Any good exam day stories - candidates flipping out, overeager proctors etc??

London experience was a little farcical.
The PA system wasn’t working so we couldn’t start the morning exam on time. Exam papers were distributed to desks but they didn’t start as they weren’t able to read the instructions out. People were kept in seats and told to keep quiet, after about 30 minutes they let people make toilet runs and suddenly the entire room room bursts out into discussion. The proctors didn’t know what to do. By the rule book, they should have ejected a thousand plus people from the program there and then =) In the end, we started about 45 minutes late.
Just after 12:00, the PA system started blurting out messages from one of the other testing rooms whilst we were still writing the exam, and about 10 minutes after that there was a message letting the L1/L2 candidates know that our exam was overrunning and to be respectful and quiet in the hallways. There were a few chuckles in our room at the irony of this being loudly broadcast over the PA into the room still writing the exam. When our AM session finished, still working PA for the post exam messages.
The afternoon session was postponed by 45 minutes, but unfortunately the majority of candidates weren’t aware of this and rushed their lunch and were queuing up to go back in at 13:30, then had the same drawn out wait for the exam to start as in the morning.
Oops.
 
I guess Frankfurt is a piece of cake then
there is also the areas where you could leave your stuff outside and it takes ages to get them back. So I simply only thake with me what I actually need.
They only open one bathroom at that building level, but you can go downstairs and spare the waiting.
Waiting time for morning session like 5-10 minutes, so 1 hour net break. I went to a thai nearby and was the only candidate there to have a bit quiet.
If I knew you could leave early, I would be out at 16:30 the evening…
 
kh.asif Wrote:
——————————————————-
> This story was posted in another thread but I am
> repeating it as it is more relevant to this
> thread. I am from Bangladesh and on the day of the
> exam there was a planned strike by the main
> opposition party. We were expecting a major
> showdown and there was a chance that exam would be
> cancelled. The night before the exam around 20
> buses were burnt by the opposition activists who
> called the strike. Fortunately it wasn’t but CFAI
> gave candidates deferment/or refund option which
> around 40-50% candidates took.
>
> The rest of the candidates who appeared use one of
> the 3 strategies
>
> 1. Some traveled in ambulances which are allowed
> to ply even during strikes.
> 2. Some came to the exam center at around 6 am.
> 3. The last group managed living accommodations
> near the exam center.
>
> I came back home in an ambulance myself. We were
> around 9-10 people inside one small ambulance.
Good luck with that liberalization/integration thing. I can barely imagine taking the exam under those circumstances.
 
I have to admit the London experience was pretty bizarre. Something to do with a power failure but didn’t exactly help the nerves.
 
This is pretty meek compared with protestors lighting buses on fire in Bangladesh, but at the Hilton Grand Ballroom in New York the guy reading the instructions was borderline illiterate. He made like 40 mistakes and it took him an absurdly long time to read. And no improvement the second time around.
 
Nothing exciting in Denver but during lunch, while munching a sandwich in my car and casually reviewing a few topics that didn’t appear in the AM, I heard several other L3 candidates (there were only about 30-40 of us) feverishly discussing low-point questions and trying to figure out if they got the right answer. The funny thing was that they were driving themselves visibly crazy doing this. I wasn’t really listening but I think they may have actually been wrong in some of their conclusions and I felt bad for them.
A few minutes later, when they dispersed, one guy remained and another guy (a friend of his, I’m guessing) came up to him and asked him if he had been discussing any of the questions and advising him that this wouid pretty bad for his test-taking psyche. The first guy then said “yeah, I know, I didn’t discuss anything” even though he was at the center of the discussion! I made a point every year to totally isolate myself during lunchtime from friends and other test-takers since the need to see if you are “right” doesn’t always lead to the correct conclusion.
Oh yeah – the only food within walking distance was a Burger King. I saw a bunch of candidates heading over there at lunch. Dangerous move considering what that food can do to your digestive system in the middle of the exam!
 
seemorr Wrote:
——————————————————-
> This is pretty meek compared with protestors
> lighting buses on fire in Bangladesh, but at the
> Hilton Grand Ballroom in New York the guy reading
> the instructions was borderline illiterate. He
> made like 40 mistakes and it took him an absurdly
> long time to read. And no improvement the second
> time around.
Right there with you Seemorr. I wondered actually if they were gonna swap him with someone else. I think I counted 20 “I’m sorry”s in the 5 minutes it took him to read instructions.
 
The Sheraton in NYC was freezing, they had the AC blasting when it was 65 degrees out. All I had on was a pair of shorts and my Dubinsky t-shirt.
 
bpdulog Wrote:
——————————————————-
> The Sheraton in NYC was freezing, they had the AC
> blasting when it was 65 degrees out. All I had on
> was a pair of shorts and my Dubinsky t-shirt.
Better for it to be cold than overwarm IMO. I liked it. Taking the CFA in tropical climates would just be terrible with the humidity!
 
kh.asif Wrote:
——————————————————-
> This story was posted in another thread but I am
> repeating it as it is more relevant to this
> thread. I am from Bangladesh and on the day of the
> exam there was a planned strike by the main
> opposition party. We were expecting a major
> showdown and there was a chance that exam would be
> cancelled. The night before the exam around 20
> buses were burnt by the opposition activists who
> called the strike. Fortunately it wasn’t but CFAI
> gave candidates deferment/or refund option which
> around 40-50% candidates took.
>
> The rest of the candidates who appeared use one of
> the 3 strategies
>
> 1. Some traveled in ambulances which are allowed
> to ply even during strikes.
> 2. Some came to the exam center at around 6 am.
> 3. The last group managed living accommodations
> near the exam center.
>
> I came back home in an ambulance myself. We were
> around 9-10 people inside one small ambulance.
Although the ambulance was damn hot, i really enjoyed the journey. everyone was enjoying every bit of conversation. Relaxed mind!!
 
Hey nazmul.razu and kh.asif,
I write about CFA exams for Bloomberg (and took Level III in much calmer conditions in NYC this weekend). That’s a crazy story, would love to get more details and write it up. Really puts everyone’s exam nuisance stories in perspective.
Anyone who went through that, please shoot me an email ([email protected]) and I can get in touch to discuss.
Thanks,
Michael
Sorry everyone for the public spamming, wish this had PMs.
 
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