As the exam stress dwindles away, many of you are looking to share any interesting exam stories between discussing the difficulty of your various levels (I’ve heard Levels II and III were pretty tough this year, by the way. Hope you guys all do well).
Here is my most interesting personal exam day experience, which although is far from the most ridiculous story I’ve heard, is still a pretty good one. I will be sharing more exam day stories from others in the following days - feel free to submit yours! But now let’s get to my exam day.
It was my Level III morning exam. I was breaking out in cold sweat, my brain desperately trying to prevent itself from blanking out completely. I was halfway through and this was already the second large question that I was unfamiliar with the core concept. I started switching into logic and mosaic mode, which mainly involves trying to get the answer via a muddled combination of reverse-engineering the question, and piecing together other bits of the curriculum that I was more familiar about. A strategy that based on looking at my scores afterward, I have since learned doesn’t work.
In the middle of it all, I was so engrossed in my second-guessing that I jumped out of my skin when it happened.
All of a sudden there was a huge crash and simultaneously a soft thud, like a heavy mail sack thumped on solid cement. This was then followed by clatter of pencils and other assorted stationery.
Calming my thumping already-stressed heart, I looked up to my front from where the commotion came from. A dude was lying on the ground, having obviously fallen from his chair, and his chair toppled with him - in fact, he was still kind of ‘sat’ in the chair, except he was on the floor on his side rather than upright. Unconscious, by the looks of it.
For several seconds everyone just stared at him, probably a mixture of did that just happen? and also waiting to see if he would wake up. When he didn’t, a group of proctors hurried over to him and shook him awake. He came to, and one proctor proceeded to anxiously fan his face with a spare exam booklet, while another two propped him up to a sitting position on the floor.
Get on with the exam, man, I said to myself, and so I did. A few thuds and bangs later I looked up, and he was sat in his chair, but the chair was in the middle of the ‘corridor’ and not at his table. Probably getting his wind back, or meditating, or whatever.
The next time I looked up, he was back in his chair and was back to going at it. Hats off to the dedication. I checked in the afternoon to see if he came back to take the afternoon session - he did. Wonder if he passed in the end.
If you know this person, or if you ARE this person, please please email me.
usj2 is a CFA charterholder and has held roles in financial services, advertising and technology. He can be reached at x@300hours.com or his blog, 300 Hours.
I know of 1 guy that started going crazy in the middle of the L2 exam. Started to bang on the table, screaming and began ripping his exam book into pieces. He was escorted out shortly
Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and greatest weakness.
Nothing too exciting. The guy sitting next to me was making a lot of weird noises that were highly distracting: pressing calculator buttons in a very loud and flamboyant manner, slamming his calculator/pencils onto the desk, breathing loudly and irregularly, turning the eraser on his mechanical pencil so it makes that clicking noise, tapping his pencil against his desk.
In retrospect I feel like I should have said something to the proctor about this guy, because he was driving everyone in the room crazy.
I gave the exam in edinburgh. there were indiviual small desks and chairs. but they arranged so that two desks were joined together. so you have a close neighbour. my neighbour was a very young chinese lad. throughout the exam he was highly unsettled. long breath, loud berps, oughs, aaghs, oohs, heavy calc punch. all these continously. it was highly distracting and annoying. few times, i felt to get up and kick him out. I am sure my scores will be affected. thought of saying to him nicely after the morning session. could not say. suffered the same in the afternoon too. just think of going through complex questions with an annoyed and irritated mind. wish i dont get him again by my side.
The same thing happened in London a few years back during level 2.
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I’m still a level 1 candidate but in my testing experience they found a guy with a cell phone. no idea what happened to him but i’m sure it probably wasn’t too gravvy.
bandscore 10 is like being in the special Olympics...you don't know whether to feel proud or ashamed :(
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Earplugs: I use them. Also, I was too focused and obsessed with passing to let noises and distractions bother me. I just ‘let it go’ without quietly raging about it, as a matter of necessity and efficiency.
Also, I wonder what protocol would be if someone had a heart attack, and paramedics had to come in. Would those who were too distracted or trying to help simply have to re-write the exam the next year? What if the guy/girl sitting next to you keels over and has a massive stroke or seizure? Do you try to ignore him/her and continue writing as the paramedics desperately attempt to save him/her? What if you are asked to get up, so the paramedics have more space to work? What if there’s a fire? Are you just shit out of luck for that year?
Assuming that I have medical training, if someone has a medical emergency and I get up to help them, am I just shit out of luck as far as that year’s exam goes? Would the CFAI afford me any re-write? How would that even be possible, if the emergency occured half-way through the exam? I had already seen half the exam.