Disqualification letter from SOA

A friend just received a letter from the SOA telling them that their paper was not being graded because it was not signed. This is truly awful. I have 2 questions:

1) Why do they wait so long to tell you? The exam was given 6 weeks ago and grades are due out in 3. Didn't they notice the lack of a signature a long time ago?

2) Is there any recourse? Has anyone succesfully challenged this ruling and had it overturned? If so, how did you do this?

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

[Minerva]

OMG - my second worst nightmare. No, I don't, but, at the risk of thread drift, does anyone know what would happen if you forgot to put your candidate number on the top of one or two pages (essay exams)? My WORST nightmare, especially since there is such a real possibility that I did it and didn't notice.

And aren't the proctors supposed to look at your envelope for the signature?

Minerva,
At the risk of worrying you further, I would think they would throw out a paper with no candidate number on it. They all get separated by question, so it might get lost in the shuffle, unless they attached all of one candidates papers for each question together.

And this instance is on an early exam so there is no envelope, just the Scantron page.

[Bob the Dog]

Bob thinks there is very little recourse. Unfortunate, but Bob has always been directed to sign envelopes. Following directions important from time to time.

[Enough Exams Already]

I think your friend is SOL, I'm afraid. I strongly doubt the SOA would grade the paper without a signature, and I don't remember anything about it being appealable. (sp?)

[Guerilla poster]

Your friend? is SOL. I have heard about someone tried to jump through hoops to get their paper graded, had several people vouch that they were at the exam with them but in the end the SOA didn't budge. Needless to say the person offed themselves.

[Pub Guy]

As a proctor, I always look for the Candidate # and signature on the envelope as it was turned in or picked up. It is pretty common for me to get an envelope without one of the above and I then would have the individual write it in after the fact (but obviously before he/she left the room).

As for grading with no Candidate # on a specific page, I think the SOA honestly tries to figure out whose paper it is, probably based on its location within the stack of the candidate's other answer sheets. The SOA will then pencil in the Candidate's # before separating his answers out for individual question grading. However, despite the SOA's generosity in this regard, it's always a good idea to spend a few seconds to check for Candidate #'s on all pages before putting your answers in the envelope.

[Minerva]

WRT checking - I always do, but........ (That's what makes it a nightmare - you know, the kind where no matter what you do things go wrong?)

[Maine-iac]

I pretty much agree that this poor person is up the creek.

However, I do know of a case where the SOA sent a letter to saying they would not grade an exam due to "exam irregularities" and the person was able to sucessfully argue that the incident had been mis-reported, and his paper was eventually graded. (I was in the same SOA exam session, and the person in question recruited me to tell the SOA what I had observed if requested, but it didn't go that far.)

[RPM]

We did have someone a few years ago receice such a letter. The head of our actuarial dept went to the SOA ranting and raving. We are a major testing site, and he said he would pull the plug on us being a testing site if the SOA didn't come out with some kind of a compromise. He had to sign a letter basically saying he didn't cheat and it was an accident that he didn't sign the paper. It was notorized and sent off. He passed the exam. I hope that helps. And good luck.