i go out and drink jaeger bombs til i pass out, which is late considering the red bull component.
I prob got 5 hours sleep max the night before my L1 and L2 exams. I did pretty well on both. I think this just really depends on people. Some people take the last day off and relax so they can sleep better at night. I’m one of those who studies til the last moment then have trouble sleeping at night due to stress, but since I passed I got nothing to complain.
I didn’t sleep well the night before the L1 & L2 exam, but it didn’t really influence my performance. Since the essay session of L3 is much tougher, however, I want to sleep well this time. My plan is to wake up early on Friday, work out, and maybe study for 1 hour.
I’m going to have a dinner, probably pasta or something about 6pm on Friday. Go for a walk afterwards and get to bed about 10pm. I’ll get a cab over to the exam on Saturday morning cos I’m going to have a few pints after the exam.
I am amazed…I hadn’t given this issue much though, but you guys are really trying to fine-tune this thing. No coffee, no alcohol, going to bed at 8pm??? I am not surprised you can’t sleep the night before the exam with this much panic in the run-up… I read once that the trick to deal with anxiety-related lack of sleep is to tell yourself that you don’t actually NEED to sleep, that it is quite enough just to lay there and relax. This stops you from panicking, which makes it even more impossible to sleep. It usually works for me. Seriously, we’ve all been preparing for this thing for ages, so don’t panic!
kingstongal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am amazed…I hadn’t given this issue much > though, but you guys are really trying to > fine-tune this thing. No coffee, no alcohol, going > to bed at 8pm??? I am not surprised you can’t > sleep the night before the exam with this much > panic in the run-up… > > I read once that the trick to deal with > anxiety-related lack of sleep is to tell yourself > that you don’t actually NEED to sleep, that it is > quite enough just to lay there and relax. This > stops you from panicking, which makes it even more > impossible to sleep. It usually works for me. > > Seriously, we’ve all been preparing for this thing > for ages, so don’t panic! That trick is exactly right, but thats why I’m just going to get to sleep stupid early. If i know i have like 4 hours before i have to be concerned about the fact that i’m still not asleep, i think that - that alone will be enough to stop the problem. I wouldn’t be obsessing over this so much if i didn’t have such a terrible night’s sleep before L II … that kinda came out of nowhere considering i slept great before Level I. But, for Level I, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Stakes are higher each level.
Been there, done that. L1 - Literally got no sleep. Completely panicked at 6:30 in the morning when it was time to get moving. Drank a bunch of coffee for breakfast. The best idea I’ve had in a long time was to buy a can of Red Bull and keep it in my car to drink during lunch. I did fine in the morning and cruised through the afternoon. Knew I’d passed walking out of the exam hall. L2 - Maybe an hour or two of sleep even after trying benadryl before I went to bed. I think I even mixed more benadryl and white wine at three in the morning. A few days before I’d put a can of Red Bull in my car for lunch. I was dragging rear in the opening minutes of the afternoon session but pushed through to the end. L3 - Maybe two or three hours of sleep, which certainly didn’t help my cause during the 2008 morning session. Struggled through the morning, really felt I was on the way to failing. But I drank my habitual Red Bull during the lunch and reminded myself that everyone was in the same boat and I just needed to be better than average in the afternoon. I walked out knowing I had a chance, and I passed by the skin of my teeth. I seriously have imbibed Red Bull like five or six times in my life, and three of them were during the CFA lunch breaks. So it certainly can be done. Good luck to everyone with sleeping issues. You are not alone. When you’re tossing and turning in bed the night before the exam, just imagine me tossing and turning in bed beside you… wait, don’t think that at all!
@ frisian…Thats funny. When I took level 1 I had a redbull during lunch and passed, it put my brain into overdrive. I was like a machine, firing on all cylinders. It amazed me how I was able to recall certain things,lol. I think I will do the same for level 2 this year.
My story is a lil more interesting… L-1: went to another country for the exam as it was not conducted in my home country for some reason and guess what happened the night before?? My passport and all my money were stolen from the hotel room (don’t ask how/why*@#$%),went to the police station to file a complaint and nobody speaks english there, after a lot of fighting and crying, I finally went to sleep at 2 am, could sleep by 3 and woke up at 5…reached the exam center and had 2 burgers on the way…sat for the exam with a terrible headache…but the exam went just fine and I passed!! L-2: It was pretty much like most people, went to sleep at 10 couldn’t sleep till 2…but L2 also went well except headache in the last hour of PM probably coz i had never used my brain so much at a time… So, i think it doesn’t matter much how long u sleep…coz deep down you know how well prepared u are, how badly u want it n u would be just fine coz u know u have to do it…everything else can take a back seat… My strategy is to follow the same routine as usual…Good Luck guyz!!
NyQuil has been my sleep aid of choice since college. Works like a charm.
Level 1 – Hotel in Denver, extreme subzero temperatures, 16th floor, pipes burst, no water in my room, no elevator, extreme anxiety, literally didn’t sleep all night till about 30 min before my alarm went off. Woke up feeling just about as terrible as I ever have. Had do take a shower in a buddy’s room on a lower floor. Ate breakfast, then realized I didn’t have my wallet with my ID! Search my room all over, no luck, finally went to my buddy’s room on the 8th and found it barely in time riding the service elevators. Literally the most scared I’ve ever been in my entire life. Killed the exam somehow. to Quote markCFAIL, I used up all my luck on that one. Level 2 – slept semi - decent. Drank a budweiser with my grandpa the night before. Did ok on the test except little did I know there was a massive highschool graduation going on at the college the exam was held at, and I got stuck in insane traffic on my way back from lunch and almost had to leave my car on the side of the road and make a run for the next street and start thumbing for a ride past the testing center. Level 3 – Definitely getting in a run and getting to bed at 8 or 8:30 and getting up early. Feeling sick about it already.
bump
Level 2 I showed up visibly drunk and just barely made it the door as they were closing it. Shit was something like an Indiana Jones picture. Made love to one of the proctor during the break in my car then did a line of coke off her ass and crushed the pm part *kidding*
2013 June L1 - slept 4 hrs.
2014 June L2 - slept 3 hrs.
2015 June L3 - sleep x hrs.
I hope it’s not a trend…
I was talking to a hypnotist friend of mine about this and she told me to go to itunes. For a few bucks you can download some sleep hypnosis files. There are also some free apps you can try. Worth a shot. I haven’t looked in itunes yet but plan on giving it a shot later today and trying it tonight.
I tried hypnosis before to enhance my public speaking skills and it definitely worked. I know the recordings can be very relaxing so at worse at least they’ll take your mind off the strugle to sleep.
I will probably sleep around 3-5 hours max… I’m always so afraid of not waking up in time that I wake up every 30 minutes during the night.
However, if you slept enough the days before, you can still be at 100% even if you didn’t sleep well for one night. I think it’s more important to sleep enough next night.
It is good to wake up early on Friday , as I did today, I sleept 5.5 hours, wake up at 6 AM. This is the key. You need to have a deficit of sleeping before the exam night.
Then, I plan to run 5 kilometers at 6 pm, have a dinner and go to sleep at 10 pm.
Take deep sleep and everything will be allright. Good luck to all, guys