Mistake of 3 Seconds sharp, 2012, precious, properly, friends

JoeyDVivre

Hi Guyz,
Firstly, thank you very much for your precious advice for my CFA career. Well, one of my friends’s sit in the all-important exam of CFA level 1 on 1st of December 2012. That poor chap was so much stressed up while attempting the questions in the second session of the CFA exam. He overused the pencil over two answer bubbles means he thought he had not filled two answers properly and tried to even coloured them with the sharp pencil. Meanwhile, speaker announced times up and according to the candidate that he might have used extra 3 seconds unintentionally. One of the proctor in the exam hall completely misjudged the situation and he assumed that candidate was filling the answer bubbles right from the scratch for extra two minutes. Further, i should mention one more important point in this event that CFA level 1 second session began at 14:02 pm and it was finished at 17:00 pm.
Now, the bottom line is that candidate has received a letter from CFA stating that proctor has seen that candidate was filling bubbles for two minutes. For the sake of argument logically it requires 2 micro seconds to fill 2 answer bubbles. As mentioned earlier, he was not filling the answer bubbles.
Can anyone please shed some light over this unfortunate event that took place on that day? Is it a misconduct of (PCP) Professional Conduct Program of CFA?
Secondly, is it a serious offence?
How one could tackle with such tricky situation? I know that poor friend of mine put his heart and soul in that CFA level 1 exam. According to my knowledge, he was unable to sit in the June CFA level 1 exam. Because, he applied for the work permit visa and didn’t receive passport from the UK Border agency on time. Further, it was mandatory for the candidates to show valid passport for the exam. He was crying outside of the CFA hall for three hours on that day.
Now, I can’t seem to understand that how one could penalize a candidate if he/she may have used extra 3 seconds for which he/she was not sure as well. As, in such rigorous and intensive exams candidates may become mentally exhausted. All I can say that since, candidates were under so much pressure during the examination that they ended up using extra 3 or 4 seconds. I am hoping that it’s not a serious offence. According to my research that candidate should adopt the honesty is the best policy and share the true facts with the CFA institute. Since, it’s not a serious offence CFA may issue a warning letter to candidate so he prohibits himself with such act in the future.
I would be grateful if you guys please help in this regard.
Regards,
DAVID LLOYDS,

laurab

You should have knows better pal. CFAI is VERY strict about these things… there’s really no case here.

Iginla2010

The only thing you can probably do is tell the truth and hope for leniency. Given that your “friend” has already received a letter notifying him of an investigation, the statistics look pretty grim. Take this information from CFAI for instance:
“Notwithstanding this requirement, fifty-eight Level I candidates, twelve Level II candidates, and five Level III candidates continued to write on and/or erase their exams after time was called. The CFA Institute Professional Conduct Program investigated these cases and found that each candidate engaged in the conduct and thereby violated the CFA Program Exam Rules and Standards of Professional Conduct. Sixty-four of the candidates accepted the sanction of Private Censure/Reprimand and Voiding of Exam Results. Eleven of the candidates requested a Hearing Panel. After consideration of the evidence in each respective case, the Hearing Panels imposed the sanction of Private Censure/Reprimand and Voiding of Exam Results on the eleven candidates.”
http://www.cfainstitute.org/ethics/conduct/Pages/candidate_sanctions.aspx
I’m not sure what year this is from and maybe their enforcement level has changed. However, this basically says that all the “guilty” candidates got their results voided. Of the 11 who appealed, zero got the ruling overturned.
Hopefully, your case will have a different result. Good luck.

adehbone

When times up, times up.  You have no case on this one, even if it was just 3 seconds.
Also, 2 micro seconds to fill 2 bubbles?  Damn son, you scribble fast!

redskins44

Firstly, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I just would like to know one more thing from you. What would be the minimum detention from the CFA for my friend if he accept his mistake straightaway. Would it be possible for him to sit in the next year june 2013 level 1 exam?
FROM DAVID

prav_Cfa7

The Institute is Judge, Jury, Executioner.

adehbone

Times up.  That’s it.  Please, put your pencil down.  Exceptions would penalize those that actually follow the rules.   That being said, I hope your friend has a happy ending.

domani

This happen to a guy who my mentor knew and went for his hearing. This was through the candidate’s point of view so no one will know what really happened.
When the proctor says times up he stopped writing. He was arranging the papers while still holding the pencil and the proctor saw and proctor thought he was still writing and end up with his result void.
We’ll never know who is right but if that were really to happen, best dont hold anything nor arranging the papers for them. The story might not be true but is not something you want to risk after studying your ass off.

chetan86

A couple of points here.  The events of what unfolded as described by you seems very bias towards the candidate.  Obviously, there are different points of view and you have taken the side of the candidate.  Yes, it only takes a 1-2 second to fill out the bubble, but actions before and after filling out the bubble still counts as time used in the proctors eyes.  It’s not just 3 seconds, it’s more than that.
Arguing about the 2 min late start time is trivial, once the proctors says STOP, you stop!  This was instructed to you many times and I assure you, they have stated that before you even open the booklet.
Additionally, by you telling us he wasn’t doing this or wasn’t doing that is irrelevant.  It just matters what the proctors thinks you are doing.  This happens all the time in real life, it matters not what you do but the perception of what you do.
The person will mostly get the exam voided but will be allowed to write again.  It will be a lesson learned.
Last point, everyone who gets caught will say the samething you have said (whether they actually did or not), how is the proctor or CFAI going to decide who’s guilty and who’s not?  So just listen when told to do so

DoubleDip

Another thing,
“How one could tackle with such tricky situation? I know that poor friend of mine put his heart and soul in that CFA level 1 exam. According to my knowledge, he was unable to sit in the June CFA level 1 exam. Because, he applied for the work permit visa and didn’t receive passport from the UK Border agency on time. Further, it was mandatory for the candidates to show valid passport for the exam. He was crying outside of the CFA hall for three hours on that day.”
Are you being serious?  Does a grown adult man really need to cry over not being able to write an exam that’s administered every 6 months.  Some how this puts your post questionable.
#FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS