some girl showed up to the am session with an invalid calculator she was really surprised they ddint let her use it (did she sleepwalk thru level 1 and 2? lol)
she came to the PM with the HP calculator, wonder how she did???
wow 3 girls showed up with invalid calculators? Women I tell yea…
Had 2 people in my test center who told me there were totally unprepared for the test, but wanted to see what’s on it for next year preparation. Hopefully that helps the MPS.
Booked a hotel by the London Excel center and my room was right next to the DLR which literally ran every 3-5 minutes. I could feel 5 seconds before the subway came screeching across, I called the reception and they said that they do test runs all throughout the night and they couldn’t move my room because they were fully booked.
Sleeping the night before the exam sucks as it is, but having that made it worse!
My thoughts exactly about Moscow
It was really hard to hear/understand the directions at the start of the morning session in Moscow due to the size of the room and the echo it was producing. I couldn’t tell whether the guy had said to break the seal and sign the pledge, so I went ahead and broke it, only to get confused and freak out slightly. I decided to raise my hand and called over a proctor to ask what to do. He showed me where to sign, and there was no incident, but felt like I had jumped the gun.
Then, while writing the AM, the cap on my pen flew off and landed on the floor in front, rattling around. A proctor came over and gave it back to me, which I acknowledged with a sheepish grin.
Otherwise the exam room was pretty quiet, nobody around me was making any noises or being annoying (unlike last year, when some guy kept muttering to himself, drawing a proctor over a few times).
i have never seen these muttering specimen in london…though there was a guy with the union jack tatooed on his legs LOL…making the queen proud
I sat next to the exact same person that I sat next to for the level 2 exam last year.
What a coincidance that is!
Just saw on ID problem when I was going into the room with ~35 min to go to exam time. A candidate had his driver’s license in his hand and the proctor kept saying over and over “they’re not going to let you in with that, go home and get your passport”. Candidate said “not enough time, I can get it at the lunch break”. The proctor said wait a minute, I’ll go get a lead proctor and the candidate goes to follow him and proctor turn back and snaps at him like my mother did when I was a child–“you stay where you are”.
Not a biggie, but I couldn’t believe it after how many emails we got on the passport policy and the guy’s suggestion to get his passport at the break really made me laugh.
However, I did noctice that there seem to be much fewer test takers this year at all levels. I took the exam the exam in New Jersey. I’m wondering if a lot of the growth the CFAI is seeing is not in the US. I like to see a breakout of test statistics by region.
Hmm at my centre there were atleast 25-30 people within the room of about 90 candidates who had torn seals, me included. So some people complained and they took a few books away to show to one of the higher level proctors (orange jacket) and that chapo just cooly announced that broken seals arent an issue please dont bother!
About 15 minutes into the AM section this girl taking the test blurts out, “You need to be QUITE, and stop that. Excuse me, someone, this person is using is calculator too loudly and it’s very distracting to the rest of us. You need to do something about this!”
The proctors just whispered something to the guy using his calculator that she was referring to, and while I didn’t want to see her get thrown out, I was hoping someone would’ve told her to shut up.
Somehow, a candidate was able to barge into the test center without his passport. All I heard was a panick-stricken proctor yell out “HE DOESN’T HAVE HIS PASSPORT!!!” as he was chasing someone in the crowd and another proctor yell out “GET HIM!!!” I’m not sure what happened to him, but all I can say is that if these proctors were armed with Tasers, the bro would have definitely beened tased.
Somehow, a candidate was able to barge into the test center without his passport. All I heard was a panick-stricken proctor yell out “HE DOESN’T HAVE HIS PASSPORT!!!” as he was chasing someone in the crowd and another proctor yell out “GET HIM!!!” I’m not sure what happened to him, but all I can say is that if these proctors were armed with Tasers, the bro would have definitely beened tased.
what a weird system…all this fuss
There was a group of like 5 people right next to my table who all came with ID but not a valid passport. They were allowed to take the exam.
The dude next to me didn’t have an ink pen for the AM, so I lent him my spare, but making a deal with him that if I ran out of ink, I would tap on the table and he would give it back to me. 
A few hours later, I was chatting about the AM part with said dude a few minutes before PM started, and he wanted to illustrate something about what we were discussing. So he takes his pencil and proceeds to write his illustration…on the exam ticket (wtf). I stopped him and was like " I can’t see that going to well for you, brah".
Someone needs to dig the post from 2009 about the guy crapping in the sink. Classic.
Were you two talking about Diablo 3 or something? I can’t see why he would need to literally draw…
There you go. Sink guy:
Author: ccooper55 Date: Thursday, August 12 @ 1:49 pm
This year, level III, NYC
I am waiting for the bathroom in this massive line about 10 minutes before the start of the exam. There is this guy panicked out of his mind in line ahead of me who I noticed for the previous half hour had been rocking back and forth in the corner of the lobby murmering his notes back to himself from memory…a real whackjob.
Anyway, As I am standing in line with this guy in front of me he starts to sweat profusely and I can litterally hear this guys stomach rumbling…this is where he really freaks out. He starts pounding on the stall doors ( there were only 2) and, of course, no one is coming out so this ass clown drops his pants, hops up on the sink, and blows SH**T all over the sink! The most disgusting thing was the backspray all over this guy! He was COVERED in his own Sh**t. I am laughing my ass off but this guy didnt miss a beat, he rinses off his pants, throws his shirt in the trash and walks into the test wearing only his windbreaker and wet pants.
I could hardly stop laughing to myself a full half hour into the test…I knew then I was going to be alright because at least I didn’t just blow ass chunks all over the bathroom…priceless.
Author: hughj Date: Thursday, August 12 @ 2:29 pm
NYC this summer, I’ squirting lemon in my iced tea (for a little caffeine pick me up) right before I walk in to the exam center. Some of it squirts the wrong way, gets me in right in the eyes and I literally, can’t see a thing. I ask someone to help me get to the bathroom so I can rinse my eyes. I feel around for the sink, run the water and immerse my face in the sink, and to my horror, it’s full of sh**! I scramble to find a paper towel and the bin’s empty! At this point I go rummaging through the garbage in sheer hysterics to find anything to wipe my face, and to my relief I find a discarded shirt. I wipe my face as quickly as possible w/ the shirt, only to find I’m caking on more sh**, and now I can’t see again. I was totally confused until Cooper’s post put the pieces together for me. BTW I think I did ok in the morning session, afternoon was a little tough.
Sorry, wrong use of “illustrate”, I meant show or demonstrate some formula or whatever.
That’s dumb. If she gets distracted by sound so easily then she should’ve brought ear plugs.
Well thank you, good Sir.