Teachers and professors give out study tips all the time. They always say that those tips are proven to work on students, but if you’re like me and have ADHD, these tips pretty much never work. Here are some tips that I’ve picked up over the years to help me and hopefully they can help you study too.
TIP 1: DON’T BE AFRAID TO WRITE (OR REWRITE) NOTES ON PAPER
In some of my classes, I find it easy to take notes on my computer, but in others, my brain just zones out when writing the notes and I comprehend nothing. We live in an age of technology and it’s supposed to help us do everything, however, I’ve found that writing notes on paper is more helpful, especially with classes that involve lots of numbers and equations. When it comes to classes where I take notes on my computer, I also like to go back and rewrite the notes on paper so that I can’t zone out when writing them, which forces my brain to comprehend what I’m supposed to be learning. Additionally, if you have a tablet you’re able to hand-write notes with, that might be another option that’ll work for you.
TIP 2: DRAW UP DIAGRAMS
If there is a diagram that you think will help you, draw it or put a photo of it into your notes. It doesn’t have to be good or pretty; your notes are yours alone and whatever helps you is going to help you.
TIP 3: USE MARIO KART MUSIC (OR ANY PREFERRED VIDEO GAME MUSIC)
You might’ve seen this one on TikTok at some point. Putting in headphones and queueing some Mario Kart music makes me feel like I’m in the game and need to race to get the assignments done.
TIP 4: SET A DEADLINE BEFORE THE ACTUAL DEADLINE
Pick a day around 1-2 days before the assignment is due and make that a personal deadline for the assignment. This helps with procrastinating by not leaving it to the last minute and then rushing through the whole thing. It also helps the brain by telling it that the assignment has to be done before its actually done and over time, your brain will adjust to knowing assignments are due a day or two before. I’m a student-athlete and I normally have practices and competitions on weekends. For me, I know that if I want extra time to sleep in between practices, then I have to get all of my homework and studying done by Friday. That’s just a personal example, and it can look different for everyone.
TIP 5: RELATE CONCEPTS BACK TO RANDOM THINGS
Making connections between things you can easily remember helps with recalling information. This really helps me when there are vocabulary terms I need to learn. You can use acronyms like PEMDAS (“Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”), pop culture references, or just terms that look similar to each other but have very different meanings. For example, last semester, I took an anthropology course where I needed to know the term “glossolalia,” which means speaking in different tongues. It reminded me of the song “Gasolina” and somehow I could remember the term because of that. Whatever connection helps you recall information in the easiest way possible is what you should use.
TIP 6: WRITE NOTES BEFORE CLASS
This tip might not work for every class you take in college because every professor is different. Some of my professors post their slides before the lecture, so I go to those slides and take notes from the presentation before the class starts. That way, during class, I can listen to the professor and add extra notes from the lecture to the pre-written notes.
TIP 7: BE MESSY
This really helped me when the teachers didn’t post their presentations and I had to write down everything very quickly before they went from one slide to the next. Words don’t have to be spelled correctly, especially if you’re using a computer. You can always come back to your notes and check your spelling after class, so don’t be afraid to be messy with your notes!
TIP 8: USE COLORS
One thing that bothers me is simple black ink on a page. I love to use highlighters and different colorful pens to emphasize vocabulary words, things that will be on tests, different theories, and right versus wrong answers. My brain is drawn to colorful things, so, when studying, it helps to have things highlighted, drawn, and written in bright colors.
Remember, these are just some things that have worked for me, and what works for me might not work for you. Finding what works best for you is going to take some time and effort; it’s a trial-and-error process. Not everything I’ve tried has worked. But, hopefully, these tips might help you like they helped me and get you started on the path of finding your own study methods.