CFA CFA General If you’re thinking of taking a battery and screwdriver with you into the exam…

If you’re thinking of taking a battery and screwdriver with you into the exam…

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      …don’t!

      For sake of good order I just changed my batteries, and almost lost an eye! The BA2 Plus is not an easy thing to get open, it was a battle between man and machine, and I think the machine won (I’ve lost some pride anyway!).

      Save yourself any possibility of ending up on the front page of 300hours.com under the heading ‘Candidate dies in calculator related incident’, and change it before E-day 🙂

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      O.o
      I would post what I brought to the exam hall …
      I took 2 calculators other than that I only had one sharpener, one eraser and a couple of HB pencils and one lead pencil.

      I somehow managed to pass :p

      Question: My friend stuck a cute sticker on my calculator. They won’t take it off will they?

    • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
      Participant
        • CFA Level 3
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        @mattjuniper of course! i’ll be taking 2 as well 🙂

        btw, for level 3 essays are you allowed to use a pen instead of a pencil?

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        Question: My friend stuck a cute sticker on my calculator. They won’t take it off will they?

        Personally I wouldn’t even risk going in with it. What if they took your whole calculator?!?

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        @MattJuniper thank goodness for the second calculator in that case. I’ll report back with what happens.

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        @sidmenon

        “It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you.”

        :-S

      • Avatar of SnippySnippy
        Participant
          • CFA Level 2
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          I’m taking two of ’em into the hall!

        • Avatar of SnippySnippy
          Participant
            • CFA Level 2
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            @MattJuniper

            That’s exactly what I’m doing too! I’m taking a pack of 10 pencils!

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            OK, let me tell you what I took into the exam hall for Level 1 (paranoid, me?):

            12 HB pencils, all sharpened beforehand, 8 of them with erasers on the ends (just in case …)
            Two sharpeners (what if one of them became dull or something …)
            Two large erasers (what if one of them started smudging …)
            One TI BA II Plus calculator with brand new battery inserted beforehand
            One spare battery
            Screwdriver (the proctor told me to put it on the floor below my desk)
            Packet of tissues (what if I got the sniffles …)
            Wallet (what if a thieving fellow candidate stole my wallet from my bag that I had to leave in the secure lock up …)

            I had a difficult time holding on to all these things plus my admission ticket and passport, since we aren’t allowed to bring any bags into the hall!

          • Avatar of vincenttvincentt
            Participant
              • CFA Level 3
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              I’ve heard from many former candidates that the batteries for these calculators could last for many years (even way after they have passed all their exams).

              Of course, it’s never a good idea to replace the battery of the BA II plus in the exam hall it’s much better to have a spare one (not to forget to configure them to have the same setup. E.g. AOS instead of Chn, decimal point, etc) or use Pro version (no screwdriver needed).

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              I’ve got both versions already, I’m just paranoid about that long tail risk 😉

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              @sidmenon

              My exam supplies list consists of:

              2 x calculators
              3 x Parker blue ink biros
              9 x HB pencils with rubbers on the end
              1 x rubber
              1 x pencil sharpener

              Be prepared!

              Actually the reason I take a lot of pencils in is so that I don’t actually have to use the sharpener, as this wastes time. I just move on to a new one! I like to have a back-up to my back-up tho 😉

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              That’s only for the essay paper in the morning though. Pencil still required for PM!

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              @mattjuniper They allow a pencil as well for AM.

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              @vincentt yes you can use a biro with black or blue ink. In fact I think you have to. Check out the Recording Exam Answers Policy:

              http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/exams/Pages/policies.aspx

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              @shantala I’m wondering how you managed to hold onto all of that 😛

            • Avatar of SnippySnippy
              Participant
                • CFA Level 2
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                Question: My friend stuck a cute sticker on my calculator. They won’t take it off will they?

                Personally I wouldn’t even risk going in with it. What if they took your whole calculator?!?

                Well, hello there fellow paranoid friend 😛

              • Avatar of SnippySnippy
                Participant
                  • CFA Level 2
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                  Okay, that just put a image in my head of the letters C, F & A all chasing me 😐

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