CFA test-day horror stories?

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farley013

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Well I guess “horror” is a strong term but I remember when I took level I they had assigned me to some community college deep in Harlem. The neighborhood drunks and teenagers hanging on the street corners were eyeballing the long line of white and Asian yuppies in the morning and probably running some quick analysis on how to exploit this arbitrage opportunity before the proctors let us in. I had come down with a horrible cold two days prior but it wasn’t until the exam started and my nose ran like crazy that I realized I forgot to bring tissues. I don’t think it would’ve mattered anyways because the desks were literally the size of half a sheet of paper, I couldn’t even fit the answer sheet on it, let alone the test booklet, pencils, calculator, ID, or tissues. I had to rotate all the items between my lap and my 6” x 6” desk throughout the entire exam. During the lunch break it started pouring and I did not have an umbrella, so I took the afternoon section in soaking wet clothes with the air conditioner at full blast. All this and I still ended up passing for reasons I am still unsure of today.
 
This year I sat next to a very talented percussionist. Every 90 seconds, his layered nervous tapping would crescendo as he ruthlessly beat the answer out of his calculator in a solo that would make a metal drummer proud. With the invigilators roaming, I couldn’t express my appreciation with a look or a hushed whisper. So I grabbed the right half of the two person folding table we were sitting at, pushed the middle with my left arm, pulled with the end with my right jerking the table right out from under little drummer boy. I didn’t change my expression or even stop answering questions. He jerked the table back, clearly eager to resume his interuppted concert. A half-measure in, I threw his end of the table out from under him again. After 3 encores, he got the hint.
 
I love the word “invigilator.” I wonder if they ever graduate to become “inveiglators”
 
farley013 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Well I guess “horror” is a strong term but I
> remember when I took level I they had assigned me
> to some community college deep in Harlem. The
> neighborhood drunks and teenagers hanging on the
> street corners were eyeballing the long line of
> white and Asian yuppies in the morning and
> probably running some quick analysis on how to
> exploit this arbitrage opportunity before the
> proctors let us in. I had come down with a
> horrible cold two days prior but it wasn’t until
> the exam started and my nose ran like crazy that I
> realized I forgot to bring tissues. I don’t think
> it would’ve mattered anyways because the desks
> were literally the size of half a sheet of paper,
> I couldn’t even fit the answer sheet on it, let
> alone the test booklet, pencils, calculator, ID,
> or tissues. I had to rotate all the items between
> my lap and my 6” x 6” desk throughout the entire
> exam. During the lunch break it started pouring
> and I did not have an umbrella, so I took the
> afternoon section in soaking wet clothes with the
> air conditioner at full blast. All this and I
> still ended up passing for reasons I am still
> unsure of today.
farley, this is the best post you’ve written so far
 
bchadwick Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I love the word “invigilator.” I wonder if they
> ever graduate to become “inveiglators”
thank the old brits for it - amalgamations (acquisitions) is my favorite
 
My test was at 9am on a saturday. I was so anxious the day before that i fell asleep at 630am saturday morning….
Oh i was in bed at 1030pm too… sucks being awake so many hours. I suppose thats the closest thing to a horror story for me.
 
The small size of the desks sounds like my first SAT experience. My desk was literally the size of a small textbook and I did the same with my scoring sheets and test booklet. One in my lap the other on the so called desk. Miserable.
 
Not my horror, but a friend of mine who I used to work with. poor guy.
This guy used up 1 month of vacation time (all plus some personal days etc) to study. He was the only person I knew leading up to the exam who was extremely confident of the level 3 exam. “Oh man, I cant wait to ace this thing, I breezed through all the practice exams, and online cfai exams, as well as the schwesser exams”, and I answered, well sure you started in january to study and you took a whole month off work, of course you will be prepared i said to him.
The day of the exam, I pick his ass up, and before we drive off, we do a double check…..Calculator, ID, Pens/Pencils, Eraser, Exam Ticket with no writing on it. All Check.
When we arrive to the exam room, he had a smile on his face, because he knew that in 6 hours or so, he would be done the CFA forever. We get to the security guards at the front door and they ask us if we have any cell/phones, electronic devices etc, but since we are L3 candidates we know the rules and are not that stupid to bring something like that in the exam room. We then show the exam tickets to the front proctors and they let us right in.
I was about 5 rows away from my friend and I gave him a fist bump and said “good luck, meet me outside the doors at lunch” and he went to his row to check in and I went to my row to check in and I lost sight of him after that.
After a brutal morning exam, I wanted to cry and started pondering the meaning of life and this stupid exam ” Why would they ask questions that were not even emphasied in the readings” ” Why would they not even at least somewhat resemble the same level of difficulty of prior exams, or those online exams i wasted money on”, but enough about me, I wanted to see how my friend did, because he studied his ass off and i was hoping he would say he found it hard so at least i could fell better about myself.
I saw him in the distance sitting on one of those portable heaters with his hands in his face, he was clearly upset. I called out to him, and when he moved his hands away from his face, i saw his red and puffy eyes, like he was crying. I thought to myself “alright, he thought it was hard too, so i must have did allright”. I said “dont worry man, i talked to like 6 people in the room after the exam and they all said they did horrible, dont be so upset man, the afternoon wont be as bad”.
- He said ” I didnt write it bro”.
- I said “What the Fu*k you talking about”
He said…………………….. “My license expired on May 30th” !!!!!!!
They wouldnt let him write because his license was expired. Can you FREAKIN believe that?????????????????????????? 1 week expired and it wasted about a year of his life and 1 month vacation time.
 
Holy crap IH8FSA….. Hubris?
Nah im kidding. But that is definitely one of the worst things that can happen. Its like being left standing at the altar and the bride isnt showing up. Ouchies. So did he get wasted afterwards?
 
IH8FSA:
“(He said…………………….. “My license expired on May 30th” !!!!!!! )”
What License is this? Please tell me coz I am new at this…
 
IH8FSA - That is bad. Just wish such incident doens’t happen with anyone. Losing a year after so much of preparation, must had been a tough time.
 
Sam24 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> IH8FSA:
>
> “(He said…………………….. “My license
> expired on May 30th” !!!!!!! )”
>
> What License is this? Please tell me coz I am new
> at this…
His license to operate forklifts.
 
>and I gave him a fist bump
This story must’ve been from 2003.
 
Sam24 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> IH8FSA:
>
> “(He said…………………….. “My license
> expired on May 30th” !!!!!!! )”
>
> What License is this? Please tell me coz I am new
> at this…
His ID ( Drivers License). Usually people use their passport or drivers license ( i cant think of any other acceptable “Government issued photo ID’s).
But ya man, poor guy. Especially since he was so confident that he did well, it wouldnt be as bad if he thought he was going to fail.
I think the only thing worse than the above is ACTUALLY writing the cfa exam and feeling good about it and then getting a PCP investigation that you cheated and having your results void.
 
rohufish Wrote:
——————————————————-
> bchadwick Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > I love the word “invigilator.” I wonder if
> they
> > ever graduate to become “inveiglators”
>
> thank the old brits for it - amalgamations
> (acquisitions) is my favorite
Kudos on Amalgamations
 
farley013 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> His 007 license – license to kill
I dont know why i laughed at this. Must be because im immature.
 
I had an expired passport once….they let me on the plane, but they didn’t catch it until I landed at Heathrow. Made me fly back - doh.
 
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