Funny exam day experiences

M

missinglink

New member
Joined
Jun 18, 2026
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
Congrats to everyone for finishing …… now it is time to relay those funny stories from your exam day.
I will start - sat the Level 2 exam in a new location - and it was a small group of about 60-70 students across all three levels. The proctors at the location seemed very inexperienced and after I sat my Level 1 exam the year before in a large test centre the experience was completely different.
From the day: Students came in carrying all sorts of things that are normally not allowed - the proctors did not seem to mind as long as they put the items under their chairs. Students walked around alot during the exam to get water go to the toilet etc. including taking water back to their desk during the exam which was not allowed where I sat the exam last year.
The crazy things: A mobile phone rang during the afternoon session down in the Level 1 section. The guy actually answered and told the caller he was in an exam and couldn’t talk …… WTF!!! The proctor took the phone and placed it at the front of the room - did not seem to take any other action. THEN IT RANG AGAIN ABOUT 1 HOUR LATER at which point the proctor turned it off.
After the morning session we seemed to have access to the testing room and could just wander back in after the break. When I entered the testing room one guy is sitting at his desk EATING BURGER KING!!! The testing room smelt like his lunch??????
That is all frrom me :-)
 
they gave us this small small table to work with. and i’m somewhat claustrophobic, legroom was terrible at best. so imagine, having no legroom, and a small ass table, and a 6 hour + sitting time…
thinking back, i dunno how i made it thru. it just ticks me off how important this test is, and yet they provide lousy working space. I had a calc, an extra pencil, and my watch, plus the testing materials. i was shuffling things every two minutes or so because i had to make room for questions that required use of calc.
and then there was this guy in front of me, who had to press buttons as loudly as he could, as if to show the whole room that he was currently using the calculator.
i guess this is how all testing rooms are? i dunno, cuz this was my first time sitting for the lvl 1
 
they gave us this small small table to work with. and i’m somewhat claustrophobic, legroom was terrible at best. so imagine, having no legroom, and a small ass table, and a 6 hour + sitting time…
thinking back, i dunno how i made it thru. it just ticks me off how important this test is, and yet they provide lousy working space. I had a calc, an extra pencil, and my watch, plus the testing materials. i was shuffling things every two minutes or so because i had to make room for questions that required use of calc.
and then there was this guy in front of me, who had to press buttons as loudly as he could, as if to show the whole room that he was currently using the calculator.
i guess this is how all testing rooms are? i dunno, cuz this was my first time sitting for the lvl 1
 
sitting at his test desk eating burger king.. I wouldn’t have the stomach to eat at the same desk
 
Guy sitting next to me had a mini-Kinkos at his desk. Easily had 20+ pencils, 10+ pens, 3 erasers, 2 pencil sharpeners, etc. The best was that he had 3 pairs of earplugs. Dude you don’t have 3 pairs of ears, one pair should be enough.
 
This Chinese girl in front of me had a clock (not watch) that looked like London’s Big Ben it was so big, and it was ticking very loud– tick-tock, tick-tock. I was very surprised the proctors let that go. I was written up once in a CPA exam for bringing a watch without a band! The Chinese girl to my left had about 20 earplugs, looked like she brought the whole bag from Kinko’s. She was so fast punching the calculator, it sounded like a rat running across the keyboard. Obviously she texts a lot with her phone.
 
calvol wrote:
This Chinese girl in front of me had a clock (not watch) that looked like London’s Big Ben it was so big, and it was ticking very loud– tick-tock, tick-tock. I was very surprised the proctors let that go. I was written up once in a CPA exam for bringing a watch without a band! The Chinese girl to my left had about 20 earplugs, looked like she brought the whole bag from Kinko’s. She was so fast punching the calculator, it sounded like a rat running across the keyboard. Obviously she texts a lot with her phone.
Click to expand...
How did you know she’s Chinese? Was it becaus the clock was made in China?
 
The very hot asian lady sitting in front of me had an intricate lower back tattoo, and was wearing low-rider jeans with thongs partially showing…very distracting
 
Well the proctors in our room wrote on the Board “No Smocking” “No Beberages” and every time they read CFA institute they pronounced it “C Fi A”. Where the hell do they get these proctors and how is it posible the CFA institute put our 7 month studying time in the hands of proctors like these. They dint have an idea what the CFA even was. I actually talked to 1 proctor from another room of testing and he was a CFA Charterholder. But the 2 ladies in my classroom looked like two 1st grade teachers.
 
Most proctors at my test center appeared to be Chinese (they spoke Chinese and looked Chinese). A very large percentage of the test takers were also Chinese-looking. You could also hear a lot of Russian spoken.
Plenty of desk space though, the exam is held at the local university.
 
I missed finishing the test half an hour before and so had to sit there till the end. I was bored and was looking around..
There was a man next to me who wasnt writing anything for the last 15 minutes. Just when the procter announced that everybody has to put down their pencils/pens, this man frantically takes up his pencil and starts scribbling :))) I wondered what he was doing for around 15 minutes :)
 
The center where I given my exam has good arrangements.
Approximatly 3500 (across all three levels) candidates are there to give their exams but arrangement was good Proctors are also very professional and aware of their duty and seating is also good.
So overall a good experience and hopefully the results also come good..;)
 
The center where I given my exam has good arrangements.
Approximatly 3500 (across all three levels) candidates are there to give their exams but arrangement was good Proctors are also very professional and aware of their duty and seating is also good.
So overall a good experience and hopefully the results also come good..;)
 
hamada.smaili wrote:
…Where the hell do they get these proctors and how is it posible the CFA institute put our 7 month studying time in the hands of proctors like these. They dint have an idea what the CFA even was….
Click to expand...
CFAI does have a value bias in their investing philosophy, so it’s no surprise that they go with the cheapest proctors that will serve their purpose (making sure people don’t cheat, following fairly standardized procedures, and making sure that they stop when time is called). I’m surprised that they had a charterholder at all.. maybe they need one or two in order to handle more complicated questions.
I’m curious how much these people were compensated.
 
ebowsaah wrote:
The very hot asian lady sitting in front of me had an intricate lower back tattoo, and was wearing low-rider jeans with thongs partially showing…very distracting
Click to expand...
Any chance that she had key LOSs tatooed on that lower back??
 
My center in Pune, India was well managed.
Strict ID checks, strict implementation of time policy. and belonging policy, etc.
For about 5 min, some of them were chit chatting.. but only for 5 min.rest was perfectly fine..
Kudos to them.
 
iteracom wrote:
sitting at his test desk eating burger king.. I wouldn’t have the stomach to eat at the same desk
Click to expand...
Amen brother. I still get the willies just driving past the convention center in Philly and it’s been a few years now.
 
bchadwick wrote:
ebowsaah wrote:
The very hot asian lady sitting in front of me had an intricate lower back tattoo, and was wearing low-rider jeans with thongs partially showing…very distracting
Click to expand...
Any chance that she had key LOSs tatooed on that lower back??
Click to expand...
That woulda totally made her a HCB, but unfortunately no. She was cool though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top