[Gatorbates]

Just wanted to know some people’s pre and post-exam ritual. Mine:

Pre-game: I ALWAYS schedule my test on a Monday at 8 am right near the end of a “score cut off date”, so I can have a final weekend to review. Hit the bed around 10-11 pm on Sunday, wake up on test day, drive to Chick-Fil-A, get a chicken biscuit and a coke … open my notes and do some light reviewing, then get to the test center around 7:45. I never really get seated until 8:30 though. Before I click “begin”, I say a quick prayer, then boom, face the exam.

Post game: During exam, I write in the corner of the scratch paper some keywords on questions I was iffy on. After I finish the exam, and click “finish”, I always wonder if there’s a glitch in the software that didn’t accept my exam, and it was lost in cyberspace somewhere. Then I quickly look at my keywords on the scratch paper and memorize the notes on iffy questions (usually about 5 or 6) … then sign out and always tell the lady “man, that seemed like 10 minutes, I can’t believe I was in there that long.”

I then drive to the local watering hole. Get a pitcher of beer, lay out my book and look over the iffy questions I had memorized. I then go home and nap for 2 hours and spend the next 2 weeks anxious and crabby.

Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80

It's finally freaking over.

[Roxwella]

I like to schedule towards the end of the week, and as late in the day as possible. I typically will schedule around the grade release timeline so as to limit my wait to as small a period as possible (last test I took I scheduled for October 20th, the last day in the window). I will wake around 9, study for an hour or hour and half, then I will try to arrive at the center early, and do a quick review of anything I think Ill want to write down right away. So far I have done this repeatedly with nothing in my stomach, I think I want to stop that.

I sit down in the same seat I have had for every sections so far, which isn't my choice, but seems to just be a repeat assigned seat. I put in my earplugs and laugh at the crowd of mechanics and new English speakers, and get to work! 1 1/2-3/4 minutes per MCQ..~45 minutes per testlet. I finish, worry about my questions, and then (at least in the past) I've gone home and ordered my next set of test review materials….this time, Im going home and booking a flight to florida for a cruise, and I may well steal your pitcher method of dealing with the stress 😉

[fifthbeatle]

Pre:

1. I watch the Kurt Russell speech from the movie Miracle (the speech before they play the Soviet Union). I try not to watch it otherwise; that way, it really sticks with me as motivation.

2. I kind of ramp up my caffeine intake in the weeks before the exam, so I drink a small Red Bull on the way to the exam just so I don't get sleepy (or a headache) from lack of caffeine.

3. I'm always way too early for the exam, but I don't look at any exam info. I did before my first exam (BEC) and then got confused on something I had read right before I walked in the building. That was a sign that my brain wasn't designed to take in new things in the last few minutes.

Post:

1. Call my wife with my prediction of how I did.

2. Drive home.

3. Vodka.

4. Rock Band, singing loud and off key. Can't drink and drum…I don't see how Keith Moon, etc. could keep a beat while drunk.

B 85 1/17/12
A 85 11/12/12 (74 on 1st attempt)
R -- 2/25/13
F 79 8/29/12

[Anonymous]

@fifthbeatle I will have to check out the Kirk Russel speech…sounds like a good one.

Pre Exam:

1. I schedule my exam on Wednesday so I have 2 last ditch effort days once I take a practice exam on Sunday. My family is pretty used to this routine too, Sunday they leave for the day and Monday and Tuesday I am pretty much holed up. I also take the earliest time slot, this is where I wish I could change but schedules with the family do not permit.

2. One to weeks I start re writing everything, I am at home so I talk and write at the same time. Funny thing is I start writing EVERYTHING down….on index cards….any little though down in goes. I empty my mind of all the “stuff” and keep it to go over after the exam. This last exam my son's birthday was 2 days after and he wanted Mario Kart. Planned it all out on index cards during study breaks 🙂

3. The night before I ease up a bit and my husband (engineer) and I kind of go over in a casual way all the information I “should” know and see if I get stuck anywhere. This has been a huge help for me as talking through a problem is how I solve things. It really helps to stick things and jell them.

4. Right before the exam I take Slam, there is a little caffeine but not enough for jitters and the serving is small enough that I won't have to take a bathroom break in 10 mins. I also bring another one to drink right before the SIMS.

Post Exam:

1. I also call hubs and go over all the minutia of why I think I didn't pass (don't want to get too confident).

2. Get a drink and go out to dinner with the family during which at some point in the evening hubster will go on a mini rant about the scoring process and how it is set up to be a barrier in addition to the randomness and volume of information tested.

3. Analyze every little thing to the nth degree while waiting on the scores.

4. Check Another 71 for companionship with others who are waiting.

[sarah210]

I always take my tests in the morning, though I don't have a preferred day of the week. The night before the test, I pick out my outfit. I always choose very professional and put-together outfits. I want to look like an accountant when I'm doing the test (this is a tradition from undergrad, when I'd dress especially nicely for final exams). I hang my outfit in the office. Then, I print out my notice to schedule and put it, my passport, my wallet, and my lucky red underpants on the desk in the office. If I took a 4 hour test, I would put my snack on the desk too. That way, in the morning, I'd have as little to think about as possible.

After the test I usually come home and sit around and do NOTHING productive. There is also usually drinking involved.

REG- 53, 91
BEC- 88
FAR- 62, 85
AUD- 85

Ethics- 93

[Anonymous]

I get hammerred after the exam.

[Author]

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