The many health perks of good handwriting Not only does it help the brain develop, it can also improve grades and confidence
June 15, 2011 By Julie Deardorff, Tribune Newspapers
i used pencil last year and it was graded. so there is your proof as i didnt get 0-50 in every section
I called CFAI and they said it was fine to use pencil and it will be graded just the same. Not sure why I wasted everyone’s time. Apologies.
Can we have this documented somehow?
this is the reponse that I received:
Mr. XXXXX
Thank you for contacting us about Level III. We prefer that you write your answers to the constructed response questions in ink; however, the graders will certainly grade any answers you write in pencil. Writing in pencil will not affect your exam grade.
I hope this is helpful.
Regards,
| Client Services Representative | CFA Institute | 560 Ray C. Hunt Drive | PO Box 3668 | Charlottesville, VA | 22903-0668 USA_ Follow CFA Institute online: _ CFAInstitute.org | twitter.com/CFAInstitute │ Facebook.com/CFAInstitute │_LinkedIn: Member Group_ │_LinkedIn: Candidate Group_
I really would like to see more posts on this as it is a truly riveting conversation. How long can we keep this going?
June 2 is my guess
Thnx mcap11 to get it clarified from CFAI
I think pencil should be used by us coz there are not enough space on TEMPLATE portion to answer. So you need to be sure what you are writing. Generally, after writing few lines we realize its wrong. Now if we were to cross off we may go out of space. Atleast with Pencil you can erase & rewrite it.
My experience with practising Morning session so far is like ‘Hit or Miss’ kinda thing on the ‘D day’
You need to rightly attempt question at the first go itself otherwise chances get bleak to complete the session in time. There are many questions in morning which keep us hanging in thoughts before we actually write. CFAI makes the first paper lengthy intentionally. It’s really tough to ATTEMPT all questions. You have to be really sure what to write. You need to attempt all of them coz you are not sure whether the answer you think you wrote well, will get you full marks. Specially IPS questions
Managing time in first half is really key which I am unable to find so far :(.
Rahuls - I suspect you are writing too much down if you do not have enough space in the templates AND you are running out of time.
The morning session always takes me longer to complete too, but I’ve been coming in under 3 hrs. I would say try writing bullet points like many suggest in order to save time. It may acually create more space for you in those templates too!
: )
Great advice! thanks!
This is what i email CFAI:
“Hi, Given the format of the morning session of Level 3, I am planning to use mix of pencil and blue pen. I may be looking to use pencil to draw out tables or while writing in Template portion & rest with the Blue pen. Please suggest me whether such usage of pencil & pen would be allowed & graded or not. Regards”
Reply from CFAI:
" Dear Mr. XXXX,
Thank you for contacting us about the testing policies. _ You may use both pencil and either blue or black ink during the exam. _ Please note, however, that only answer marked on the scantron answer sheet with a NO. 2 pencil will be graded for the multiple choice session. _ Additionally, only answers made in blue or black ink in the actual exam booklet will be graded for the essay. All other markings, while permissible, will not be graded. _ Please reference http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/policies.aspx for a complete listing of the CFA Program testing policies. I hope you find this information helpful. Should you have any further inquiries or requests, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,"
Now help me understand: they said " You may use both pencil and either blue or black ink during the exam." So infer i can use pencil for tables & templates & rest with pen
then they said " Additionally, only answers made in blue or black ink in the actual exam booklet will be graded for the essay. All other markings, while permissible, will not be graded." ??
So would it be graded or not?
if you worry that pencil is not graded, use the pen 
if you worry that pencil is not graded, use the pen
Sketch your answer with pencil and draw with the pen!
^ I dont whether you guys have actually done (by doing means actually reattempting) questions like effective interest calculation involving caplets/floorlets or WACC or C&C models or many…which reduces your time siginificantly if you make a table. While writing in a table you may make a mistake which if needs to struck off later, your table gets vague etc etc…
Anyways I wrote the reply to understand the meaning what they have said!
^esandun : are you following IPL?
This has been beaten over again. You can use a pencil for the written part, it will be graded.
i used pencil for the entire AM session last year and it was graded
No time with CFA. Heard one SL player accused over something.
Please read once the words used in the email:
Additionally, only answers made in blue or black ink in the actual exam booklet will be graded for the essay. All other markings, while permissible, will not be graded. ” ??