Missed CFA exam scheduling deadline – what should I do?

I’ve just been informed/reminded by @Sophie that CFA Institute has indeed previously stated that “your exam will be voided if you didn’t schedule your exam appointment” despite registering for the exam.

However it seems that CFA Institute has removed this wording from their website now.

Will let you know if we learn anything new.

Hey @manavchoudhary I really hope you’re seeing this
Can you please tell me what the next step was after you missed the deadline _/\_
I happened to have missed mine as well because of not having access to my email for the duration.

I’ve found the screenshot: on 19 March 2021, this is what CFA Institute’s website stated:

I contacted the toll free number and as you guessed it, I was told that no exceptions shall be entertained and that the fee will not be deferred or refunded. I don’t get it, I mean in India, the last time any CFA Exam was conducted was December 2019. May 2021 and June 2020 cancellations I understand but why December 2020 was cancelled? And the rescheduling deadline is till 31st July. The scheduling deadline should have been open atleast till 30th June. I hope they re-open the deadline since that was fee was really not a small amount. I agree they sent e-mails and everything but I was pre-occupied with other courses (Chartered Accountancy) that I was doing which is why I missed the e-mails. God, this is so frustrating.

It’s important to verify with CFA Institute (phone them up if they aren’t answering emails) before you make any decisions, as the info below is based on previous exam cycles.

In the previous exam cycle, CFA Institute has stated that those who miss the scheduling deadline with Prometric won’t be able to sit for the exam.

Additional details:

• There won’t be any refunds given by CFA Institute for a missed scheduling deadline.
• There won’t be a chance to reschedule either, which I thought was harsh. Initially I thought surely worst case scenario would be a $25 or even $250 rescheduling fee.
• You can withdraw your exam to be eligible for the next exam window.

However, you should definitely contact CFA Institute (phone or email) to explain your case and ask if there’s anything they can do for you. Be prepared to be on hold for a bit, but given the alternative of missing out on the exam with no refund, I think it’s worth it.

There have been reports of candidates that have successfully transferred their exam to the next exam window without incurring any fees. This seems to be the case when new exam dates/locations open in your city.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes for you? Meanwhile I’ll put out more feelers out, and if I learn anything new I’ll let you know here.

Let us know if you do manage to get your exam rescheduled!

Is there any way to atleast get the exam deferred to a later date? Anyone with a positive experience there? While I understand that I have missed a deadline, their system was so pathetic that it won’t show the deadline even once but will keep asking you to come back. I can’t believe they will take such hard stance.

I feel cheated. No communication from them about scheduling deadline to registered candidates is surely a sign that they were just trying to complicate the process. Don’t even want to register again. No way to take any action?

We did a quick reach out on Instagram and some followers have confirmed that CFA Institute told them there were no exceptions, and the only option is to withdraw from the exam.

@turihf chipped in (via IG) with their experience for the Feb 2021 CFA exam. Sharing here:

I missed the deadline to schedule the Feb-2021 CFA exam with Prometric. I emailed CFA Institute to find out if I had lost my chance to schedule my exam, and if I can request a refund since there seemed to be a website issue with requesting a refund.

CFA Institute replied 2 weeks later, saying not to request a refund because I should be able to reschedule an exam due to the developing COVID situation. I waited for a bit more and an April exam window opened to me.

Crucially @turihf was eligible for a refund, so CFA Institute would have had a stronger incentive to let them schedule an exam. So unfortunately there’s no clear argument that this would necessarily apply to all May 2021 candidates.

CFA Institute have responded with some additional points:

There are some cities that fill quickly. When this happens, additional appointments will be added. Candidates who are firm on their choice of location should check back within 2–3 days.

Please encourage candidates to expand the dates they are looking to test. The most popular testing days are Saturday and Sunday, followed closely by the last few days of the testing window, regardless of the day of the week. Candidates seeking a specific test center location should search for appointments throughout the entire testing window.

If the candidate does not schedule an exam, they lose the registration fee and exam is voided according to CFA Institute policy.

Candidates who do not schedule their exam by the published deadline will not be able to sit for their exam and will forfeit their registration fee.

The scheduling deadline is a hard deadline, and we do not have flexibility to extend the deadline on an individual candidate basis. We send many reminders out to candidates encouraging them to schedule as soon as possible.

For the May window, for example, candidates received 9 direct email communications about the need to schedule their appointment before the deadline. Additionally, two notices about the deadline were shared on our social media platforms, and the deadlines were posted to our website.

I’m aware that this doesn’t quite address cases where there’s just zero availability in a location. I’ve responded to CFA Institute with this and we’ll see if we get something back.

Hello

I really hope you’d see this sooner.

I am a level 3 candidate. Exams got postponed thrice due to Covid. I registered for the November, 2021 exam. But got no mails further for the scheduling appointment process.  But I registered for the November exam. I was occupied in my job and thought I would schedule it when the mail comes. I can show you my mail list, there’s literally no mail that I got regarding this.

Please tell me what can be done? I have mailed CFAI but have heard they take very long to reply. I am actually, really worried as it’s the question of my whole career. Please reply as soon as possible.

Thank You

You may connect on CFA helpline to check if it is possible schedule now. There is one chance given during this COVID time to late schedule exam