Week from exam and I'm getting sick

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  • #1440783
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    My FAR retake is this Friday (20th). I woke up this morning and my ears and throat are beginning to ache. They don’t really hurt yet, but they feel different.

    I know this feeling.

    There is pressure in my ears and my throat, while not sore, is hypersensitive. It scares me that I’m coming down with something, but I don’t know what it is. I’m prone to sinus infections (had 2 in the past 12 months) which required a couple weeks worth of antibiotics, but I can’t tell if that’s what it is or just allergies.

    I tend to get sick between semesters. I think this is because I’m high stress for several months and then when school lets out, my stress level drops dramatically so my body reacts by allowing it to get sick or something. Well, over this holiday break, I haven’t gotten sick but my stress level hasn’t dropped because I’ve been studying for this retake. So I’m afraid my immune system is catching up to me. And now is not the time. The same thing happened when I took the GMAT (I had the flu) but that test was easy so it wasn’t a big deal. This IS a big deal.

    Should I take DayQuil or something like that? Allergy meds? Vitamins? Or what? I need to hold off sickness until this Friday. After that, it can have me! I just need until Friday!!!

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
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  • #1440791
    Tncincy
    Participant

    Vitamin C, get on it immediately. Waiting till you get sick is too late. I don't know about the effects of over the counter stuff other than it can make you sleepy, it's enough to stay motivated alone so you don't need help getting sleepy or groggy. Lot's of C.

    It begins with a 75
    Been here too long as a cheerleader.....time to pass

    It begins with a 75
    Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

    #1440804
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    Have any recommendations? Airborne? Emergen-C?

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1440809
    Char143
    Participant

    Same exact thing happened to me a week before my FAR retake. I boiled some water, threw in fresh oregano, and just inhaled the steam. It didn't cure me but it took away the head pressure/pounding headache and I was able to study for a little… I did have to do it every 3-4 hours though.

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    I'm done! 🙏🏼

     

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    #1440813
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    What did you do on exam day? I have to be there at 7:30 am which means I have to leave my house by 5 to get there (this is the closest Prometric center). I enjoy getting up and taking tests early, but I don't know how to prepare for this if I am sick. Lets just hope I can keep it from happening before then, or it comes and goes by that time!

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1440852
    Char143
    Participant

    Honestly, I never take medicine, and I didn't for the 5 days I was sick leading up the exam but on the day of I took advil cold and sinus. I wasn't sick like I had been, and it was dying down.. BUTTT I was scared so I took it. I knew on exam day no matter how sick I was I would find the energy to take the exam, it was the week before the exam when I was sick where I had to find ways to study with my massive head pressure and everything else that came with the cold.

    I had no energy to study in the morning like I usually did, so I did the oregano and steam thing and once my headache was gone (it took 10 minutes of serious inhaling it) I could study. That was all that mattered to me- was being able to study the final week and push-it is the final week that makes or breaks my scores. Don't drink coffee or have caffeine, drink a lot of water, tea with a shit ton of honey and lemon (lemon by it self is amazing at minimizing your cold symptoms and slowing killing off a cold) , and I drank pedialyte too (kids stuff rocks). On exam day I think your body will allow itself to take the exam, minus the amount of tissue you may need, you'll probably be fine enough in a few days.

    It's these next few days where you have to find remedies that work to relieve any pressure/pain you're feeling to review. If anything give your body this day to completely relax, I would rather lose a day than have 5 days of bullshit painful studying. If you give yourself this one day to lay down, sleep, relax, meditate, whatever you need.. and tomorrow you may be surprised at how much better you feel.

    If you take anything from this it needs to be not to have a lot of caffeine while you are sick.

    OHHHH and garlic.. I know that is so gross, but garlic really does help with cold symptoms. I say look it all up and see what works for you, but don't succumb to the cold.. beat the shit out of it anyway you can. Push one more week and you may never have to take it again.

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    I'm done! 🙏🏼

     

    Licensed CPA

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    #1440878
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    Thanks so much! I don't normally take meds either except for Excedrin when I get migraines. I'm like you – my body will produce enough adrenaline on exam day that it won't matter how I feel, but I'm not going to be under that pressure this week like I will when I'm actually taking the exam. Plus my classes start back Tuesday so I have to now incorporate studying while doing class work for the last four days of studying. Ugh.

    Any who, I appreciate all of your tips! I will definitely utilize them as tools to reduce my pain and suffering lol. I don't really feel too awful right now, I can just tell it is coming. So I'm trying to nip it in the butt before it gets so bad I can't sit at my desk and study. My goal is to allow more rest time the next couple of days to try to pay attention to what my body wants me to do. Then come Tuesday or Wednesday, push hard until Friday.

    Are you like me in the sense that you need to study hard the day before and a light refresh the day of? That's how I am and I feel like how I am performing during that time is important to my actual score. If you do the same thing, what would you suggest I do this last week? Like I said, I've got school starting Tuesday and then I will be gone half the day Wednesday. Not the ideal week leading up to an exam, but it's what I've got to deal with.

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1440890
    Char143
    Participant

    I know a lot of people say don't study the day of or the day before, and they also add “if you need to do that you are not ready” that isn't how I operate. There are many things on this exam that I need to look at the day of the exam. So the day before the exam I study about 3-4 hours, and the day of I wake up early and look over one topic that I struggled with the most. For me on FAR I had to look over certain journal entries, A lot of people say you don't need to memorize things, I don't know which test they are taking but for me, the math was easy, it was memorizing COSO and IT stuff and journal entries that involved accounts with unique names that I haven't used in real life. I swear, every single time I took the exam, I got a question or a SIM on the exact thing I studied earlier that morning. It hasn't failed me yet in that area, the reason I may not pass FAR is because my second testlet was a just in a foreign language, not because I reviewed that morning, which only truly helped me do one of the SIMS.

    For me if I didn't study the day before or lightly review the day of, I would just forget every small detail. Like the coso stuff, the enhancing characteristics of faithful rep and relevance, I mean come on now.. How can anyone memorize the 6 qualitative characteristics and then memorize the 4 enhancing characteristics and not kind of confuse them all and not look at them for 2 days. Which is why that is one chart I make sure to look at the day of the exam, I feel like its kind of an obvious question: which one of these is a characteristic of relevance and you are like “SHIT I wish I looked at the chart one last time before the exam” ..

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    I'm done! 🙏🏼

     

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    #1440968
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    The last experience you mentioned – about wishing you would have looked over something that morning – is exactly what happened to me several times when I sat for FAR. I didn't have as much time as I wish I had to review beforehand and a few simple things slipped my mind because I hadn't looked at them. Reviewing like normal the day before and a 30 minute or so review the day of really helps “prime” my brain to work properly and get in the right frame of mind. If people want to consider that being under prepared, so be it. I say do whatever works to pass these exams!

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1441901
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I second the Vitamin C. Doesn't have to be anything fancy like E-mer-gen-C or Airborne or anything; just simple Vitamin C. I swear it works wonders.

    For example, this past week: I worked closely with a coworker Tuesday, who went to the doc after she left work, and had the flu – next day she was so wiped out she didn't even reply to a text, so I assume couldn't even use her phone. Starting Tuesday night or Wednesday (can't remember which) my boyfriend was in bed for about 24 hours with a bug of some sort that left him unable to do anything, muscles aching like crazy, etc. I was up some during the night with him (which less sleep = lowered immune system), but by chugging Vitamin C, I didn't catch his bug or my coworker's flu. Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and a headache (usually precursors of being sick for me); that day I took 8,000 MG of Vitamin C, and by mid-morning I felt better, and haven't had a hint of being sick all weekend.

    To have been sharing air with 2 sick people within 24 hours, and not get either bug, is impressive in my mind. 🙂 These are the Vitamin C that I have, just because they're cheap: [link removed cause it won't post – it's Kirkland Signature 500 tablets for $14 on Amazon] But the fancy stuff like EmergenC is only helpful for flavor, not really needed. I do like an EmergenC every now-and-then just cause it's tasty, but at 1,000 mg per pack, you'd have to drink a lot before it did as much as you need.

    NOTE: If you take too much Vitamin C, you'll get “the runs”. So, as long as you're not having issues that way from too much C, go ahead and take more. Everyone's needed and tolerated levels will be different, but until you're having problems, there's nothing wrong with taking more…and if you take too much, you'll just be in the bathroom, which is where you'll be if you're sick, so I'd rather be there feeling good than feeling bad. ANd…the 8,000 mg I took Friday didn't give me any troubles; I guess my body needed them all. However, this time of year I take 3,000-4,000 on a daily basis (when I remember to…) just to avoid catching things, so either my body as high needs or the standard vitamin dose is way too low.

    #1441899
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I second the Vitamin C. Doesn't have to be anything fancy like E-mer-gen-C or Airborne or anything; just simple Vitamin C. I swear it works wonders.

    For example, this past week: I worked closely with a coworker Tuesday, who went to the doc after she left work, and had the flu – next day she was so wiped out she didn't even reply to a text, so I assume couldn't even use her phone. Starting Tuesday night or Wednesday (can't remember which) my boyfriend was in bed for about 24 hours with a bug of some sort that left him unable to do anything, muscles aching like crazy, etc. I was up some during the night with him (which less sleep = lowered immune system), but by chugging Vitamin C, I didn't catch his bug or my coworker's flu. Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and a headache (usually precursors of being sick for me); that day I took 8,000 MG of Vitamin C, and by mid-morning I felt better, and haven't had a hint of being sick all weekend.

    To have been sharing air with 2 sick people within 24 hours, and not get either bug, is impressive in my mind. 🙂 These are the Vitamin C that I have, just because they're cheap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CQUFYG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1 But the fancy stuff like EmergenC is only helpful for flavor, not really needed. I do like an EmergenC every now-and-then just cause it's tasty, but at 1,000 mg per pack, you'd have to drink a lot before it did as much as you need.

    NOTE: If you take too much Vitamin C, you'll get “the runs”. So, as long as you're not having issues that way from too much C, go ahead and take more. Everyone's needed and tolerated levels will be different, but until you're having problems, there's nothing wrong with taking more…and if you take too much, you'll just be in the bathroom, which is where you'll be if you're sick, so I'd rather be there feeling good than feeling bad. ANd…the 8,000 mg I took Friday didn't give me any troubles; I guess my body needed them all. However, this time of year I take 3,000-4,000 on a daily basis (when I remember to…) just to avoid catching things, so either my body as high needs or the standard vitamin dose is way too low.

    #1442046
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    Thank you! I was home all day studying and asked my mom to pick me up something and she got Emergen-C with Immune +. I've taken it the past two days and I feel better. When I wake up, my ear and throat feels just a little funny, but once I brush my teeth and get moisture back in my mouth, everything feels normal. Each dose of Emergen-C has 1,000 mg of Vitamin C. I felt like that wasn't very much, but it says to only take 1 pack a day. I absolutely HATE the taste, but I only put it in 4 oz. of water so I can drink it fast and any more water than that dilutes the flavor to where it's even worse tasting.

    I may have to run out and get some Vitamin C tabs to take on top of this. I don't think I will take 8,000 mg a day just because I do have stomach sensitivities, but maybe around 4,000 mg a day. I'm glad I'm feeling pretty good, I've noticed I'm more tired, though. I think I'm just getting burnt out on studying all day. So I let myself sleep until 9am this morning, when my dogs woke me up needing to go outside.

    My plan is to take the Emergen-C, get some more Vitamin C meds to take (just plain daily vitamin), get extra sleep, and then study my butt off until Friday. Then, if I want to get sick, that's fine lol.

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1442066
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Have you tried Airborne chewable tablets? Those are actually pretty tasty.

    I tried both Airborne's dissolvable drops in water and Emergen-C and hated the taste as well. Just thinking about the taste makes me want to throw up.

    I've gotten really sick before in the past and tried almost everything to try to prevent that from happening again. Whether its the placebo effect or if the vitamins/herbs in Airborne, I feel like it actually works.

    I eat like 1-2 every once in a while if I feel like something is coming.

    #1442070
    Scared-cpa
    Participant

    I have not tried them. I know online it says you can take Airborne up to 3 times a day which is 3,000 mg of Vitamin C compared to the 1,000 mg I am currently taking with Emergen-C. I am going to continue to take Emergen-C since I already have it and then take regular Vitamin C capsules for the rest of the 3,000 mg I am aiming for per day. Which makes me wonder if I should just double (or triple) up on Emergen-C, but since it says one pack a day, I'm afraid the other vitamins in it may be too much for me to take at once.

    "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

    FAR - 67, 82 (Expires 07/31/18)
    AUD - 68, 79
    REG - 75
    BEC - 82

    Wiley CPAexcel + Ninja

    I cannot believe I am done.

    #1442171
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    So I looked at the other vitamins in it…the only ones that aren't 33% or less of the daily recommended value (so, taking 3x would be 100% or more) are B6 and B12, and of course C. B6 is 10mg, 500% DV. Looking up B6 tablets on Amazon, the first 5 were 100mg, 50mg, 100mg, 25mg, 100mg. So, except for one low-dose B6, taking any of those would be more than 3 Emergen-C's. B12 in EmergenC is 25mcg; the first 5 results to buy it on its own were 5000mcg, 500mcg, 5000mcg, 2000mcg, and 500mcg. All of these would be more than 3 Emergen-C's.

    So, I'd say, go ahead and take 3 Emergen-C's if you'd like to. Maybe avoid taking them right before bed, though – B vitamins are great for being awake and alert, but not as good for sleeping. 🙂 A lot of energy drinks have various B vitamins included in them due to their great ability to promote awake-ness and alert-ness, so maybe take your 3 Emergen-C's over the course of the morning while studying, then have them finished by 1-3pm. ‘Course, I was raised by a natural-medicine-always type mom, who hardly ever took us to the doctor and believed in patient-directed healthcare, aka research it yourself and make your own decisions. So…my willingness to exceed what the Emergen-C box says is probably influenced by that. 😛 And she probably would do a lot more research than just this, but I do know that she allowed us as kids to have 2 or 3 Emergen-C's throughout the day, so since she'd judged it safe for us kids, I imagine it'd be safe for an adult. (She's not quite as reckless as me hehe, I'm pretty sure she'd be shocked to know I take Vitamin C 4 or 5 at a time and a couple times during the day, cause she'd be a lot more cautious than that.)

    #1443066
    Small4
    Participant

    TOOK far With a 101 fever and chills. My suggestion is take Dayquil (not a doctor obviously just telling u what i did)and study only up to the point where u can get 8-10 hours sleep. Don’t worry about cramming the last day or two since your main concern is to make sure your body and mind is sharp to pass. If you aren’t ready by Thurs-Fri morning, then its not really worth going overboard and lose sleep.

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