This happened to a friend of mine recently on a sim assessment. He was asked to intercept the final approach track from 2500 instead of the published 2000. The examiner playing the ATC role didn't give him further descent but cleared him for the approach.
That sounds more like an excercise to check if the pilot under asessment understands what approach clearance is and/or is able to calculate 3 deg path.
Having said that, I still emphasize that CDFA concept is valid from FAF onwards. Before the FAF you are free to descend as you please, as long as you stay at or above the min published altitudes. Both level flight and constant descent before the FAF are perfectly 'kosher', with the latter being a bit more tricky than the former, requiring a bit of practice and vigilance...