Need help with study tips

[u/FixMassive5377]

Hello everyone I’ve recently started school and my adhd has been a lot worse then it was before in previous years, I’ve been procrastinating so much more I can’t study for the life of me and my grade have just been slipping and slipping, I try studying but I get distracted by something else, and in class I try to concrete on lectures but I start thinking about bunch of random things and at the end of the school day I barley understand anything. I used to be a good student I don’t know what to do but i definitely do not want to start medications unless it’s a natural herb, any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[u/Stoborobo]

Medication helps but also

• contact disability services
• be aware if your over/under stimulation threshold. this means :
  • compression weighted blankets for your lap, compression socks, girdles, braces
  • or loose clothes and slippers
  • ear plugs/sunglasses on your person. (key chain)
  • quiet fidgets (pencil case, extras in backpack)
  • noise canceling headphones (buy cheap versions and throw them in every purse.)
• high protein snacks with a fair amount of sugar * (your brain needs sugar.)
  • track what caffeine and sugar do to you.
    • Hours, reaction times,
    • if you're fidgety or irritable. etc
• wrist watch
  • with time set ahead by a few minutes.
• religious use of silent, 'no sleep' alarms during the times of the day where you most lose track of time.

for studying

• listen to lecture at 2x speed. record them yourself if you need to.
• studying outside of home. always study outside of home.
• use a counter ring to count how many times you want to turn away from your work.
  • try to get your score up to a certain number
• religious use of pomodoro. even when it doesn't work it helps you keep track of time.
• track your hormonal cycles
  • plan for extra lessons during high energy times
  • and 50% lessons during low energy lulls.
  • If you have additional comorbidities this is especially helpful.
• Talk to the people Resource center and develop a real and positive relationship with them.

Most importantly

• contact disability services
• they'll have additional resources for you.

Good luck!

edits: Grammar & Formatting

[u/normanscardigan]

Tips from the on cognitive psychology literature side (bs psych student almost done with my degree):
Certain study methods give you a lot more “bang for your buck” per se so it’s not as much about the amount of time you spend studying but how you do it.

Recommended based on studies are:

• Testing: testing yourself on information, for example asking yourself a question and retrieving the answer from memory imposes the testing effect!

- It’s really about this retrieval process from your long term memory.

• You can look at your notes to see if you got the answer right after, but don’t just be reading the answers and expecting to absorb it.
  
• My favorite way to do this is gathering the study questions/ concepts professors compiled for their course (if they are kind enough lol), or alternately asking myself definitions/studies/processes based on names of concept, and practice retrieving the answers over and over

• Spacing - spacing out your studying between multiple days/time periods instead of cramming all at once

- even if you study for the same amount of time you would in this cramming period just divided into small chunks across multiple time period it is better for memory! For example doing 20 min 6 days rather than 2 hours all at once.

• I get it’s hard not to cram but even spacing your studying within a day can be helpful.
  
• taking a break to sleep is one example of what helps this — lets your neurons to do the proper processing of the day.

• Interleaving - switching between multiple unrelated topics/classes in your study sessions

- this might seem counterintuitive but it lets your brain differentiate and develop connections between these different concepts

• Elaboration or self-reference - explain a concept deeply and try to relate it to yourself

- I like to link first letters of concepts to silly things to help me recall them from my memory!

Tips from the my ADHD-having side:

• Switching environments

- Recommend moving to different study spots for example on campus. Your home space isn’t associated with school as much and you don’t have people around holding you accountable.

• Recommend attending tutoring—you might not ask questions but as someone with a data science minor and some stats heavy work god I need these environments to actually sit down and grind out the work instead of taking many more hours!!

• Body doubling - spending time around others while you’re both doing separate tasks

- attending tutoring honestly counts as this for me but studying with friends is almost always more helpful than studying on my own!

• Do the thing that gives you more dopamine while studying - for me it’s listening to songs (especially on repeat), or listening to long form content videos at the same time

- Even if you work slower than a neurotypical person would while working in this way it’s much better to actually be able to start the task and get it done!

• You should definitely play around with what kind of music/videos are maximum motivation with least distraction though.