As a college student, learning to be an adult for the first time is hard. Learning to be an adult while being neurodivergent is hard!
Studying with ADHD is a personal hell, trust me I know. and I’m here to say that we’re not fighting that battle alone! That there’s a reason our brains struggle so much to do a task that is not as hard for other students. I’m going to give you some strategies, some much needed reinforcements, all to help you tackle your nightly battle with studying. Take a deep breath, you’re doing your best, and that’s what matters. Let’s dive in!
What IS ADHD?
ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurological issue. Despite ADHD being considered a behavioral condition, it’s not. With ADHD being a neurodevelopmental disorder means that our nervous systems, which include our brains, function and develop differently from neurotypical brains. When the brain has fundamental differences in brain development and structure, it contributes and behavior. This means behavior happens for different reasons! This is why many strategies for neurotypical people don’t work for ADHD or neurodivergent. We need something that works for us.
(Don’t beat yourself up but the strategies you’ve tried before didn’t stick, they probably weren’t made for your brain!)
Also, there are different types of ADHD including inattentive and hyperactivity, but keep in mind that these presentations aren’t set in stone; ADHD is a spectrum.
How Does ADHD Affect Studying?
ADHD impacts on one’s executive functioning. and to catch you up on what executive functioning is:
Executive functioning is a set of top-down cognitive processes (executive functions) that help us self-regulate so we can effectively plan, prioritize, and sustain efforts towards long-term or short-term goals.
These symptoms of having impaired executive functions, leads to having specific issues with studying including:
● Difficulty starting tasks
● Poor time management and time blindness
● Disorganization
● Increase acceptability to distractions
● Issues with working memory
● Set shifting (Which means the ability to switch between tasks that have different cognitive requirements, like reading a recipe then cooking it.)
Strategies For Study With ADHD
1. Find or set up a study space that promotes focus
Where you study is just as important as how you study. Setting up a workspace where you are most likely to do your best work is important and helpful when you have ADHD.
Find a space where you’re less likely to get distracted and comfortable. Clear your desk. Have everything you need to do for your exam. And to help keep out any more distractions, find your triggers. What tends to distract you most? For example, are you scrolling through TikTok? Try putting your phone in the other room or using an app to block YouTube and others. You can also try playing white noise or whatever music you like that helps you get into the zone. Add things like fidgets to keep your hands busy or a nice warm blanket to keep you warm with your cold. Their overall goal is to have a nice space that your brain can associate with focus and study so when it’s time to sit down to do work it’s not that hard of a set shift to begin.
2. Make yourself an outline
Knowing what to go over is a good place to start when studying. A study guide can help with this, and if your professor did not put out a study guide for your class, reach out to them and ask what topics you should be focusing on for your test. Use your class resources to help guide your study session, so you’re not going over topics that may not even be brought up on the test.
3. Use a timer
I know, I know, I hear your groans. But hear me out. Setting a timer when studying is helpful for ADHD brains. It’s why those of us with ADHD tend to procrastinate a lot. The sense of urgency the brain gets when nearing a deadline kicks our brain into gear. When do you start? Now! How long do you work for? until it’s done. When do you stop the task? Before your clock hits 11:59 and you can no longer send in your assignment because it’s locked on canvas. Using a timer helps create something like that urgency that gives us that dopamine rush. Try doing Pomodoro. Work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break, and so on. Or set the timer for as long as you need them to be, let this tool work for you. And if you really can’t get started, I suggest a strategy, but I learned in Focus Forward, a self-help group here at HCC that helps support students with ADHD, Autism, or any other kind of executive functioning disorder. It’s called a tolerance timer. Set the timer for 5 or 3 minutes and that’s how long you work on your task. Once you’re done working for that long, you no longer must deal with that project. But plan for yourself to tackle that project or assignment the next day.
I also suggest having a study buddy or an accountability partner as you study as well to help keep you on track.
4. Reward yourself!
Studying is not that engaging to our ADHD brains unless it’s something that we find intriguing to learn. We are interest-based learners! So even if we try harder, it’s still hard to make the act of studying for an exam more engaging for our brands. So, by adding rewards as we do our work or for doing our work once we’re done, we’re showing our brains that studying isn’t as painful as it feels to do, so we’re less likely to avoid it like the plague in the future.
Lighting Round!
Some other strategies to help you study with ADHD include:
● Flash cards and quizzing yourself
● Mind Mapping
● Stimulate your senses by using highlighters and colorful pens
● Set mini deadlines/check points days before your exam
● Move your body (standing, walking, swaying, using fidget toys or chew gum)
● Set realistic goals! (e.g. read and take notes for 10 minutes then quiz myself)
● Switch between different subjects as you study
● Use a “Parking Lot” (for those of us who get distracted our racing thoughts, write it down briefly what’s on your mind and keep working, look back at it when you’re done.)
One Last Tip
SLEEP! Go to bed on time to the best of your ability! Your brain needs rest to encode our short-term memory to our long-term memory! So, we can better recall information the next day and onward! I’m saying this to myself just as much as I’m saying it to you. Sleep and ADHD go hand in hand. Without sleep our usual ADHD symptoms are even worse than without. It’s easier said than done but consider putting effort towards developing better sleep hygiene / bedtime routine. Your body, brain, and your grades will thank you later!
And with that, I leave you with these tools and strategies. I hope you find these helpful for your next study session, so you’re not panicking the next time you must crack open your expensive textbook to pass your class. Remember, you got this! You’re not dumb or stupid or broken, you just have a brain that works differently and needs different strategies to get things done, and there is nothing wrong with that! If you need extra help, please contact our tutoring Services on campus or the disability Support Services too. Check out the testing center too! and if you would like some more resources for ADHD, I highly suggest How to ADHD by Jessica McCabe on YouTube.
Good luck!
