# Lunch on PE test day



## z06dustin (Jul 27, 2009)

I'm planning on taking a lunch in a cooler (STUFFED with ice, it's a breezy 114 today here, in a car it'll be ~150, hopefully in October it'll cool down to the mild 90s). I don't really want to run and find a place for lunch, although I might scout the area a week or two in advance, like I did for the FE. I'd really rather just camp out at the test site, I figure it will be less stressful?

What is everyone else planning on taking / buying? What did people in the past take / buy the day of?

Breakfast choices?

Were you allowed to take snacks in when you took it?

I feel like I'm prepping for a marathon.


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## Dexman1349 (Jul 27, 2009)

Food for test day:

Night before: Normal dinner. Eat at your usual time, and I would recommend a high-carb / medium protein dinner (chicken breast over a bowl of pasta). Definately try to avoid very heavy and greasy foods.

Normal breakfast (I had a bowl of cereal). I would recommend eating whatever you normally eat. Don't eat too much or you could get lax. Don't eat too little or you could get hungry too quickly and run out of steam.

Lunch: A filling lunch without being over-filling or heavy. You can visit your local grocery store deli and buy one of the pre-made sandwiches the night before (make sure the mayo/mustard &amp; tomatoes aren't on or you run the risk of going soggy). Couple that with a fruit or yogurt cup and a juice. Don't eat too much sugar (burn out quickly), or anything fried (run into your own personal "fudgey" story).

Snacks: I brought 2 cliff bars (or powerbars if you prefer). I ate one in the morning about 1/2 way through and one in the afternoon. They have alot of both short-term energy and long-term energy so you don't get gittery then burn out. I also brought 2 Nalgene bottles (1 filled with juice, 1 filled with water).

Don't worry about bathroom breaks. I think everyone needs to get up at least once during a 4 hour time-frame, and if they don't then they weren't hydrated properly to begin with. If you're not hydrated properly, you run the risk of headaches and a "tired" feeling that just isn't fixed with sugar/juice/energy bars.


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## Sschell (Jul 27, 2009)

night before: drink hard, heavy and late, this will insure you can sleep through the pre exam jitters.

morning of: Hair of the dog with a pepto chaser. prescription pain killers if you have em'... this will put you in peak performance condition. Not too anxious, not too comfortable.

for lunch: brown bag a 40 of your favorite malt liquor, and something spicy, preferably mexican food, remember to go heavy on the beans and the hot salsa. This will help keep you alert through the remainder of the exam.


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## nojo (Jul 27, 2009)

z06dustin said:


> I'm planning on taking a lunch in a cooler (STUFFED with ice, it's a breezy 114 today here, in a car it'll be ~150, hopefully in October it'll cool down to the mild 90s). I don't really want to run and find a place for lunch, although I might scout the area a week or two in advance, like I did for the FE. I'd really rather just camp out at the test site, I figure it will be less stressful?
> What is everyone else planning on taking / buying? What did people in the past take / buy the day of?
> 
> Breakfast choices?
> ...



I actually skipped breakfast that day which isn't unusual for me anyways. Ate normally the night before. I just had a simple sandwich and a Dr. Pepper in my car for lunch. I also made sure to pack pepto bismol in pill form for the test day. I took a half a dose at lunch with my food just to make sure my stomach settled right with the food and added stress. During the test I had packed a full box of nutrigrain bars plus brought a 6 pack of propel water.

the snacks during the test I think were critical. It gave my mind a quick break to focus on something other than the test plus gave me the continuous energy to keep working.


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## maryannette (Jul 27, 2009)

sschell_PE said:


> night before: drink hard, heavy and late, this will insure you can sleep through the pre exam jitters.morning of: Hair of the dog with a pepto chaser. prescription pain killers if you have em'... this will put you in peak performance condition. Not too anxious, not too comfortable.
> 
> for lunch: brown bag a 40 of your favorite malt liquor, and something spicy, preferably mexican food, remember to go heavy on the beans and the hot salsa. This will help keep you alert through the remainder of the exam.


The dude is LYING!!!!


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## riverberg (Jul 27, 2009)

I agree with the other posters, eat normally the day before and nothing too heavy or greasy. Something simple for breakfast and light for lunch.

The day before, I think I had chicken parmesan for dinner. I had to travel a few hours to get to my test site, so I also recommend staying in a hotel if you are travelling more than an hour. For breakfast the day of, I had some fruit, oatmeal and toast.

Snacks are a must during the exam and no one had a problem with them. I had a couple of those power-type bars and has a half bottle of water in the morning. It really helped re-fuel part way through the morning. You might want to take the snacks out of the packaging and place them in a zipper type plastic bag. They are quieter and more polite for other test takers.

For lunch, it depends on where you test site is. Mine was at my alma mater, so there was a small sandwich store right down the hallway.


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## snickerd3 (Jul 27, 2009)

had a good BBQ dinner the night before. Had a crescent for breakfast and half glass of juice. Lunch hubby brought subway to the test site...happened to be in the town he worked. dinner after the test...Steak and margaritas!!!!

each test site will be different regarding snacks and drinks int he room. contact state board for more specific information.


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## CivE Bricky (Jul 27, 2009)

I did my own version of egg mcmuffin with a veggie burger and some fruit and coffee for bfast

e

Packed a giant healthy lunch and went with cravings (probably ate 1/3 -- but had choices)

milk

coffee

tomatos, carrots hummus dip

cheese, wheat crackers

ham or turkey sandwich on whole wheat

yogurt

cereal

fruit

fruit, veggies, whole grains, protein....avoided carb or sugar crash


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## CivE Bricky (Jul 27, 2009)

snickerd3 said:


> each test site will be different regarding snacks and drinks int he room. contact state board for more specific information.


NY allows nothing - not even bottled water.


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## FLBuff PE (Jul 27, 2009)

CivE Bricky said:


> NY allows nothing - not even bottled water.


Elitists.

Here's what I did on my third, and passing, attempt.

Night before: I was staying in the hotel the exam was being given in, so went out to dinner to Outback. I live in a place that there are none, so I treated my self. I had 1 glass of wine with dinner. That's it. Anice steak, potato and veggie meal made me happy.

Day of breakfast: I ate breakfast at the hotel. They had a breakfast buffet, so I had some eggs, a danish and coffee. The latter is a MUST for me.

Snax: I'm a gummy/licorice fan, so I had packed some previously unwrapped Twizzlers in a bar, along with an energy bar. I also had a bottle of water along with me.

Lunch: Sammich, all the way. I also slammed one of the large Monster drinks. I had found in my previous exams that I had the urge to take a siesta, and wanted tyo avoid it. I feel like it did the trick for me. I will caution, though. It's not for everyone. Try it WELL before test day.

After the exam: Follow sschell's advice.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jul 28, 2009)

sschell_PE said:


> night before: drink hard, heavy and late, this will insure you can sleep through the pre exam jitters.
> morning of: Hair of the dog with a pepto chaser. prescription pain killers if you have em'... this will put you in peak performance condition. Not too anxious, not too comfortable.
> 
> for lunch: brown bag a 40 of your favorite malt liquor, and something spicy, preferably mexican food, remember to go heavy on the beans and the hot salsa. This will help keep you alert through the remainder of the exam.


What about the mid-afternoon speedbomb to ward off the after lunch malaise?


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## kevo_55 (Jul 28, 2009)

I like this thread!

I really like the idea of bringing a whole cooler!!!


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## CivE Bricky (Jul 28, 2009)

Especially since a coworker took the test with me, I made a huge tactical error by not packing a cooler of cool ones to celebrate after. Another group did and I was insanely jealous....plus it was an amazing spring day -- perfect for the first outdoor beer of the season.

However, I did get mine a short while later. B)


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## RockyMtnHigh (Jul 28, 2009)

After the exam, locate the nearest BAR, which will aid you regardless of whether you feel good or horrible about the exam. If you are testing in Denver, at the Convention Center, the closest bar is the Corner Office, about a block away.

Night before: pho (way tasty)

Breakfast: small eggs and bacon, coffee

Lunch: sushi

Snax: shark bites gummies, water and Go Fast energy


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## Katiebug (Jul 28, 2009)

For the FE, I had a normal dinner the night before, with breakfast consisting of a homemade Egg McMuffin type of sandwich. I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a BIG iced coffee.

I packed a lunch of a PB&amp;J sandwich, yogurt, and fruit. I didn't want to be running around downtown Hartford trying to find a decent (non-fried) meal. Some of the young whippersnappers who were just out of school or in their last semester went to a nearby bar and had a liquid lunch - I still wonder if those kids passed or not!

Afterwards I didn't really have anything for dinner since we were leaving at 4 AM to go on a cruise. I didn't even want to chance having alcohol for fear of sleeping through our alarm! The minute we set foot on that cruise ship (18 hours after I finished taking the exam), I ordered a stiff drink and kept 'em coming all the rest of the afternoon. :bananapowerslide:

During the exam I had a bottled water but was afraid to drink much (wanted to avoid needing to make a head call). I also had some granola bars.


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## Sschell (Jul 28, 2009)

^rolling the dice with the sushi lunch... Out of all the hundreds of times I have eaten sushi, I have only gotten sick from it once, and it was bad! that would be game over for the test for sure!


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jul 28, 2009)

I made a couple rookie mistakes the night before the exam I was able to make up for.

It was a nice evening. I found the motel and checked in. I was right by downtown Montpelier, which is a nice place to wander on a spring evening.

I meandered around a bit, got a big choclate shake at a Ben and Jerry's, then had a beer or two. I went back to the motel and ordered up a feast from the Indian restaurant on site. Felt a little sleepy afterwards and went right to bed about 9, not wanting to be up all night worrying.

So you have all this dairy product, a couple brews, and a rich, saucy, exotically spiced meal that digested for about 5 minutes before hitting the sack. Fortunately I was fine the next day but I could have been in rough shape.

Snacks were water and either a nutra-grain or soft granola bars - nothing crunchy or messy.

Lunch was sandwiches and fruit and juice in the car. I don't even know what dinner was anymore. All I remember was drinking a cold one and basically passing out.


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## Amicus (Jul 28, 2009)

Power Bar and Red Bull in the morning.

Power Bar and Red Bull at lunch.

Pitcher of beer after.


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## Casey (Jul 31, 2009)

Here's my mundane exam experiences....

First PE exam (civil):

Leftover pizza and coffee for breakfast.

At lunch time I went over to the Quizno's with another exam taker (the only other exam taker) for a spicy chicken sandwich. I think it was mesquite.

Dinner after the exam was Taco Bell to accompany me on my 3 hour drive back home. I was kinda choked that I left the take-out window without grabbing my Dr. Pepper, but it was far too late to go back for it when I realised it....

For my last exam (SEII), I had a left over McChicken sandwich from the night before for breakfast and a bottle of water.

For lunch I went over to Quizno's for a chipolte chicken sandwich (didn't want to get the same one as last time, wanted to try something new) and some more water. I avoided getting a pop, 'cause I didn't want to go pee too often during the exam.

Dinner after the exam was Teen burgers from A&amp;W to accompany me on the 3 hour drive back home.


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