You're right, it's an assumption. But, come on... you know there might be 1 joker who would still wear it. The vast majority of examinees are ethical folks.
Well, some folks are claiming they did read the Guide and it was tucked away in another section.
At the end of the day, it's a huge mess and there were opportunities on both side of the aisle to prevent it.
I'd like to reiterate a few things:
1. The only time I would have been instructed to read the full candidate agreement was when I signed up for the test on December 7, 2015, more than 4 months before the exam date. I believe I did this as I made a good faith effort to read everything provided to me from the state board, Prometric (where I took the CA specific exams on the computer) and NCEES. There were a lot of rules and regulations between these 3 bodies but I did my best.
2. I was only instructed to read the front and back of the exam booklet on the day of the test and then to sign. Nowhere on the front or back did it talk about fitbits.The cell phone and calculator policy were clearly mentioned.
3. At my site, the cell phone and calculator policy were also verbally announced by the proctors.
4. The only location where fitness trackers are mentioned are on page 27 of the examinee guide, in the candidate agreement (which is in the appendix of the examinee guide.) There is a separate section for test day policies, which does not include fitness trackers in the banned item list and which does not refer you to read further into the document for more banned items. Therefore, I would have had to know to read the entirety of a 38 page document, not just paper-exam day policies, in order to get this information.
5. I would have definitely taken off my fitbit if I was instructed to do so before the exam. As it is, I've lost out on thousands of dollars of test fees, travel expenses, and time off work, not to mentioned the months of studying I did prior to the test and the prep I will need to do in the future when retaking.
I agree, I was given this information at some point in time and some of the blame falls on me. However, I made a good faith effort to know and understand all of the rules; with the points above (and the shear number of people this happened to) I hope people can understand how this was so easily missed. This was such an easily avoidable situation for NCEES, which is why I agree that a lot of the blame also falls on them.