I have a lot of sympathy. Having a 5+ hour running clock really isn’t right.
If I was in this position I would still plan for a break at around the half way point. I did this when I took PA… But it’s not right to put test takers in this position, because there are people willing to go 5+ hours without water/ bathroom/etc and that really should not be a competitive advantage.
It is absurd.
CFA: used to be 2 3 hour exam halves in 1 day with ~1 hour break (so similar to FSA exams). With the Prometric transition, the CFA exams are now 2 parts of 2.25 hours each, with 1 optional 30 minute break in between. The 30 minute break does not impact the clock, it’s kind of a separate segment. You cannot go back to part 1. The clocks for part 1, break, and part 2 are consecutive. Any clock can be ended early, making that break optional. You can’t keep working on part 1 past the part 1 clock…
If CFA can manage the transition to Prometric, why couldn’t the SOA do something similar? Doesn’t even have to make the exams shorter.