Under that link, I cant believe how many violations under use of study materials…WOW. Also assistance…unbelievable.
I believe stop watch within a wrist watch is fine as they state to turn off any audible alarm/ timer off. I believe only issue is if you are carrying seperate stop watch. At my center i even heard the beep sounds at the end of exams someone seems like has a audible alarm
It’s really not a fair policy. The head proctor should at least at the end tell the person who is in violation that they will be placed in violation before they leave. I had an instance this time where I tape my business cards on the back of my calculators (cause I leave them around the office all the time). I forgot about it and the proctor saw it in the morning on one of my calculators when I was checking in. I thought she removed it from both of my two calculators as I was checking in with another proctor at the same time so was not paying that much attention. She actually didn’t look at my second calculator (which I don’t use) and found that business card in the afternoon. She was annoyed but I said I thought she removed both of them. Could she report me? Absolutely but unlikely. If she did, however, I would have then informed the head proctor to keep the evidence that it was only a business card and a simple misunderstanding.
In my case, for the CPA exam, I just got a nasty warning letter from the State Board, no voiding of results. It was just a little digital clock the size of a quarter.
Considering how prickly CFAI is, you’ll probably get a violation and voidance of score, and you’ll have to appeal. What is ridiculous is, this CFAI watch/clock rule is not uniformly enforced, because I saw a Chinese woman last year in San Jose with a desk clock that looked like Big Ben-- the thing was massive and I could hear it “tick-tock” from 10 feet away. I would take a picture of your stopwatch, get your appeal ready, and go to battle.
@ Calvol , well call me optimistic but I refuse to believe that something like this would get my scored voided, I had it on my desk for an hour and half , I carried it in my hand thru the exams doors, in 3 years only 2 people have been suspended , I hope I don’t add to that statistic , fingers crossed ,
Usually with these cases its your word against the proctor’s. Imagine an allegation of copying, how the hell do they prove that! I dont think stuff to do with clocks will result in voiding of results because it is not an attempt to gain an advantage over other candidates.
But copying, writing after pens down, and unwanted paper material will almost always result in voidance nomatter how much you contest it. Plus dont envision an appeal process where a committee is over there and you are here with your lawyer doing some video thingy…No, it doesnt work like that. I know an appeal process handled via email from start to finish.
A guy in our section set his digital wristwatch timer for every question and the alarm went off every time. It was incredibly distracting and the proctors didnt care one bit.
Wow – now that is blatant.
How long does it take the proces of appeal after receiving a pcp violation?
You should have an opportunity to explain yourself before the CFA decides on your case. The degree of sanction should depend on the severity of the violation and the case you bring forth in your statement. All the best.
Juan, I hope you don’t get your score voided, but don’t get your hopes up. An unauthorized timepiece will probably fall into the category of unauthorized calculator or electronics, in either case, all scores were voided… eg…
Unauthorized Calculator
Only two calculator models are approved for use on the CFA exams, Hewlett Packard 12C and Texas Instruments BA II Plus.
In violation of the rules and regulations of the CFA Program, some candidates possessed and/or used an unauthorized calculator during the CFA exam. The Professional Conduct Program investigated each report of a suspected violation. At the conclusion of the investigation, if the Professional Conduct Program determined the candidate possessed and/or used an unauthorized calculator, the candidate was advised of the findings of a violation and recommended sanction. Each candidate was provided an opportunity to accept the Professional Conduct Program’s findings and recommended sanction or request a Hearing Panel.
From 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013, the following sanctions were imposed for this violation, either as accepted by the candidate or imposed by a hearing panel composed of Disciplinary Review Committee members:
- 225 Private Reprimands
- 4 One-Year Suspensions
- 1 Two-Year Suspension
All of these cases included a finding of a violation of the rules and regulations and therefore resulted in the voiding of the candidate’s exam results.
I’m fairly sure you’re going to see your results voided, hopefully you won’t see a suspension to go with it. Bear in mind as well the process can take a long time, I think there have been some prior threads here suggesting that by the time they decide and you could re-register it can be close to the cutoff for the next year.
@ Red Lucas , Thanks , I hope the force is with me
@ Time Travel thanks for the positivity
I hope things work out , I mean after all the hard work and sacrifice it can’t boil down to a stop watch,
Wristwatches are fine. Digital not.
What does make the distinction?
Is a watch with a strap worn around your wrist with a digital display qualify asa wristwatch or a digital watch?
Wristwatches are allowed whether digital or anolog- thats the way i read it ???
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Me too, but it left second thoughts in me. I mean who decides if a watch is “smart” or not, if it qualifies a “timer” or not?
I had a wristwatch (cheapest I could find in Walmart), digital display. But it has an alarm function which I obviously did not activate, plus it displays the day (like SUN, MON, TUE etc) - what if it means it is “smart”.
Honestly I never thought about it until reading this thread…
Again, maybe the CFA should inspect watches just like calculators if they are going to punish somebody for a questionable alarm. I could totally understand if litterally the guy was timing himself on each question and using a stop watch. however, if it is a multifuntional item and there was no intent, then it should get a pass.
BTW: like I said on a previous post, i bought a clock thingy from best buy on level 2 but showed it to the proctor checking in. they debated cause it had an alarm on it but allowed me to use it. i didn’t take a chance on level 3 and just bought a cheap watch.
Mine is cheap enough (9 $), ugly as hell (would never wear it in real life) but has f***ing alarm function, plus days displayed.
I agree there should be either a CLEAR watch policy, or compulsory clocks in each test center. Ours didn’t have (I went there previous to the exam and enquired) this is why I bought this watch.
I truly hope I did not get written down or something by a proctor.
That’s not my understanding. I wore a digital wristwatch and my understanding was that I was complying with the rules.