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.