PCP investigation. Please Help!

You’re right. There should be no enforcement of laws then, because they cannot be applied surely and uniformly.

Which is worse: a Type I error, or a Type II error?

Read again what I wrote before you turn on the irony mode. Ask for help if needed

There is a better route. Punish the guilty candidates. If the CFAI is not capable of doing this then it has to amend its testing policies (e.g. monitor the exam with video cameras).

Going forward, that may be a solution.

How so we solve the problem before us today?

If it cannot be determined who cheated and who did not then CFAI must not void the hard work and harm the reputation of a candidate just because it is not capable of doing what it is paid to do. So, no candidate shall be punished. Just my POV.

Is CFA Institute being paid to ferret out cheats?

I don’t recall reading that anywhere.

CFAI is being paid for exam administration. Ensuring a level playing field for all ccandidates falls under this.

Anyhow, this is my point. What I believe (which of course I can be wrong) is that you cannot punish a candidate just because you are unable to determine if he is guilty or not. Otherwise all the candidates shall be punished since CFAI cannot know for sure if for example they had used cheat sheet during the exam and have not been caught. Or if a proctor finds after the exam is over a cheat sheet in the bathroom doors that mean that the whole exam center shall be punished?

In a similarity analysis, you are punishing a candidate you know he is innocent just because you don’t know who is innocent. Nonsense for me.

Again, similarity analysis shall raise a PCP investigation to proctors, not candidates

How do you know one candidate is innocent?

All I know for sure is that one candidate is likely guilty.

Fixed that for you.

(Of course, if the proctors aren’t covered persons, the PCP doesn’t apply.)

id get a good lawyer and council and fight til the end. lie detector, sworn affidavits, whatever it takes

As i wrote before:

Let assume that unusual similarities are spotted between Candidate A and Candidate B. Then, 4 scenarios are possible:

  1. False positive (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities)

  2. A has cheated

  3. B has cheated

4. They both cheated (which can be ruled out by the balance of probabilities as well since this scenario assumes that A and B have planned this beforehand - not possible since they did not know their exam seats before the exam day).


Anyhow, i think that we both made clear our opinions on this issue. I respect yours but I disagree.

Just one last question for you. If a proctor finds a cheat sheet in the toilets after the exam is over, what do you believe is the proper way for CFAI to handle this? As in similarity analysis, you know there is a cheater and non cheaters and you don’t and probably cannot know who is whom. Do you believe that the whole exam center must be punished by voiding their exams?

Failing to set the test center up in a way to prevent cheating could be construed as giving assistance during the exam, a violation of the testing policy.

Maybe they should revoke some charters as well if they have such a desire to grasp at straws.

Of course not.

There is no evidence that suggests the culpability of an individual candidate.

Which is what makes that situation monumentally different from the one we’re discussing here.

*likes*

Who said life is fair?

Do you also propose that all highways have speed bumps installed to prevent anyone from exceeding the speed limit? That every store contain nothing but locked cases to prevent people from stealing? That married couples be required to wear chastity belts that only their spouse can unlock to prevent affairs?

CFAI revokes charters regularly for a variety of reasons. Just look on their website. Some of the stories are rather amusing.

I think a more interesting case would be if the proctor finds a cheat sheet in the toilet after 2 candidates came out but did not find any cheat sheet prior to that should the CFAI punish both people who went into the bathroom?

Depends. Was the stall out of toilet paper? Might have been Innocent Candidate’s only option to… uh… “use” the cheat sheet.

DNA verification test on poop is a necessity in this case

Could it be he found the cheat sheet on the floor dropped there by the guilty candidate and needed toilet paper?