Exam Day Success Strategies

I’d like to start a thread on exam day strategies - things to do before and during the exam to ensure maximum performance. My contribution is: Empty the tanks before you enter the exam room.

Both tanks… Don’t eat a heavy breakfast or lunch. No need to divert precious blood away from your brain. Also, don’t eat anything too unusual or something that may disagree with you.

don’t talk to ANYONE about questions during lunch break… it will only bum you out as you find out you put AVG instead of Above AVG risk tolerance, etc…

For breakfast & lunch, don’t eat anything that will get your blood sugar high very quickly, followed by a sugar low. Agree with 3&L. Morning session has no impact on the afternoon session.

If there is something that didn’t show up in the morning, I might go through it during lunch (i.e. GIPS last year). The flipside to this is that you may come across something you screwed up in the morning.

If possible, try to go into the test like you will enjoy it. I know that sounds crazy but it seems to be psychology that we do better at things we enjoy. Try to look forward to the test rather than dread it.

hezagenius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If there is something that didn’t show up in the > morning, I might go through it during lunch (i.e. > GIPS last year). The flipside to this is that you > may come across something you screwed up in the > morning. i did this one year and by the end of the PM sesssion my brain was pretty foggy. this time i’m just going to walk around a bit and eat something greasy for lunch. each to their own.

If you have participating people next to you its great to joke around to break the tension before the test. For Level 1 me and the guy next to me were the only ones laughing before the test began and I felt much more relaxed…too bad for Level 2 we were seperated by some deuche…

I always eat somes eggs and toast before, then go to my car to make a PB&J sandwich :slight_smile:

I usually have two Red Bulls, one before the a.m session and one before the afternoon session. That’s the only day of the year I drink this stuff, my son thinks it’s some kind of superman secret potion, and he’s dying to have some :slight_smile: ( he’s 5) Never listen to the radio on the way there, you might get a headache. Have 3 or 4 Excedrin after lunch. (light lunch off-course) Avoid talking to anyone before, in-between ( and even after). You might hear something stupid that impacts your concentration. Start with the stuff you know 100% you will get right and move backward from there.

jimmylegs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If possible, try to go into the test like you will > enjoy it. I know that sounds crazy but it seems > to be psychology that we do better at things we > enjoy. Try to look forward to the test rather > than dread it. I’m actually looking forward to it, just to start doing something else with my life.

I lvoe that it’s in midtown in NYC… like it’s my home turf for L3…

ipod at lunch

I agree with mo34. Looking forward to it. Going to get it over. Then enjoy the hell out of summer.

Last year in the middle of the PM Level 2 exam I remember feeling I was out of steam. I went to the water cooler not because I was thirsty but as a refresher. I walked back to my desk and remember scanning the room looking at the other candidates feverishly working the exam. Just before I sat down I beated my chest a couple of time. It kind of worked, I felt a bit invigorated and as if I threw down some gauntlet on the exam table!

you can also reduce anxiety/nervousness by emptying the bowels right before

Or by, oh never mind

hoan0106 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > you can also reduce anxiety/nervousness by > emptying the bowels right before Right before is it like 1 minute before or like 2 hours before? Let me know before exam or i will assume it is 1 min…

Or you could wear diapers to avoid wasting time in the event the tanks start to overflow…

Yeah but if you were sitting next to me, crapping your pants, you wouldn’t be taking the test for much longer…