Brought wrong calc.. calc taken away.. proctor makes false statement on violation report

H

hmm

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I first want to start by saying I’m a dumbass. I brought the wrong calculator to the exam. When I got to the testing center I realized I had left my TI BA II Plus at my Airbnb rental close by, but I had an HP 10BII on me. This is where things got very confusing. I kept on asking the security guard over and over if I could have someone drop the calculator off. English obviously wasn’t his first language and there was a communication issue of whether I could have someone drop the calculator off and if I could have someone give it to him. I remember there was an HP calculator that was on the approved list so I assumed that it was an approved calculator. I didn’t know how to use the important functions on the HP (NPV, multiple cash flows, etc.) so I really wanted my TI.
I was so confused as to what my options were so I made the decision to use the HP for the first half and planned on picking up my TI for the second half. The security guard allowed me to enter with my HP, but took almost everything else from me, including my wallet.
I had this unapproved calculator out in the open the WHOLE TIME. About a minute after the exam started a proctor that I had never spoke with came up to me took the calculator away. I was SHOCKED. SHOCKED and CONFUSED.
He then made a false statement on the violation report stating that there was already a discussion that I had brought an invalid model. 100% UNTRUE. I don’t want to call him a liar because lying means there he was intentionally trying to deceive. What I will say is that proctor had NOTHING to do with the discussion I had with the security guard. He wasn’t even present throughout the conversation!! I think he SHOULD HAVE been part of the discussion in order to clear up any confusion. My ONLY interaction with that proctor was when he took the calculator away.
So now the CFA Institute has given me an option to agree to an “early resolution agreement.” I don’t disagree with the fact that I brought a unapproved calculator to the exam room, but it’s completely false to say that I intentionally did.
I purposely got an Airbnb close by and had I known the calculator was not approved I would have just went back and got the approved calculator. I even submitted screenshots to show how close the Airbnb rental was to the testing center and included the receipt. Also, a rational person wouldn’t use an unapproved calculator after being told the calculator is unapproved. How outrageously stupid and ridiculous would one have to be to do that?
I want to emphasize that this situation is 100% my fault. I am the one who made the mistake of being unorganized and bringing the wrong calculator. My biggest issue is the false statement made by the proctor makes it sound like I intentionally broke the rules. This is so frustrating. They proctor should have been more careful with his words and maybe he should have also been a part of the registration/check-in process, instead of allowing a security guard to do this. I feel like people that were present in the testing center should be interviewed in order to prove that the proctor’s statement is false, but I feel like this won’t happen.
Again, I am an idiot. You don’t have to remind me of this. I think INTENT is what is important here and I do not want to admit to a false statement that unfairly attacks my character. I feel like there is no way I can fight this and win because I admit that an unapproved calculator was brought into the exam room, but I do not want to admit to something I didn’t do and the proctor’s version of events is completely false. Thoughts?
 
what was the early resolution agreement they offered to you
 
Hang on… When you check in the proctors check your exam ticket and your calculators…. The security guard has nothing to do with the check in process. Distilling what you’ve written down to brass tacks is basically “I brought in a calculator I knew wasn’t an approved model cos sone random security guy said it was ok… Then when a real proctor saw my unofficial calculator they (correctly) sanctioned me for it and now I’m angry as I’m being rightfully sanctioned”.
Seriously…. You KNOWINGLY brought in a disallowed calculator into the exam room because…. Well because what!!??
What is your argument!?
 
S666 wrote: Hang on… When you check in the proctors check your exam ticket and your calculators…. The security guard has nothing to do with the check in process. Distilling what you’ve written down to brass tacks is basically “I brought in a calculator I knew wasn’t an approved model cos sone random security guy said it was ok… Then when a real proctor saw my unofficial calculator they (correctly) sanctioned me for it and now I’m angry as I’m being rightfully sanctioned”.
Seriously…. You KNOWINGLY brought in a disallowed calculator into the exam room because…. Well because what!!??
What is your argument!?
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No, I did NOT know it was not approved. The proctors SHOULD have been the ones checking me in, but they did NOT. THE SECURITY GUARD CHECKED ME IN before entering the testing center, NOT THE PROCTOR. I already mentioned that if I knew it wasn’t approved I would have just went back to my Airbnb rental to pick up the approved one.
There is nothing I can do about it now, but I feel that the proctor should have been out front to properly examine everything and clear up any confusion.
My ONLY issue is that the statement the proctor made on the violation report was 100% FALSE. It made me look like I intentionally brought in the wrong calculator. The proctor stated there was a discussion during registration that I had brought an invalid model. 100% FALSE. THE PROCTOR WASN’T EVEN PRESENT AT CHECK-IN AND MY ONLY INTERACTION WITH HIM WAS WHEN HE TOOK MY CALCULATOR. The conversation with the security guard had NOTHING to do with the non-approved calculator.
I take false attacks on my integrity and character very seriously. This is the problem. I can speculate as to why the proctor said what he said, but i won’t. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I don’t think you read my whole message. I WAS NEVER TOLD THAT THE CALCULATOR WAS INVALID BEFOREHAND. 100% FALSE STATEMENT.
I will repeat this again. I know i’m an idiot and this is 100% my fault. I’m just explaining the issue I have with my particular situation due to a proctor saying something completely untrue.
 
itera wrote: what was the early resolution agreement they offered to you
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Private reprimand…
Question… am I allowed to publicly disclose the verbatim of what the proctor wrote in the violation report? I’m pretty sure there is no rule against it… i’m just super paranoid with everything now.
 
hmm wrote:
S666 wrote: You KNOWINGLY brought in a disallowed calculator into the exam room?
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No, I did NOT know it was not approved.
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The point is that it is your responsibility to know. The list of allowable calculators is quite short.
 
S2000magician wrote:
hmm wrote:
S666 wrote: You KNOWINGLY brought in a disallowed calculator into the exam room?
Click to expand...
No, I did NOT know it was not approved.
Click to expand...
The point is that it is your responsibility to know. The list of allowable calculators is quite short.
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Agreed. I am an idiot and it could be argued I deserve to get my ass beat.
If I bought an deep out-of-money put option on myself before the exam… It would currently be deep in-the-money.
 
So are you trying to be absolved completely? I don’t understand the end goal here. Just be honest about what happened and accept the CFA’s decision. If you feel the proctors are making false statements, make the correct ones.
 
Yea, nothing you can do, rule is clear you cannot bring an unapproved calculator to the exam no matter what anybody says, all you had to do was read the requirements listed on CFAI’s website…
 
You’re supposed to check in with your proctor *before* the start of each session. During this check-in process, the proctor examines your calculator and passport. This is exactly when a discussion should have occurred.
There seems to be a part of the true story that is missing here…
#FAIL
 
I generally advocate fighting as much as possible any challengable accusations, but I have to ask what you would be realistically looking to achieve in this case by rejecting the Early Resolution Agreement. It appears that you acknowledge the substance of the violation (bringing in the unapproved calculator, albeit unintentionally) and the CFAI PCP is extending an offer for the lowest possible sanction here - a sanction which, by the way, does not appear based on the alleged conversation.
In making your decision, you should note that you have no way to mitigate the charge (there just aren’t any lesser sanctions for them to choose from). So, you are going to have to consider the (most likely very small) probability that the PCP will excuse the violation altogether because of your claims that the conversation didn’t take place and you did not know the calculator was disallowed. In this, consider that the CFAI puts the responsibility on you to understand which models of calculators are allowed, so, it very well may make no difference whether you could prove 100% that the coversation never happened and that you truly did not know the calculator was disallowed. At least to me, those factors just don’t seem relevant to the violation.
If I were you, based on the facts you laid out, I would take the agreement. If you feel like your honor has been challenged or your reputation unfairly besmirched, you could include a side letter with your executed agreement, saying that while you accept the violation, you disagree with the facts set forth by the proctor. Such a letter will probably not do any good as far as the violation or sanction goes, but it will at least give you a chance to speak your mind on this and put it on some form of record.
In any case, good luck.
 
hashtag wrote:
You’re supposed to check in with your proctor *before* the start of each session. During this check-in process, the proctor examines your calculator and passport. This is exactly when a discussion should have occurred.
There seems to be a part of the true story that is missing here…
#FAIL
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Are you implying that I am lying?
I hate repeating myself, but I must say again… the person who checked me in was a frickin security guard… i don’t know if he worked for the CFA Institute or the building…. i do know that the proctors coordinated with the two individuals and those two indviduals assisted with the check-in process… these are duties that I feel the proctors should have been doing.
Also, when I had questions during the check-in process one of the security guards would go back and forth to ask a proctor my question (which had nothing to do with the non-approved calculator)… one proctor eventually came out because the security guard wasn’t making sense to me, but shouldn’t a proctor have checked me in? My whole point is that the proctor’s statement that made it sound like I intentionally broke a rule is 100% false.
 
ltj wrote:
So are you trying to be absolved completely? I don’t understand the end goal here. Just be honest about what happened and accept the CFA’s decision. If you feel the proctors are making false statements, make the correct ones.
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No, I am not trying to be absolved completely. I have no issue admitting to the charge of bringing in an unapproved calculator. I just cannot agree to the proctor’should false statement, which makes it sound like I intentionally broke a rule. I want my statement as part of the record or I want that false statement sticken from the record.
Intention is everything… for example… accidently hitting an object with a car and intentionally ramming an object with a car with an intent to cause destruction are two completely different situations. One is an honest mistake, while the other could be a criminal act. I take false accusations seriously because they are false attacks on my character.
 
This situation suggests to me that you have a character flaw - namely, you are trying to blame someone else or something else for your idiocy.
 
bujay wrote:
This situation suggests to me that you have a character flaw - namely, you are trying to blame someone else or something else for your idiocy.
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Wow. Did you read everything I wrote? I admit that I am 100% wrong here and I made the mistake. My whole issue is that the proctor’s statement made it sound like I intentionally broke the rule. I’m just repeating myself now…
The fact that you would comment on my character without reading or understanding the whole story says more about your character and mental capacity than it does anything else. Read everything before you make another stupid statement.
 
Sorry - I don’t really have time to read everything that people post about how their situations are unfair after they are completely responsible for their situations.
This is the main reason this analystforum is not as useful as it could be…..
Too many people whining and looking for empathy from other folks that are more responsible.
 
Take CFAI’s offer and call it a day and move on. If you go through life worrying about what everyone else thinks of you then you will go no where. If they cleared up the comments in the “security guards” notes to remove the INTENT then what will that do? How will that improve anything? Short answer, it wont. It will only make YOU feel better. YOU already know you did not do it intentionally so what will an eraser taken to a piece of paper do? Nothing.
My take on this, and I READ all your comments on here. You got some bad guidance from a proctor/sec guard. Who cares. In the end CFAI has policies and procedures clearly documented on the Website. You should have checked yourself like everyone else does. You already know your mistake as you said and take responsibility for it so move on. One sentence on a piece of paper that no one will ever see again will not do anything.
 
Also don’t the instructions on exam day clearly stipulate what calculators can and can’t be used? Written on the booklet and then read out by the lead proctor. I generally am in pre-exam panic by that point but I’m pretty sure at every level that has been on there.
 
googs1484 wrote:
Take CFAI’s offer and call it a day and move on. If you go through life worrying about what everyone else thinks of you then you will go no where. If they cleared up the comments in the “security guards” notes to remove the INTENT then what will that do? How will that improve anything? Short answer, it wont. It will only make YOU feel better. YOU already know you did not do it intentionally so what will an eraser taken to a piece of paper do? Nothing.
My take on this, and I READ all your comments on here. You got some bad guidance from a proctor/sec guard. Who cares. In the end CFAI has policies and procedures clearly documented on the Website. You should have checked yourself like everyone else does. You already know your mistake as you said and take responsibility for it so move on. One sentence on a piece of paper that no one will ever see again will not do anything.
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Yeah pretty much.
 
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