Heahoos, CFA test will be during ramadhan for the next 3 years I recommend you to take the test in different city like 2-3 hour driving And then its ok to not fast on this day because of the traveling. You can fast this day later
I’m hoping to clear this…and one of the reasons that scares me is to sit through this again while fasting next year…CFA exam will be in ramadan in 2017, 2018 and 2019. And logically there will be (and should be) no alternates offered as you are supposed to carry on with your normal daily stuff while fasting.
True
Qatar has a 5 hour workday in Ramadan…so i don’t think RAD will apply to you
Nothing quite like beating the Almighty on a technicality…
[quote=“S666”]
Nothing quite like beating the Almighty on a technicality…
LOL!!
I dont want to start a religious argument here. It just my recommendation whether u see it as technicality or unexcusable its ur call at the end.
The CFA Institute should provide an alternate date for people that have Ramadan. The month Ramadan isn’t just about fasting as many people think. The Ramadan is much more than that. It’s a holy month that is used to reeducate and refocus on your religion. Practically this means alot of reading the holy book and visiting the mosque during your free time and thus not having any time to study for the CFA test. Also, I think that it would be weird if the CFA Institute would selectively accommodate some religions by providing the opportunity to take the test on Sunday instead of Saturday because of their religion but for other religions it wouldn’t be possible for example to take the test two weeks before 
?
I don’t think any alternate test dates should be given for any religious reasons whatsoever…but I am fully aware that is just my personal opinion.
Sure that’s a valid possibility, but the reality is that the CFA Institute does provide it. Then you must also agree with me that if they accommodate one religion, they must also accommodate another right?
[quote=“CFAFRMMBA”]
^This 
[quote=“CFAbeatmeup”]
what about “this” ?
Orthodox Judaism prohibits writing (no bubbling Scranton), driving (no driving/ subway to exam center), electricity (no calculator/ no riding elevator) between Friday night through Saturday night. This is different from fasting. The religion actually prevents you from taking the exam. With Islam, you can eat before fast starts and carry you throughout the day. The CFAI must preserve the integrity of the exam and cannot justify candidates to take it early. When I’ve written the exam I am so nervous to eat much of anything. If you are pure in your intentions I would recommend messaging Paul Smith on LinkedIn and see what he says.
Like i said, fasting is just a part of Ramadan and it’s not just about that. It’s actually mostly about using this month to get closer to god by reading, praying and refocusing on your religion.
Jewish religious law (Halacha) clearly states these prohibitions. Also my opinion is that taking the exam one day later (Sunday) is a little easier to accommodate than 2 weeks early (what I read on this thread). I would look in the Koran and find the laws that prevents a Muslim from taking the exam during Ramadan and reach out to Paul Smith.
I wish you luck, I mean this could be the catalyst to offer the exam twice a year.
I wasn’t planning on going into discussion about whether there are exact rules etc in the Koran about not taking CFA exams because religion is a very personal thing and every person has it’s own unique way of how he practices his/her religion. Just look at how many different types of Jews and Muslims there are, that says enough. Let me give you an example of what i mean: let’s say that the Koran states that during the month Ramadan all your sins will be forgiven if you ask god for forgiveness. One person will ask god forgiveness once during the whole month Ramadan because he thinks that’s enough. Another person will take the whole month off work and goes praying in the mosque form morning till evening. It doesn’t state in the Koran for example how, where and how many times you should ask forgiveness, everybody practices their religion in their own unique way. This is ofcourse a very extreme example, but I’m just trying to prove a point here. Hope this makes a little sense to you.
Also I don’t think that the difficulty of accommodating should be an argument in this particular case. CFAI could also replace the current alternate exam day (sunday) by giving jews and the others combined one alternate exam day that suits both (for example 2 weeks before on a sunday), it would still mean that the CFAI would only have to organize one extra exam day and this way everybody wins.
If you gave the same test two weeks early, the chance for info leakage is high. If you did a separate test, the cost of designing, grading, and rank-stacking/cross-comparing the two groups of test takers (religion group vs. all others) into pass or fail would be rather high; am I incorrect here?
For the record, I have no horse in this race one way or the other; I just always try to see the other side of the argument and use logic.
Do you want to wait 120 days for results?
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Do you want to wait 120 days for results?
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Hahaha LOL that’s gonna be brutal indeed, sacrifices have to be made…
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If you gave the same test two weeks early, the chance for info leakage is high. If you did a separate test, the cost of designing, grading, and rank-stacking/cross-comparing the two groups of test takers (religion group vs. all others) into pass or fail would be rather high; am I incorrect here?
For the record, I have no horse in this race one way or the other; I just always try to see the other side of the argument and use logic.
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True, there is a bigger chance of leakage because of the bigger time window but on the other hand, if we presume the alternate exam date takes place before the normal exam date, this group is very small in comparison with the group that takes the exam on the normal date. The chance that there is one dishonest person in a small group is much less likely than in a big group. The chance of leakage with the current policy is un my opinion much bigger, because the group on saturday is much bigger. So therefore i don’t really see this as an argument for not having the alternate exam date before the normal.one. Also, do you know for a fact that the exam on the alternate exam date is the same as the one on the normal exam date? Maybe they already produce 2 exams?
This is a very interesting discussion here. One thing I am happy about is there is not bigotry on this thread like you see on other forums. I am a Muslim myself and this had left me in a conundrum on how to go about it. I Will be thinking over the next few weeks to see if I can take the exam while fasting. I am not worried about the days of fasting leading up to the exam but the exam day itself since no water or food while taking the exam will definitely reduce productivity. They best suggestions to all those of the islamic faith is for them to ask an opinion of their local scholars on it and see if there is anything on this subject that would prevent us from keeping the fast for that day. I will be following this thread to see what the majority of the people would be doing.