Wanted to use some necromancy to resurrect this thread. The reason is for books and methods that you think got you through it.
Started early in my CA-3 year. I used the Matthes question book as my primary book for questions. I also bought all the questions from Open Anesthesia. Big Blue was a guide for the psychology of the questions (i.e. the thought process behind what they were asking,) and I read Barash again in my last year.
Questions I got wrong were researched, and I entered them into word documents made by keyword subject and reviewed again. Barash was my book to go to for further reading. By the end, I ended up writing 439mb of notes, most of which I started at the start of my CA-3 year.
I was pretty intense with it. I was staying with some friends in July. When we went out to eat with one of their parents, I was multitasking holding a conversation (the Dad was happy to be surrounded by guys, he had raised all girls...poor bastard,) and going over the OA questions. Everyone was cool with it, and I thanked them for their patience. For the month of July, I was up early, and read, read, read, until around midnight. I zoned out the world to the Dark Knight Trilogy soundtrack, Backdraft, and Gladiator. None of it got old. Yes, I had that "Rise" chant going through my head the entire exam. But it kept me going.
I took two nights completely off during the entire time, both times were to go clubbing to let my brain unwind with the gothic music. And, it let me view some rather interesting and cute people of the female human persuasion.
Day before, I checked into the hotel early, got some food, pool time, re-read things before going to sleep. Got to the test center early, warmed up a bit with one bank of the OA questions, left all the electronics in the car, and went into the testing center.
So, what did everyone else do?