Piracetam

Piracetam

The oldest, best known, and most widely used of the -racetam family.

Before I review my experience using it over the past year, I'll list the facts.
Piracetam is prescribed as treatment for a variety of things, including Myoclonus.  Besides this use, it has been shown to be therapeutically effective in people with dyslexia, victims of strokes, alcoholics suffering withdrawal syndrome, and even for healthy people.  Piracetam's specific method of action is unknown, but what you need to know is that it increases communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain by increasing activity in the corpus callosum, the connective bridge between the hemispheres. Also increases bloodflow and calorie expenditure of the brain while having anti-aging effects.
If you are just looking for final judgement, skip to the last section.

Anecdotal Data

I remember the first day I tried piracetam quite clearly, along with nearly every other day that I used it.  I picked up the package around 1:30 and ran back to my dorm, eager to try it after all the research I had put into my purchase.

I took 1 pill and felt the mood and language effects shortly after.  I was happier, colors were brighter, and even conversations felt rewarding. Before my dreaded mandatory liberal arts class, I decided to try the attack dose method I had read about, so my total dosage went to 2400mg.

Usually in that class I recorded the professors voice and made sense of what he said later, but after piracetam, I had no need to record him or decipher what he said at all. The class was supposed to be Film 110, a very basic arts class about movies and themes, but he turned it into a media arts class, discussing power structures in society, panopticism in social media culture, and requiring tweeting as part of our grade.  Students muddled and muttered through most of his lectures and assignments, and we all hoped desperately for a curve.  But that day after the attack dosage, his abstractions made more sense and I could actually see the points he was trying to make, no matter how irrelevant to class they were.  So naturally it became part of my daily routine.
Where piracetam saved me was my logic class.  Philosophy 110 had the highest fail rate of any class offered at the entire university, averaging around 83% failure or withdrawal. The professor I took, while being a very cool guy, had a 93% fail rate. The class was also structured into 8 weeks, 2 classes per week, 3 hours per class. No partial credit given on anything, ever, no exceptions.
It began with 47 students and ended with just 8 of us, one being a brilliant Vietnamese guy who had a 105 average but was so dyslexic I had to help him find and open his mailbox on 3 separate occasions. Only He, myself, and 3 others managed to pass the class. In 3 weeks I went from struggling with tautologies to speeding through coursework in 10 hour chunks every week.

Final Verdict

Social Effects:  Words seem to flow, confidence is higher. Produces a good combination of leadership and friendliness. Definitely more creative.
Learning effect:  Better creation of memory, items learned are retained almost perfectly even while not using.
Cost Factor:  Whole Kilograms( over a year's supply) can be on your doorstep in days for about 60$. reliable cost scale is 500 grams for around $40, whole kilo for $60. at this price point theres very little reason to not use it, and its best to order bulk rather than the 125gram samples offered by some sites for about $12 on average.
Effective Time: piracetam kicks in fairly quickly, though you may not always feel it.  The half-life is about 4 to 5 hours, from experience and everything I have read, and my subjective threshold is about half a gram, though amounts less than this will have effect. A dose of 2 grams could be felt as long as or longer than 10 hours.
Best Features: Heightened focus, and sharper memory.
X- Factor: In my experience, Piracetam intensifies everything: happiness, marijuana, alcohol, and all other nootropics.

Your powder should have the consistency and texture of fine sugar, a slight clumping nature, and a bitter taste. Best taken mixed in water with creatine to taste, or in capsules.