Study Advice for someone with ADHD
My predicted grades were AAAB, I was doing so well at school and I had just moved to the UK from South Africa. I made good friends and I was loving being here. Then suddenly when the study started a year before my A-level exams, I couldn’t focus anymore, I would get so overwhelmed and zone out for long periods of time to just help myself cope. I know this sounds weird, but my room became this big mess however in the bathroom I would spend 3 hours scrubbing all the surfaces. My time management was useless and any verbal instructions just flew straight over my head. My grades ended up being BBCD
I took a gap year as I haven’t been long enough in the country to be eligible for student loan and now I am retaking 2 A-levels to prove to myself It’s possible. I haven’t been formally diagnosed with ADHD but my mom and uncle (who’s a South African GP) are pretty convinced that this is the case and it is too expensive for me to get properly diagnosed.
So I need coping strategies, I need advice as to how to study as I can’t do it the way I used to.
I took a gap year as I haven’t been long enough in the country to be eligible for student loan and now I am retaking 2 A-levels to prove to myself It’s possible. I haven’t been formally diagnosed with ADHD but my mom and uncle (who’s a South African GP) are pretty convinced that this is the case and it is too expensive for me to get properly diagnosed.
So I need coping strategies, I need advice as to how to study as I can’t do it the way I used to.
Hiii!! I’m from east Africa - got diagnosed with ADHD at the end of my first year of uni! Was doing well academically until then. Don’t worry - it’s more common than you’d think xx
it’s tough getting an ADHD diagnosis, esp with waiting lists and the ridiculous cost to go private. It’s definitely worth getting put on the waitlist at the very least though bc UK doctors are annoying about only acknowledging UK diagnoses
I’ve found medication to be really helpful but again, you’d need a psychiatrist to diagnose you officially which is tough.
100% recommend ADHD coaching from someone with lived experience. My adhd coach is from an organisation called HeadStuff
Headstuffadhdtherapy.co.uk
They help with day to day life difficulties and learning more about your adhd Brain and how to work with it instead of against it. I was skeptical at first I swear but it’s made a massive difference during my year out.
Therapy is also part of treatment bc especially with late/delayed diagnosis, there’s a lot of internalised shame and other issues that come with ADHD
it’s tough getting an ADHD diagnosis, esp with waiting lists and the ridiculous cost to go private. It’s definitely worth getting put on the waitlist at the very least though bc UK doctors are annoying about only acknowledging UK diagnoses
I’ve found medication to be really helpful but again, you’d need a psychiatrist to diagnose you officially which is tough.
100% recommend ADHD coaching from someone with lived experience. My adhd coach is from an organisation called HeadStuff
Headstuffadhdtherapy.co.uk
They help with day to day life difficulties and learning more about your adhd Brain and how to work with it instead of against it. I was skeptical at first I swear but it’s made a massive difference during my year out.
Therapy is also part of treatment bc especially with late/delayed diagnosis, there’s a lot of internalised shame and other issues that come with ADHD
Study tips though:
Mindmaps help a lot bc I struggle with structuring my ideas - I’ve got so many thoughts in my head that linking them together and getting them out on paper coherently is tough. My thoughts are kind of like a food web but essays and all that use a linear structure more like a food chain so it helps to have it all out in front of you (ADHD brains struggle with object permanence) so you can move it about and all that
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try Bionic reading (for some reason it helps us focus on parts of words to help with reading passages of text)
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When I did English lit and I particularly hated a book, audiobooks were my friend
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Highly recommend mind-mapping software. I get really hung up on formatting and often end up redoing everything if there’s a tiny fault so online mind maps are better for that
Mindmaps help a lot bc I struggle with structuring my ideas - I’ve got so many thoughts in my head that linking them together and getting them out on paper coherently is tough. My thoughts are kind of like a food web but essays and all that use a linear structure more like a food chain so it helps to have it all out in front of you (ADHD brains struggle with object permanence) so you can move it about and all that
ADHD brains are usually visual learners. Use that to your advantage.
Colour code EVERYTHING and stick to it. Consistency is everything.
For example, when I did A level history, usually it’ll ask questions about events in history and you study the different factors, is always use specific highlighters and coloured pens for specific factors: political factors (blue), social/religious factors (orange), economic factors (yellow)
Stick to those colours ALWAYS, we struggle with memory and sorting info so this makes it kind of automatic if you do it consistently enough.
As you get closer to exams, use sticky notes IN THOSE SAME COLOURS and put key info on them and stick them in places you’ll see so that your brain automatically remembers the info without putting pressure on you
Colour code EVERYTHING and stick to it. Consistency is everything.
For example, when I did A level history, usually it’ll ask questions about events in history and you study the different factors, is always use specific highlighters and coloured pens for specific factors: political factors (blue), social/religious factors (orange), economic factors (yellow)
Stick to those colours ALWAYS, we struggle with memory and sorting info so this makes it kind of automatic if you do it consistently enough.
As you get closer to exams, use sticky notes IN THOSE SAME COLOURS and put key info on them and stick them in places you’ll see so that your brain automatically remembers the info without putting pressure on you
Those times when you get so overwhelmed that you just end up zoning out for ages (ADHD brains struggle with time-blindness too)? That’s called ADHD paralysis. You can really want to do something but you physically can’t bring yourself to stop scrolling or get off the couch or get out of bed - ADHD PARALYSIS (it’s a real thing okay)
This is going to sound ridiculous (I thought so too) and I only tried it because I wanted to prove it wrong because it sounded stupid so just trust me on this:
Make or find a playlist of music, but make sure each song on that playlist is at a tempo of exactly 154 beats per minute (BPM)
For some reason it has a weird effect on ADHD brains and it’s literally the only thing that helps when I get stuck in an ADHD paralysis spiral
Pls if you try anything, try this. IT WORKS I SWEAR AND IT FREAKS ME OUT THAT IT DOES BC ITS SO WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT IT WORKS
This is going to sound ridiculous (I thought so too) and I only tried it because I wanted to prove it wrong because it sounded stupid so just trust me on this:
Make or find a playlist of music, but make sure each song on that playlist is at a tempo of exactly 154 beats per minute (BPM)
For some reason it has a weird effect on ADHD brains and it’s literally the only thing that helps when I get stuck in an ADHD paralysis spiral
Pls if you try anything, try this. IT WORKS I SWEAR AND IT FREAKS ME OUT THAT IT DOES BC ITS SO WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT IT WORKS
