibility that a 99 is not achievable on BEC.  I've never seen one, granted I haven't seen all that many scores.  You would think they'd set the raw score to final score scale to a point where it would be possible to get a perfect score though.  Eh, who knows.  I suppose if you and Kozak can't do it, no one can, huh?

I definitely over-prepared for these exams but better than under-preparing, right?  Well, I'm just glad it's over (hopefully).

Gina