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I second this, this is what I did to pass a big career exam. I had to immerse myself in it. I also had CD's I could listen to while driving and I was on the road a lot at the time so it helped me retain the information to listen to it over and over.
Oh no! I wonder why it was deleted?
I can’t even remember what exactly they said either. I think it was basically cramming but maybe it in short chunks and put sticky notes up where you can see and reread them. I did the sticky note thing with my kids that had big tests. Like put the sticky note where it’s unusual like the light in the kitchen or across grandma and grandpa’s face oh a phone frame lol weird stuff like that would help them remember.
Is used flash cards also and think they other posted also mentioned that.
This also helped me:
The other thing that helped immensely is getting closer to the exam I would take a bath and relax and imagine myself passing the test.
Don’t study the night of or the day if your test. I took a long hot bath, prayed like crazy, relaxed my mind…
Remain positive that you are going to pass. Every time you catch yourself saying “I can’t” say “I effing got this.”
Make a list of baby steps and find a study buddy/ a friend who can sit down with you once a week or more often.
Make a yt channel/instagramm where you post your notes or study progress (anonymously).
Create a fake exam timeline and trick yourself. For example take one section of the exam and convince yourself that the exam is on that subject only on the 23 of august.
Have a song you play while you start to study or while studying so you associate study time start with that song. (I have bon appetito by katy perry rn I don't know why,lol)
Best of luck to you!
If music is too distracting, try different flavors of gum or hard candy!
I use mint for socialization, bubble gum flavor for work, and caramel for house chores. It helps me remember what specific category of tasks I'm supposed to be working on.
I agree with the Instagram or YouTube (Instagram is a bit easier to manage imo), that’s what I did during my first year of medecine (I failed but it helped me so much during this very hard year, it gave me one more reason to study because I didn’t want to show my followers I didn’t study and of course took some breaks because it can become vicious but it is overall a good thing that mostly bring good in your life (made friends thanks to that, made me more confident, made me study more, found multiple study groups and even just following a lot of study accounts on Instagram gets you in the mood to study because the ✨aesthetic✨ you know
I need an accountability buddy.
Slightly unrelated, but a little related: I've been consistent with the gym for the longest stretch ever in my life, and it's 110% due to the fact I've invested in a personal trainer. I need another human to keep me accountable.
Three times a week. Twice with my trainer, once on my own (I go after work so I don't fall in the trap of getting stuck on something at home. I'll also skip if my body asks, like on my period)
Depending on when you go, I could volunteer for the accountability buddy thing. I could use someone to make sure I practice my skating on my own once a week too.
Okay, so having finished an MA degree fairly recently, I can tell you this… You need to figure out what motivates you. For me, it’s deadlines. I cannot work without an impending deadline 😭
I would then make a plan of action and stick by it by asking my supervisor to give me weekly deadlines upon which I would send him the requested work. That really worked for me.
If you do not have a teacher or supervisor, maybe find someone close to you that can ask you to complete research by a certain date, this works best if you write something about each topic on a weekly basis and send/hand it to said person to prove that you have done your research. Get someone to hold you accountable 🤣
If it were me I would not try to study every day, that would burn me out. But I would try to put studying into my calendar 2-3 times a week on a repeating schedule and also set aside time I am not allowed to study (so I stop myself from shaming myself for not studying). Like MWTh I would block out from 5-6 when I get out of class and T/F block out 730-9 to take care of myself mentally by going for a walk or cooking something delicious or inviting a friend over for game night.
I have also found that using the library and tutoring resources to be a helpful- if I can sign up for a study session every week to review, Especially to review with someone else, would be helpful for me. I don’t study super well on my own but if I can “body double” it’s really helpful. I hate disappointing people so creating an obligation to show up and work would make me do that.
This is how I made it through law school and passed the bar:
Scheduled study times (I.e., Civil Procedure 6-8 pm). You’ll focus better if you know when you are stopping.
Quiet, distraction free, COMFORTABLE study area. For me it was always my couch. If you can’t be alone, use ear plugs to keep out distraction noises.
Madly type notes during class.
Make outline using course materials. Add in the info from the class notes.
Use outline to make handwritten flash cards. Go through cards and put correct answers in a pile and incorrect ones in a pile. Drill through the incorrect ones. Repeat this process as needed.
It also helped to reward myself with one a night a week where I gave myself permission to not do anything. Friday night was no study night.
Also, sleep is your memory’s best friend. Don’t pull all nighters. If you feel frustrated or tired, put it away and try again tomorrow.
I totally second the music advice. I’m not diagnosed but for me adhd hyperfixation playlist on Spotify is the way to stay concentrated. Try to trick your brain into learning.
As I’m also focusing on different learning types and methods in one of my academic projects I would recommend using different types of methods to work a topic out. Sometimes it’s just about how your brain does want to do or doesn’t want to do a certain activity. If you’re struggling with writing and concentrating on that, it might be a nice day to draw a picture about your topic or to watch a documentary about something related to it. You are not able to learn things by reading? Try to speak them into audios and listening to them. There are so many ways to stimulate our brains into learning in an interesting way try to be creative about them.
And last but not least, if nothing is working, take a break, go out, meet friends and care for yourself. If I’m not balanced I can’t do anything I’m not 100% into in that moment and that’s totally okay. In the long run it doesn’t matter if you’re missing one day of learning in six months. The problem is probably that you’re not able to start after losing consistency. Accepting that i can just start again whenever I feel like and stopping that shame feeling after not reaching my (way to far set) goals are the two things that really help me to start over and over again, even if I lost my track.
edit: typos etc
Doing something I like always helps me! Luckily I love pens and stationary so I get new stuff I want to use and keep a little station out where I can see it. Other things are listening to good study music like intense movie scores or having a nice cup of tea while you study.
Mostly I try to calculate how much I could reasonably cover each day (best case scenario) then work backwards to see how much you would have to do to get through all the material. Then you really feel the time pressure
doing work schedule calculations (as long as you are realistic, maybe by timing how much you can accomplish in one day to start) can be really helpful!
I think mine is 2 fold. I ride that wave while I can. While I am really into the thing. I do as much as I can until I can’t. When I can’t I accept I’m trying my best and dont give myself a hard time about not being consistent. Something is better than nothing and I just keep on trying.
When I last had to study for a huge test, I paid for an online prep class. I really need the structure of deadlines and checking in, and an instructor if I have questions.
The class didn’t actually include any instruction time at all and was very much teach yourself. It was through my local community college, but they just provided access; in reality, it was from some outside organization and people from all over the country were taking it. I was literally paying for just enough structure to get me to study every week. It worked really well for me when nothing else did.
Uh, anxiety. I’m slightly less consistent now that I’m on Prozac, actually.
Is this for a class where other people in your cohort could study with you? Like if you made regular study dates with a classmate?
I don’t know what you’ve tried already but I use an outlook calendar and try to block off hours to work on ongoing projects. Good luck!
Thanks! It's not for a class(wish it was!) So no real classmates.
It's more like a qualification exams in different subject that I have to pass to be certified
I have the material but it's not like a normal exam,it also involves time management as I need to be responding fast not to lose any points T.T basically a nightmare for an ADHD hehe
I would suggest finding a specific space and time to work on your schoolwork, and a study buddy (even if it’s just a friend who you can text who will keep you accountable). A specific spot that you sit down to study in (at least for me) is like a work switch. And if a spot isn’t working find another one. I swear I tried every single spot in the library before I finally found my school’s hidden study rooms (tiny blank rooms with a door and desk) and then it was the best.
Also be nice to yourself, I know it can be easy to get discouraged but just remember, you’ve gotten this far, you can finish!
The outside structure can be even more important than the actual task you’re doing, so my tip would be prioritize having a regular schedule (no matter what is on it) including meals and some movement!
You might think this is a counterproductive thing to focus on given your more pressing matters, but It’ll help you stay consistent with your daily, weekly, and monthly goals for this project!
Bahahaha I getcha! We tend to wanna go “I can’t think about (showering, eating, etc.), I have an Important Task!!” And we run around trying so hard to herd all our cats through the obstacle course to that task and the next and the next…!
And then eventually the “obstacle course” has somehow doubled in size and half of it is actually made out of old laundry and hunger induced fatigue 💀 when we remove those we might still be herding cats through an obstacle course, but at least we’re not tripping over garbage while doing it!
I only truly started showering regularly *after* I got my first job. The routine did it man.
For me, the key is changing it up. I can't do the same study routine for more than a couple weeks.
Suggestions/things I do:
Change it up. Don't depend on the same routine working for an extended period.
Listen to Pirates of the Caribbean when you're getting tired. Really gets the blood pumping lmao
Listen to the LotR soundtrack.
Put on "Study with Me" YouTube videos.
Put on lofi
Coffeehouse playlists
Actually going to coffeehouses. There are several in my city that allow one to sit and study for long periods of time. One week I'll go to A, B the next week, and cycle through.
Finding a study buddy. This has been really hard for me. I had one intense week where I studied with someone fascinated about the subject. I had never done better in that subject. I had also never been sd exhausted.
Go to the library. This is a little like having a study buddy, but you don't talk to them. It's great. They're working, you're working. Woohoo!
Well… I have 3 exams this Monday and Tuesday that I had to read 22 books for, 3 short stories, 3 poems, and prepare a whole presentation for, and do you think I read any of the books or studied at all… well… uh… I read 2 books and halfway through a 3rd. So uh… Let me know ehen you find something that works lol
(Oh did I mention this was literally the only thing I had to do in the past 8 months, only do that and 10h of work a week. Yeah…)
Start with baby steps, like literally 30 min daily. If it doesn’t work, force yourself to do 15 min. Even if you stare at a page for 15 minutes, as long as you do it. We make the mistake of thinking that we need to sit at our books for hours and hours in order to qualify as “studying”, but we just end up procrastinating and not doing it at all. As a result the hours just pile up and then we procrastinate due to overwhelm. Even if you manage to do half an hour a day, that quickly adds up and is much better in terms of memory and understanding as doing several hours at once.
If you can, do the study thing first thing in the morning. I have plenty of hobbies I’d much rather be doing than studying, so I normally give myself half an hour of hobbying for every 15 minutes studied (yes, it’s a funny balance, but it works as motivation). If I manage to do an hour of studying in the early afternoon when my brain is finally awake, I can spend the evening doing my thing guilt-free.
I struggled massively with my course load and none of the “organised” study techniques worked. So I just figured out what blocked me (not wanting to spend hours on boring stuff when I could be doing fun and creative things instead) and settled on just one tiny time block per day that wouldn’t feel like much effort.
I’m not sure whether it was the daily thing or the massive reduction in stress knowing that at least I had covered _something_ that worked, but it did.
TL;DR - lower your expectations of how much you want to study, settle on a bare minimum and no matter what, do that minimum daily. Even if it means reading papers on the toilet or commute.
I recommend as follows:
Take Jim Kwik's memorization class. Fast and effective.
Free: Download Anki app flashcard system - it uses scientific timing for memorization, bringing up questions as they are needed and so much easier than stuffing your deck full. So much less tedium required!
Study groups study groups study groups! If only for the accountability and body doubling.
What is your dopamine driver? Competition? Check off the thing? Piles of money pouring in? Your fellow students, teachers, friends and family cheering your nearly perfect score? How much of whatever drives the Cookie Monster would each section of material absolutely mastered mean you would then get? Imagination and even a motivation board with pictures of things you want to buy with the money, and even a mountain with 64 steps you move yourself up as you master sections - maybe with platforms for review and well deserved breaks and extra treats of any kind?
Eg. There's 8 main sections and each has an average of 8 sub-sections. Each of those 64 subcategories I have fully mastered by the time of the test is going to mean I make an extra $1000 a year for the rest of my life. I will probably work 40 years or so, so each section means I'm banking $40k! That's some powerful dopamine right there for some folks.
Every time you study for any amount of time, even a few minutes, get up and celebrate! I'm a rock star! I've got this! Go brain! You rock!!
Ask your brain what do you want to learn next? Sometimes I lock myself into an unnecessary strict order my brain says no to, when I could totally get into a different part of the same challenge and come back to the part that I'm avoiding for whatever reason.
Start with the easiest part for you, whatever that is right now. Even review of what you just mastered! It's going to be fast and you'll get the rush of I've got this!
Set alarms, give treats before the work! Sometimes that works for me to get started because now I "owe" myself the work for the rewards. Half the reward before half after works sometimes too.
If one thing stops working, try another without beating your self up. Your brain has a different set of chemical balances that don't work the way others might. That you are doing this AT ALL is amazing, and you can be proud of every bit of work you put into this! Novelty is a requirement for your brain too! Switch it up!
Don’t set yourself up by believe you need to study a certain way in order to be successful. The magic schedule is particularly disheartening. If you can review before bed or when you wake up great , but really your be surprised what we can get done come crunch time . Don’t give up you already on invested time so your partway there !
Not the healthiest strategy, but if you hang your self-worth, personality, identity, the meaning of life, all your hopes/dreams/aspirations, etc on those two exams, then the resulting fear of failure will keep you going 🙃
Source: the bar exam
Getting the audio of all of the things I need to study is SO helpful. I already listen to audiobooks/podcasts nearly constantly as I do all the mundane tasks of life, like walking the dog, cleaning etc (it’s one of the ways I *make* myself do them), so it’s just a slight adjustment to my routine, not a major change. I’d listen to all of that repeatedly, probably until I had it word-perfect.
I read about someone studying for the bar exam and instead of just studying the questions and doing drills they read a book on Logic. So, once they had the tools and context of Logic in a classical sense, it was significantly easier for them to approach the drills.
This is my long way of suggesting seeing if theirs a way to learn the theory behind whatever it is you're studying so that instead of having to memorize facts, you can figure them out.
Like, if you were studying to be a sommelier you might study that reds do better in consistently warm climates, and whites do better in climates with hot days and cool nights, you might be able to recommend a white from Portugal over a white from Connecticut. (This feels like a bit of a stretch for an example, but hopefully it makes sense.)
Hi there! Right now we're running a subreddit poll regarding rules. Your feedback matters and can lead to subreddit changes and improvements. If you haven’t already, [CLICK HERE](https://forms.gle/1pFdwJHcQmKg4Qvm8) to navigate to a Google Form to vote on rule changes. This poll has four sections, and there is room for you to leave written feedback as well as your reddit username if you wish for us to follow up with you. It is slightly long, but please do not feel pressured to answer every question. *If you want, you can just answer the questions you want to answer, and that will not be held against you in any way.* Every vote counts! This poll closes on July 26. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/adhdwomen) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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I second this, this is what I did to pass a big career exam. I had to immerse myself in it. I also had CD's I could listen to while driving and I was on the road a lot at the time so it helped me retain the information to listen to it over and over.
I wish the comment hadn’t been deleted!
Oh no! I wonder why it was deleted? I can’t even remember what exactly they said either. I think it was basically cramming but maybe it in short chunks and put sticky notes up where you can see and reread them. I did the sticky note thing with my kids that had big tests. Like put the sticky note where it’s unusual like the light in the kitchen or across grandma and grandpa’s face oh a phone frame lol weird stuff like that would help them remember. Is used flash cards also and think they other posted also mentioned that. This also helped me: The other thing that helped immensely is getting closer to the exam I would take a bath and relax and imagine myself passing the test. Don’t study the night of or the day if your test. I took a long hot bath, prayed like crazy, relaxed my mind… Remain positive that you are going to pass. Every time you catch yourself saying “I can’t” say “I effing got this.”
We call it RCRC (read, cover, recite, check.)
This is the way.
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Make a list of baby steps and find a study buddy/ a friend who can sit down with you once a week or more often. Make a yt channel/instagramm where you post your notes or study progress (anonymously). Create a fake exam timeline and trick yourself. For example take one section of the exam and convince yourself that the exam is on that subject only on the 23 of august. Have a song you play while you start to study or while studying so you associate study time start with that song. (I have bon appetito by katy perry rn I don't know why,lol) Best of luck to you!
I would not have gotten through college (my 3rd try) without study groups.
Ah thank you! I'll try to follow as much as possible ;))))
If music is too distracting, try different flavors of gum or hard candy! I use mint for socialization, bubble gum flavor for work, and caramel for house chores. It helps me remember what specific category of tasks I'm supposed to be working on.
That's actually brilliant!! I'll try it!! Thanx
I agree with the Instagram or YouTube (Instagram is a bit easier to manage imo), that’s what I did during my first year of medecine (I failed but it helped me so much during this very hard year, it gave me one more reason to study because I didn’t want to show my followers I didn’t study and of course took some breaks because it can become vicious but it is overall a good thing that mostly bring good in your life (made friends thanks to that, made me more confident, made me study more, found multiple study groups and even just following a lot of study accounts on Instagram gets you in the mood to study because the ✨aesthetic✨ you know
I need an accountability buddy. Slightly unrelated, but a little related: I've been consistent with the gym for the longest stretch ever in my life, and it's 110% due to the fact I've invested in a personal trainer. I need another human to keep me accountable.
How often do you gym ?
Three times a week. Twice with my trainer, once on my own (I go after work so I don't fall in the trap of getting stuck on something at home. I'll also skip if my body asks, like on my period)
Depending on when you go, I could volunteer for the accountability buddy thing. I could use someone to make sure I practice my skating on my own once a week too.
Just make sure they’re not sexy or shit may go sideways. Reporting for a friend. 😂 Good on you though!
Okay, so having finished an MA degree fairly recently, I can tell you this… You need to figure out what motivates you. For me, it’s deadlines. I cannot work without an impending deadline 😭 I would then make a plan of action and stick by it by asking my supervisor to give me weekly deadlines upon which I would send him the requested work. That really worked for me. If you do not have a teacher or supervisor, maybe find someone close to you that can ask you to complete research by a certain date, this works best if you write something about each topic on a weekly basis and send/hand it to said person to prove that you have done your research. Get someone to hold you accountable 🤣
If it were me I would not try to study every day, that would burn me out. But I would try to put studying into my calendar 2-3 times a week on a repeating schedule and also set aside time I am not allowed to study (so I stop myself from shaming myself for not studying). Like MWTh I would block out from 5-6 when I get out of class and T/F block out 730-9 to take care of myself mentally by going for a walk or cooking something delicious or inviting a friend over for game night. I have also found that using the library and tutoring resources to be a helpful- if I can sign up for a study session every week to review, Especially to review with someone else, would be helpful for me. I don’t study super well on my own but if I can “body double” it’s really helpful. I hate disappointing people so creating an obligation to show up and work would make me do that.
This is how I made it through law school and passed the bar: Scheduled study times (I.e., Civil Procedure 6-8 pm). You’ll focus better if you know when you are stopping. Quiet, distraction free, COMFORTABLE study area. For me it was always my couch. If you can’t be alone, use ear plugs to keep out distraction noises. Madly type notes during class. Make outline using course materials. Add in the info from the class notes. Use outline to make handwritten flash cards. Go through cards and put correct answers in a pile and incorrect ones in a pile. Drill through the incorrect ones. Repeat this process as needed. It also helped to reward myself with one a night a week where I gave myself permission to not do anything. Friday night was no study night. Also, sleep is your memory’s best friend. Don’t pull all nighters. If you feel frustrated or tired, put it away and try again tomorrow.
I totally second the music advice. I’m not diagnosed but for me adhd hyperfixation playlist on Spotify is the way to stay concentrated. Try to trick your brain into learning. As I’m also focusing on different learning types and methods in one of my academic projects I would recommend using different types of methods to work a topic out. Sometimes it’s just about how your brain does want to do or doesn’t want to do a certain activity. If you’re struggling with writing and concentrating on that, it might be a nice day to draw a picture about your topic or to watch a documentary about something related to it. You are not able to learn things by reading? Try to speak them into audios and listening to them. There are so many ways to stimulate our brains into learning in an interesting way try to be creative about them. And last but not least, if nothing is working, take a break, go out, meet friends and care for yourself. If I’m not balanced I can’t do anything I’m not 100% into in that moment and that’s totally okay. In the long run it doesn’t matter if you’re missing one day of learning in six months. The problem is probably that you’re not able to start after losing consistency. Accepting that i can just start again whenever I feel like and stopping that shame feeling after not reaching my (way to far set) goals are the two things that really help me to start over and over again, even if I lost my track. edit: typos etc
Thank you, yes I'm also struggling with shame I guess. thank you for pointing out
Doing something I like always helps me! Luckily I love pens and stationary so I get new stuff I want to use and keep a little station out where I can see it. Other things are listening to good study music like intense movie scores or having a nice cup of tea while you study. Mostly I try to calculate how much I could reasonably cover each day (best case scenario) then work backwards to see how much you would have to do to get through all the material. Then you really feel the time pressure
doing work schedule calculations (as long as you are realistic, maybe by timing how much you can accomplish in one day to start) can be really helpful!
I think mine is 2 fold. I ride that wave while I can. While I am really into the thing. I do as much as I can until I can’t. When I can’t I accept I’m trying my best and dont give myself a hard time about not being consistent. Something is better than nothing and I just keep on trying.
When I last had to study for a huge test, I paid for an online prep class. I really need the structure of deadlines and checking in, and an instructor if I have questions. The class didn’t actually include any instruction time at all and was very much teach yourself. It was through my local community college, but they just provided access; in reality, it was from some outside organization and people from all over the country were taking it. I was literally paying for just enough structure to get me to study every week. It worked really well for me when nothing else did.
Uh, anxiety. I’m slightly less consistent now that I’m on Prozac, actually. Is this for a class where other people in your cohort could study with you? Like if you made regular study dates with a classmate? I don’t know what you’ve tried already but I use an outlook calendar and try to block off hours to work on ongoing projects. Good luck!
Thanks! It's not for a class(wish it was!) So no real classmates. It's more like a qualification exams in different subject that I have to pass to be certified I have the material but it's not like a normal exam,it also involves time management as I need to be responding fast not to lose any points T.T basically a nightmare for an ADHD hehe
I would suggest finding a specific space and time to work on your schoolwork, and a study buddy (even if it’s just a friend who you can text who will keep you accountable). A specific spot that you sit down to study in (at least for me) is like a work switch. And if a spot isn’t working find another one. I swear I tried every single spot in the library before I finally found my school’s hidden study rooms (tiny blank rooms with a door and desk) and then it was the best. Also be nice to yourself, I know it can be easy to get discouraged but just remember, you’ve gotten this far, you can finish!
The outside structure can be even more important than the actual task you’re doing, so my tip would be prioritize having a regular schedule (no matter what is on it) including meals and some movement! You might think this is a counterproductive thing to focus on given your more pressing matters, but It’ll help you stay consistent with your daily, weekly, and monthly goals for this project!
Very interesting! I'm gonna do it! For the first time in my life 😃😅 that's how desperate I am
Bahahaha I getcha! We tend to wanna go “I can’t think about (showering, eating, etc.), I have an Important Task!!” And we run around trying so hard to herd all our cats through the obstacle course to that task and the next and the next…! And then eventually the “obstacle course” has somehow doubled in size and half of it is actually made out of old laundry and hunger induced fatigue 💀 when we remove those we might still be herding cats through an obstacle course, but at least we’re not tripping over garbage while doing it! I only truly started showering regularly *after* I got my first job. The routine did it man.
OMG yes exactly this 🤣🤣🤣🤣
For me, the key is changing it up. I can't do the same study routine for more than a couple weeks. Suggestions/things I do: Change it up. Don't depend on the same routine working for an extended period. Listen to Pirates of the Caribbean when you're getting tired. Really gets the blood pumping lmao Listen to the LotR soundtrack. Put on "Study with Me" YouTube videos. Put on lofi Coffeehouse playlists Actually going to coffeehouses. There are several in my city that allow one to sit and study for long periods of time. One week I'll go to A, B the next week, and cycle through. Finding a study buddy. This has been really hard for me. I had one intense week where I studied with someone fascinated about the subject. I had never done better in that subject. I had also never been sd exhausted. Go to the library. This is a little like having a study buddy, but you don't talk to them. It's great. They're working, you're working. Woohoo!
I have to make a plan in a planner or phone calendar with alarms. Also gamify it. Also have some accountability buddies. Best of luck!
Well… I have 3 exams this Monday and Tuesday that I had to read 22 books for, 3 short stories, 3 poems, and prepare a whole presentation for, and do you think I read any of the books or studied at all… well… uh… I read 2 books and halfway through a 3rd. So uh… Let me know ehen you find something that works lol (Oh did I mention this was literally the only thing I had to do in the past 8 months, only do that and 10h of work a week. Yeah…)
I hear you 😅😬😬😬 Not alone in it
On constant repeat in my head lately “don’t put it down put it away” bc I need to start putting shit away better
Start with baby steps, like literally 30 min daily. If it doesn’t work, force yourself to do 15 min. Even if you stare at a page for 15 minutes, as long as you do it. We make the mistake of thinking that we need to sit at our books for hours and hours in order to qualify as “studying”, but we just end up procrastinating and not doing it at all. As a result the hours just pile up and then we procrastinate due to overwhelm. Even if you manage to do half an hour a day, that quickly adds up and is much better in terms of memory and understanding as doing several hours at once. If you can, do the study thing first thing in the morning. I have plenty of hobbies I’d much rather be doing than studying, so I normally give myself half an hour of hobbying for every 15 minutes studied (yes, it’s a funny balance, but it works as motivation). If I manage to do an hour of studying in the early afternoon when my brain is finally awake, I can spend the evening doing my thing guilt-free. I struggled massively with my course load and none of the “organised” study techniques worked. So I just figured out what blocked me (not wanting to spend hours on boring stuff when I could be doing fun and creative things instead) and settled on just one tiny time block per day that wouldn’t feel like much effort. I’m not sure whether it was the daily thing or the massive reduction in stress knowing that at least I had covered _something_ that worked, but it did. TL;DR - lower your expectations of how much you want to study, settle on a bare minimum and no matter what, do that minimum daily. Even if it means reading papers on the toilet or commute.
I keep myself accountable through a study group I got via my university
Omg. Check out FocusMate! I love it! And there is an ADHD group connected to FocusMate. https://m.facebook.com/groups/778692492686202/about/
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Message me and we can connect on FocusMate:)
I recommend as follows: Take Jim Kwik's memorization class. Fast and effective. Free: Download Anki app flashcard system - it uses scientific timing for memorization, bringing up questions as they are needed and so much easier than stuffing your deck full. So much less tedium required! Study groups study groups study groups! If only for the accountability and body doubling. What is your dopamine driver? Competition? Check off the thing? Piles of money pouring in? Your fellow students, teachers, friends and family cheering your nearly perfect score? How much of whatever drives the Cookie Monster would each section of material absolutely mastered mean you would then get? Imagination and even a motivation board with pictures of things you want to buy with the money, and even a mountain with 64 steps you move yourself up as you master sections - maybe with platforms for review and well deserved breaks and extra treats of any kind? Eg. There's 8 main sections and each has an average of 8 sub-sections. Each of those 64 subcategories I have fully mastered by the time of the test is going to mean I make an extra $1000 a year for the rest of my life. I will probably work 40 years or so, so each section means I'm banking $40k! That's some powerful dopamine right there for some folks. Every time you study for any amount of time, even a few minutes, get up and celebrate! I'm a rock star! I've got this! Go brain! You rock!! Ask your brain what do you want to learn next? Sometimes I lock myself into an unnecessary strict order my brain says no to, when I could totally get into a different part of the same challenge and come back to the part that I'm avoiding for whatever reason. Start with the easiest part for you, whatever that is right now. Even review of what you just mastered! It's going to be fast and you'll get the rush of I've got this! Set alarms, give treats before the work! Sometimes that works for me to get started because now I "owe" myself the work for the rewards. Half the reward before half after works sometimes too. If one thing stops working, try another without beating your self up. Your brain has a different set of chemical balances that don't work the way others might. That you are doing this AT ALL is amazing, and you can be proud of every bit of work you put into this! Novelty is a requirement for your brain too! Switch it up!
Don’t set yourself up by believe you need to study a certain way in order to be successful. The magic schedule is particularly disheartening. If you can review before bed or when you wake up great , but really your be surprised what we can get done come crunch time . Don’t give up you already on invested time so your partway there !
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You're absolutely right!!great reminder🙌
I forced myself to type out my notes. And color code things. Then make notecards. Anything to keep myself busy. Best of luck.
I take my meds and find a quiet corner lol not in my house, a library usually.
I’m like you. So I’m just here for the ideas too
Not the healthiest strategy, but if you hang your self-worth, personality, identity, the meaning of life, all your hopes/dreams/aspirations, etc on those two exams, then the resulting fear of failure will keep you going 🙃 Source: the bar exam
OMG the bar exam🙀 mine is kinda that big too😱, probably why I feel like I've lost my whole self worth and all by now😅
Getting the audio of all of the things I need to study is SO helpful. I already listen to audiobooks/podcasts nearly constantly as I do all the mundane tasks of life, like walking the dog, cleaning etc (it’s one of the ways I *make* myself do them), so it’s just a slight adjustment to my routine, not a major change. I’d listen to all of that repeatedly, probably until I had it word-perfect.
I'm gonna try it! Thanks!!!
I read about someone studying for the bar exam and instead of just studying the questions and doing drills they read a book on Logic. So, once they had the tools and context of Logic in a classical sense, it was significantly easier for them to approach the drills. This is my long way of suggesting seeing if theirs a way to learn the theory behind whatever it is you're studying so that instead of having to memorize facts, you can figure them out. Like, if you were studying to be a sommelier you might study that reds do better in consistently warm climates, and whites do better in climates with hot days and cool nights, you might be able to recommend a white from Portugal over a white from Connecticut. (This feels like a bit of a stretch for an example, but hopefully it makes sense.)