Possible cheating action. morning, repeated, anything, attention, afternoon

ba736

On the exam day I found out that there were few candidates who asked to get out of the room during the morning section. Those who did ask to go out that morning repeated asking to go out again during afternoon section. I was very shocked since the proctor did not pay any attention to that pattern and of course did do anything to prevent those actions.

Let’s think about the exam from a candidate’s perspective. As a candidate who are well-prepared for the exam he/she know that she/he is supposed to go to restroom (or to solve their personal problem whatever it is) before entering the room. She/he knows that the most effective way is to not let anything distract them during the exam. Therefore, most candidates do private things before exam. But some candidates do the opposite way. They did not ask to go out before the exam started but asked to go out once or twice in just 3 hours during the exam time and that demand does not make sense to me at all. I would not say that all of those who asked to go out were cheating because I did not eyewitness that action but it was high probability of chance that they did commit cheating on those situations. (Believe me or not it is not hard at all when you concentrate your 110 percentage of your ability to do the exam, there is nothing else that can bother you but the exam)

I also found out that “cheating actions outside the exam room” are not mentioned on the list of the back of exam book. CFA program stated that cheating is very serious offense by listing them in five bullets:
- Do not look or glance on other candidate’s sheet
- Do not talk or discuss exam with other candidates
- Do not take exam materials out of the exam room
- Stop writing immediately when instructed to do so
- ….

What if a candidate asks to go out and take 3-4 minutes to look at the formulas he hides in his pocket or somewhere in the restroom. Everybody can do that simple action since there are no rules/proctor/camera assigned to control that situation.

I was very disappointed by the way CFA program put the effort on preventing cheating on the CFA exam. I would recommend that CFA program not allow any candidate to go out of exam room during 3 hours exam time except emergency situation. If candidate is in emergency situation, one proctor should be assigned to closely monitor candidate’s action. I hope that CFA Program will work on this critical issue to make sure no candidate has more advantage than others.

neil1234

So what do you want them to do? Strip search each individual?

Assuming most (99%) people who take this exam are professionals who are serious about their career I doubt they really have to worry about the cheating few. Those cheaters won't get far anyway...

kingstongal

I actually also had strong suspicion that a guy in the restroom with me had something in his wallet that he was using to cheat during the morning session. I clearly heard him remove a sheet of paper from his pocket, crumble it a moment or two later and flush. I never saw his face or any hard evidence, and by the time I got out he was gone so I couldn't report it.

tikfed

i also had suspicions of cheating during the exam. i think CFA needs to take it way more seriously.

kickthatcfa

I already sent an messege to CFA Program.

The reason I posted this here is that we need to bring this serious issue to people. It is always better if more than one person send complaints to CFA program and let them know what happens out there and it is about time to act on that issue.

@Zerobonus: Cheating is not tolerated period.
You will understand my feeling if you are Band 10 retaker.

giants2010

prophets Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i also had suspicions of cheating during the exam.
> i think CFA needs to take it way more seriously.


i agree they need to take it more seriously....even this whole business of signing a pledge and having the same f*king paper for 80 countries across the world in an age of the internet is just mind-numbingly dumb....

tobeornottobe

Agree with ZeroBonus. No need for this almost military control. The exam is hard enough and there's not much time to spend. I have some issues with going for a pee frequently and really had problems with time available for the exam... so this kind of prohibition is definetely not a good solution

genuinecfa

Well it sucks if people are cheating, but I don't think not allowing people to use the restroom is a viable option. I had to go during the AM session because I had a huge cup of coffee in the morning. They escorted me to the bathroom, and there was a proctor standing there in the bathroom (God, wouldn't that job suck?). I mean, short of having a guy looking over your shoulder while you're doing your business, I think they're taking it pretty seriously. Some people will always find ways to cheat, but like ZeroBonus says, cheaters won't get that far. Its probably better to focus your energy on something more positive than worry about the few who think a scrap of paper in their pocket will make a significant difference on a test that covers 3,000 pages of curriculum.

maryli

I went to the bathroom twice in the AM and once in the PM. I must be a huge cheater.

j/k but I am sure people cheat plenty in the bathroom. Sadly

senlinlang

KilgoreTrout Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well it sucks if people are cheating, but I don't
> think not allowing people to use the restroom is a
> viable option. I had to go during the AM session
> because I had a huge cup of coffee in the morning.
> They escorted me to the bathroom, and there was a
> proctor standing there in the bathroom (God,
> wouldn't that job suck?). I mean, short of having
> a guy looking over your shoulder while you're
> doing your business, I think they're taking it
> pretty seriously. Some people will always find
> ways to cheat, but like ZeroBonus says, cheaters
> won't get that far. Its probably better to focus
> your energy on something more positive than worry
> about the few who think a scrap of paper in their
> pocket will make a significant difference on a
> test that covers 3,000 pages of curriculum.


I agree. That slip of paper maybe got him 1 question? maybe 2? and if he flushed it, there's no more evidence. you can't prove it anymore. how do you report that?