I posted this in the General Discussion a few months ago, and bumped it just now. Maybe some people will notice it here and pay attention.
I should hope by now that everybody taking the exam has read the policies and procedures. However, I know that there are some out there who didn’t. And there are some who will read this and will still mess it up. But hey–at least I tried.
When you arrive at the test center, there are four things that you ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE in order to take and pass the test. They are (in no particular order):
Your exam ticket - printed on clean, unused paper
Your passport - It cannot be expired. And no other ID will do (driver’s license, military ID, etc.)
Your calculator - it must be either an HP-12C (or one of its iterations) or the TI BA-2 (or one of its iterations). No other calculator will be allowed in the exam.
Your pencil (and pen for Level 3) - Make sure it is a #2 pencil. If it is a mechanical pencil, then make sure it is filled with HB lead (not B or 2B or 2H).
Of course, there are other things that you CAN bring with you, like earplugs, candy, or a pencil sharpener. But these four are imperatives. If you have all four of these, then you have a fighting chance of passing the exam. If you don’t, then you might as well sleep in on Saturday morning.
Glad you brought up that we can use mechanical pencils…that’s what I was planning on bringing. How do you tell though if you are using HB lead ? Is HB lead the standard type? Should I just go buy a separate case of HB lead to be sure?
HB lead is the same as #2 lead. Sometimes 2B will work, sometimes 2H will work. But to be safe, just go spend $1.99 on some more HB lead and load it into your pencil. Better to spend $1.99 than to spend another six months studying and $695 on test fees.
And to the other poster, 2B is not HB. 2H is not HB. HB is HB.
I have some questions for those who have taken the exam:
Do you get rough working paper in the exam room to work out calculations?
Woudl you recommend marking up the question sheet (is that even allowed?) first with my guess at the correct answer and then upon the review fill out the actual answer booklet?
1.) You will get a test booklet and an answer sheet. You are free to mark up your test booklet as you see fit, but additional scratch paper is not allowed.
2.) This is largely a matter of personal preference. But in every exam, I would simply circle the answer on the answer sheet, then I would go back and fill in the bubbles afterward. I prefer this, because it seems to help with the fluidity of the exam. However, you have to be sure that A.) you set aside enough time at the end to fill in the bubbles, B.) you don’t forget, and C.) you mark the right bubbles. It’s really easy to skip a line on accident, or mark two answers on the same line. If you do this, you’re screwed.
HB refers to the hardness of the graphite. 4H is hardest (and lightest), and 4B is softest (and darkest).
I don’t know why, but apparently if you don’t use an HB pencil (right in the middle of the road), then there’s a small chance that the scan tron machine won’t be able to read your markings.
Can I just get a confirmation that these pencils with the lead that comes with it are the correct writing utensils? Have been using these on uni exams and haven’t been hit with any 0’s yet, I’m assuming the scantron system CFAI uses is the same as any other school scantron?
