13.2 Exam Week Prometric and Passport Checklist

Prometric and passport control

CFA Level I is delivered as in-person, proctored, computer-based testing (CBT) through Prometric and some British Council test centers. It is not a remote, at-home test. Treat your final week with the same operational care you would give a client meeting or a board presentation: the exam can be lost at the door, not just on the screen.

The identification rule is central. CFA Institute requires a valid international travel passport to register for and sit the exam. The passport must be original (not a copy or image), current, undamaged, and aligned with the exact name in your CFA Institute account. No driver license, national ID card, or military ID is an acceptable substitute. A strong study plan still fails at check-in if identity control is weak.

Seven days before

Confirm the test center and appointment in both your CFA Institute account and Prometric records, and save the confirmation in more than one place. Re-read the admission, appointment, identification, calculator, and personal-belongings policies on the CFA Institute site so there are no surprises.

If you must reschedule your appointment within the same exam window, CFA Institute requires the request by the published deadline, subject to availability, and charges a non-refundable USD 250 fee plus any applicable taxes. That is a scheduling tool, not a new study window.

The CFA Program permits only two calculator models: the Texas Instruments BA II Plus (including BA II Plus Professional) and the HP 12C (including the HP 12C Platinum and 25th-anniversary editions). Inspect the one you will bring — check batteries, confirm decimal-place and chain/algebraic settings, and run a short set with that exact unit. Exam week is too late to learn that a setting changes every bond or cash-flow answer.

Forty-eight hours before

Pack only what the policies allow, and physically separate study materials from test-day materials so you do not carry a prohibited item by accident. Decide in advance where your phone, wallet, watch, and notes will go under center rules; smartwatches and phones are not permitted in the testing room.

Run one final route plan covering traffic, transit, parking, building entry, weather, and a backup option. If your appointment is early, adjust your sleep the night before the night immediately preceding the exam — a plan invented at midnight is a weak plan.

Exam morning

Arrive early enough to absorb ordinary delays; centers may admit candidates within a defined window and check identification, scan, and seat you. Once inside, follow proctor instructions to the letter — the center environment is part of the experience, so spend mental energy on the exam, not on improvising around procedures.

Your pacing plan should already be rehearsed. Each session is 90 questions in 135 minutes, about 90 seconds per item. Answer clear questions first, flag hard ones, and return with remaining time. One stubborn item must never absorb the time owed to several answerable items.

Inside the testing room

Know what the environment provides so you do not waste energy improvising. The test center supplies an erasable noteboard or scratch material and a marker; you may not bring your own scratch paper, and you must leave personal notes in the locker. There is an on-screen clock and a question-navigation panel that lets you flag items and jump back to flagged ones, which is how you operationalize the first-pass-then-return strategy. Between the two 90-question sessions there is an optional break of roughly 30 minutes; the clock for the second session does not start until you resume, so use the break to reset rather than rushing back.

Earplugs are typically available on request, and proctors may re-scan you when you re-enter after the break.

Managing energy across 270 minutes

The full exam is two 135-minute sessions, so plan stamina deliberately. Eat a normal, moderate breakfast — heavy or sugary meals invite a mid-session crash. Hydrate, but not so much that you spend the break in line for the restroom. Treat the optional break as a real reset: stand, stretch, eat a small snack from your locker, and mentally close out the first session so a tough morning question does not bleed into the afternoon. Candidates who skip the break to 'save time' frequently see accuracy fall in the final 30 questions, which is the opposite of the intended saving.

Prometric disruption plan

If Prometric changes or cancels your appointment, rely only on official CFA Institute and Prometric communications, never on rumors or screenshots. Keep records of every notice, date, and contact. If the event may qualify for a deferral, follow the published CFA Institute deferral policy and deadlines. The exam-week principle is simple: remove avoidable uncertainty — passport, route, rules, calculator, and pace — then spend your attention on reading stems and choosing the best-supported answer.