A candidate posts online that the exam had "tons of derivatives questions and nothing on IPO allocations." No question text was reproduced. That post still violates the Standards.
Standard VII governs how you behave inside CFA Institute programs and how you describe your relationship to CFA Institute afterward. It has two sub-standards, and vignettes routinely trigger both at once.
The rule prohibits 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. It reaches every CFA Institute program, not only the exam that earns the charter.
Prohibited conduct includes giving or receiving assistance on an examination, violating any program rule or testing policy, providing confidential program or exam information to candidates or the public, circumventing exam security measures, improperly using an association with CFA Institute for personal or professional gain, and misrepresenting information to CFA Institute about any program.
KEY: VII(A) binds you only if you are already a member or candidate. Participation in a CFA Institute program does not, by itself, make an outsider subject to the Code...
Common mistakes
- Treating topic disclosure as harmless. Naming an area that was absent guides future study just as much as naming one present. Both are confidential.
- Assuming criticism is misconduct. Publicly disputing a CFA Institute policy is protected. Only embedded confidential content converts it into a violation.
- Believing lapse is a grace period. Missing one of the three annual requirements ends the right to use the designation immediately, not at some later cutoff.
Bottom line
- VII(A) bars conduct compromising CFA Institute's reputation or any program's integrity, validity, or security
- Prohibited: cheating, breaking testing rules, leaking exam information, evading security, exploiting a CFA Institute association, misrepresenting facts to CFA Institute
- Confidential: specific question details plus broad topics or formulas tested or not tested, until public release
- Protected: study groups, difficulty impressions, and stated disagreement with CFA Institute policy
Exam shortcut
Run two filters in order. First, did anything confidential move? If the stem names a topic, a formula area, a scored question, or a guideline answer, that is VII(A), regardless of how vague the wording feels. Opinions about difficulty and complaints about CFA Institute pass this filter untouched. Second, does a statement promise anything? Split every quoted phrase into fact versus implication. "Passed in three consecutive sittings" is fact.
The full lesson (about 1,906 words, 13 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
Browse all free CFA Level II lessons or jump into free CFA Level II practice questions.