To any past candidates, would wearing ear plugs in the exam be beneficial or be a hindrance? Does the proctor only talk at the beginning and at the end? Weird question but thought I’d ask
Please whatever you do. DO NOT USE ANY! It is really NOT recommended. You might lose your concentration after a while and also lose track of your time. I have taken the exam before and can assure you that the room will be quiet no matter how many candidates are taking this exam with you.
I used them before and I’m not sure if it made any difference. But I think I will bring a pair just in case. You never know if you’ll be sitting next to someone who’s sick and will be coughing all day or something.
Cheers for the replies, as you said topher, I’ll bring a pair just in case.
Please don’t do this! If the proctors tell you to stop writing and you keep going, you can be accused of cheating and forever blacklisted in CFAI. You won’t hear any warnings, e.g. “15 min left”, etc. Your ears will also get itchy…
agree…writing 5 seconds after time is called equals automatic voiding of your score and loss of 6 months of studytime (and yes you risk a possible suspension from the program).
True story; I wrote level 1 - June '07 in Edmonton, AB @ Grant Macewan College, so we were all assigned to numerous 30-40 seater classrooms. Several of the back row seats were empty due to candiates signing up for the test and not showing up. Go figure. Anyways, I sat behind a lady (probably in her late thirties or early forties) who seemed to have trouble reading the exam questions in her head. She was literally reading outload albeit with a whisper for the entire 6 hour session. Anyone within a 2 or 3 seat radius could hear her whispers. At first, no one could figure out what the hell those sounds were becuse she was in the front row and so the unlucky few who were behind her were left glancing to their left side, right side and back-sides, oblivious to what was causing these sounds - I thought that maybe it was the air vents or something of the sort. I was totally distracted by the sounds until I noticed the two proctors eyeing her and then glancing over to the other candidates around her with a smirk. I complained to one of the procotors after the morning session. He said that If I liked, he would allow me to sit at one of the several free seats near the back. I used up my full lunch break by eating and taking a sweat 1 hour nap. I was one of the last people to walk in before the start of the pm session. Only to notice that this woman was now the only person writing the pm session in the front row. Everybody who was within 2 or 3 seats of this person in the am session must have complained and as a result, was moved to one of the free seats in the room. The point of this story is, you never know what can open on exam day, so i suggest going prepared. And perhaps practice a couple hours of study with the ear plugs just in case you need to use them, since they can be extremely uncomfortable the first time you use them. Not only will you be battling time pressure, exam stress and the knowing that you don’t want to fail after your huge exam prep time investment, but you may have to battle inconsiderate people like that lady. I passed nonetheless thank god!
Will the proctor reseat us if we complain about a noisy person sitting beside you? You don’t want to wait the morning session to be over to get reseated.
There was an outdoor concert right outside the building (on a campus) while I wrote Level I last year. Bring the earplugs. The risk that you will not hear the proctor b-e-c-a-u-s-e of the earplugs is next to negligible. You might be so concentrated and desperate that you refuse to give up your sheet when the time is up, but cling to it while jotting down those very final marks at random, but that has nothing to do with wearing earplugs or not. I saw that happen to someone. Also: wear leasure clothes with big pockets so you don’t have to juggle the calculator, eraser, sharpener and three to four pencils and maybe glasses and wallet. Bags are not allowed. Bring your own lunch.