Pen or Pencil for Essay Section?

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whoiswu

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Any past test takers have an opinion on which is more advisable to use for the AM essay section for level 3?
Pen or Pencil?
 
CFAI mandates that you use blue or black ink (though I saw people using pencil).
It’s probably fine to use pencil, just doesn’t seem worth the 1/1000 chance that they care.
 
I used the same erasable pen as wazza, but I know a number of people that passed with pencil.
 
I passed L3 last year and used pencil so I don’t think it matters.
 
Go with what you like. CFAI doesn’t care. I was more comfortable with pencil so I stuck with that, and glad I did as I had to do some erasing.
I tried some of the erasable pens that people were hyping around here but hated them.
 
I passed last year with a pen, so obviously that means it’s superior. In all seriousness, I crossed out all sorts of things. For one question I circled one answer, crossed it out, circled something else, then crossed that out and went back with my original answer by putting a bunch of arrows pointing at it. My answer pages were a complete mess. But again, still passed…
 
I don’t think it matters. If you use pen, there is a lot of extra paper, so you can cross out your answer and write it again without much trouble. When I took Level 3, I had whole pages crossed out and rewritten… There were also text bubbles and arrows everywhere (i.e., “don’t look there - look here instead”).
 
from the cfai site, it appears pencils are ok. though it doesn’t clarify if you can use pen or pencil for the essay portion or not?
The following items must be kept on your desk:
Exam admission ticket
Valid government-issued photo identification
Approved calculator
Writing instruments (pencils for Levels I and II, pens and pencils for Level III)
The following items may be kept on your desk, if needed:
Pencil sharpeners (no knives)
Erasers, with no paper holder or cover
Loose calculator batteries (no packaging) and screwdriver for battery replacement
Calculator cases and keystroke cards
Eyeglasses, but not the eyeglasses case
Earplugs
Wristwatches (analog and digital); however, audible alarms and/or timers must be turned off
 
Pencils are officially NOT ok, but like many people said above, they are often used and doesn’t seem to be a problem. I just don’t see the point of potentially annoying the grader.
http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/policies.aspx
From the site:
“Completing Your Essay Book
Essay Answers for Level III AM Session Only
It is your responsibility to complete the essay book correctly to ensure all information is accurately recorded during grading and your results are correctly reported back to you. When completing your essay book:
Use blue or black ink….”
 
CFAI really doesn’t care what you use… someone confirmed with CFAI (email was posted here) that it makes absolutely no difference when it comes to grading.
They only SAY to use pen because they don’t want to be held responsible if someone’s pencil markings happened to get erased or fade, etc.
I used pencil because I didn’t want to mess around w/ a bunch of scratch-outs when I change stuff.
 
>>Pencils are officially NOT ok
Not true, I emailed with this question last year and got a confirmation that pencils are fine.
 
I love this question. Pen > pencil? nearly beats CFA > MBA?
My favourite is the post from the guy who tested the erasable pen under a wide range of circumstances to see if the ink could ever fade, simply hilarious. I think baking it in the oven at 600 degrees resulted in invisible ink.
 
this should end all debate:
Thank you for contacting us about the Level III exam. We prefer that you write your answers to the constructed response questions in ink; however, the graders will certainly grade any answers you write in pencil. Writing in pencil will not affect your exam grade.
I hope this is helpful.
Regards,
 
bell99 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Can the correction tape be used if the pen is
> used?
nope
 
If correction tape cannot be used for ink, than using pencil is a better option.
 
Not really, just cross it out, that’s what I did.
In the end, use whatever medium you prefer - I wrote all my practice exams in ink, so I wrote the real exam in ink too.
 
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