CDG Professional Standards & Competencies 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A diamond grader receives a stone for grading from a retail jeweler who is also a personal friend. What is the most professionally appropriate action?
- Grade it as usual while disclosing the relationship to your supervisor (Correct answer)
- Refuse all stones from personal acquaintances without exception
- Grade it more favorably to maintain the friendship
- Delegate the stone to a colleague without documentation
Correct answer: Grade it as usual while disclosing the relationship to your supervisor
Disclosing personal relationships while still grading objectively upholds transparency and professional integrity.
Question 2: Which organization's grading standards are most widely recognized as the global benchmark for diamond grading?
- American Gem Society (AGS)
- Gemological Institute of America (GIA) (Correct answer)
- International Gemological Institute (IGI)
- Gemological Center Antwerp Lab (GCAL)
Correct answer: Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
GIA established the 4Cs system and its standards are the most universally accepted benchmark in the diamond industry.
Question 3: When calibrating a gemological microscope at the start of a grading session, a grader notices the reticle scale does not match the reference standard. The correct response is to:
- Continue grading and note the discrepancy in the report
- Recalibrate or remove the instrument from service until repaired (Correct answer)
- Adjust final measurements mentally to compensate
- Use a loupe instead for that session
Correct answer: Recalibrate or remove the instrument from service until repaired
Instruments that fail calibration checks must be removed from service to ensure grading accuracy and report integrity.
Question 4: A client requests that a grader match a competitor laboratory's lower clarity grade on a previously graded stone. The grader should:
- Re-examine the stone and grade it independently without reference to the competitor's grade (Correct answer)
- Match the competitor grade to satisfy the client
- Refuse to grade the stone at all
- Average the two grades and issue a new report
Correct answer: Re-examine the stone and grade it independently without reference to the competitor's grade
Professional graders must assess each stone independently; client pressure to alter grades compromises scientific integrity.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes 'grading consistency' in a professional diamond laboratory?
- All graders assign identical grades to every stone regardless of individual assessment
- Graders apply the same criteria and standards so results fall within an acceptable tolerance range (Correct answer)
- One senior grader reviews and approves all grades before issuance
- Grades are averaged across three graders to eliminate bias
Correct answer: Graders apply the same criteria and standards so results fall within an acceptable tolerance range
Grading consistency means applying standardized criteria so results are reproducible within a defined tolerance, not necessarily identical.
Question 6: In professional diamond grading, the term 'chain of custody' refers to:
- The legal ownership history of a diamond
- The documented tracking of a stone from client receipt through grading to return (Correct answer)
- The list of graders who handled the stone
- The sequence of grading steps performed on each stone
Correct answer: The documented tracking of a stone from client receipt through grading to return
Chain of custody is the complete documented record of a stone's handling to ensure accountability and prevent substitution.
Question 7: A diamond grader is asked to provide expert testimony in a legal dispute about a stone's quality. The grader's primary obligation is to:
- Support the position of the party that hired them
- Provide objective, scientifically accurate testimony regardless of which party retained them (Correct answer)
- Decline all legal engagements to avoid liability
- Defer entirely to the GIA report already on file
Correct answer: Provide objective, scientifically accurate testimony regardless of which party retained them
Expert witnesses have an obligation to provide truthful, objective testimony to the court, not to advocate for the retaining party.
CDG Professional Standards & Competencies 2
A diamond grader receives a stone for grading from a retail jeweler who is also a personal friend.
What is the most professionally appropriate action?