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Post-Nasal Drip Ruins One CPA Exam Candidate’s Experience

Perhaps Caleb can confirm for us whether or not the exotic Colorado climate is snot-inducing, inquiring minds are dying to know.

We love tales from the CPA exam (if you have one, please let us know), especially ones that make us wonder if Prometric staff are human beings or robots. Once again, we totally get the high security environment but have to question the logic that dictates a drippy nose should be left to annoy the rest of the room instead of providing a candidate with a damn tissue (or a barf bucket). Absent a pen (unless they’ve keistered one, obviously), what exactly could the candidate do with the tissue to compromise the security of the CPA exam? Copy MCQ by swirling around the snot?

Seriously.

I got kicked out of the CPA exam (but let back in) because of the sniffles. I had just moved to Colorado and was having a hard time adjusting to the climate so I had a constantly running nose. When I got to the exam I asked if I could take some Kleenex in with me and they told me no. It was my first part of the exam so I was still feeling out how it all works, etc. I was in my second testlet and occasionally had a sniffle here and there (not hocking a loogie or anything, just a small sniffle). I feel a tap on my shoulder which scares the pants off me since I’m in the zone. I turn around and pull off my headphones and the moderator tells me she’s going to have to ask me to leave the exam (which is all she says). I stare at her dumbfounded and my heart starts racing “but why?? what did I do wrong??!” trying to think if I had taken off my hoodie during the exam (which is a no-no) or something else to get me kicked out of my first exam. She says “I’m going to have to ask you to come blow your nose, we’ve had some complaints”. So I stare at her more. “But I’m in the middle of a testlet, should I wait and come out after the testlet is closed?”… she responds “No, please come with me.” So she escorts me out of the testing room, points at a box of kleenex and demands I blow my nose in front of her and throw it in the trash can. I had flooding memories back to kindergarten….. So I return to my testing room, relieved I was allowed back in, only to wonder to myself “Who the hell would have complained about my sniffles? Were they not wearing their headphones or something?”. So when I got to the typing portion of my test I made sure to bang my keys as loud as I possibly could.

Colorado CPA in Australia.

Fine, it’s a Pandora’s Box… first Prometric starts providing tissues and next thing you know candidates are demanding emergency tampons for unplanned monthly accidents, insulin, and porn to accommodate their masturbation disability. We get it, it’s a slippery slope of accommodation and Prometric shouldn’t be expected to have a solution for every possible scenario but let’s be reasonable here, it’s just a little snot.

Really, Prometric?

Illinois Candidate Caught Cheating on the CPA Exam

We have better things to do than comb through the minutes of each accountancy board’s meetings, so thanks to the tipster who obviously doesn’t and sent in the following tip from the January 25, 2011 minutes of the Illinois Board of Accountancy:

b. Mr. [Richard] York led a discussion regarding a recent candidate caught cheating by Prometric. The Committee agreed with the Executive Director’s recommendation to void the candidate’s scores for that examination. It was agreed by the Board to implement a prohibition of testing privilege for 2-5 years as provided by Administrative Rule for future candidates caught cheating.

It’s common knowledge that if you are caught cheating on the CPA exam you should expect for your scores to be thrown out and will likely receive some sort of administrative penalty (such as being barred from taking the exam again for a certain number of years) but this is the first reference I have seen to an actual candidate getting busted.

How does one go about cheating on the CPA exam anyway? With countless questions completely locked down by the AICPA, how could a candidate cheat? Sharpie notes on the palm of his hand? Smuggled in snot rags?

The official line on cheating from the AICPA, NASBA and Prometric goes something like this:

The Boards of Accountancy, NASBA and the AICPA take candidate misconduct, including cheating on the Uniform CPA Examination, very seriously. If a Board of Accountancy determines that a candidate is culpable of misconduct or has cheated, the candidate will be subject to a variety of penalties including, but not limited to, invalidation of grades, disqualification from subsequent examination administrations, and civil and criminal penalties. In cases where candidate misconduct or cheating is discovered after a candidate has obtained a CPA license or certificate, a Board of Accountancy may rescind the license or certificate.

If the test center staff suspects misconduct, a warning will be given to the candidate for any of the following situations:
· Communicating, orally or otherwise, with another candidate or person
· Copying from or looking at another candidate’s materials or workstation
· Allowing another candidate to copy from or look at materials or workstation
· Giving or receiving assistance in answering examination questions or problems
· Reading examination questions or simulations aloud
· Engaging in conduct that interferes with the administration of the examination or unnecessarily
disturbing staff or other candidates

Grounds for confiscation of a prohibited item and warning the candidate include:
· Possession of any prohibited item (whether or not in use) inside, or while entering or exiting the testing room
· Use of any prohibited item during a break in a manner that could result in cheating or the removal of examination questions or simulations

Inquiring minds are dying to know what went down.

The scariest part is that in 2 – 5 years, this candidate can head back into Prometric and give it another shot. Looks like it’s payroll clerking it in the meantime.