I am guessing the Muslims are aware that the exam this year will take place during Ramadan when the practicing Muslims will be fasting (in 2018 and 2019 as well). I have sent a mail to CFA to ask if they will offer an alternate date to those who will be fasting and they said they will not be changing the exam date but will inform us of any updates. So it looks like they are not taking this seriously. Are there any other candidates who would be concerned about this?( I bet there are). I believe everyone should individually raise this concern so that CFA takes action. It will be very difficult and unfair to be in the exam while fasting. I would not mind taking the exam 7-10 days before the scheduled date. Please share your thoughts.
I find this provocative. First, Ramadan is a month long event; you can’t expect CFAI shift its schedule for a month or so. Second, doesn’t CFA curriculum contradict with core Muslim values anyway?
That does suck. I’m very relieved to be done with the exams before they start falling during Ramadan, as I’m sure it’ll be very hard to write during. Realistically though, there are Muslims all around the world, so administering alternate exam dates weeks before around the world is difficult. Plus what if some of those people share exam details with others writing on the actual test date? The other alternate test dates are the following date, which is still fairly close. Maybe pass rates will be lower because of this, or you’ll feel that much better about passing if you persevere through this - or like others have suggested, travel to another city to write, or even skip exam day and make it up later. We choose to write these exams, and while I agree that fasting will make it much much harder, it’s very difficult to accommodate for this and as a Muslim, I can still understand why the CFAI would say no.
Usury refers specifically to charging unreasonably high levels of interest, not the act of charging interest itself so you are wrong there.
Also Christmas Day doesn’t last for a month, nor does it change date year on year like Ramadan.
I for one think there should be no accommodation at all for religious reasons across the board and would definitely not want a whole bunch of people to be able to take the test at a different time from the rest of us. Where is the fairness in that? It’s massively open to abuse…
are you telling me to not practice my religion because I work in Finance?
i have paid 650 USD to sit this exam and so am a client. I am telling them that I will be fasting and so need an alternative date. Are you as much concerned about Jews who take the exam on the Sunday following the exam Saturday? Is this not open to abuse? Have you then done anything to stop CFA from doing this? If not you had better stop writing any further.
Pardon me, but at what point did I even insinuate you shouldn’t work in finance due to your religion? I simply explained that you had mistaken the meaning of the term “usury”.
In terms of Jewish people being offered an alternative date…did you actually read what I wrote at all? I clearly stated I believe there should be no accommodation for religious reasons ACROSS THE BOARD. That means…for everyone, Jewish people included.
I haven’t done anything to stop this being offered to Jewish people, nor will I do anything to stop it being offered to Muslims…I simply stated my opinion.
thank you for the information, i know fasting does not prevent me from taking the exam. but it will definitely have negative impact on my performance which is what i care about. funny everyone mentions the same. is it that difficult to understand?
Having a possible impact on your performance vs a religious mandate of not sitting for an exam on a particular day are two very different problems. Yet you seem to want to categorize them the same. Is that difficult to understand?
i do not know what you are talking about. i am talking about the problem that i will be hungry and thirsty and weak in the exam if i sit it while fasting and you are preaching me about how fasting does not prevent me from taking the exam. my problem cannot be the latter surely, right? it is difficult to understand oobviously.
also, you are telling me to incorporate fasting into my study habits, have you ever studied while fasting for 19 hours once in your life? try it and then come and tell me to do this if you can too. or keep your wisdom to yourself.