About a week before I took Level I this past Saturday, a friend told me that he took the June exam and his score was VOIDED. The reason is because CFAI claimed that he was cheating. They got a report saying a procter saw him holding his pencil after time was called. He told me that what actually happened was that after the exam was over, he put his pencil down, then picked it up for a few seconds because he was nervous and was still thinking about the last question. No one informed him at the exam about it–he found out via a letter from CFAI 4-5 weeks after the exam was over. Anyway, he appealed, had the appeal rejected, missed the December registration deadline, and is now grudgingly signed up for the June exam. Armed with this knowledge, I pledged to myself to be supercareful on Saturday. I never lifted my head, not to see how much time was left, not to stretch, not to get rid of the awful pains in my neck and back. At the end of each section, as soon as I heard the woman’s voice go on the microphone, I literally threw my pencil on the table and put my hands under the table. Here’s where the problem comes in. At the end of Part II, after I put down my pencil, I accidentally picked up my lead pencil and put it in my mouth/started chewing on it (very bad habit). I have no idea why I did this! It was completely subconscious–I was overwhelemd with the last question I was doing and was still thinking about it in my head. I don’t know how long I had it in my hand/mouth for, but it can’t have been more than 5 or 10 seconds, because once I realized what I was doing, I threw the pencil back on the table. I looked around, and did not notice any procters looking at me. Although this is a good sign, someone could have of course been watching me. Now, I am completely freaked out, and instead of focusing on which questions I got wrong or right or if I did well enough to pass, I pray daily that I did not get seen. Of course, I did nothing wrong and had no intentions whatsoever of cheating, but I won’t convince CFAI of that. So my question now is–what to do? I’m 99% sure that all the responses here will be to just wait it out, since there is nothing I can do now, but I wanted to write this anyway and see if perhaps someone has any ideas or experiences they can share. Calling CFAI to inform them that I was chewing on a pencil for 5 seconds while the exam books were being collected will likely result in them saying there’s nothing they can do now or worse, asking for my candidate number and ensuring that my test is voided. But I thought maybe just maybe someone here has a better idea, since the pain of waiting is making me lose sleep every night. Thanks to anyone who can comment. I hope you spare me the “you’re really an idiot, you should not have done that” comments, as I have been personally doing enough of that to myself the last week.
you should be fine - as long as you did’t fill in another answer bubble i wouldn’t worry about anything, just think…what is the joint probability of the same thing happing to you and your friend ---- actually it’s P(you getting caught)P(your frined getting caught)…but that is probablity quite unlikely 
this is one hilarious story bro, no offense or anything.
tenten, Here is my advice: get a life. Sincerely, Trogdor
Trogdor Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > tenten, > Here is my advice: get a life. > > Sincerely, > Trogdor this was a serious email. is everyone laughing at me for overreacting? or are you all convinced my friend was lying to me and actually tried to fill in bubbles?
No, this is not an overreaction in the slightest… You should be VERY concerned… I would take the next flight to Virginia if I were you and explain yourself in person. You may want to bring a lawyer as well.
^^^^^^hahahahah dude your friend is prolly rather an exception than a rule, or he told just his side of the story.
CFA=NOLIFE Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ^^^^^^hahahahah > > dude your friend is prolly rather an exception > than a rule, or he told just his side of the > story. so is the consensus that i should not be worried? that holding a pencil in ur hand, far from the paper, for 5 seconds while the papers are being collected is not something to be concerned about? i really cant tell with all of this sarcasm
none of us heard your friends story, none of us saw you so how could we tell? relax…worrying is not gonna bring you back and not pick up pencil. Chill and wait for result, have a drink and enjoy time off from studying. Cheers.
I say take a chili pill 2. Am sure the proctor must have spoken to your friend at the exam center…if this really happened. So he must have been in “know”. I would not worry about it…am sure you will be OK. “Forget about it!!”.
Wow, that’s the brutal story. You are a really brave person…
Reading what tenten wrote initially actually scared me first, although i don’t think i violated/ gave an appearance of violating any rules (i kind of stretched my neck upwards though as it was becoming painful) You would think the proctor would talk to you about it (at least after the exam is over), wouldn’t you, unless it sounds really scary! They made sure of our calculators and pencils, it’s not that they kept it quiet and voided our results later …
They should video tape everything that happens in the exam room… If you’re holding your pencil but not writing, that’s not cheating. If your pencil touches the paper again, then yeah, you should get kicked out of the program.
You’re going down buddy lol Just playing. Bro are you serious with this story??? Worry about something worth worrying about, join the crew and start worrying if you passed or not, that’s my advice at least
i know its a ridiculous sounding story. i thought so as well. but i know cfai takes this stuff super seriously, and im just going by what this person told me, as they got in trouble for the same thing. how ever, more and more its sounding like the person actually may have tried to fill in an answer after the exam, as people here seem to be laughing at the idea of a score being voided for just picking up a pencil but not writing with it
Making much fun of him? Give him a break. It’s true that if you happened to be doing something after the proctor called the exam over, there is a chance that your name be jotted down and you’d have no clue til the day they suddenly void your exam. Now we can’t tell at all if he is fine or not but can at least send some comforting words. IMHO, you’re fine.
“It’s true that if you happened to be doing something after the proctor called the exam over, there is a chance that your name be jotted down and you’d have no clue til the day they suddenly void your exam” Yikes - that’s not close to true. There would be a charge, a chance to respond to teh charge, an plea bargain offer, a PCP investigation, etc… I hate CFAI PCP but at least there is some process.
HEY!!! I just called the CFAi, and asked them whether a proctor could file a report of violation without notifying the candidate, and they said they ALWAYS notify, before,during, or after the exam, whether is has to do ANYTHING (bringing in prohibited items, glimpsing other people’s answers, or writing after the time is up)! And they have to specifically tell you that they are FILING A REPORT ON YOUR VIOLATION. I’ve been worrying myself after reading this for all reasons in the world, because a proctor told me that I had to keep my calculator cover on the floor… (made thinking “oh no, did he file a report on me?”) SO yeah, and CFAi added that I shouldn’t believe everything I read on the internet LOLS, hope I clarified the situation! Cheers 
shakespeare Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > you should be fine - as long as you did’t fill in > another answer bubble i wouldn’t worry about > anything, just think…what is the joint > probability of the same thing happing to you and > your friend ---- actually it’s P(you getting > caught)P(your frined getting caught)…but that is > probablity quite unlikely Actually these two events are completely independent of each other so one probability wouldn’t affect the other at all. Unless the same exact proctors were working both exams in question, that is.
pingo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > HEY!!! > > I just called the CFAi, and asked them whether a > proctor could file a report of violation without > notifying the candidate, and they said they ALWAYS > notify, before,during, or after the exam, whether > is has to do ANYTHING (bringing in prohibited > items, glimpsing other people’s answers, or > writing after the time is up)! And they have to > specifically tell you that they are FILING A > REPORT ON YOUR VIOLATION. > > I’ve been worrying myself after reading this for > all reasons in the world, because a proctor told > me that I had to keep my calculator cover on the > floor… (made thinking “oh no, did he file a > report on me?”) > > SO yeah, and CFAi added that I shouldn’t believe > everything I read on the internet LOLS, hope I > clarified the situation! Cheers thank. you. very. much. so if i wasnt told a thing–no violation?