Here in Singapore, there were very few no-shows in the morning. But it considerably increased in the afternoon.
the singapore test centre was huge…they had something close to 4000 candidates taking tjhe exam there! there were a couple of seats empty, but more or less the halls were quite full. the best part about the centre was, there was a christmas sale on in 2 other halls next to the exam halls. I crashed out shopping after the exam!
^ Is that the Borders sale? Was too tired after the exam to go and take a look. Yeah, the venue for the Singapore exam looked like one big warehouse!
Dont know which sale it was, but it was one crowded place. …i stood in queue for 40 mins to pay for my purchases! a couple of things were a gud bargain there… yeah the venue was a huge warehouse, and they managed to air condition that place so well, infact too well! i was freezing halfway thru the exam!
I was at the Singapore center too, section P. I went home straight after to have dinner and sleep… for 15 hours! A huge room probably facilitates standardizing all the procedures 
Also, hot weather outside and cold weather inside was pretty much expected, so always bring a jacket for exams here!
Agree with UndergradCFA…Chicago had atleast 20% noshows…Personally, I had to many things going on last summer/fall to get in the time I needed to pass. Going into the exam I knew luck was really the only thing I had left at that point, but still 100% worth sitting through it. I am definitely a lot more motivated to study after sitting through it once, because I know what to expect and I know I would have a realistic chance of passing it. A lot less intimidating walking into a second time. Anyone who planned on taking it in the Spring and decided not to sit through it in Dec made a huge mistake.
Singi was obscene!!The sheer size of the halls freaked me out…the candidates looked like some kinda Tin-acotta warriors thingy!6 halls worth of them…I’d say near on 5000 candidates.15-20% no shows… It was some Mega Expo sale…the lines sucked. So did a lot of the stuff too…
yeah, i had to rummage thru the boxes to find stuff… managed to find a couple of gud things to take back home. Not much tho… yeah its was a huge crowd of candidates, and i belive almost an equal number of proctors!!! lol …
sameeragarwal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > no, i dont think so. 35% is out of candidates who > appeared in the exam To be more specific, i believe, you have to actually sit through AM and PM sessions to count in stats, so a show for AM but no show for PM is counted as no-show. the 35% passing rate is actually OVERstates the percentage of candidates passing.
Can someone else confirm? Whether no shows are counted or not. I remember fairly clearly that one of the lecturers said that no shows are counted as fail.
Pass rate only includes those who took the exam. No shows are not included. http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/faq/faqs_candidates.html##99
No Shows are not counted. Ref: CFAI website.
The instructor from Stalla told us that no shows are not counted in the pass rate
Given the number of no shows. Does CFAI takes no shows as fail % when it declares results? Last year the average pass rate for L1 was 35% so the remaining 65% who didnt pass the test includes the no shows?
vthomas Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Given the number of no shows. Does CFAI takes no > shows as fail % when it declares results? > > Last year the average pass rate for L1 was 35% so > the remaining 65% who didnt pass the test includes > the no shows? It does not include no shows, or even people who leave after lunch. You need to complete both sessions to be counted as a failure.
It seems that there are quite a number of no shows in each testing venue. I wonder what their motivation was for signing up for the CFA in the first place! It’s $1000 for pete’s sake! Talk about wasting money.
vogriphach Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It seems that there are quite a number of no shows > in each testing venue. I wonder what their > motivation was for signing up for the CFA in the > first place! It’s $1000 for pete’s sake! Talk > about wasting money. That is true, but a number of folks I spoke to have their fees paid by their employer.
In Montreal, in my section of 48 people, about 18 did not show up. Overall, I’d say 20% did not show up for the exam. I felt like CFAI is easing the exams, and it’s very possible that the enrollment rate has dropped for two reasons: 1) CFAI increases fees 2) demand for the program has dropped provided the failure of large investments banks and overall less people will be considering moving into this field (something like IT bubble in 2001).
Your assumption on declining is completely WRONG. If you would’ve taken one second and done some research you would’ve found that enrollment rates have been consistently INCREASING since 1990. http://www.cfainstitute.org/aboutus/reports/pdf/2008annualreport.pdf (Page 6)
Yeah, some employees would have their CFA fees paid by the firms they work in. But won’t the need to pass actually be greater in this case since the employer takes the CFA seriously?