Exam "news"

Yesterday at 8:30 in the morning I took the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA exam. It sucked majorly. I had so much anxiety about the exam that I made myself sick Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I take medication for generalized anxiety disorder, but that was just not cutting it for this level of stress. The anxiety also caused me to suffer from insomnia for the past two weeks. I have NEVER in my adult life not been able to go to sleep. If anything, I sleep too much. The past two weeks were agonizing. I had no idea how painful and frustrating insomnia is.

I've already taken and failed this portion of the exam twice. There are 4 exams, of which I have passed 2 so far. I'm taking the next one August 16. The exams are only "good" for 18 months, so the first one I passed expires on November 24. I totally plan on passing the one next month because it's the shortest exam/has the least material to memorize. So, if I didn't pass FAR yesterday, I have one more chance to take it and pass it in October before I lose my first exam.

Here's the thing with FAR - It's the longest test - 4 hours. The review book is about 2 inches thick. There are about 32 topics that I have to know. The review course to cover all of this is 40 hours long (not consecutively). Needless to say, that is a shit-load of stuff I need to know. My brain just does NOT have the capacity for that volume of information. As I was taking the test, I recognized all the material, but there were too many times where I read the question and thought to myself, "I know this. I've studied this. BUT, I studied this a week or two ago, and I just can't remember what the correct answer is." That SUCKS!

Yesterday after the exam I was completely exhausted. I took a short nap, but I really wanted to go out and eat some good food. I'd been cooped up in my apartment, getting nauseous from eating anything but cereal all week. Went out for tasty Mexican with Danielle and then we met up with another friend to see Wanted. (Totally awesome movie if you can tolerate graphic violence.) I was awake and energetic all night last night. Today, however, I came home from church around noon and slept until 6. I only woke up because I figured I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, but I'm still feeling lethargic and tired. Feels so amazing to be able to fall asleep.

Peace and love.
J