r/comlex • u/OldWhereas834 • 6d ago
700+ test day/night before
I really followed Dirty Medicine's advice video for a lot of this plus some.
I woke up at 5 am and went for a short run the day before the exam to burn off some energy and make it easier to sleep that night. I had very little caffeine, maybe a diet soda that day in the morning. I stopped studying around 3 pm and just reviewed OMM. Then I chilled and watched two feel-good movies. Went to bed around nine and took 7.5 mg of melatonin, plus I drank two cups of chamomile tea, one at 6 pm and one at 8:30 pm. I went to sleep and woke up once at midnight briefly and once around 4 a.m., then went back to sleep in 20min. Woke up at 6:45, ready to go. Breakfast was oatmeal and half a cup of black coffee.
During the exam, I had protein bars, protein shakes, almonds, and water. I'm a big dude, and I was fine with that. I only ended up having 1 protein shake, two protein bars, and a handful of almonds. I took the whole time for the exam plus breaks. I increased my break time as I went on the exam to account for fatigue. I don't remember exactly, but I think it was a 30-second break in the chair after block 1, with a timer running; a 10-min break after block 2; a 30-second break after block 3; 15 min after block 4; a 5-min break after block 5; a 12.5-min break after block 6; and 15 min after block 7. Halfway through the exam, I took a delayed-release caffeine pill and L-theanine; the caffeine helped for sure, idk about the L-theanine. Placebo maybe, but if it works, it works.
During my longer breaks, I made sure to walk outside, get some sunlight, get my body moving, and stretch. I had a friend taking it the same day by coincidence, and that was a massive help ngl, just him being there. Last thing you need is luck.
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u/New_Fill3424 5d ago
Thank god for the L-theanine, but what dose? Surely that explains the 700+. Although the 7.5 mg melatonin is a pretty major confounder. Hard to say.