I am one of the test takers who wrote the answers for the essay portion on the question sheet, and not on the lined paper provided. When a template was provided, I used it. I realized my mistake a few days after taking the exam, and immediately emailed the CFAI, who of course told me they wouldn’t grade any answers written on the question page. Not surprisingly, I got less than 50% on all the essay questions except the first question where I got 50%-70%. I’d like to get an idea of how many test takers made the same mistake. If you wrote on the question sheet, post here. In an email to me, Schweser said they believed there were possibly hundreds of test takers who made this mistake based on emails they received.
Bucky6225, I wrote all my answers on for the essay portion on the question sheet, not on the lined paper provided. I didn’t realize what I did until yesterday when the results were emailed. I scored less than 50% on all questions, which I know is not correct. I initially thought they made a mistake or that I was totally duped on the exam. then I read markcfai post and realized what I had done. Im upset with myself, i made the error but so did others…i cant beleive the test was poorly written to allow this to happen, to ANYONE. If this happens to one candidate its too many. i wrote an email to CFA last night, received a response today saying i am SOL. We need to ban together on this, even get CFA members involved to make a change to the structure of the exam. My boss is a CFA member and is more disgusted than I am. I explained what happened using prior years test…he will be responding on my behalf to the CFA email response I received today.
good luck guys. As for when people ask for advice on taking the level 3 exam, writing the answers in the lined paper provided has to be the first thing we say from now on.
for 2 of the template answers, i wrote them in the lined pages (missed the template boxes and didn’t have time to re-write everything). upon realizing it, I circled the answer in template box and then wrote in the template box *see pg BLAH in my lined book* and clearly marked the # of the q there where my answers were. honestly, not sure if those were graded or not-i think it was Q5 that everyone bombed (i was under 50% but thought i had done it sort of well). i did pass thankfully, but for all i know those parts of answers may not have been graded. the booklet/formatting on the test is awful, confusing, and i’m really sorry to hear that they were sticklers to the rules since clearly you worked so hard and put so much time in studying. no doubt that you all will get back up and crush it next year. losing on a technicality like that is really unfortunate. take some time off now, come back to the material in Feb, and go hard for 2012. best of luck to you guys.
Count me in this group. Similar to MrGrey, senior members of our bank who are CFA charter holders were more frustrated than I am, and found it absurd that they would not consider grading the paper being that i contacted them so far in advance. It is pretty shitty of them to give you a practice test with a different format than the real thing to save some trees. The fact that there are already 4 people i know of that made this error, on this board alone (which represents a minor subset of candidates) means there are MANY more out there. I have taken many standardized test, and this utter piece of sh!t was the worst format I have ever seen in my entire life. Navigating the templates was a challenge alone, not even considering how difficult the actual content was. I would love for some of these guys who are so hung up on their bs rules (which they don’t even apply consistently) to sit for the exam and see what scores they get, things have changed since 1980 when all you needed to pass was a pulse.
mark, The other point is if you look at the older tests from before 2007 they used to provide blank pages in between the questions and the templates. It was kind of goofy they got rid of the blanks post 2006 or 2007 to keep file size low. I thought actual exam took a bit to figure out where to write etc. Also the pressure of this exam (at least for me) was 10x what 1 and 2 were just because of the essay portion.
Paraguay, I could not access exams before 2007 so there was no way for me to see that. I would speculate that if they were there in 2007, this would be the first year that candidates had no exams with lined pages, and therefore the first time they’ve had to deal with a bunch of people like me making that mistake. I may have to rattle their cage a little bit on this one. Thanks.
count me on this one mark, i know it will not change this years result but if we can make a difference for other candidates I am all for it. Dont want anyone else to fail because of technacality such as this. send me an email to mhoyer78@gmail.com
Hopefully the Institute will post the actual exam and not continue to omit all the lined pages and tables that you write answers in. I can still remember printing off the old exams and not being able to work out why there were so many pages missing…
There is so much uncertainty / hysteria surrounding the L3 morning exam. Any chance someone could draft up a ‘mock’ paper showing what the thing ACTUALLY looks like? Doesn’t need to contain any CFAI material. Just setting out the general structure so we can get a feel for what to expect? Below is what I’ve pieced together from AF posts - can anyone confirm if this is correct?: P1. Cover page P2. Instructions P3. Q1: a, b, c, d. Q2: a, b P4. Q2: c, d. Q3: a, b, c, d P5. Template Q1: b P6. Template Q2: c P7. Template Q3: d P8. lined page P9. lined page P10. lined page P11. lined page P12. Q4: a, b, c, d. … Cheers!
I too wrote several answers on the question, I figure about 30-40% of the AM content. I was fortunate to have done well enough in the afternoon to carry me through but my AM marks were fairly dismal. Having realized my mistake several days after the exam I contacted the CFAI informed them of my error and requested they review my answers on the question page and amend the format in the future to avoid nervous test takers making similar mistakes. Like others I received a scripted response saying I was SOL. bannisja: I was informed by CFAI that answers placed on the lined pages and not the templates would be graded SFA: To the best of my recollection it is as follows 1. Cover 2. Glossery 3. Q1 - A, B, C, D - at the end of the question there was a line on the page with a message “markings below this line will not be graded” - don’t be fooled markings above the line aren’t graded either 4. Lined Page - box on the bottom saying “check here if you would like this page to be graded” 5. Lined Page - box on the bottom saying “check here if you would like this page to be graded” 6. Lined Page - box on the bottom saying “check here if you would like this page to be graded” 7. Template for Part C 8. This page is intentianally left blank markings on this page will not be graded 9. Q2 - A,B,C etc… Hope that helps mate. I wish you guys luck in pressuring them as I would hope they would be somewhat flexible when the intention clearly demonstrates that the answer is on the question page but I somehow feel the success rate would be similar to asking for a retabulation in hopes of changing your grade.
Thanks mate 
So ideally you would turn straight to pages 4, 5, 6 and write your answers to 1a, 1b, clearly specify that the answer to 1c is in the template and finally 1d (making sure to tick the box at the bottom of each page). Then go to page 7 and fill in the template for Q1c… What a nightmare… no wonder so many people cocked it up… The first thing I’ll be doing is going through ticking each of those little boxes on the lined pages… Beers this weekend? PS, I think you missed a “T” at the beginning of your handle 
Were the boxes on every page or just the extra pages at the end of all the questions?
^ I think you only had to check the box if your answer was so long that you had to continue it on lined paper at the end of the exam booklet, after all the questions, templates, and allocated lined paper. You had to check the box so the graders would know to turn to the back to see the rest of your answer.
i was lucky enough to pass, but was definitely borderline due to this. i think its silly that they didnt provide a mock that showed the exact format of the exam.
I dont see how someone could make this mistake, especially after spending at least 2+ years building up to this exam. Even if you didn’t flip through the entire test book to see the formatting and questions (which is a fundamental tip for test taking), the proctor clearly states that you have to answer the questions in the answer space provided, and anything not in the answer space would not be graded.
Yea I agree with RoastBeef, the instructions were clear, and attention to detail is a pretty big deal in any finance job. You can have your boss/his boss/and the CEO complain to CFAI, but nothing will change the fail. Think of it as part of the test, how well you follow instructions.
Second all here who want CFA to accept the confusion and re-mark the papers. Also we need to keep in mind that CFA now sets a date when results will be released-this is bound to place additional pressure on examiners. Also-Roastbeef, iteracom-even CFA admits its exam questions can be interpreted in many different ways-so I am not sure how any of us can assume that the instructions referred to above were actually misread.
I feel for the people that made the mistake, but I honestly have no idea how you could make the mistake. I guess you just used the mocks and got used to writing in the wrong spot? I never opened up one mock exam, so I had no any idea what the template was. I found the CFAI directions pretty obvious and the exam format really easy to follow. Now granted it wasn’t the most efficient. But they tell you to write on the lined pages, clearly mark each question, and use the templates where provided. Before anyone does any project they should always…read the directions. I understand how problems can arise due to habits on mocks or if you have issues with English…but come on…read the directions. That is mainly to the new L3ers that are probably freaking about this. You have to make a pretty big error to screw this up. They literally tell you what to do and what not to do, and if you do it what will happen. Just seriously, read the directions and you’ll be fine. And honestly, preparation time is better spent learning the material than worrying about the format. Especially considering all you have to do is pay attention test day and you’ll learn the format.
I am still in shock how this could actually happen. I have a lot of respect for the exam and rules. I prepared myself properly taking the exam for the second time. Due to the time dedication family and other things took the back seat and now it seems I failed because I would use paper that isnt lined but leaves enough space to answer the question and not ticking boxes?