Advice you wish you had for exam day individual, absolute, because, through, getting

koba

As we’re getting closer I see blog posts and whatnot about how to get through exam day and what not to forget. For those of you who have been through an exam day, what are some pieces of advice that you wished were shared with you before taking the exam and why?
I was inspired by my “should I stay in a hotel” thread where more than one individual seemed to feel bringing your lunch was an absolute no brainer because you never know exactly what will be around.  I didn’t really think about that, but now I’m glad it was brought to my attention and I will be packing my lunch.  As I think about it, I wonder how many other things there are that I haven’t thought through or can’t anticipate having never taken an exam.
Your tips?
So far:
- Pack your own lunch (itera)
- Wear a watch, print out extra ticket, arrive early (DoubleDip)
- Dress in layers, at least bring a jacket that you can take off if hot (krazykanuck)
- Bring earplugs (Mr-Z, cgottuso)
- Avoid talking to people during the break (Mr-Z, cgottuso, krazykanuck)
- Energy-boost during break (Redbull or the like), have carbs for lunch, nothing that makes you sleepy
- If you’re going to do anything differently on exam day, start doing it now to get used to it: energy drinks, earplugs, environment (itera, bchad, Greenman)
- If you have questions left that you haven’t answered with 5-10 minutes to go, guess quickly (fill in the bubbles first) then go back and change if you have time to solve them instead of time being up with empty bubbles (bchad)
- Write down all the hard formulas you’ll likely forget on the first page of the exam immediately so you can just refer to it throughout the exam (bchad)
- Keep calm on exam day - relax and accept what you know and don’t know.  Make intelligent guesses if you don’t know.  If you can’t make an intelligent guess pick the longest available answer. Move on, don’t dwell. (higgmond)

Analyze_This

make sure to wear a watch!  print out an extra copy of your exam ticket, and get to the exam center earlier than you think necessary.

skycfa

I bought a cheapo casio watch for this very reason. I’ve been wearing it for the past couple of months so it’s nothing unusual during test day.

mar350

If you plan to take red bull or some other “supplement” make sure you do a dry run or two a week earlier to know how it will affect your system.  You don’t want to arrive and find that the stuff makes it harder to concentrate, or raises your pulse, etc.
Keep your exercise and sleep regimen as “normal” as you can during the last week.
I always like to say, fill in the bubbles that you are going to guess on when you have 5 or 10 minutes to go.  If you solve a problem in the last five minutes, it’s better to have to erase a guess and fill in an answer than to be caught trying to fill in your guesses during the last 30 seconds and have to choose between leaving some answers blank vs getting results nullified because you didn’t stop when they called time.
Also, I liked to write down all formulas that I thought I might forget on the first page, as soon as they let us start writing.  That way, at 2.5 hours into the exam, I can refer to them if need be and not worry about forgetting them.
Good luck!

yalo

I agree with Itera and Bchad on these.  Make your last few study sessions as similar to the exam as you can.
If you’re going to use earplugs, start getting used to them now.  (At least if earplugs become a distraction, you can always pull them out.)
If you’re going to chug Red Bull mid-day, start doing it now.  (If you chug Red Bull at 1:30 and it messes with your system, it’s hard to “un-chug” it.)
Stop studying to music.  Can’t have it on the exam, so get used to it now.
You know you’re going to have to think for three hours straight–get some practice now, or you’ll find that your brain gets tired.  (You can build your mental stamina, just like you can build your physical stamina.)

yuoska

When you get to the exam center, just relax and accept the fact that you know what you know and don’t know what you don’t know.  During the exam, keep that attitude.  If you don’t know an answer, make an intelligent guess and move on without dwelling on it.  If you can’t even make an intelligent guess, just pick the longest answer.
It’s been a very long time for me.  Does L1 contain problem sets, or just unrelated, individual questions?  If sets, read all the questions for that set first and then look for the answers in the narrative/case/whatever they call it.

former

First time taking L1 (when I failed), the guy next to me got caught for some reason right after the morning session ended  (I forgot exactly, maybe it was for writing after time was called.)  The proctors came and charged him with the violation and he protested with something like “I didn’t do nothing” in return and but they said that CFAI will do an investigation but he can still continue to do the exam.  Then he picked someone next to him (me) and started making insults, eventually culminating into racist insults.  I didn’t say anything back in fear I’d get written up for a violation too, but it killed my mood for the afternoon exam. (Not blaming him per se as I wasn’t prepared anyways.)
Looking back, I shoulda put on earplugs, put my head down, and flipped him the bird.

segalm

For exam 1 and 2, I got no sleep the night before. Even though I was not mentally nervous, I kept getting panic attack like symptoms (heart rate quickening suddenly just as I’m about to doze off) and that kept me up pretty much the entire night. Body just refused to go to sleep
Might want to take that into consideration because it was something I did not expect. Dunno if this is a problem for most people or just me. But it’s a big problem because the drop in cognitive ability due to sleep loss can cause you to panic and despair.
So maybe you might try getting a nice long jog or workout in the afternoon before, to release any excess tension. Get a massage – just do things to relax.
The 8 hours time the day before the exam is better put into just relaxing than into studying, because of the risk of not being able to sleep, IMO.

giorgio10

I use melatonin just for those situations when I need to go to bed. I’ll be sure to take a slightly larger dose the night before. Might have me a fruity cocktail earlier in the evening to calm me down too.

John10

Please don’t.