When you receive the curriculum, you also get postcards to give to your friends and family so they know why you've gone into a hole for 3 or so months. Here is one of them:
I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I drink V in the morning at work sometimes and I usually drink V during my exams. Now I am regularly drinking V to help me concentrate while I'm studying for the CFA exams. I am now addicted to caffeine, as well as guana, taurine, and all the other chemicals they put in energy drinks.
Having a dependence on a $2.50 a pop drink is like smoking. V may be slightly healthier (but not by much), but it is just as expensive and addictive. This could be a problem when it comes to the exam. I know you are not allowed to take drinks with you to the desk and I'm sure you are only allowed to have water from the dispenser at the back of the room. Will I be able to concentrate at my highest level for 3 hours without the regular dose of chemicals to stimulate my brain, which I have grown accustomed to? Probably not.
So I need to set myself a goal to ween myself off energy drinks. When I finish going through the curriculum and making my notes, I will cut myself off cold turkey and condition my body to function without any energy drinks, coffee, or anything similar. I will also condition my body to wake up at the same time every morning. This method sounds like a good idea and I will try it. The idea is to only go to bed when you are tired and ready to fall asleep. This means no TV, music, reading, etc. You set your alarm every morning for the same time and get up when it goes off (no hitting the snooze button). After a week or so, you will start to feel sleepy when you need sleep and you should wake up at the same time and not need the alarm clock after a while. The article explains it much better than I can so check it out.
Are you addicted to coffee or energy drinks? Do you plan to give it up or did you give it up before you took your exam? Do you have any routine you plan on putting in motion for the weeks leading up to the exam? Let me know..
115 days until the level 1 exam.
1 comments:
I have never been big into energy drinks or caffeine but I do think your plan is a good one. You definitely will want to make sure you can last all day on exam day. It's still early but you may want to think about clothing and food as well. Try taking practice exams in November without caffiene, using the clothes you expect to wear, and the food you expect to eat using the same timing as the real exam. Many exams are offered in the local convention hall. They usually have open rooms on the weekends. It sounds silly now, but you will find that you won't function as well at 3pm as you did at 10am after sitting in one place all day.
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