Posted my exam day horror story here in a new post with pictures. My first time telling it on here and its up there with the worst of them…
https://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-general-discussion/91359948
In San Diego, they have the exam at the SDSU basketball arena, and only one bathroom is available for all 800-1,000 candidates. About 8:25am, I walked to the bathroom and there was a line of about 10 guys, and I thought ok, this should move pretty quickly, but after a minute, I realized it wasn’t moving at all, and it was actually a line to the $hitter, and there were only two of them. So, I moved on past to an open urinal. But man, the hopeless look of those guys waiting in line was like OMG, I can’t FBTS.
@Pakwarroir, I sat for L2 in Riyadh back in 2014 and the setup was the same. Two candidates on a large table. Was the test centre Four Points by Sheraton time time too?
No they changed from that crappy place to Marriott I guess for two years now. It is fine as its far less crowded area and large parking space and washrooms. Just that they don’t have good arrangement for lunch, can you imagine?
CFA exams used to be held in Holiday Inn, Olaya in Riyadh. At least it was in 2013. Now they have shifted to Marriott. I think even the charter ceremony is held in Marriott. And in Riyadh, there is no concept of doors closing at 8:30am. Lol. you can show up at 8:59AM too, doesn’t matter.
I absolutely hate the chairs they give to candidates in Riyadh. Or maybe they’re the standard ones around the world. I have back pain and those chairs kill me especially when I have to sit on them for 7 hours. My wife is giving ACCA papers and her center is Holiday Inn and they provide ACCA candidates those comfy swivel chairs. Jealous.
The guy who sat on my 11 o’clock direction, came in with hoodie, shorts and slippers, poured his entire pocket onto the table. After taking out several mints from the box, he carefully displayed them into two rows which made me believe he must have gotten his time management system down(by matching questions remaining with his mints on table or other ways). His face and attitude was totally a “sure pass”.
Told my bf specifically about this guy during lunch.
When I got back for PM session, he did not show up.
You take this in California?
Yes… How could you tell?
Not a funny story but myself and my coworker go to the head table to register. He was ahead of me and having his passport checked…of course the numbers on his passport do not match what was on his admission slip. I could see his heart just absolutely sink to a new low. I asked him what happened and he had got a new passport in October and forgot make the change on the CFA’s website. At first they did not think he could write the exam at all but thankfully, after speaking to the head proctor, he was able to write the exam after filling out some sort of acknowledgement forum. Hopefully, his results are still valid
YES
YES
Yea, wasn’t sure what her problem was. I thought she got kicked out initially.
This happened to me in L2 last year. The exam hall was a huge hangar with nearly 1500 candidates (all levels) writing the exam under the same roof. While I’m busy sweating it out on my calculator I notice something near my feet moving about. I look down and I find a cat trying to make its view between my feet. I had such a rush of adrenaline at the moment but somehow managed not to let out a shriek fearing an ethics violation of some sort and managed to not startle anyone around me as well. I looked around and no one seemed to notice that cat either, everyone was working on the exam and the cat just glided across the floor discreetly like all cats do. Now at this point I had no clue what to do and I was surprised that so far no one among the 1500 or so people had either not noticed the cat or didn’t have any qualms about a stray cat apparently so interested in the CFA exam.
I remembered the instructions that they read aloud before the exams on how the area is being monitored for electronic activity and decided to make peace with the assumption that the cat was maybe trained to do just that. Maybe its the frantic nature of the exam but I thought I was being too paranoid about a cat when literally no one else could care less. I put my head down and went at it on the calculator again, while the cat disappeared between the sea of legs and furniture. And yes, no one else seemed to let out a scream or complain about it either.
I haven’t spoken about this incident to anyone else until now!
It’s Dave.
At the end of the PM session the lead proctor makes an announcement that the “Casio calculator that was confiscated can be picked up”…No one moved.
Apparently a level I had brought in a Casio calculator assuming they could use it. I believe they sat for the AM session, but either decided not to come back for the PM or was too embarrassed to collect their confiscated calculator.
I have no idea how people can read the 3,000 pages of material, but neglect to read the 1 page of rules on the CFAI website.
you think that person really read 3000 pages?
This really cracked me up…LOL
I didn’t bring a pencil for the morning and had a 20 minute panic attack about whether or not I would need one to fill in the stuff on the cover page or… an extra sheet of the exam? I dunno - it was my first time at level 3 and I felt prepared so I had to panic about something!
I eventually asked the guy beside me for one before the start just to calm t f down. Didn’t need it at all.
Not sure, but have to assume he at least put some effort in if he felt confident enough to sit for the exam.