Coping with ADD

Dear Cydney,
Last semester, my grades weren't great. It's probably because I barely took any notes and didn't keep up with my reading—I couldn't stay focused at all. I should tell you that I've been diagnosed with ADHD. Maybe I'm just not cut out for school.

—A Wandering Mind

Dear AWM,
First of all, I should tell you that I believe we're all cut out to do just about anything we really want to do. If you are committed to UB, there's no reason you can't do just as well as any of your friends. True, it may take a bit more work, but I have plenty of friends with moderate to severe ADHD who've completed degrees and are very successful in their careers. I sat down with one of those friends and put together these tips on how to improve your concentration during lectures and while studying:

Get a small recording device and sit in front of the classroom. Let the device record from the beginning until the end of class, no matter what. When you get home, if your notes are incomplete or if you zoned out on part of the lecture, you can play back the recording to review important parts.

Find a study partner who is good at taking notes, then set up a time after each class to meet and copy their notes. You may want to photocopy the notes and then rewrite them so that you are not using as much of your study partner's time.

If you own a laptop, use it to type notes. Do not worry about editing or getting anything perfect. Research indicates that doing something novel improves attention (especially for individuals with ADHD), so if you've spent the last 12–20 years writing out notes from endless lectures, the touch-type experience may add the novelty you need to stay focused. Also, as my friend mentioned, it will be much easier to decipher half-formulated ideas from a typed document than from "chicken scratch."

Even if you don't like typing in class, I highly recommend condensing and typing up all of your notes before studying for any major test. Not only will this help you organize the information from the lectures, but it also makes it much easier to study the material.

Do not attempt to read any textbook word for word. Not even someone without ADHD can slog away at his or her textbook word for word. Instead, focus on the parts of the chapter you found (a) most important, (b) most difficult and (c) the most vague. Also remember, teachers have a lot of ground to cover, so just because they gloss over a subject or topic does not mean it is not important to your overall understanding of the chapter or related concepts; make sure that you have a good overview of everything, so it will become easier to focus on the details.

Finally, AWM, focus on what type of study environment and habits help you to achieve your goals. Try not to take failures to heart—learn from them and continue to work hard. Once you think you're going to fail, that is exactly what you will do; but if you keep your head up and plug away, chances are the results will be better than you expected.

Originally published in The UB Post, Jan. 29, 2008