Exams
CGA examinations have the purpose of evaluating whether a student has demonstrated the core competencies required of a newly certified CGA or required to continue in higher level courses of the Program at an appropriate performance level.
2012-2013 Exam Dates
- Season 1 Fall - Nov. 26 - December 1
- Season 2 Winter - March 11 - 16
- Season 3 Spring - June 10 - 15
- Season 4 Summer - September 3 - 5
Examination Procedures
Examination Qualification
In Level 1 to 4 courses, students are required to complete a combination of multiple-choice quizzes and integrative assignment questions that count toward a maximum of 30% of the final course mark. In contrast, PACE, successful completion of the course assignments, including any online discussions, qualifies a student to write the examination. Please refer to your Affiliate for more specific information on course assignments and examination qualification.
Students who fail to qualify to write an examination through the assignment process will be given a mark of DNQ, meaning the student did not qualify to write the exam. A mark of DNQ counts as an unsuccessful attempt under the Examination Failure Policy.
Students enrolled in challenge or supplemental exams are not required to submit assignments to qualify to write the exam. Your examination will be automatically scheduled upon enrolment.
DNW - Did Not Write
Any student who is qualified and scheduled to write an examination (including a supplemental, challenge or deferred exam) and does not do so will automatically be assigned a grade of DNW - Did not write and it will count as one of your four allowable attempts.
Examination Conflicts
Students must report any examination conflict in writing to your CGA affiliate office. In the case of a student being scheduled to write two exams on the same day, the student will be given the choice of either writing the exams consecutively on the same day or deferring either examination. (Please refer to your Affiliate for specific information on examination conflicts.)
Examination Centre Location
Students write exams in the centre closest to their residential address.
Temporary Examination Centre Changes
Students wishing to write their examination at an examination centre other than the centre originally assigned to them must notify their CGA affiliate office, in writing. This enables us to make any necessary arrangements for larger rooms and to ensure that sufficient exams are available at the examination centre. (Please refer to your Affiliate for specific information on temporary examination centre changes.)
Special Examination Centres
CGA students who meet certain criteria may apply to the Association for special examination centre status. Special examination centres will be established on an exception basis only. The major determinant for approving a special examination centre request will be the distance from an established regular examination centre. (Please refer to your Affiliate for specific information on special examination centres.)
Students applying for a special examination centre MUST arrange for their own examination invigilator. The invigilator must be a CGA or other qualified professional. The invigilator must not be a CGA student, relative or friend.
Students temporarily residing outside the province are required to apply for a special examination centre. It is advisable to contact the local CGA Association to determine if you are staying in a regular examination centre of that region. If it is a regular centre, there is no need to find an invigilator.
Examination Booklet
Write your student ID number, the examination subject, language and date at the top or side of each Examination Booklet (answer booklet) you use (as indicated by the boxes). Be sure your student number is correct and you have the correct examination paper. Do not open the examination until advised by the invigilator. Do not write your name on or within the answer booklet.
Tips:
- All formulas and calculations should be shown on the answer booklet to obtain full marks.
- Full marks may not be awarded where only the final answer (even though correct) is given, but no work is provided.
- Begin each question on a new page. If you have continued or restarted a question on another page out of the normal sequence, you should number your pages and state where the rest of the question is located (e.g., "Question 3 continued on page 6") to ensure that the balance of the question will be marked.
- When answering essay-type questions, you should write on every other line (double spaced) to facilitate any changes or additions to the original answer. It also makes it easier to read and mark.
- Descriptive parts of the exams should be written in ink. Calculations and rough work may be written in pencil.
- Use the right-hand page of the answer booklet only, and use the left-hand page for rough work.
- For the marker’s reference, clearly label the rough work to correspond with the examination question. The marker will refer to this if she or he sees you have had difficulty with a question and may credit marks accordingly.
- Multiple-choice questions must be answered in the answer booklet provided, not on the examination paper.
Examination Room Conduct
A student is not permitted to ask the examination invigilator for advice on, or interpretation of, any examination question. The examination invigilator is prohibited from discussing the examination paper with a student in any way during the exam. If it is felt that the facts, statements or requirements given in a question are incomplete or ambiguous, the student should state on the answer booklet whatever additional facts, corrections, and/or reasonable assumptions are necessary to satisfactorily answer the question.
At the conclusion of writing each exam, insert any additional answer booklets inside the back cover of the first answer booklet. Return your completed answer booklet(s) to your invigilator together with any excess stationery. Unused stationery must not be removed from the examination room. Every student must turn in at least one answer booklet. Students are not permitted to insert any other stationery in their answer booklets. All examination question answers and rough work are to be written in the CGA answer booklet provided. No other stationery will be submitted to the examiners for grading.
If you finish your examination early and wish to leave before the allotted time is up, do not disturb the other candidates by making unnecessary noise when submitting your answer booklet and leaving the examination room. Under no circumstances will a student be allowed to leave the examination room within the first one and a half hours of the starting time. If a student sits for an examination under unusual circumstances that occur during the exam, the student should notify your local CGA Association, in writing no later than one week after the examination has been written, so that any concerns can be responded to promptly.