Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 19, 2024, 05:02:19 pm

Author Topic: My ADHD problems  (Read 4831 times)  Share 

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

YussifK

  • Trendsetter
  • **
  • Posts: 112
  • Respect: 0
My ADHD problems
« on: October 17, 2019, 07:56:19 am »
0
Hello guys, this is so what sad but I found out I have ADHD, which effects my learning... it effects English and maths and most subjects... for English I find it hard to start an essay I find it hard to express myself... (like always) and for maths I find it hard to complete worded problems (problem solving.... nothing come to my head even if I try... and finally my behaviour is bad... I’m always hyper.. and sometimes can’t focus in class (sorry if this is the wrong forum. 😭

Thank you 

My aim was for an atar above 60+ But it’s now unlikely...
English:( )
Methods( )
Biology ( )
P.E ( )
Lab skills( )

AfriHolBrit

  • Fresh Poster
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Respect: 0
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2019, 08:55:03 am »
+3
My boyfriend has ADD, which is fairly close. He takes medication to help him focus, and he is incredibly intelligent. He's taking physics, chem and methods, and he has barely failed any SACs this year, even boasting about 85% on his one Methods SAC.
He also finds it hard to express himself, and open shuts down when trying to express his feelings to me. But over time, he has got control of his symptoms and is able to get really good grades.
A cook at my workplace has just finished his degree, and only found out about his ADHD with three months left.
I'm not saying you fit into a designated bracket or anything, I'm just trying to let you know that these things can be dealt with, and with enough hard work (much like anything) you can succeed in anything!
Please don't be discouraged

Bri MT

  • VIC MVP - 2018
  • Administrator
  • ATAR Notes Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 4724
  • invest in wellbeing so it can invest in you
  • Respect: +3677
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2019, 09:13:00 am »
+5
Sometimes self-awareness can be painful but it gives you the best chance of adapting & I would say it increases the chance you'll  a higher ATAR.

The way I see it,  you're the same as you were before except that now you know a bit more about yourself.  Having that knowledge should help you find ways to better work with yourself & give you a better chance of finding techniques that benefit you.

The education system is built around people being neurotypical as the default but if you have the formality of a diagnosis behind you you may also be able to use this to get different exam conditions more conducive to you demonstrating your knowledge (e.g. taking the exam in a room without your peers)

Good luck!

YussifK

  • Trendsetter
  • **
  • Posts: 112
  • Respect: 0
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2019, 05:51:57 pm »
+1
Sometimes self-awareness can be painful but it gives you the best chance of adapting & I would say it increases the chance you'll  a higher ATAR.

The way I see it,  you're the same as you were before except that now you know a bit more about yourself.  Having that knowledge should help you find ways to better work with yourself & give you a better chance of finding techniques that benefit you.

The education system is built around people being neurotypical as the default but if you have the formality of a diagnosis behind you you may also be able to use this to get different exam conditions more conducive to you demonstrating your knowledge (e.g. taking the exam in a room without your peers)

Good luck!

Thanks for your reply, when you said I have a higher chance to get a good atar, can you please elaborate more on this...

Ima get like a 55 and prolly be a disappointment to my family... I really don’t know how to study for a Sac... for some reason I’ve been flucking Sacs, been getting A’s and B’s I don’t know how...
English:( )
Methods( )
Biology ( )
P.E ( )
Lab skills( )

Bri MT

  • VIC MVP - 2018
  • Administrator
  • ATAR Notes Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 4724
  • invest in wellbeing so it can invest in you
  • Respect: +3677
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2019, 07:13:19 pm »
+4
Thanks for your reply, when you said I have a higher chance to get a good atar, can you please elaborate more on this...

Ima get like a 55 and prolly be a disappointment to my family... I really don’t know how to study for a Sac... for some reason I’ve been flucking Sacs, been getting A’s and B’s I don’t know how...

Knowing that you have ADHD doesn't change anything about you (before you still had ADHD you just didn't know it); having that knowledge is unlikely to decrease your ATAR unless you give up due to it. Before you knew you were struggling but not why, and now you've got the chance to learn a lot more about something that could be a key contributor - thus improving the chance you can tackle the causes of your struggle. In other words, now that you know you have ADHD it's going to be easier for you and the people around you to understand what you might be more likely to have difficulty or excel in & come up with appropriate strategies.

I'm certainly not an expert on ADHD but here are some things I can think of:
- trial different levels of sensory load when studying. It might be super important to have a silent environment, or one with ambient noise, or one with (probably non-lyrical) background music. Similarly (although this is more general to everyone) it might be important to have a study space with minimal sources of distraction.
- exercising before study might release some of your energy and help you maintain focus
- if you struggle with sitting down and reading you could try integrating audiobooks and podcasts into your study - this could also allow you to be doing stuff as you study
- you might find it useful to schedule in lots of alarms (with appropriate titles) to bring your attention back to your planned timelines (e.g. if taking a 15 minute study break setting alarms saying "end of study break" might help it not become a 2 hour study break)



You've still got a while before year 12 which means you have a decent amount of time to learn more about what works for you & figure out how you can improve. It seems like you have a tendency to catastrophise (imagine the worst case scenario) even when there's evidence suggesting that things will be better than your predictions. Please don't give up!

tamamo

  • Adventurer
  • *
  • Posts: 19
  • Matt | Year 12 | JOHN 4:8
  • Respect: +6
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2019, 10:13:10 pm »
+8
I have relatively severe ADHD with my Processing Speed Index being below 70. I went untreated until last year and amazingly I did quite well getting by on pure intelligence alone however once it gets to VCE that's hard to keep up. Here's my list of things I find helpful. It cant hurt to give them a try and I hope you find any of these helpful

- Study in blocks of no more than an hour. After an hour is up just stop no matter how little or how much you've done. Move on to something else after that or u can do what i do and go exercise for a bit and then do another block later. This helps in keeping focus and being efficient instead of fluffing around the whole day.

- Plan!! When doing english come up with the most detailed plan you can. I know what its like spending half the time just trying to think of how to start an essay but if you have a detailed plan everything is there for you to just reword. I like to brainstorm synonyms to keywords in your essay question/topic too and find it helpful.

- do not have any distractions when you're studying. I like to print off everything I'd need before I start. I put my phone and my laptop in another room and I just sit down with my pen and paper and go for 30-60 minutes blocks without getting up or checking my phone or anything. It's a bit hard to do and you might think it's not that much of an impact but I find that even just checking my notifs can snap me out of the focus i've just built up

- try to aim for shorter 'blocks' of studying to help with your time management. I work rlly slowly so I usually do an hour but try shorter time periods first like 20-30 minutes and then if you think you'll stay in the mindset for longer extend it. You should aim for 50 minutes because VCAA allows 10 minutes rest breaks per hour so it's be best to get used to that but practicing with time constraints is very helpful and it's personally something I really struggle with. Especially when doing practice exams, you're supposed to aim for a mark per minute.

- dont use your phone as an alarm. Get a watch or smth that can only be used as a timer.

- seek help from professionals. Psychologist and other therapists and stuff can help u work on your strategies. Ask your GP or if you see a specialist about it

- pick subjects you enjoy doing!! This one is super important. You are not gonna be motivated and in turn are not gonna be able to focus on things you are not interested in. It's so much easier to apply yourself and to want to apply yourself to areas that you enjoy and understand.

As for the hyperactivity goes I'm personally not to bad, i am more the impulsive type and find that exercise really helps. I do have the restless leg thing but it tends to stop once I'm sorta in the zone.

Sorry if this is too much text I tend to ramble but in short:
- study in blocks
- no electronics or any distractions during these blocks
- make detailed plans in english
- have print hard copies of any worksheets/homework/notes/etc. to annotate
- do subjects you are motivated/interested in!
- seek help/strategies from a psychologist/other professional if you feel you need it
vce:
texts & traditions (U1) 2018;
legal studies (U1&2) religion & society (U3) 2019;
chemistry (U1-3) 2020;
english language, methods CAS & psychology (U1-4) specialist (U2-4) 2020

tamamo

  • Adventurer
  • *
  • Posts: 19
  • Matt | Year 12 | JOHN 4:8
  • Respect: +6
Re: My ADHD problems
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2019, 10:18:15 pm »
+1
I'm assuming you're in year 10/11 and please please please pick subject because you're interested in them not just because they scale up. You should be aiming for marks that aren't affected by scaling. If you do badly at a subject you do badly. No amount of scaling will help you and you have to score above the median to get scaled up anyway
vce:
texts & traditions (U1) 2018;
legal studies (U1&2) religion & society (U3) 2019;
chemistry (U1-3) 2020;
english language, methods CAS & psychology (U1-4) specialist (U2-4) 2020