PCP investigation: unusual similarity. Please Help! I'm innocent.

[ZBB]

Hi everyone,
I took the June 2015 CFA level I exam. And last week, I got a letter from CFAI saying I’m now under PCP investigation because of unusual number of similarities. I’m innocent and did NOT cheat!
I have been in shock since last week, and honestly, I don’t know how to defend myself. I graduated with 1st rank in my class from my undergraduate institute, and now I’ve been doing my PhD in stats. I never have and never will do such things to jeapodize my integrity and pride.

• What should I send to them to help my case?
• How should I form my defense?
• How should I wording to avoid being misinterpreted?

I’d appreciate any suggestions!!! I read some post saying the odds of wining is very low. But I want to fight for it, and not get punished for something I didn’t do. I’m thinking about:

1. I’m not in this to advance my career.If I fail this exam, not a big deal, I will have about 4 more opportunities to pass it before my graduation. But if I cheated, I would lose everything: my integrity, my pride, my reputation, etc.
2. No proctor report. Being a proctor for several exams, I know that proctor can see everything. Since my seat was very close to proctors, it would be stupid to even try to glance at other people’s sheet, not mention to the extend of reaching unusual similarities.
3. I’m near-sighted. The glasses I wear are about at least 0.5 lower than my current prescription. My health insurance claim history can prove this. (Thanks to my procrastinaition.)
4. I don’t even know what level my neighbors were taking. Plus, I think test taker will have different arrangement of questions or scantron in CFA exams. Am I right about this?
5. Even the best sophisticated model will result in false positive, so does the similarity analysis. (Is this arguement too agressive or rude?)
6. I didn’t help anyone copy off my answer. I didn’t see any familiar faces in the test center.

Is there anything else I could add to my defense?
I appreciate any suggestion!!! Many Thanks!!!
(Thansk a lot, hashtag & klaudnine! I made some revision per your suggestions)

 

[klaudnine]

Could it be that someone sitting next to you has similar answers to yours?

 

[ZBB]

Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

 

[ltj]

If that’s the case, how is the PCP investigation run? Both candidates get one and then what? How would they prove who copied who? Assuming it’s the true cheater’s word vs. the innocent person?
“Tough s**t, better luck next time?”
Seems impossible to prove you did nothing wrong. What an awful situation to be in, sorry.

 

[hashtag]

Send a letter to CFAI with all of the facts spelled out in your original e-mail, but in short and concise bullet points.
#WillHelpYouOnL3

 

[higgmond]

ZBB wrote:
Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

 

[ZBB]

ltj wrote:
If that’s the case, how is the PCP investigation run? Both candidates get one and then what? How would they prove who copied who? Assuming it’s the true cheater’s word vs. the innocent person?
“Tough s**t, better luck next time?”
Seems impossible to prove you did nothing wrong. What an awful situation to be in, sorry.

Thanks for the input. I have no clue about this either. This makes me really worried.

 

[ZBB]

hashtag wrote:
Send a letter to CFAI with all of the facts spelled out in your original e-mail, but in short and concise bullet points.
#WillHelpYouOnL3

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! Do you think the fact I wrote in my orignial post would be a good defense? Is there anything that could be misinterpreted? What else could I add? Thanks again!

 

[ZBB]

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:
Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

So am I going to be punished by this? Is it helpful if I explain to CFAI that I 100% did NOT help anyone? I think I covered my answers, because I need to darken some of my choice since my hand removed some of the pencil marks when I covered my scantron. But it probably wasn’t air-tight.

 

[ZBB]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. What do you think I should write to CFAI to defend myself? Should I send them by mail or by email?
Thanks again!

 

[Nyo]

This “similarity” alert is completely nonsense.
Let assume that unusual similarities are spotted between Candidate A and Candidate B. Then, 4 scenarios are possible:
1. False positive (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities)
2. A has cheated
3. B has cheated
4. They both cheated (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities as well since this scenario assumes that A and B have planned this beforehand - not possible since they did not know their exam seats before the exam day).
As such, how can CFA Inst. accuse and panish either A or B since it cannot know for sure who cheated and who did not?
Maybe, the only way to determine which one cheated is to examine the workings in exam paper, however this is also speculative.
In my opinion, if similarities are spotted, CFA Inst. must send a PCP Investigation to the proctors, not the candidates.

 

[higgmond]

Nyo wrote:
As such, how can CFA Inst. accuse and panish either A or B since it cannot know for sure who cheated and who did not?

Unless one of the two confesses, the CFAI can’t know. So to protect the integrity of the exam, the only solution is to punish both. This isn’t a criminal court where Blackstone’s formulation applies.

 

[higgmond]

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:
Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

So am I going to be punished by this? Is it helpful if I explain to CFAI that I 100% did NOT help anyone? I think I covered my answers, because I need to darken some of my choice since my hand removed some of the pencil marks when I covered my scantron. But it probably wasn’t air-tight.

If you had intentionally helped the person next to you or looked at someone else’s paper, would you admit it? I’m guessing that you, and most others, would not. So what is CFAI to do, just punish those who admit to cheating and let everyone else walk? You can certainly try to defend yourself (the lack of a proctor’s report works in your favor), but in this situation the onus is on you to prove your innocence which is a difficult task at best.

 

[klaudnine]

you can volunteer to take a lie detector test.

 

[ZBB]

higgmond wrote:

Nyo wrote:
As such, how can CFA Inst. accuse and panish either A or B since it cannot know for sure who cheated and who did not?

Unless one of the two confesses, the CFAI can’t know. So to protect the integrity of the exam, the only solution is to punish both. This isn’t a criminal court where Blackstone’s formulation applies.

But this is not fair for the innnocent party. Is CFAI going to allow two people involves confront of each other?

 

[ZBB]

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:
Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

So am I going to be punished by this? Is it helpful if I explain to CFAI that I 100% did NOT help anyone? I think I covered my answers, because I need to darken some of my choice since my hand removed some of the pencil marks when I covered my scantron. But it probably wasn’t air-tight.

If you had intentionally helped the person next to you or looked at someone else’s paper, would you admit it? I’m guessing that you, and most others, would not. So what is CFAI to do, just punish those who admit to cheating and let everyone else walk? You can certainly try to defend yourself (the lack of a proctor’s report works in your favor), but in this situation the onus is on you to prove your innocence which is a difficult task at best.

Thanks for the input higgmond. Punishing both is very unfair for the innocent party. Do you think my statement could have any good effect in any way? Other than saying I won’t cheat, and don’t need to cheat, and cannot cheat because it’s impossible for me to see other’s answer, I really don’t know how to prove my innocent. Could you give me some advice on how to form my defense? Thanks again!

 

[ZBB]

klaudnine wrote:
you can volunteer to take a lie detector test.

Do they offer this? Where can I do it? I read one post said they don’t let you do it even if you volunteer.

 

[ZBB]

Nyo wrote:
This “similarity” alert is completely nonsense.
Let assume that unusual similarities are spotted between Candidate A and Candidate B. Then, 4 scenarios are possible:
1. False positive (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities)
2. A has cheated
3. B has cheated
4. They both cheated (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities as well since this scenario assumes that A and B have planned this beforehand - not possible since they did not know their exam seats before the exam day).
As such, how can CFA Inst. accuse and panish either A or B since it cannot know for sure who cheated and who did not?
Maybe, the only way to determine which one cheated is to examine the workings in exam paper, however this is also speculative.
In my opinion, if similarities are spotted, CFA Inst. must send a PCP Investigation to the proctors, not the candidates.

I totally agree with you. But they still do it.

 

[S2000magician]

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

So am I going to be punished by this? Is it helpful if I explain to CFAI that I 100% did NOT help anyone? I think I covered my answers, because I need to darken some of my choice since my hand removed some of the pencil marks when I covered my scantron. But it probably wasn’t air-tight.

If you had intentionally helped the person next to you or looked at someone else’s paper, would you admit it? I’m guessing that you, and most others, would not. So what is CFAI to do, just punish those who admit to cheating and let everyone else walk? You can certainly try to defend yourself (the lack of a proctor’s report works in your favor), but in this situation the onus is on you to prove your innocence which is a difficult task at best.

Thanks for the input higgmond. Punishing both is very unfair for the innocent party.

But punishing neither is very unfair to the guilty party. And it’s also unfair to all of the candidates who didn’t cheat (not merely the accused but innocent party).
Which is worse?

 

[Nyo]

S2000magician wrote:

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:

higgmond wrote:

ZBB wrote:Thanks for pointing out another possibility! I can only speak for myself. I don’t know if it is becaues someone else was copying off me. ..

Failing to properly shield your answers could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

So am I going to be punished by this? Is it helpful if I explain to CFAI that I 100% did NOT help anyone? I think I covered my answers, because I need to darken some of my choice since my hand removed some of the pencil marks when I covered my scantron. But it probably wasn’t air-tight.

If you had intentionally helped the person next to you or looked at someone else’s paper, would you admit it? I’m guessing that you, and most others, would not. So what is CFAI to do, just punish those who admit to cheating and let everyone else walk? You can certainly try to defend yourself (the lack of a proctor’s report works in your favor), but in this situation the onus is on you to prove your innocence which is a difficult task at best.

Thanks for the input higgmond. Punishing both is very unfair for the innocent party.

But punishing neither is very unfair to the guilty party. And it’s also unfair to all of the candidates who didn’t cheat (not merely the accused but innocent party).
Which is worse?

I see your reasoning but I respectfully disagree. Surely there are candidates or even charter holders who have cheated and have never been caught. How you handle these cases? CFAI is responsible for ensuring a level playing field for everyone. If it is not capable of doing this to the full extent, then punishing innocent parties ( as in similarity analysis) is not in my opinion the right thing to do.