20 horror stories about the brutal exam Wall Streeters have been cramming for

The CFA curriculum is considered to be the hardest on Wall Street. To put the exams' difficulty into perspective, fewer than 20% of candidates pass all three on the first attempt.

Candidates on average spend 250-300 hours preparing for each level of the exam over the course of six to eight months.

Of course, every test-taker hopes things go smoothly and according to plan on exam day. But we've heard some crazy horror stories ranging from bathroom disasters to concentration-breaking distractions.

We've included them here. Make sure this doesn't happen to you.

Julia La Roche contributed to an earlier version of this story.