Religious Alternate Date Request

Anyone have any experience with this? I am going to be in a wedding June 6, 2009 (date of CFA exams) and this says: “Give the form to the presiding religious leader of the ceremony in which you are participating to complete Section III if your request is due to a religious obligation, such as a wedding.” Will this count if I am in the wedding (i.e. best man) or will this only count if I’m actually getting married? http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/resources/examdetails/accommodations/pdf/religious_alternate_date_request.pdf

Not going to count.

Seems like a rejection to me…

I’ll have to convert before then…

Not to be a jerk, but I think this alternate day was more designed for people who practice religions that have holy days on Saturday. I don’t think their exemption was meant to cover weddings since those aren’t really required by a religion.

I really don’t get the 1 day / year testing day anyway. For level III I get it, people actually have to read the exams, but Level II is multiple choice like level I and can be scored in a few seconds…why not offer it in december like level I as well?

looks like you have a decision to make.

I was able to secure the alternate religious date for the exam two years ago due to my brother’s wedding without a problem.

if mdlmnky is correct, you’re in luck, but I’m with those who say it’s meant more for those who are prohibited from sitting exams in saturday, such as orthodox jewery for example

See the actual alternate request date form; in bullet #3 on page 1, it specifically notes a “…religious obligation, such as a wedding”. Be warned that this must be submitted at least 75 days in advance of the exam and there is no guarantee that you will be accommodated. http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/resources/examdetails/accommodations/pdf/religious_alternate_date_request.pdf

Once I knew the date of the 08 exam I made sure my sister who was looking at June dates for her wedding didn’t go with June 7th. I mean, it would have trumped the exam and all, but it was nice of her to go with a later date. Plus the weather is much nice here in late June. win win

Just out of curiosity MdlMnky, what did they do with your exam date? Did you write before/after everyone else?

“Not to be a jerk, but I think this alternate day was more designed for people who practice religions that have holy days on Saturday. I don’t think their exemption was meant to cover weddings since those aren’t really required by a religion.” - hezagenius Nice point, hezagenius, I don’t think you’re being a jerk at all…perhaps you can help resolve my problem. You see, I am of the religion “meow-ruff-bow-wow.” I was wondering if CFAI will grant me this request. Every even-numbered day of every odd-numbered month is very important to my religion and I can’t take any high stakes finance-related tests on those days, though I am allowed to take low-stakes finance tests and/or high-stakes non-finance tests. Here’s my dilemma: I have a totally optional ceremony to attend on June 7th (which coincidentally is an odd-numbered day on an even numbered month and therefore is not officially part of my religion). Do you think CFA institute will allow me an exemption despite it being totally optional? Or do you think I should just suck it up and take it next year since this is a frivolous request and it has no bearing on my religion?

hezagenius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not to be a jerk, but I think this alternate day > was more designed for people who practice > religions that have holy days on Saturday. I > don’t think their exemption was meant to cover > weddings since those aren’t really required by a > religion. I would venture to say the majority of people studying for these exams are 25 - 35 years old and most of us have lives outside of work and studying. That being said, most people that get married (which is like 90% of the population at one point or another) do so between the ages of 25-35, June is prime wedding season, and 95% of weddings that I’ve been to have been on Saturday…who really cares if a religion requires it to be on a certain day? I can’t be the first person that has been in this situation and there is no way I would skip my best friend’s wedding for an exam. Even if they do grant me the alternate date (the day after), my night is going to suck and I’m sure I won’t be a focused as I need to be on the day of the exam. I really don’t understand why the CFAI doesn’t offer L2 in December like L1, I mean its all multiple choice and they already have the dates and locations reserved. Hell if they would get into the 21st century and computerize it they could offer it every 2 months like every other major exam these days. That my 2¢.

guest Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if mdlmnky is correct, you’re in luck, > but I’m with those who say it’s meant more for > those who are prohibited from sitting exams in > saturday, such as orthodox jewery for example Saturday, Donny, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means that I don’t work, I don’t get in a car, I don’t f#cking ride in a car, I don’t pick up the phone, I don’t turn on the oven, and I sure as sh*t [shouts] don’t f#cking take the CFA! Shomer shabbos!

> I would skip my best friend’s wedding > for an exam. Even if they do grant me the > alternate date (the day after), my night is going > to suck and I’m sure I won’t be a focused as I > need to be on the day of the exam. So why don’t you skip it and stop asking for special treatment “on top” of special treatment? I’m going to be in the same boat on Friday night before the actual exam date…it’s going to suck because of stress and I’m sure " ‘I’ won’t be ‘as’ focused as I need to be on the day of the exam." I wonder if they’ll give me an alternative date if I feel excessively stressed out?

bostonkev Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m going to be in the same boat on Friday night > before the actual exam date…it’s going to suck > because of stress and I’m sure " ‘I’ won’t be ‘as’ > focused as I need to be on the day of the exam." > > I wonder if they’ll give me an alternative date if > I feel excessively stressed out? whodey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: I meant to say I WOULD NOT under any circumstances skip my best friend’s wedding for an exam. Either way I think you are missing the whole point of the argument.

bostonkev Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “Not to be a jerk, but I think this alternate day > was more designed for people who practice > religions that have holy days on Saturday. I don’t > think their exemption was meant to cover weddings > since those aren’t really required by a religion.” > - hezagenius > > Nice point, hezagenius, I don’t think you’re being > a jerk at all…perhaps you can help resolve my > problem. > > > You see, I am of the religion “meow-ruff-bow-wow.” > > > I was wondering if CFAI will grant me this > request. Every even-numbered day of every > odd-numbered month is very important to my > religion and I can’t take any high stakes > finance-related tests on those days, though I am > allowed to take low-stakes finance tests and/or > high-stakes non-finance tests. > > Here’s my dilemma: I have a totally optional > ceremony to attend on June 7th (which > coincidentally is an odd-numbered day on an even > numbered month and therefore is not officially > part of my religion). > > Do you think CFA institute will allow me an > exemption despite it being totally optional? > > Or do you think I should just suck it up and take > it next year since this is a frivolous request and > it has no bearing on my religion? Fortunately, I believe that CFAI regards requests from Jews observing the Sabbath as having more merit than requests from someone practicing “meow-moo-whatever”. It’s really a pretty offensive comparison.

Hmmm, I guess that came out badly and didn’t do what it was intended to do. I meant to agree with hezagenius’ argument that only if it were actually officially part of the religion, it should be allowed. That’s why I constructed an arbitrary religion in which the CFA exam date did “NOT” fall on a holy day of that religion. I think the “meow-ruff-bow-wow” reference elicited a negative response that colored the rest of my argument. Ignore that reference…it was simply constructed so as to take any “specific” religion out of the discussion. I wasn’t comparing this to the Jews’ Sabbath at all (and I would understand if it were held on a Sunday and Christians wanted a different day), but rather to highlight that those members of the arbitrary religion I constructed did not have a holy day on the CFA exam date. Also, even if “I” think religions and religious dates are totally arbitrary since I am an atheist, I do respect people’s observance of a religious holiday, hence my argument that he shouldn’t be allowed a different exam date if it weren’t a legitimate holiday of the religion (weddings are NOT holidays).

JoeyDVivre Wrote: ---------------------------------------- > Fortunately, I believe that CFAI regards requests > from Jews observing the Sabbath as having more > merit than requests from someone practicing > “meow-moo-whatever”. It’s really a pretty > offensive comparison. Furthermore, I don’t see why this is an offensive comparison. What if religion “meow-moo-whatever” translates to the religion of a small tribe in Cambodia? Is it less important? If so, why? My view is that all religions, even if I don’t believe in them, should be treated with the same respect. Your slant on this really makes me look so bad. (especially when I’m so concerned about this online screenname, LMAO)