Thanks again for your time, it is definitely the wording but I feel like its almost the opposite of what people experience: I am focused so much on the wording of the question, that when I saw answer choice C, which was virtually a word-for-word reproduction of the definition of Standards of Conduct, it was clear to me that that was not also the definition of Code of Ethics.

For what it is worth, A and B also seemed incorrect to me reading through it. Before I even knew the answer I leaned over to my boyfriend and was like "something's not right here cause this is the definition for Standards of Conduct but A and B also don't define Code of Ethics". It seemed like Schwes(t)er- in both the questions and the notes- considers Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct one together (or at least hand-and-hand). I'll need to do more practice questions to see if the CFAI also takes this approach, although from their two questions I've done so far regarding it, they seem to note the difference strongly.