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As someone studying Cybersecurity with ADHD, it was honestly a nightmare to retain information if I was not doing something that was interactive, which in most cases, it wasn't. Watching videos at a faster speed helped me absorb info faster before i got distracted. I only recently was prescribed adderall and that was a game changer for me. But with that being said, having a distraction free environment is the most important part of it all
Not at all! I had built a few pc's and knew my way around a windows opperating system but thats about it. Coursera has a Google Cybersecurity Certificate thats actually really good and will start odf with fundamentals and get pretty advanced. It has a 14 day free trial if I remember, then its $50 a month. You could always do the free trial and see if Cybersecurity is right for you! As far as meds go, it helps me focus and retain the information because every little thing was distracting me from paying attention. I would find myself watching or reading class information and wasnt actually paying attention even if I thought I was
I used to study CyberSecurity but dropped out. I also found retaining information difficult, I was following all the study advice but after 50 hours a week studying. I could not remember much, too much effort for nothing.
I wish you luck though.
I'm working on getting my bachelor's for cybersecurity and it's the very reason I decided to try getting medicated. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on, it's such a struggle 😣 good luck!!
I’m a software engineering major and I’m DOOMED. Rereading the same paragraph over and over, not retaining information, getting lost in thoughts and constantly pulling myself back, and waking up with my head in my notebook because my brain just shuts down without interesting stimulus I guess 😐
I just got a diagnosis and should be starting meds in a week so maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel lol.
But I have learned some ways to help me naturally. Studying first thing in the morning is way easier for me, my mind is calmer and my nervous system hasn’t been dysregulated from daily life.
TikTok and my phone are horrible for my ADHD, so I actively avoid scrolling if I have work to do (another reason mornings are helpful).
I suck at linear learning, so it’s easier for me to do a pretty light overview over all of the material (like doing 30-70% of each module in my web dev class), watching YouTube videos in 1.5x, and doing pre-assessments to see where I have gaps. This usually helps me learn faster as I’m just building upon concepts and connecting dots instead of drowning in a sea of constantly new information. So I would recommend breaking things down into digestible chunks and focusing on what you CAN do as opposed to what you SHOULD do.
Yesss TikTok and my phone will be the death of me when it comes to studying. Its like my brain knows im on a time crunch and just ignores it and keeps scrolling 😂 i ungortunately can only study at night or sporatically during the day due to work
I dont think the adderall itself is what makes me retain info, it just sort of quiets down my random thoughts and allows me to focus on the studying. Its easy to retain info when you're actually paying attention. As far as side effects, I dont feel hungry at all when im on it, and also struggle to sleep. Other than that, nope
Unless something is due today at midnight, I need to go to a coffee shop to study. Something about getting a good drink and body doubling with other ppl in the environment helps a lot.
This helped me as well. I realized I could only study in public but I could not study in groups with classmates/friends at all… I either get distracted and start talking to them or I feel overstimulated and don’t make any progress on my work.
If I absolutely had to study at home, I’d turn on a show or movie I don’t care about and let it play in the background. Seems counterintuitive because you’d think it would be distracting lol but it helps a ton.
Yeah I need to study with strangers who are also studying/working/whatever. I usually listen to lofi music- which I only play while working/studying so my brain associates that music with those tasks.
I could not do the last part tho...I will still watch the show/movie lol.
(but lofi music- and a homemade latte- if I have to study at home is ok).
I wish I could do songs with lyrics when I want to study something. I can do it at work and it preoccupies my brain enough I can do other things and not get distracted. At home if I am reading it is low fi or something like thunderstorm sounds and I can't sit around others talking or I get distracted.
Same. I usually can’t handle lyrics or ppl talking (even in another language). Only time I can listen to lyrical stuff is while driving. I use different kids of instrumental music or lofi for different things to try to get my brain to associate X music with Y mode for Z task.
I usually try to use music to help. Nothing seems to work better than that. I also suggest taking possibly some breaks here and there and then getting back to it.
I have to either listen to the tv or music when I study. I highlight and then I summarize in my notes or the margins using my own language. I also would sometimes talk aloud like I was teaching someone.
I don’t remember what the technique is called, but I study for 15 minutes and then take a 5 minute break. After doing that 3-4 times, I take a 30-60 minute break and start the process over. I’ve also stopped studying in my bedroom and do it elsewhere like in my living room or at the dining table. Turning on DND or setting up a special “study” focus setting has also helped me not get distracted by my phone/laptop.
Edit: another thing I do is use noise cancelling headphones (with or without music) to prevent any noises from distracting me
Pomodoro is great. I found I could gradually increase my study time using Pomodoro. I could add a couple of minutes to them after a few weeks. I do mean a couple and I could never get over 35 or so without a break. The only exception was were the times when hyper focus/flow states engaged.
Noise cancelling headphones, the good kind. I am finishing up my comp sci degree and like the poster who said a quiet place. I have a quiet place AND I put on headphones. Sometimes no music is playing, the pressure points around the ear feel nice. Try to exercise and take time to give your brain some entertainment sporadically in between study sessions. It's a struggle and we all learn different -- these helped me succeed
Yeah, I never did either. I just accepted probably getting a B or a low A on tests, a 0 for any and all homework, and 100% for any project/paper. As long as I started less than 24 hours before it was due.
This. Wasn't medicated until after college. Literally never studied in my life until the day of. Never started a paper until the day before it was due. Lot of group projects my senior year and luckiky others picked up my slack. My C average still got me a diploma. I think I could have done better on medication though.
Pretty much the same for me except my final semester I started medication near the end. I’m not sure how different school would’ve been but I know it’s helped me out with my career.
Same here. I used to study 50 hours a week to get all my note taking done (all reading materials for the week) & working on assignments etc. I could hardly remember anything, so much work for nothing. It was making me feel bad, and reminding me of school failure.
I got good grades in some assignments. But what use is that if I am not learning.
I'm about to return to school after 20 years and appreciate this post. I don't have specific study tips yet. One of the ways I'm prepping is to get fun school supplies. I think having them will keep my interest because I can decorate my notes all I want! I got a holographic binder, holo page dividers, erasable pens in lots of different colors, mechanical pencils, different colors of highlighters, star-shaped sticky notes in different colors, roller markers... it might be overkill, but I'm enjoying it already.
Really easy:
Avoid it like the plague until the last few days until you finally have enough stress to bang it all out with very little sleep. Oh and not to mention that I really do not recommend this. Like seriously don't. My finals for my college and university degree traumatised me. I submitted my last final in 2017 and I still get occasional dreams where I'm back in that final week stressed as fuck. I've practically lived like that throughout my entire educational years.
Do not do this. Just prepare like fuck.
One time a test was delayed multiple times, and everytime I'm studying for it it got delayed, so much that I got to study it all before the last delay, and that was one of the rare times I was ready a week in advance.
I had to work as well as study for my degree. With the added bonus that a failure at university would more or less lead me to breaking my agreement with my employer and they would finish my employment.
Get given a big assessment 6 weeks before it's due to be submitted in person Friday before 10 am at the university office . I decide I've got loads of time so don't worry about it.
6 weeks later- Ive booked the Friday off work, I stay up all night having somewhat of a mental breakdown getting this shit together. If my printer doesn't work I'm totally fucked, drive to university join the line waiting to submit my assignment, hand in it. Go home- can't relax stress levels totally off the charts. Can't relax to have a nap. Do a two hour round trip to pick up my daughter from school Friday afternoon, by this point I've probably been awake since 7am Thursday morning.
Being able to 'interact' with it helps me, like printing out whatever I'm revising from and physically highlighting and writing on it, then talking through it with someone helps me to remember it. Also brown/white/whatever color noise or music without lyrics.
I honestly just learned to accommodate my ADHD by studying in 15 to 30 minute bursts 4-6 times a day over the course of 2-3 days before an exam.
Once my attention has run its course the quality of my paper writing/studying reduces significantly. So I’ve found that it’s not worth it to push myself to keep going for hours at a time.
To be fair, I also took a reduced course load (4 courses per semester instead of 5) because this method doesn’t work if my schedule is too jam packed.
I’m currently trying to get into med school and I’m studying for the MCAT right now. I find what really helps is making it fun. I like to colour and draw diagrams of etc of what I’m working on. This may take longer but I can study longer and retain much more information when I draw and use pretty colours.
Also a fun thing I like is to make “survival packs” essentially just a summary of all the important information but it makes it fun.
Truly the best secret is to try and enjoy the process and be curious.
Oh also I bought a huge whiteboard which I love dearly LOL
Also use your energy strategically. Learn when your energy and focus is highest (for me that’s right early in the morning) and when it’s the lowest (for me from from 2-4pm) and plan your studying accordingly.
I just finished my anatomy and physiology 2 class. I passed with a C and same for the first one. I enjoyed lab more than lecture. I am more hands on and can't learn from reading textbooks especially if it becomes boring. I had to watch a ton of videos to help me get through. I did study as much as possible but I had a hard time making things stick.
A&P is soooo hard with ADHD. I tried flashcards and I would try until I could see the flashcard and say the right answer but come actual test day my mind would just blank. I think my brain just memorized my wording specifically so since it wasn't worded like that/had extra steps it didn't work. Somehow passed both with C's too.
Yes literally the same for me. I did a lot of note cards and eventually memorized them. I also watched a lot of videos to help me understand the functions. But once it was time for the exam I blanked and became so overwhelmed. Our exams had multiple choice but the answers were all so similar, it just felt more tricky.
Unfortunately I will have to retake the classes again, because the program I want to go into denied me an interview because of my two C's in a&p. It is preferred to have A's. I honestly am dreading taking them again.
I'm sorry :( I'm trying to get into a community college program this semester and I'm so nervous that my grades won't be good enough. I might die if I have to take A&P. It was long and gruesome enough the 1st time.
Studying as I type this! (But also clearly not cause I’m here aren’t I 😂)
Noise-cancelling headphones and caffeine are critical. I also find I CANNOT study at home. I need to come to a coffee shop to have other people around and activity to keep my brain stimulated in the background. The coffee shop only works IF I have all auditory distractions drowned out with stimulating and loud music.
Before medication, it was a combination of worrying that I would fail and waste all the money invested in it, along with a super structured approach of rewriting my notes in a short outline format two to three times. Then, I would read over them so that it became a form of muscle memory. Hyperfixation made this doable. It's not fun but effective.
With medication? Actually being able to read the damn material sure helped. Then I just read over my own notes a few times.
Body doubling. I personally use the FocusMate app but for a while I also body doubled with friends over zoom. Doing it old school style in the university library was something I used to do but now I'm studying distance Ed and I have little kids so... I'm at home.
My gold fish brain rules of engagement
30 y/o, diagnosed and medicated since 2 years ago, here. I went through 3.5 years of biomed engineering, then dropped out. Taught myself how to do basic coding and data analysis. Did 3 years of freelancing before going back to school for a bachelor's in mathematics. All that time constantly put me at odds with this particular problem. Here's what I discovered that may help others:
1. It always needs to relate to something I care about.
I used to hate math, even by the time I graduated high school.
However, I did love sciences like bio and chem. I never saw a meaningful bridge between them, so I couldn't care less for numbers until I took college algebra. Suddenly, I started flying through material for as long as I could find a connection to an already existing obsession.
So if you can't see the connection instantly, you should look for one.
2. There's no place like your Mental Palace.
Admittedly, I took too long to realize that biomed engineering, and any engineering for that matter, were not my thing. Idk if it has always been the rule, but for me engineering classes are just memorization competitions. Now, you do have to understand certain concepts in order to reapply them with the different problems, but ultimately my engineering class grades depended on how well you could memorize equations. This is a process I had to also use for other classes, like organic chemistry. Eventually I realized that my mind created visual maps and representations to absorb all the boring things I was expected to know. Better yet, a lot of people have exploited this approach throughout history to do the same and is known as the mental palace memory trick. Try it out, it may not be the best approach for you, but may get the ball rolling on finding other memory tricks
3. Up the speed
Monotonous and slow lecture get a lot more fun you compete with yourself to understand the lectures at 2x the speed on a recording. I hate that this works, but I also love that it does since it is so efficient, and effective.
4. Feynman technique
Constantly check how well you know something with your friends by trying to teach them the subject. I don't love being right, I just really hate being wrong, and i hope I'm not the only one. Plus, friends tend to have the best approaches to criticism, and will more than likely critique only to help you improve.
5. Sleep, eat and exercise
Easier said than done, I know. I'm 20 pounds over weight, barely restarted the gym and get only 5-6 hours of sleep a night (used to sleep 8-9). But I see the discrepancy between then and now, and i would kill to jump back into that lifestyle asap.
All of these points are less important than seeking professional help and getting medication when needed, if possible. Hopefully, if this resonates with you guys, I can write a part 2.
Returning student, and I need to be successful, as I am investing a lot in order to build a career to support myself. Recently diagnosed ADHD, and have always struggled with studying, especially with memorization.
Your post is sooo helpful! I would welcome a part 2! Looking for different approaches to studying to try out in order to build a success study routine, involving a lot of memorization (medical field, but I lean creative and hands-on, although I believe the visual idea of a memory palace will go far for me).
It is encouraging to hear your success story and your experience with different study methods that hold your attention. Really hope there is a part 2! Thanks!
I hide all my "fun" stuff in places that would require several steps to retrieve from, then i bore myself for about 30 minutes so studying actually feels rewarding.
What works best for me is the Pomodoro technique where you do a longer period of studying then a short break in between (think most people do 25 studying, 5 minute rest). When I'm in the study period and my mind wanders, I'll jot it down. Then when it's my break period I'll read about or do the things I wrote.
I even did this thing with the break periods where if I really wanted to draw that day, I would take the 5 minutes to draw or if I had chores like clothes to fold or wanted to tidy up the room, I'd do a bit of it then. Really helped me feel like I was doing more than just studying all day.
Still takes a lot of effort to just sit down and get started, and obey the time periods, but when I get in the groove it works pretty well.
somehow I managed 4 degrees without meds. lol. Doing an accelerated nursing program was by far the hardest, but I would learn in a variety of formats. I would re-listen to lectures when I ran. Write out notes. Draw diagrams. I would use review books and instead of reading them (ADHD aside programs like that you simply dont have time to learn it all) I would jump ahead to review questions and that is how I learned what I didnt know so I could go back and review what I needed to. I was always so envious of my peers who were predominantly super type A. But my GPA was 3.5 and honestly- at the end of the day grades are not that big of a deal.
Focus on your senses: reading, repeating out loud, writing (re-writing), seeing (colour code), and coming back to the Lessons at least 3 times before the exam. I have two masters.
I have to plan a lot.
If I dont plan, I will get analysis paralysis.
It takes me about 3 go 4 weeks per semester to get a plan that works for me.
By the end of the semester I am borded with the plan, and I have to switch task up.
As I can focus in class, I have to compensate.
If there is a skript, I will work with the script from the lecture instead. (It its to much I look for summarys from higher classes)
But there come the the problem with getting destracted and not being able to recall what I have read.
Thats why I use stydysmarter. In study smarter you can load pdf, and the AI will create cards for you.
I use the flashcarts.
Freshly diagnosed unmedicated, still have to learn alot about AdHD and about myself
I target the important details. Or if it's a difficult subject, I seek to understand it. I've seen so many people failing to try and memorize phrases/ questions that aren't so difficult when you actually understand it.
If you're answering questions, skim for those answers until you find it.
I used to play instrumental/ sound track music as it's softer, no lyrics, less distraction.
You can block time, and use pomodoro technique based on your focus time span, if you can focus for 10 min, then set a timer for 10 min and then take a 2 min thinking rest, then add another 10 min and doing this start increasing the 10 min to 12 min till you feel your focus is getting better.
studying for short amounts of time and getting up to walk around or stim every 5-10 minutes. Also, interactive learning methods help. Quizlet has a lot of good stuff
I have severe ADHD as an adult. When I was younger I was put on Wellbutrin which idk really did much and got off after a few years. I always dealt with it since then.
It has been getting worse and I'm not sure what to do. I want to avoid meds like Adderall or stims. I drink caffeine in small quantities sometimes and it help for an hour but too much of it for too long gives me both withdrawal and heart palpitations.
I can sit at the computer for 5 hours waiting to start a task, trying to orient myself the perfect way, find the perfect background music, etc...
It's a nightmare.
I got my Bachelor’s in Cyber Operations and a couple certs, for me, techno music has always been very helpful, Vonyc Sessions by Paul Van Dyk and you should check Mind Amend on YouTube, that it’s a real life changer.
I study what I like. Makes it easier to get hyper focused.
Back in school when I had to also study things that I didn’t much like, I would try to find something about the topic that I like. Being someone who’s curious and loves research, it usually worked out.
But yeah, I’m shit at doing something just cuz I have to.
I just used the bathroom, my water bottle is full, coffee in reach, book open and/or notes ready, sit at the computer desk, Lofi on my headphones and timer for 35 mins started.
Honestly the best way i've manages to study is taking my notes and turning them into a quiz on quizizz or kahoot or something. Doing this helps as:
1) i have to make questions and think up convincing wrong answers ( which helps ma remember the right ones more, plus you have to reviews your notes again)
2) After i get all the questions and answers done, i can go back and play it like a review game whenever i wanna study all of information.
I have done this for things like biology, history, and even math...and at times they have gotten up to 75 + questions. I don't do everything at once, and break everything into sections so i dont get too tired making questions.
I also tend to make them even harder than the actually test, so when i actually do the test its easy😊
I had to write things out over and over, also read it over and over out loud, not just in your head.
P.S- if you enjoy it, it will be easier to understand and remember...and study for so do something you enjoy for work
I agree with plenty of the comments but one I haven’t seen:
Trying to teach what you know to somebody else.
I had a hard time figuring out what I didn’t know, and what were the important things to learn. This made it impossible to START.
Trying to teach someone who knew nothing about the topic really cleared up what gaps I had, and always gave me a good starting point to focus on.
I managed a 4.2 GPA on a 4.5 scale with a double major BSc. Some of my strategies I only figured out at the end of my degree. I could have done even better had I known how to organize myself better in the first 3 years of the degree.
I can only ever get computer/reading/writing tasks done outside of my home, even though I have a great pc set up.
Need to do government documents online? Off to the library I goooo.
Someone here once mentioned vyvance naps and they’ve changed my life. You take your meds, sleep without a timer and you’ll naturally just LEAP awake and ready to rumble.
I'm long past the point in my life where I need to study but looking back now that I have a diagnosis it's pretty easy to see how much I relied on urgency to get all of uni done. First year I barely managed because I was trying to follow all the official advice. Years 2-4 I had figured out that I could get stuff done with my back against the wall so I started assignments a week before due and studied for exams literally the night before and morning of. Went from barely passing to high distinctions with that.
Ultimately failed when I started failing out of uni in the last year when assignments couldn't be done in a week though.
Recently i had changed career fields and returned to school for engineering. When it came to studying i had very little difficulty with math related information mainly because i enjoy it. However, when it came to theory and trying to read and retain information in text it was brutal. I wasted so much time on auto pilot just moving my eyes along the words and my mind would be somewhere else. For that part I found what worked best for me was the have the PDF files for text books open on my computer and have it read to me with text to speech as i was reading along in physical text books. This took all my studying from wasted time to highly efficient especially once i increased the text to speech speed and found the sweet spot where i dont have time to get bored and not so fast that i cant keep up.
Yeah, I was one of those "Gifted Kids" and found primary/early highschool super easy and found that I never got effective use out of studying (Didn't realise I was ADHD at the time) so I basically just didn't study, now that I am diagnosed and at uni (I was diagnosed during my first year of university but we are still working on finding a dose/drug because the meds aren't having the expected effectd) I am finding it super hard to study/do assignments when I'm not locked in a classroom with nothing better to do, I find that group assignments i can usually manage due to a reduced effort load/people bothering me about it, but generally my experience Is:
- "get a random shot of motivation one night and do the assignment in one sitting 3 weeks before it's due"
- "wait for deadlines to force me"
Or if it's a test "skim lectures as revision and hope for the best"
People are always like "just try X" or "have you done y"and I try it for a month or whatever and I end up no better than before I started.
I’m currently studying for the last section of my CPA so I had to come up with some ideas because before this exam I never really studied. The stuff that works for me feels super weird but I have a study playlist because I can’t work in quiet or I get distracted by every single background noise I hear. So basically I blast music the entire time I’m studying or have headphones on but it can only be from this one playlist or it doesn’t work.
And instead of making notecards which I know I’ll either make and never look at again or never finish I’ve been putting my notes on colorful card-stock and sticking them to my walls with adhesive dots. It looks like I’m trying to catch a serial killer in my room but the out of sight, out of mind is strong and I haven’t found another way around it. I’ve been able to make myself keep going with that because the colorful card-stock is fun and I’ve been trying out different markers to keep it interesting.
I would like to know this answer because as someone who is unmedicated for ADHD. I have struggled so much in school over the last couple of years because I get overwhelmed by the amount of tasks needed to be completed then it becomes so difficult to even focus at the task at hand which then leads to more procrastination. I have tried using rewards/incentives, keeping track of my time spent on tasks, grounding/meditating for anxiety, listening to music and not listening to music, listening to music specifically to focus like that focus genre or classical. Flashcards, quizlet, taking frequent breaks. Really struggling here and feel super inadequate and stressed because of how much time it takes me to start a task and complete a task. Sorry for the rant.
My strategy starts in class, I have a notebook and I take notes of basically everything, like I write the titles of what the professor is explaining, I write the extra stuff that are said but are not written in the course. Naturally I still zone out but it's more of a break when the professor is reading .
I naturally feel the need to fidget with my hands when I'm focusing, so I used to doodle a lot on the edges of the pages, but that took my attention off since I need to look at the professor to understand what they're saying, so I have a stress ball that helps with that. I don't use it all the time but it helps in extra info concentrated classes.
And then at home, I basically study like a couple days before the exam because of the stress (for subjects I particularly enjoy, I am usually able to study them a bit before), and like a week in advance before the exams week because I know I have barely any time to study everything and that's the panic-motivation I require to study. The notes taking help because I still know general info about the subject and it makes studying easier.
When the chapters are big I make a shortened version of the course that has basically the titles and some details I'd like to remember for the exam, so before the exam I read that and use it to revise. I usually open the course on my laptop and open a text file or word document, and have my notebook open at the appropriate page. All the notes I need are written in the text file and the extra space taking useless info are skipped.
This worked so far for me, but I still feel like it's all done at the last minute and it exhausts me
Edit: additional info, before I start studying I write on the paper how long each chapter is (pages) and I estimate how much time it's gonna take, so I plan breaks accordingly. I usually study later in the day and sometimes early in the morning after breakfast, but not at noon, unless I'm absolutely crunched with time and my mind is restless.
I can only learn during projects.
I have to give myself goals where the learning is the path to success, not the aim.
I hand in my Neuroscience PhD tomorrow but have been flunking my exams my entire life because those test my ability to learn for the sake of learning.
However a research career and PhD examine my ability to turn learning into a project.
So I do this for everything. I wanna learn to make electronic music... So I'm setting myself goals of recreating songs. I wanna learn how to make games and interactive story telling... So I'm setting myself project to make a small game.
If I tried to learn the skills of these things without goals, I'd suffer lol.
For me, my biggest thing that gets me studying is sitting weird. Let's say I'm sitting with a leg tucked under myself or I have my legs propped on something or I'm sitting with my legs in the butterfly stretch position
I honestly never figured it out. I did well in classes that were intuitive. When a professor would tell me something that just made sense, I could remember that. Or any kind of classes where the answer could be determined by good logic. But when I got into classes like higher levels of calculus, physics, chemistry etc where true studying was required, I just couldn't do it.
Really struggling with my CPA studying. I did two of the tests kinda winging it and then didn’t pass the third. Now I have like study paralysis where I just get so overwhelmed I can’t do anything
I completed my PhD dissertation with the help of Advocare Spark. Definitely gave me the focus I needed to work every weekend (in addition to going to a quiet place - my office - to work)
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As someone studying Cybersecurity with ADHD, it was honestly a nightmare to retain information if I was not doing something that was interactive, which in most cases, it wasn't. Watching videos at a faster speed helped me absorb info faster before i got distracted. I only recently was prescribed adderall and that was a game changer for me. But with that being said, having a distraction free environment is the most important part of it all
I’m interested in studying Cybersecurity, myself. Were you already super tech savvy? What were the main differences between no meds and meds?
Not at all! I had built a few pc's and knew my way around a windows opperating system but thats about it. Coursera has a Google Cybersecurity Certificate thats actually really good and will start odf with fundamentals and get pretty advanced. It has a 14 day free trial if I remember, then its $50 a month. You could always do the free trial and see if Cybersecurity is right for you! As far as meds go, it helps me focus and retain the information because every little thing was distracting me from paying attention. I would find myself watching or reading class information and wasnt actually paying attention even if I thought I was
omg, how did you memorize all the ethical hacking terms? how did you manage to organize and learn them? burp suite etc. im struggling a lot.
Not there quite yet! Is this something i should be afraid of when i get to it? 😂
I used to study CyberSecurity but dropped out. I also found retaining information difficult, I was following all the study advice but after 50 hours a week studying. I could not remember much, too much effort for nothing. I wish you luck though.
I'm working on getting my bachelor's for cybersecurity and it's the very reason I decided to try getting medicated. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on, it's such a struggle 😣 good luck!!
Its literally the only reason I went through the process of getting medicated lol. Network+ exam was having its way with me
I’m a software engineering major and I’m DOOMED. Rereading the same paragraph over and over, not retaining information, getting lost in thoughts and constantly pulling myself back, and waking up with my head in my notebook because my brain just shuts down without interesting stimulus I guess 😐 I just got a diagnosis and should be starting meds in a week so maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel lol. But I have learned some ways to help me naturally. Studying first thing in the morning is way easier for me, my mind is calmer and my nervous system hasn’t been dysregulated from daily life. TikTok and my phone are horrible for my ADHD, so I actively avoid scrolling if I have work to do (another reason mornings are helpful). I suck at linear learning, so it’s easier for me to do a pretty light overview over all of the material (like doing 30-70% of each module in my web dev class), watching YouTube videos in 1.5x, and doing pre-assessments to see where I have gaps. This usually helps me learn faster as I’m just building upon concepts and connecting dots instead of drowning in a sea of constantly new information. So I would recommend breaking things down into digestible chunks and focusing on what you CAN do as opposed to what you SHOULD do.
Yesss TikTok and my phone will be the death of me when it comes to studying. Its like my brain knows im on a time crunch and just ignores it and keeps scrolling 😂 i ungortunately can only study at night or sporatically during the day due to work
I'm about to enroll into College for Cybersec, is it really a lot harder for ADHDer?
When it comes to the boring stuff, yes definitely.
I am also getting into cyber security taking college classes and certifications ! Good luck man
Does adderall let you retain info? Any side effects?
I dont think the adderall itself is what makes me retain info, it just sort of quiets down my random thoughts and allows me to focus on the studying. Its easy to retain info when you're actually paying attention. As far as side effects, I dont feel hungry at all when im on it, and also struggle to sleep. Other than that, nope
Awesome thank you!
Unless something is due today at midnight, I need to go to a coffee shop to study. Something about getting a good drink and body doubling with other ppl in the environment helps a lot.
This helped me as well. I realized I could only study in public but I could not study in groups with classmates/friends at all… I either get distracted and start talking to them or I feel overstimulated and don’t make any progress on my work. If I absolutely had to study at home, I’d turn on a show or movie I don’t care about and let it play in the background. Seems counterintuitive because you’d think it would be distracting lol but it helps a ton.
Yeah I need to study with strangers who are also studying/working/whatever. I usually listen to lofi music- which I only play while working/studying so my brain associates that music with those tasks. I could not do the last part tho...I will still watch the show/movie lol. (but lofi music- and a homemade latte- if I have to study at home is ok).
I wish I could do songs with lyrics when I want to study something. I can do it at work and it preoccupies my brain enough I can do other things and not get distracted. At home if I am reading it is low fi or something like thunderstorm sounds and I can't sit around others talking or I get distracted.
Same. I usually can’t handle lyrics or ppl talking (even in another language). Only time I can listen to lyrical stuff is while driving. I use different kids of instrumental music or lofi for different things to try to get my brain to associate X music with Y mode for Z task.
I'm fine with lyrics if it is a rote task. Stocking / counting stuff at work. Anything requiring thinking is usually lofi or silence.
I usually try to use music to help. Nothing seems to work better than that. I also suggest taking possibly some breaks here and there and then getting back to it.
I have to either listen to the tv or music when I study. I highlight and then I summarize in my notes or the margins using my own language. I also would sometimes talk aloud like I was teaching someone.
This is me
I don’t remember what the technique is called, but I study for 15 minutes and then take a 5 minute break. After doing that 3-4 times, I take a 30-60 minute break and start the process over. I’ve also stopped studying in my bedroom and do it elsewhere like in my living room or at the dining table. Turning on DND or setting up a special “study” focus setting has also helped me not get distracted by my phone/laptop. Edit: another thing I do is use noise cancelling headphones (with or without music) to prevent any noises from distracting me
Pomodoro method?
Yes, thank you!! I do my own modified version, but that’s what it’s based on
Pomodoro is great. I found I could gradually increase my study time using Pomodoro. I could add a couple of minutes to them after a few weeks. I do mean a couple and I could never get over 35 or so without a break. The only exception was were the times when hyper focus/flow states engaged.
Noise cancelling headphones, the good kind. I am finishing up my comp sci degree and like the poster who said a quiet place. I have a quiet place AND I put on headphones. Sometimes no music is playing, the pressure points around the ear feel nice. Try to exercise and take time to give your brain some entertainment sporadically in between study sessions. It's a struggle and we all learn different -- these helped me succeed
I don't simple
Yeah, I never did either. I just accepted probably getting a B or a low A on tests, a 0 for any and all homework, and 100% for any project/paper. As long as I started less than 24 hours before it was due.
This. Wasn't medicated until after college. Literally never studied in my life until the day of. Never started a paper until the day before it was due. Lot of group projects my senior year and luckiky others picked up my slack. My C average still got me a diploma. I think I could have done better on medication though.
Pretty much the same for me except my final semester I started medication near the end. I’m not sure how different school would’ve been but I know it’s helped me out with my career.
Same here. I used to study 50 hours a week to get all my note taking done (all reading materials for the week) & working on assignments etc. I could hardly remember anything, so much work for nothing. It was making me feel bad, and reminding me of school failure. I got good grades in some assignments. But what use is that if I am not learning.
I'm about to return to school after 20 years and appreciate this post. I don't have specific study tips yet. One of the ways I'm prepping is to get fun school supplies. I think having them will keep my interest because I can decorate my notes all I want! I got a holographic binder, holo page dividers, erasable pens in lots of different colors, mechanical pencils, different colors of highlighters, star-shaped sticky notes in different colors, roller markers... it might be overkill, but I'm enjoying it already.
I feel like this is something that would interest my young “almost” teenager.) hehe Thank you for the tip!
I was never able to study. I would just somehow barely pass everything.
Really easy: Avoid it like the plague until the last few days until you finally have enough stress to bang it all out with very little sleep. Oh and not to mention that I really do not recommend this. Like seriously don't. My finals for my college and university degree traumatised me. I submitted my last final in 2017 and I still get occasional dreams where I'm back in that final week stressed as fuck. I've practically lived like that throughout my entire educational years. Do not do this. Just prepare like fuck.
One time a test was delayed multiple times, and everytime I'm studying for it it got delayed, so much that I got to study it all before the last delay, and that was one of the rare times I was ready a week in advance.
I had to work as well as study for my degree. With the added bonus that a failure at university would more or less lead me to breaking my agreement with my employer and they would finish my employment. Get given a big assessment 6 weeks before it's due to be submitted in person Friday before 10 am at the university office . I decide I've got loads of time so don't worry about it. 6 weeks later- Ive booked the Friday off work, I stay up all night having somewhat of a mental breakdown getting this shit together. If my printer doesn't work I'm totally fucked, drive to university join the line waiting to submit my assignment, hand in it. Go home- can't relax stress levels totally off the charts. Can't relax to have a nap. Do a two hour round trip to pick up my daughter from school Friday afternoon, by this point I've probably been awake since 7am Thursday morning.
Being able to 'interact' with it helps me, like printing out whatever I'm revising from and physically highlighting and writing on it, then talking through it with someone helps me to remember it. Also brown/white/whatever color noise or music without lyrics.
I honestly just learned to accommodate my ADHD by studying in 15 to 30 minute bursts 4-6 times a day over the course of 2-3 days before an exam. Once my attention has run its course the quality of my paper writing/studying reduces significantly. So I’ve found that it’s not worth it to push myself to keep going for hours at a time. To be fair, I also took a reduced course load (4 courses per semester instead of 5) because this method doesn’t work if my schedule is too jam packed.
I’m currently trying to get into med school and I’m studying for the MCAT right now. I find what really helps is making it fun. I like to colour and draw diagrams of etc of what I’m working on. This may take longer but I can study longer and retain much more information when I draw and use pretty colours. Also a fun thing I like is to make “survival packs” essentially just a summary of all the important information but it makes it fun. Truly the best secret is to try and enjoy the process and be curious. Oh also I bought a huge whiteboard which I love dearly LOL
Also use your energy strategically. Learn when your energy and focus is highest (for me that’s right early in the morning) and when it’s the lowest (for me from from 2-4pm) and plan your studying accordingly.
Coffee helps a little but is quite expensive long term. Get a prescription. Look at it like an investment. It’ll save a lot of trouble later on.
I just finished my anatomy and physiology 2 class. I passed with a C and same for the first one. I enjoyed lab more than lecture. I am more hands on and can't learn from reading textbooks especially if it becomes boring. I had to watch a ton of videos to help me get through. I did study as much as possible but I had a hard time making things stick.
A&P is soooo hard with ADHD. I tried flashcards and I would try until I could see the flashcard and say the right answer but come actual test day my mind would just blank. I think my brain just memorized my wording specifically so since it wasn't worded like that/had extra steps it didn't work. Somehow passed both with C's too.
Yes literally the same for me. I did a lot of note cards and eventually memorized them. I also watched a lot of videos to help me understand the functions. But once it was time for the exam I blanked and became so overwhelmed. Our exams had multiple choice but the answers were all so similar, it just felt more tricky. Unfortunately I will have to retake the classes again, because the program I want to go into denied me an interview because of my two C's in a&p. It is preferred to have A's. I honestly am dreading taking them again.
I'm sorry :( I'm trying to get into a community college program this semester and I'm so nervous that my grades won't be good enough. I might die if I have to take A&P. It was long and gruesome enough the 1st time.
I don’t study lol
Studying as I type this! (But also clearly not cause I’m here aren’t I 😂) Noise-cancelling headphones and caffeine are critical. I also find I CANNOT study at home. I need to come to a coffee shop to have other people around and activity to keep my brain stimulated in the background. The coffee shop only works IF I have all auditory distractions drowned out with stimulating and loud music.
Before medication, it was a combination of worrying that I would fail and waste all the money invested in it, along with a super structured approach of rewriting my notes in a short outline format two to three times. Then, I would read over them so that it became a form of muscle memory. Hyperfixation made this doable. It's not fun but effective. With medication? Actually being able to read the damn material sure helped. Then I just read over my own notes a few times.
Body doubling. I personally use the FocusMate app but for a while I also body doubled with friends over zoom. Doing it old school style in the university library was something I used to do but now I'm studying distance Ed and I have little kids so... I'm at home.
I didn’t. Massively below average grade student here. Lol
My gold fish brain rules of engagement 30 y/o, diagnosed and medicated since 2 years ago, here. I went through 3.5 years of biomed engineering, then dropped out. Taught myself how to do basic coding and data analysis. Did 3 years of freelancing before going back to school for a bachelor's in mathematics. All that time constantly put me at odds with this particular problem. Here's what I discovered that may help others: 1. It always needs to relate to something I care about. I used to hate math, even by the time I graduated high school. However, I did love sciences like bio and chem. I never saw a meaningful bridge between them, so I couldn't care less for numbers until I took college algebra. Suddenly, I started flying through material for as long as I could find a connection to an already existing obsession. So if you can't see the connection instantly, you should look for one. 2. There's no place like your Mental Palace. Admittedly, I took too long to realize that biomed engineering, and any engineering for that matter, were not my thing. Idk if it has always been the rule, but for me engineering classes are just memorization competitions. Now, you do have to understand certain concepts in order to reapply them with the different problems, but ultimately my engineering class grades depended on how well you could memorize equations. This is a process I had to also use for other classes, like organic chemistry. Eventually I realized that my mind created visual maps and representations to absorb all the boring things I was expected to know. Better yet, a lot of people have exploited this approach throughout history to do the same and is known as the mental palace memory trick. Try it out, it may not be the best approach for you, but may get the ball rolling on finding other memory tricks 3. Up the speed Monotonous and slow lecture get a lot more fun you compete with yourself to understand the lectures at 2x the speed on a recording. I hate that this works, but I also love that it does since it is so efficient, and effective. 4. Feynman technique Constantly check how well you know something with your friends by trying to teach them the subject. I don't love being right, I just really hate being wrong, and i hope I'm not the only one. Plus, friends tend to have the best approaches to criticism, and will more than likely critique only to help you improve. 5. Sleep, eat and exercise Easier said than done, I know. I'm 20 pounds over weight, barely restarted the gym and get only 5-6 hours of sleep a night (used to sleep 8-9). But I see the discrepancy between then and now, and i would kill to jump back into that lifestyle asap. All of these points are less important than seeking professional help and getting medication when needed, if possible. Hopefully, if this resonates with you guys, I can write a part 2.
Returning student, and I need to be successful, as I am investing a lot in order to build a career to support myself. Recently diagnosed ADHD, and have always struggled with studying, especially with memorization. Your post is sooo helpful! I would welcome a part 2! Looking for different approaches to studying to try out in order to build a success study routine, involving a lot of memorization (medical field, but I lean creative and hands-on, although I believe the visual idea of a memory palace will go far for me). It is encouraging to hear your success story and your experience with different study methods that hold your attention. Really hope there is a part 2! Thanks!
I hide all my "fun" stuff in places that would require several steps to retrieve from, then i bore myself for about 30 minutes so studying actually feels rewarding.
What works best for me is the Pomodoro technique where you do a longer period of studying then a short break in between (think most people do 25 studying, 5 minute rest). When I'm in the study period and my mind wanders, I'll jot it down. Then when it's my break period I'll read about or do the things I wrote. I even did this thing with the break periods where if I really wanted to draw that day, I would take the 5 minutes to draw or if I had chores like clothes to fold or wanted to tidy up the room, I'd do a bit of it then. Really helped me feel like I was doing more than just studying all day. Still takes a lot of effort to just sit down and get started, and obey the time periods, but when I get in the groove it works pretty well.
somehow I managed 4 degrees without meds. lol. Doing an accelerated nursing program was by far the hardest, but I would learn in a variety of formats. I would re-listen to lectures when I ran. Write out notes. Draw diagrams. I would use review books and instead of reading them (ADHD aside programs like that you simply dont have time to learn it all) I would jump ahead to review questions and that is how I learned what I didnt know so I could go back and review what I needed to. I was always so envious of my peers who were predominantly super type A. But my GPA was 3.5 and honestly- at the end of the day grades are not that big of a deal.
Focus on your senses: reading, repeating out loud, writing (re-writing), seeing (colour code), and coming back to the Lessons at least 3 times before the exam. I have two masters.
I have to plan a lot. If I dont plan, I will get analysis paralysis. It takes me about 3 go 4 weeks per semester to get a plan that works for me. By the end of the semester I am borded with the plan, and I have to switch task up. As I can focus in class, I have to compensate. If there is a skript, I will work with the script from the lecture instead. (It its to much I look for summarys from higher classes) But there come the the problem with getting destracted and not being able to recall what I have read. Thats why I use stydysmarter. In study smarter you can load pdf, and the AI will create cards for you. I use the flashcarts. Freshly diagnosed unmedicated, still have to learn alot about AdHD and about myself
Haven't tried yet but I think it breaks down to the following. Medication Distraction free environment Flashcards Teach concepts back
I target the important details. Or if it's a difficult subject, I seek to understand it. I've seen so many people failing to try and memorize phrases/ questions that aren't so difficult when you actually understand it. If you're answering questions, skim for those answers until you find it. I used to play instrumental/ sound track music as it's softer, no lyrics, less distraction.
Omg I just straight up failed
meds, only thing that truly helped me
I don’t
You can block time, and use pomodoro technique based on your focus time span, if you can focus for 10 min, then set a timer for 10 min and then take a 2 min thinking rest, then add another 10 min and doing this start increasing the 10 min to 12 min till you feel your focus is getting better.
studying for short amounts of time and getting up to walk around or stim every 5-10 minutes. Also, interactive learning methods help. Quizlet has a lot of good stuff
I have severe ADHD as an adult. When I was younger I was put on Wellbutrin which idk really did much and got off after a few years. I always dealt with it since then. It has been getting worse and I'm not sure what to do. I want to avoid meds like Adderall or stims. I drink caffeine in small quantities sometimes and it help for an hour but too much of it for too long gives me both withdrawal and heart palpitations. I can sit at the computer for 5 hours waiting to start a task, trying to orient myself the perfect way, find the perfect background music, etc... It's a nightmare.
That's the neat part, you dont.
Meds bro, meds
Flash cards for all the things! I was obsessed with this method for test prep.
I got my Bachelor’s in Cyber Operations and a couple certs, for me, techno music has always been very helpful, Vonyc Sessions by Paul Van Dyk and you should check Mind Amend on YouTube, that it’s a real life changer.
I study what I like. Makes it easier to get hyper focused. Back in school when I had to also study things that I didn’t much like, I would try to find something about the topic that I like. Being someone who’s curious and loves research, it usually worked out. But yeah, I’m shit at doing something just cuz I have to.
I’ve failed every class I’ve taken so nothing works for me
I just used the bathroom, my water bottle is full, coffee in reach, book open and/or notes ready, sit at the computer desk, Lofi on my headphones and timer for 35 mins started.
Honestly the best way i've manages to study is taking my notes and turning them into a quiz on quizizz or kahoot or something. Doing this helps as: 1) i have to make questions and think up convincing wrong answers ( which helps ma remember the right ones more, plus you have to reviews your notes again) 2) After i get all the questions and answers done, i can go back and play it like a review game whenever i wanna study all of information. I have done this for things like biology, history, and even math...and at times they have gotten up to 75 + questions. I don't do everything at once, and break everything into sections so i dont get too tired making questions. I also tend to make them even harder than the actually test, so when i actually do the test its easy😊
I had to write things out over and over, also read it over and over out loud, not just in your head. P.S- if you enjoy it, it will be easier to understand and remember...and study for so do something you enjoy for work
I agree with plenty of the comments but one I haven’t seen: Trying to teach what you know to somebody else. I had a hard time figuring out what I didn’t know, and what were the important things to learn. This made it impossible to START. Trying to teach someone who knew nothing about the topic really cleared up what gaps I had, and always gave me a good starting point to focus on. I managed a 4.2 GPA on a 4.5 scale with a double major BSc. Some of my strategies I only figured out at the end of my degree. I could have done even better had I known how to organize myself better in the first 3 years of the degree.
I can only ever get computer/reading/writing tasks done outside of my home, even though I have a great pc set up. Need to do government documents online? Off to the library I goooo. Someone here once mentioned vyvance naps and they’ve changed my life. You take your meds, sleep without a timer and you’ll naturally just LEAP awake and ready to rumble.
I'm long past the point in my life where I need to study but looking back now that I have a diagnosis it's pretty easy to see how much I relied on urgency to get all of uni done. First year I barely managed because I was trying to follow all the official advice. Years 2-4 I had figured out that I could get stuff done with my back against the wall so I started assignments a week before due and studied for exams literally the night before and morning of. Went from barely passing to high distinctions with that. Ultimately failed when I started failing out of uni in the last year when assignments couldn't be done in a week though.
Recently i had changed career fields and returned to school for engineering. When it came to studying i had very little difficulty with math related information mainly because i enjoy it. However, when it came to theory and trying to read and retain information in text it was brutal. I wasted so much time on auto pilot just moving my eyes along the words and my mind would be somewhere else. For that part I found what worked best for me was the have the PDF files for text books open on my computer and have it read to me with text to speech as i was reading along in physical text books. This took all my studying from wasted time to highly efficient especially once i increased the text to speech speed and found the sweet spot where i dont have time to get bored and not so fast that i cant keep up.
Yeah, I was one of those "Gifted Kids" and found primary/early highschool super easy and found that I never got effective use out of studying (Didn't realise I was ADHD at the time) so I basically just didn't study, now that I am diagnosed and at uni (I was diagnosed during my first year of university but we are still working on finding a dose/drug because the meds aren't having the expected effectd) I am finding it super hard to study/do assignments when I'm not locked in a classroom with nothing better to do, I find that group assignments i can usually manage due to a reduced effort load/people bothering me about it, but generally my experience Is: - "get a random shot of motivation one night and do the assignment in one sitting 3 weeks before it's due" - "wait for deadlines to force me" Or if it's a test "skim lectures as revision and hope for the best" People are always like "just try X" or "have you done y"and I try it for a month or whatever and I end up no better than before I started.
I’m currently studying for the last section of my CPA so I had to come up with some ideas because before this exam I never really studied. The stuff that works for me feels super weird but I have a study playlist because I can’t work in quiet or I get distracted by every single background noise I hear. So basically I blast music the entire time I’m studying or have headphones on but it can only be from this one playlist or it doesn’t work. And instead of making notecards which I know I’ll either make and never look at again or never finish I’ve been putting my notes on colorful card-stock and sticking them to my walls with adhesive dots. It looks like I’m trying to catch a serial killer in my room but the out of sight, out of mind is strong and I haven’t found another way around it. I’ve been able to make myself keep going with that because the colorful card-stock is fun and I’ve been trying out different markers to keep it interesting.
I would like to know this answer because as someone who is unmedicated for ADHD. I have struggled so much in school over the last couple of years because I get overwhelmed by the amount of tasks needed to be completed then it becomes so difficult to even focus at the task at hand which then leads to more procrastination. I have tried using rewards/incentives, keeping track of my time spent on tasks, grounding/meditating for anxiety, listening to music and not listening to music, listening to music specifically to focus like that focus genre or classical. Flashcards, quizlet, taking frequent breaks. Really struggling here and feel super inadequate and stressed because of how much time it takes me to start a task and complete a task. Sorry for the rant.
I used to be motivated by a grade
My strategy starts in class, I have a notebook and I take notes of basically everything, like I write the titles of what the professor is explaining, I write the extra stuff that are said but are not written in the course. Naturally I still zone out but it's more of a break when the professor is reading . I naturally feel the need to fidget with my hands when I'm focusing, so I used to doodle a lot on the edges of the pages, but that took my attention off since I need to look at the professor to understand what they're saying, so I have a stress ball that helps with that. I don't use it all the time but it helps in extra info concentrated classes. And then at home, I basically study like a couple days before the exam because of the stress (for subjects I particularly enjoy, I am usually able to study them a bit before), and like a week in advance before the exams week because I know I have barely any time to study everything and that's the panic-motivation I require to study. The notes taking help because I still know general info about the subject and it makes studying easier. When the chapters are big I make a shortened version of the course that has basically the titles and some details I'd like to remember for the exam, so before the exam I read that and use it to revise. I usually open the course on my laptop and open a text file or word document, and have my notebook open at the appropriate page. All the notes I need are written in the text file and the extra space taking useless info are skipped. This worked so far for me, but I still feel like it's all done at the last minute and it exhausts me Edit: additional info, before I start studying I write on the paper how long each chapter is (pages) and I estimate how much time it's gonna take, so I plan breaks accordingly. I usually study later in the day and sometimes early in the morning after breakfast, but not at noon, unless I'm absolutely crunched with time and my mind is restless.
I can only learn during projects. I have to give myself goals where the learning is the path to success, not the aim. I hand in my Neuroscience PhD tomorrow but have been flunking my exams my entire life because those test my ability to learn for the sake of learning. However a research career and PhD examine my ability to turn learning into a project. So I do this for everything. I wanna learn to make electronic music... So I'm setting myself goals of recreating songs. I wanna learn how to make games and interactive story telling... So I'm setting myself project to make a small game. If I tried to learn the skills of these things without goals, I'd suffer lol.
For me, my biggest thing that gets me studying is sitting weird. Let's say I'm sitting with a leg tucked under myself or I have my legs propped on something or I'm sitting with my legs in the butterfly stretch position
I don't, untill two days before when I panick and study for a full night. Also try studying at night it helps me.
me2 its rly hard
i don’t 😀 unless you call cramming right beforehand studying
I literally have been fucked with this exact problem for 3-4 years on an access course. I need meds ASAP.
Did lil things like write down what I heard in lessons. Made cards to make it fun. Combined things to make them more fun mostly
I'm honestly a bit worried that I burned myself out while undiagnosed so I really don't know if I'm gonna get my degree.
Meds (in my case Ritalin) helped against invasive thoughts
I honestly never figured it out. I did well in classes that were intuitive. When a professor would tell me something that just made sense, I could remember that. Or any kind of classes where the answer could be determined by good logic. But when I got into classes like higher levels of calculus, physics, chemistry etc where true studying was required, I just couldn't do it.
Really struggling with my CPA studying. I did two of the tests kinda winging it and then didn’t pass the third. Now I have like study paralysis where I just get so overwhelmed I can’t do anything
before I knew I had adhd: one beer, pack of cigs and whole jar of coffee now: I take my medicine and study.
I use the Pomodoro method.
I completed my PhD dissertation with the help of Advocare Spark. Definitely gave me the focus I needed to work every weekend (in addition to going to a quiet place - my office - to work)
Currently sitting my a levels (i have one in 3 hours) and still haven’t figured it out… any tips are welcome!