What Do You Use To Study?

I started taking Ritalin a few weeks back, and i have a real love-hate relationship with it. Sometimes i love it, extra productive, sometimes it leaves me constipated & depressed. For Level I i only used Turbovite & i owe a lot to it making it at that level as i would have never gone through all the material in my ‘sober’ / normal state.

Anyways, i’ve become slightly dependent on these enhancers for studying purposes, don’t think i could ever study in my normal state unless I’m well rested, which means 9+ hours sleep a day, which is not practical in the real world.

So how many other fiends are out there? Really hope i’m not a minority…

I don’t use any enhancers. dunno if i am in minority.

No kidding?

My “enhancers” are coffee and candy and the prospects of a beer after studying.

^ I’m with our German friend. A nice cup of coffee and thinking about a cold beer or a scotch after study. These people that are actually popping pills to pass an exam are just pathetic (unless, of course, you actually have a condition). Sorry, but there it is.

Perhaps CFAI should bring in mandatory drug testing. It’s honestly not a level playing field when people are taking drugs with potentially serious side effects in order to gain a competitive advantage over the clean players.

I’m disgusted at the concept.

Stop taking them its dangerous and addictive. As for studying my dad always recommended the AOC technique (aka “Ass On Chair”).

@geo I don’t care if people like him do this because one day it comes catching up and they crash and burnout at work. This guy isn’t even done level II and he is complaining about side-effects. There is no way he can work as hard or as long in his career if he/she has to take pills for these exams. In the long run coffee, willpower and thoughts of beer will always be most effective.

^ Oh really? What are your thoughts on Lance Armstrong? Bet he couldn’t ride a bike for sh*t until he popped a pill?

Calm down b…I know people that take aderall to stay focused during the exam…not during studying though. Personally, I just study with coffee and take 5 hour energy for the exam…because its a long day.

You are in the minority.

He is an unethical loser.

Anyway, those that dope are losers, regardless of sport or academics. I have no patience for that nonsense. It’s unethical trash. The last thing we need as a society is people in a drugging arms race as they try to artifically ramp themselves up the curve. It’s filthy.

It was so obvious Armstrong was taking something. I’m surprised it took so long for him to get caught.

@geo is really mad yo.

So you take coffee, active ingredient caffeine which stimulates your central nervous system, temporarily boosts your energy levels and increases your mental alertness? Artificially ramp themselves up? Okay.

Yes, because coffee and adderal or ritalin are the same kind of thing. Maybe we should all cut sugar or carbohydrates out too, they provide energy and alertness too.

Once you start abusing prescription drugs for academic purposes, that’s a different level all together.

And yeah, I’m pissed at people that dope in sports or in academics. It creates a culture where dopping becomes acceptable or even necessary to compete. I saw this in cycling where I competed (clean, and unsuccessfully) for several years. I saw it starting to develop in university as well, and apparently this is becoming more common.

I don’t want my kid feeling the pressure to abuse drugs to be able to compete in sport or in school. People like you create an environment where such cheating becomes necessary to just keep up. The CFA exams are competitive, your dopping takes away a passing grade from someone else (assuming you pass). This ramps up more people to dope in order to pass in the future.

So yeah, I’ll call you out as a loser that’s negatively impacting the integrity of a qualification that many of us here worked hard to achieve. Work harder, dope less. Maybe try some sport or activity to improve your focus, rather than relying on pharmaceuticals that you even admit are having negative physical consequences.

Huperzine A, which increases your REM sleep and retention of material you’ve studied but can lose its effectiveness if taken more than 3 times a week.

So I plan ahead and do these marathon study sessions on Saturday and Sunday and pop a Huperzine A before sleep each weekend day.

And to stay focused and use time as efficiently as possible, I use the Pomodoro technique: set an alarm for 25 minutes where I can’t do anything but study with full focus… then when it rings, I take a 5 minute break… then rinse and repeat.

Painkillers take pain away…

I believe everything under the sun is fair game as long as: 1. It’s legal. 2. It doesn’t violate the Code and Standards. 3. It doesn’t put your health at risk.

I don’t even drink coffee until lunch time on exam day (Mainly because I always seem to be rushed in the morning). I think the crash (although small from coffee) wouldn’t be worth it. If you take drugs to pass good for you! Whenever someone argues for using them all I hear is “I need drugs to do what you can do normally”

P.S I often drink de-caf because I enjoy the taste

Usually 1. and 2. are in conflict.

During the time studying for level 1 exam, I took 2 capsules of Ginkgo biloba everyday. My doctor said they were traditional medicines that help to enhance memory and concentration smiley. I think the medcines are good. Some of my friends take those too when they need to focus (as they said on Facebook).

I did not drink any coffee.

Just a daily cup of coffee. http://hub.jhu.edu/2014/01/12/caffeine-enhances-memory

During my level 1 prep, i had a saturday put aside to do a full mock with about 2 weeks to d-day. work had been stupidly busy, i was completely burnt out, coffee stopped having any effect a long time ago so i went to the supermarket and bought a box of pro plus,a caffeine pill, and popped one before starting the moring paper. it didn’t work at all, my mind was still fatigued, but was racing and misfiring throughout the day and i found it even more difficult to do the paper than usual. a total disaster.

since then I’ve stuck to getting plenty of sleep, drinking a lot of water, going to the gym and eating well.

surprisingly though, i found out quite a few people i know take aderall or something similar on exam day. the kind of people you really wouldn’t expect to do such a thing.