You finish the Level I exam and post on Reddit: "The afternoon session crushed me on fixed income duration questions." That single sentence is a Standard VII(A) violation. The Code is strict about what you can and cannot reveal.
Standard VII has two sub-standards governing your conduct toward CFA Institute itself. VII(A) protects the integrity of CFA Institute programs (the exam, the candidate process, continuing education). VII(B) governs how you reference the CFA designation, the CFA Program, and CFA Institute in your professional communications. The exam's ethics vignettes ask you to demonstrate thorough knowledge of both rules, applying the Standards to situations involving issues of professional integrity rather than reciting them from memory.
Members and candidates must not engage in any conduct that compromises the reputation or integrity of CFA Institute or the CFA designation, or the integrity, validity, or security of CFA Institute programs.
The conduct rules fall into five buckets.
Confidentiality of exam content. You cannot share, reveal, or disclose any information about specific questions, topics, formulas, or content from a CFA exam you sat.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the violation requires malicious intent. Casual Reddit posts and study group chats cause most VII(A) violations. Intent does not matter; disclosure is the violation. Trap: "I only mentioned the topic to help a friend" is not a defense.
- Using CFA as a noun. "He is a CFA" or "Our firm employs five CFAs" violates VII(B). The construction requires "CFA charterholder" or "Chartered Financial Analyst." Trap: treating pluralization as acceptable shorthand.
- Claiming candidacy without registration. "I am a Level II candidate" is only accurate if registered for the next sitting or awaiting recent results. Studying between sittings without registration does not preserve candidate status. Trap: maintaining "candidate" on LinkedIn through a deferred year.
Bottom line
- VII(A) protects CFA Institute program integrity through five rules: confidentiality of content, compliance with testing rules, no conduct compromising validity, proper use of CFA Institute property, and separating personal opinion from disclosure.
- Disclosing exam topics, even without revealing answers, violates VII(A). Indicating that a topic appeared on a specific exam gives future candidates an advantage.
- VII(B) governs the designation: "CFA" is an adjective modifying "charterholder" or a post-nominal suffix, never a noun.
- Claim candidacy only when registered for the next scheduled sitting or awaiting recent results. Studying between sittings does not preserve candidate status.
Exam shortcut
For VII(A), apply the disclosure test: does the statement reveal anything specific about exam content, topics, weighting, or questions? If yes, it is a violation regardless of intent or motive. For VII(B), apply the adjective test: is CFA used to modify "charterholder" or as a post-nominal designation suffix? If used as a noun ("a CFA," "CFAs," "the CFA"), it is a violation.
The full lesson (about 2,636 words, 18 min read) adds 2 worked examples, all 6 common mistakes, a self-check, free in the app.
Learning objectives
- standard VII responsibilities as member or candidate
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