Is this a new rule?

"a. Exam Day Admission and Departure Policy. You must present one (1) copy of your admission ticket printed on clean, unused paper in order to be admitted into the test center. Your ticket is only valid for the test center and exam date listed. The testing room doors will be closed prior to the start of each session for the reading of the instructions. You should report to the test center at least one hour before each session in order to be checked in and seated. If you arrive more than 30 minutes after the start of the timed portion of the exam session, you will be prohibited from entering the testing room, will not be permitted to take the exam, and your registration fee will be forfeited. If you have not been admitted to the testing room before the doors are closed, you will not be allowed to enter until after the instructions have been read. Instructions will not be repeated, and no additional testing time will be granted. Once you have checked in, you must remain seated during the administration of the exam until all candidates are dismissed even if you finish early. Brief water and toilet breaks are permitted; however, you must remain in the designated, secure, proctored test area. Time kept by the designated proctor is the official time on exam day. You must attend both the morning and afternoon sessions or you will not receive a result. If you do not sit for the morning session, you will not be permitted to sit for the afternoon session. Early departures are not permitted. If you leave the exam room before you are dismissed by testing personnel, you will not be allowed to re-enter and you may be subject to a professional conduct investigation and disciplinary sanctions."

You can’t leave a session early??? Is this some kind of joke?

I’ve never come close to hitting time in 4 sessions and the 2016 exam date falls on my daughter’s birthday. I would love to finish early and skip out. It’s terrible sitting there for an hour+ waiting for everyone else to finish their tests. I accidentally did that for Level 1 morning session and then asked the proctors if I could leave when I was done in the afternoon.

Upsetting. But also wondering if this is new or if I have been breaking the rule?

Does look new to me, or at least differs from what I’ve experienced on exam day. I’ve never actually read the policy until you posted it.

In the past you could leave as early as you wanted, assuming there was more than 30 minutes left. However once the clock hits under 30 mintutes, all candidates remaining in the test center were not permitted to leave.

Right. I understand the 30 minutes idea. I wouldn’t even mind if they extended it to an hour. But don’t make me sit there for over an hour. Especially when the process is the same as going to the bathroom. The proctor is going to collect my test materials either way, but instead of going through the bathroom door I’ll go through the exit door.

Maybe gathering your items is distracting to other candidates but I don’t see that as more distracting as going from calculator to eraser to whatever else.

Wow, that sucks. I always targeted the 30 minute cutoff as my real end time so I wasn’t stuck sitting there. I finished L3 PM more than an hour early and would have gone insane if I hadn’t been allowed to leave.

Both afternoon sessions I have been home before the test was over. And now in 2016 the test will fall on my daughter’s second birthday.

I sent CFAI an email asking them to please reconsider this rule and received back “Unfortunately, we are unable to change our policies at this time.” Because 10 months is not enough time to change a policy before the exam.

Oh well.

That really does suck. I wonder if they were getting too many complaints about people being distracted by others leaving?

You spend six months preparing for an exam and you’re complaining about spending an extra 30 - 60 minutes in the testing center?

Maybe email the CFAI about implementing a “bring your daughter to exam day”?

It would have been about 100 minutes for each of my afternoon sessions. And yes, I am complaining about that. When I’m done I would like to go home.

Sounds like a party.

Seems extreme. Also, how do you have 100 minutes to spare? Sounds like you’re not checking your work. Did you retake any exams after leaving 100 minutes early?

I was the first person out the door when I took Level I in June 2014 in Los Angeles and one of the first few when I took Level II in June 2015 in Los Angeles again. That’s for afternoon sessions.

I passed both, albeit with scores very close to Band 10 fails. I did every problem and then checked each one again. I never spent much time on any question - if I knew it I marked the correct answer, if I kind of knew it I would spend about a minute trying to work it, and if I knew I didn’t know it I just marked B. Didn’t waste time reading the vignettes for Level II. Just read the question and then looked for the answer, which was usually easy enough to find in the vignette.

This probably won’t even be an issue for me on Level III with the essay format and the fact that I want to make sure I pass, so I’ll probably be extra careful and use all the time.

I shouldn’t have vented about the rule change. I was more curious about if it was new or if proctors had been just letting it slide. I couldn’t remember seeing it last year when I registered. I would have not been happy if this was a rule when I took Level I as I finished the afternoon session in under an hour and took off to get home to my 3 day old baby. Sitting there for 2 hours would have been excruciating.

what if you gotta take a dump?

it does seem to be a change

If you have finished and have checked your work, there is absolutely no point sitting there doing nothing for another hour plus.

If you’re done, you’re done

Absolutely sucks.

Dont remember the rest of the exams. But for my Level 3 PM exam in 2014, I had an hour plus to spare. Would be crazy to sit there looking straight at the clock. End result a stiff neck.

Taking my thoughts to the extreme - is this some secret idea on part of the CFAI to have more people getting caught in the PCP investigation net?

I’m amazed at how few people employ this strategy.

RE: “If you have not been admitted to the testing room before the doors are closed, you will not be allowed to enter until after the instructions have been read.”

I reallybarely follow this logic. “Before the doors are closed,” everyone is presumably streaming into the testing room. Otherwise, how would the enter the room unless it is “before the doors are closed”? Reading this text further, the implication is that somehow the instructions will be read before the doors are closed – meaning that while the doors are still open, the instructions are being read, and then you wait until after the instructions are finished being read before you are allowed to enter. I don’t remember the doors being open while the instructions are being read, but maybe they are. Therefore, this implies that the doors are not closed until after the instructions have been read. So, in terms of timing, you can show up up until 30 minutes after the time portion of the test begins, which is after the time it takes to read the instructions for the test itself. It takes about 10 minutes at least to read the instructions, so you have about 40 minutes from the “doors closed” to get into the game.

^ No, the doors are open until it is time to hand out the materials and read the instructions. The doors are closed prior to the instructions being read. If you have not made it there then (i.e. you see closed doors), they will not open the door for you until the instructions have been read.