Afternoon exam burnout

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hamada.smaili

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Well I have taken 6 mocks and scored from 60% to 72% avergaing aroung 66%. The thing is that every AM exam i did I scored from 70%-74% but since i was doing the whole exam in one day with 30 mins break in between For every PM exam i scored lower than the morning from 60%-70%. Do you guys find the afternoon parts more difficult or is this just the burnout from a 6 hour exam? and how are you planning on dealing with it? For the exam i have 2 aderals i will take one for the Morning section and one for the afternoon so i dont loose focus.
 
Looks like you’ve figured out a viable solution. Unfortunately, Adderall doesn’t sit well with me so I can’t take it. I’ve just been doing the same thing as you (six-hour exams with short breaks between AM and PM sessions) in an effort to build up endurance. I’ve noticed no major difference in terms of difficulty from AM to PM sessions. I haven’t suffered from the same disparity of scores as you, they’ve been pretty consistent. I’m counting on adrenaline to carry me through on exam day.
Although, to be honest with you, when I find myself getting fatigued, I begin to settle on answers prematurely on the tail-end of PM sessions. The result has been pretty favorable - which has taught me to stop second-guessing my instincts.
 
I haven’t had any trouble with AM vs PM. I was getting tired halfway through exams when I first started taking them because I’d get to FRA, get really bored and tired and spend too long on certain problems and then get frustrated and have to rush through the remaining parts of the exam. I fixed that by skipping over FRA completely and then coming back to it at the end. Once i started doing this my scores went up, I was finishing in less time and I felt way better overall.
So, maybe try that? Skip over your weak subjects? Just a thought.
 
What you are saying about instinct is totally true. sometimes i answer one question then second guess my answer but what i started doing is putting a mark next to the answer that i was going to change my first answer to and in all those questions around 80% i got it right so i feel good about that.
 
I agree with raleigh - you don’t need to do the exam in order. I start all mine with fixed income, move to equities, QM, and then FRA (all strengths). This builds confidence and momentum, for me. From there I sprinkle in ethics, PM, CF, AI and derivatives in whatever order I fancy at the time. I ALWAYS save Econ for last. Seriously, screw econ.
 
I have a Mock left ill try to leave FRA till the end. I do want to start with ethics first because i Usually score 15/18 and i thinks its because its the first topic so im hitting it before im already burned out from the other topics. I could never leave it till the end and have to read all those long paragraph and try to catch the tricks that the exam wants us to fall at.
 
Generally my morning scores have been better than that of the evening ones, albeit by 2-5%. My best score however occured in one evening section, >80%.
Since you mentioned Aderall, why is it that there are no anti-doping rules for the CFA exams?
 
Most standard drug tests only test 1) THC, 2) Cocaine, 3) Amphetamines, 4) Opiates such as morphine and codeine
 
ebowsaah wrote:
Since you mentioned Aderall, why is it that there are no anti-doping rules for the CFA exams?
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If you banned adderall youd have to ban ritalin and vyvanse too. Then youd have to consider other stimulants. Obviously meth and coke. Are coffee and soda (caffiene) OK? What about cigarettes? Nicotine is a stimulant with evidence for cognitive benefits. Of course youd probably have to ban creatine as well. Fish oil? Many vitamins and amino acids can improve working memory/attention. Should they stop people from supplementing with vitamins?
What do they do for people with AD(H)D? Are they allowed to take their medication? Wouldnt a ban for everyone else give prescription holders an unfair advantage over those who dont have access to adderall?
I can only see regulation making things less fair for more people.
 
well fish oil you get from eating fish. how do you get nicotine into your system naturally besides smoking?
 
iteracom wrote:
well fish oil you get from eating fish. how do you get nicotine into your system naturally besides smoking?
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I dont get what natural has to do with anything. Human growth hormone is natural but steroids are a banned substance in sports. Supposedly they have cognitive benefits as well so the CFAI would probably need to test for that as well. You would have to eat an unnatural amount of fish to keep up with the levels of fish oil you could get from supplementing. You can chew nicotine gum or use patches but Im not aware of any natural way to get nicotine. Do you think that should mean candidates shouldnt be able to smoke?
To the question about testing for adderall above: it is an amphetamine so it flags the same test that meth would. They would have to test after youve taken the exam because you could pee clean and pop the adderall while youre walking into the exam room otherwise. I believe it only stays in your system for a few days (like coke and opiates).
 
well obviously you can’t ban natural products you can get from readily available and legal foods.
If you went out of your way to get some substance, then that’s different.
 
I’ll try to reel this thread back in lol…..I’ve felt burned out in the PM session but generally score better…go figure?
And my guess is that on the real exam you will not even think about your mind drifting or burning out. Time will fly.
 
Adderal IS an amphetamine.. and will come up on a drug test, and you need a prescription.. the good news is that like cocaine, it only stays in your system for 2-3 days.
 
Sounds like most of you guys haven’t gotten laid in while. It was a joke…get some sense of humor. Btw to answer your question, if Aderall is banned, Ritalin and the like must be banned as well. They all fall under the dope category.
Now I know why the OP takes Aderall. Every little thing excites him/her, and (s)he sees anything as friendly as a handshake offer as a sign of aggression.
Get some!!!
 
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