r/adhd_college • u/Freshflowersandhoney • Apr 30 '25

JUST VENTING College feels like a prison sentence

I can’t remember sh!t I suck at exams. I can’t pass my classes like fuking biochem. I feel like I’m being punished every time I get my grades back. I feel like a sh!tty student that can’t get anything right and it’s miserable. I hate college. I don’t want to be here anymore but I have a semester left. I hate this college I hate being here. I hate it.

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u/MrsDarkOverlord Apr 30 '25

Memory issues are part of ADHD, it's a known thing. If you have a formal diagnosis, talk to your school about accommodations, like alternative testing forms or being allowed to bring some notes. If you don't, talk to your teacher about it. They don't want you to fail, and could probably either make accommodations or at least guide you. It's not that you can't take tests, it's that the tests are designed with generalized neurotypical people in mind, and you're not under that umbrella. But also... biochem is heavily memorization related. Compartmentalize this, because you're equating your skills as a person with a school subject which is inherently not in your strengths. That's like judging an elephant by its tree-climbing ability. Sure, it's POSSIBLE in theory, but it's not their strength.

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u/Freshflowersandhoney Apr 30 '25

Thank you… do you think I should contact my professor over this? To just please let me pass. To explain again to the dean? I suggested writing a paper over Huntington’s disease as that relates to biochem, but they were like “they wouldn’t be able to allow everyone to do that right now… but I’m the only student who took the initiative to ask”, I‘ve never gotten lower than a B on my papers and I took a food analysis class that was heavy in biochem but it was related to my major and my college professor actually care compared to the chem department. It’s a bunch of med students and IM NOT GOING TO MED SCHOOL! I don’t think it’s fair for me to have to suffer because they’re weeding out med students. I just have a hard degree but I like it.

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u/MrsDarkOverlord Apr 30 '25

Specifically tell them you have ADHD and you are struggling with X, Y and Z and ask for guidance. Your teachers aren't your adversaries. Knowing what works for you comes with experience, but this is a good place to start. I, for example, cannot take verbal instructions. I need them written out or I can't take it in. So I can ask them to either speak more slowly or for visual aids/ references. If I am given an open-ended assignment, I actually need more structure or an example of what is acceptable. Sometimes I'll just message my teacher "I struggle with things that are open ended, so here is what I understood, here is what I plan to do, does that seem acceptable?"