thank you so much for this.
i use lounge music when reading , and before any exam …it calms me down
When it comes to anxiety, i got a band 1 fail…
I sat for 4 cfa exams (L1 x 1; L2 x 2; L3 x 1).
L1: I under prepared for this test. I accepted my fate (likely fail) and was quite relaxed going in… = pass
L2 (1st attempt): I studied my arse off. I think I spent about 18 months studying. Easily spent 900hrs+ on this level thinking i would hit it out of the park. My strategy backfired. I put so much pressure on myself that I couldn’t sleep. Took a few shots of whisky at 1am. Took one of my gfs (now wife’s) sleeping pills at 2am. Took another sleeping pill at 4am. I remember slapping myself awake in the washrooms before the PM exam… Probably freaked a few people out… Anyway, despite knowing the material cold, i failed band 9.
L2 (2nd attempt): got about 4hrs sleep - no sleeping pills. passed.
L3. Again, inadvertantly worked myself into a frenzy. I remember laying in bed, mentally I was calm but physically my heart was racing. I realised that sleep wasn’t going to happen so I just focused. I knew the material, I didn’t need sleep to pass. Ended up passing without any sleep. I still think this was my best achievement throughout all three levels.
Have thought a lot about this since. Did I put too much pressure on myself? Would a ‘harder’ individual been able to switch off and sleep in that situation? I don’t know. All I know is that i f…ed up, picked myself up, tried again and now I have the charter. Feels pretty good!
Eat dark chocolate during the exam 
dark chocolate really works
oh my…the consequence of taking sleeping pills… 
Really? That is sth new to learn! 
For both L1 and L2, I got maybe 4 hours sleep, max, the night before exams. Nothing to do with the pressure, everything to do with the fact that, because the exam enter is away from my home, I stayed in a nearby hotel and could not fall asleep in the unfamiliar bed. This time I am doing the same but at least I’ll know it doesn’t matter, since I passed L1 and L2 despite lack of sleep.
For L3, I do find that I take close to 3 hours in the AM session and 1.5 in the PM, so (a) I need to speed up the AM in the actual exam, knowing I will be even slower and (b) I need to resist the temptation to speed through PM to just get home and be done with this… stuff, forever and ever.
The overarching theme of this thread is: confidence and preparation. You can prepare to the nines and not be prepared for an exam. There are a few good stories here, and the people who score at the top tend to have the attitudes (coupled with preparation) displayed here.
Hope that helps.
Bubba Gump, was it unfair/unethical about taking medication prescribed by an md? Worry about yourself.
People are offering all these methods. It’s easy to keep calm. Just think to yourself this ONLY CFA EXAM. If you don’t make it this year, there’s always next year. This isn’t a life and death situation and you will have chances again. Just think of all those people who have REAL challenges, facing life and death situations. CFA EXAM is a walk in the park if you think in relative terms to what is a real life challenge.