4 ADHD Study Tips for Focus and Starting Tasks

I sit on lectures and nothing goes in my mind. I don't digest 90% of what lectors say. For whole year I haven't learned anything because I didn't listen. I still don't know what lector is talking about. As a kid I didn't even realized I should've put effort into listening at school. Other kids were doing it with 0 effort. Nor can I digest information when reading. 10 pages feel like 50 pushups and I digest it slowly.

I'm always aware of when I'm not listening or realizing what I'm reading but I can't stop it. My brain burns trying to read. It's very hard. Long term result? I'm extremely uneducated. Don't know geography, basic history, politics, anything. Sometimes I want to quickly research basic info for the sake of knowing but I procrastinate about it as well.

I don't understand why others with ADHD aren't like this as well. Just how? How am I supposed to finish my Uni because I can't listen. Am I just stupid? be honest.

Are you taking notes? As you read, and as you’re in lecture, you need to be. And, you can’t do this on a laptop. You need pen to paper.

Having a tactile task (like writing) is one of the only ways I can get my brain to focus on the information.

I have pretty intense ADHD and even with meds (40-60mg Ritalin a day), I still struggle to get myself to work. So, these are my tips for studying as someone who's spent the past months only behind a book because of exams.

IN ORDER TO START:

DON'T get too comfortable, DON'T pick up your phone, and DON'T get distracted (tips below). Instead, after coming home from classes/lectures/work/getting up/etc. DON'T get too relaxed but just continue while you're still in the study/work headspace.

TIPS and TRICKS:

1. Find a QUIET place. Others talking is annoying and distractive.

2. Find an NOT too comfortable spot: a couch, bed, even a bath are much too cosy to find proper motivation.

3. This also goes for comfortable clothes as joggers, pyjamas, or hoodies. They make it difficult to focus/find motivation. Instead change into your everyday outfits as jeans.

4. Find a CLEAN space: clean up the room you're studying in and get rid/put away everything you don't need. I put all my personal belongings I don't need atm in bags and stored them in another room to both stop me from getting distracted and to create a relaxed environment where I can focus properly.

5. DELETE all social media. Users and Snapchat being the only platforms I have atm (not even YouTube!) since I'm not on them very much. But it's better to get rid of everything in my opinion.

6. WHITE or BROWN NOISE helps quiet your brain.

7. DON'T plan if you get intimidated by the workload. Instead, just start somewhere without a plan and at the end of the day you'll do just as much as you would've otherwise. And definitely DON'T check how many pages you still need to do!!

8. I DON'T take breaks. If I take a break, even if it's only to eat something, it's incredibly hard for me to get back to work. Instead, make sure everything you need is within arms reach.

9. I DON'T study multiple subjects in one day (usually). I find that once I'm really focussed on something, it's easier to focus on one subject or topic because a small disturbance or shift can mess up motivation again.

Study METHOD:

1. HIGHLIGHT each paragraph and break the subject down piece by piece.

2. I write down a SUMMARY of each paragraph in order to process what I've just read by hand.

3. REREAD summary.

4. RETELL the summary as best as you can. Try to imagine each sentence and see it as if it's a movie in your head or try to explain it to a small child.

5. REPEAT.

I write neatly and use colours to create an overview and keep myself motivated.

Not in a coffee shop. Too many things to look at. I always liked to go to a library—like a university library with the desks with dividers. I would put white noise on in my headphones—loud enough to block out any sound. Meds do help with memory.

How to study with ADHD ?? I feel like it takes me a long time to understand things and I have to rewatch video lessons over and over again just understand the concept. I’m trying to get my GED at 25 and I’m stuck on math it’s the worst subject and I’ve been struggling with since elementary school. I’ve spent a lot of $$ of tutoring. Any advice would be great. Also do meds help improve memory? The practitioner who tested me prescribed Strattera haven’t taken it yet never been on meds and not sure if it’s even gonna help me. I’ve heard mixed reviews. 🫤 

I’ve been listening to lofi music with noise canceling headphones. I’ve heard that lofi music helps with ADHD not sure if it’s true or not but for me it helps block out whatever outside noise and helps me relax. 

Favorite lofi music playlists 🎶🎧:

I started writing this in response for 's post asking for ADHD study tips. I ended up writing way too much for a comment, so I decided to make a whole post. I hope some of you find it helpful, including those of you who don't have ADHD but are still struggling to focus while studying all day.

​

Remember its more than an attention problem, ADHD is an executive function disorder and pills don't build skills. There’s a lot of things we have to learn how to do that can help us study. I struggle with time-blindness, under-arousal, limited attention to detail, emotional dis-regulation, disorganization, etc. For me, things have gotten harder ever since shifting to studying from home, and I've been working with an ADHD specialist neuropsychologist to learn some of the self management skills that you don't get from pills.

I've found a few things particularly helpful over the last few weeks of my dedicated period. Some of these may be pretty obvious but I’m going to list them anyway:

• You have an actual neurological problem, not a willpower issue. For me, constantly feeling like an adult toddler results in a lot of shame, frustration, remorse, embarrassment, guilt, and self-loathing. The negative self-talk needs to be replaced with compassion, patience and support. Imagine you had a friend with ADHD who was living the struggle. Would you think all these nasty things about them? Would you tolerate some other asshole talking to them the way you talk to yourself? No? Then stop that shit.
• Stop hating yourself. Believe me, I know this is one of the hardest things about having ADHD and being a medical student. But you have to recognize that part of the executive dysfunction is difficulty regulating our emotions and being sensitive to rejection. If you hate yourself, you will shut yourself down. Our brains need those feel-good chemicals to concentrate a lot more than most other adults so don’t take that away from yourself. You can be your biggest support system.
• Train yourself like a puppy by rewarding yourself for your wins. Take a few moments throughout each day to recognize your accomplishments, even small ones like arriving on time or finishing a lecture without restarting 72348 times. We need that little hit of dopamine to sustain us going forward. The key here is that the reward needs to be immediate and sustainable. We usually need a sense of urgency to get stuff done, so a long term reward doesn’t work as well. (i.e. a new phone after killing Step 1 a month from now may be a less effective motivator to study right now than a latte an hour from now)
  • e.g. I struggle to stay on task in the late afternoon, so I reward myself with a walk outside. I go for a 20-30 minute walk in the evening if I finish 2 hours of studying. The 2 hour window is short enough for me to keep chasing that carrot and sunset creates an immediate deadline beyond which I cannot procrastinate because it’ll get dark out. It motivates me because I hate sitting at home all day and I see happy dogs and real people out there. I feel more energized to study and stay focused afterwards.

• Make sure you take your meds early enough to fall asleep at night. You’re not going to retain anything if your brain is not consolidating info during sleep. (idk if this is a problem for you, but I sometimes forget my 2nd dose until its too late in the day to both study and sleep)
• Make sure you eat before your meds kill your appetite. You know your brain needs that glucose.
• Even if you’re studying at home, treat your studying like a proper desk job and stay at your desk during your study sessions.
• If you know there are things you’ll leave your desk to grab, store them near your desk. I used to forget stuff like grabbing a hair clip I was trying to study and I couldn’t focus on anything but my hair tickling my face. For me, thats going to be my PM Adderall doses, my entire Brita jug, snacks for when I get hungry, headphones, hair ties, etc. I now don’t forget to take my PM dose until its too late in the day to sleep, I don’t forget to drink water, I no longer end up reorganizing my freezer after getting up to grab an orange lol
• Don’t do chores or “home”/personal things while studying. Getting up to do laundry can end up costing a lot of focus and it aint worth it.
• Keep a little notepad near you while studying. (Paper, not a phone cause you’ll unlock your phone and forget why you pulled it out, then start browsing users or something). If you’re studying and you think of something you need to get done (online or in real life), write it down and leave get to it when you take a break. The act of writing it down will stop nagging thoughts from hanging out in the back of your mind distracting you because you’re afraid you’ll forget it and never get it done. Getting up and leaving your study area will inevitably lead to distractions that end up costing you hours.
• We ADHD folks have a limitation when it comes to task switching. You want to condition yourself to be in the mindset/mood to study when you’re at your study space, and turn that off when you’re not. If you don’t maintain clear boundaries, your mind will stay in a wishy washy halfway range at all the wrong times. Even though there’s nobody else around, I put on noise cancelling headphones to reduce the distractions from AC sounds, bird noises, etc. When you take a break from studying, physically remove yourself from your desk, even if you’re going to take your laptop to the couch to browse users. Don’t do other things in your study space. I live in a studio, so I straight up put up Tri-fold science fair boards around my desk to make it feel like I’m in a different space, like a cubicle. If I can’t see or hear things that aren’t related to my studying, it helps me maintain my attention. This is what I need to feel like I’m “home” when I finish my work day and take 10 steps to my bed lol
• Be proactive about your weaknesses. Prevent yourself from the hyper focus traps like social media, browsing, non-urgent procrastinating tasks, etc. E.g. if I start playing video games, I can never stop. I get into that hyper focus trance and lose hours. It ain’t worth it to even start for me. If I want to do something fun for a break, I do something I know will end.
• Clear off visual desk clutter that can distract you before you start studying.

• When I'm really struggling to focus despite taking regular breaks, I take a few minutes to do jumping jacks or put on music and dance around my apartment. It sounds stupid but the psychologist said this is one of the most effective short term strategies. The mild cardio helps increase your cognitive arousal level, which helps you maintain focus.
• I alternate between sitting on a yoga ball and desk chair throughout the day. The ball allows be to bounce/roll around. I find it helps me stay on task longer.
• To avoid zoning out while watching videos, I watch them on my iPad while walking back and forth around my apartment. This is especially helpful when you have to passively watch videos that are more about memorizing than concepts (e.g. Sketchy).
• I have fidget toys that I play with while trying to focus on reading/listening. It sounds so small, but it makes a big difference.

• Maximize your window and use ad-blockers to reduce on-screen clutter. Use reader view on your browser to clean up visually cluttered websites.
• I think we all know reading/highlighting text is inefficient way to learn. Thats especially true for us ADHD folks. After a few minutes of trying to read, my eyeballs are going over the letters and my mind is off in lala land. Then I have to go back and find the sentence I last recognize and restart repeatedly. I just try to avoid that all together. Instead of text, I use flashcards, diagrams, videos and practice questions, etc.
• If you have to read, use speech-to-text or read it aloud like you're 5 years old. This prevents your mind from jumping ahead and skipping words, which is something I really struggle with. When I read it aloud, it forces my brain to slow down and wait for my mouth lol. Also, hearing as well as seeing the text immerses you in the content, so you have to put in less effort to sustain focus. It helps with maintaining stamina. Pretty much any time I have to read more than a paragraph, I have Siri or Google read it aloud me using the STT in accessibility settings. Microsoft Word’s Immersive Reader setting and Firefox’s reader mode are also excellent.

• Similarly, I’m able to get more out of videos with captions than with audio alone. When the video doesn’t have captions, I straight up open Microsoft Powerpoint and start a presentation with auto-transcribing on. It makes a huge difference.
• I watch videos at 1.5 - 3x speed. If the video is long, I break it up into shorter bursts of ~5 minutes at a time. Idk why, but I find that is more efficient than watching at normal speed and zoning out repeatedly. I think the slower speed has a lot of silences between the words that leave time for my mind wander. I use a video speed controller browser extension for both online video and local video files just cause it speeds up the videos up to 4x speed without distorting the audio.
• For audio only lectures, I use the Pocketcasts app for the skip the silences feature. Its makes a huge difference because you get through it faster without distorting the audio and its a lot easier to understand the audio. I think Google podcasts does this too.

• Fill-in-the-blanks style practice with diagrams and mnemonics. I draw out diagrams and write out mnemonics on my whiteboard or paper every few days. Some people use image occlusion Anki cards. I find this especially helpful for ‘overview’ diagrams like the FA Antibiotics one here:
• Practice questions are a lot more engaging than watching lectures. You’re forced to interact with it and think about the info.
• Don’t mark an Anki card correct until you say the answer aloud.

• Knowing how to get started is half the battle. Break tasks/study periods into small chunks and use SMART goals.
  • E.g. don’t just say you’re going to “do” pulmonary, specify that you’re going review PFTS by watching a BnB video, doing x number of Anki cards, drawing out the diagrams from memory, or doing x number of practice questions on the topic.
• If you have issues with time blindness, use a visual timer. I have a physical one, but there are apps you can use. This way a quick glance tells you how much time you have left in your study/break session. Digital options:
  • Time timer app:
  • Browser:
• I use Cramfighter to tell me what to do and when to do it. You don’t necessarily need this, but you do need something to refer to when you don’t know what to do.

• Start with broad overviews and then fill in the details. We ADHD people tend to lose the forest for the trees.
• I sometimes watch concept-heavy videos twice: once passively without taking notes or trying to study, then the second time like its a real lecture.
• Try to chunk similar things together and then focus on the differences between them. In other words, learn the rules and then the exceptions. This may sound super obvious to some, but its part of that executive function part of our brains that is lagging a bit.
• Names: I struggle with names! I sometimes know everything about a drug or disease but I mix up the names.
  • Look up the Latin/Greek roots of names. Its easy to mix things up when they mean nothing. e.g. gastrocnemius is the big belly muscle of the leg, or papilledema = papilla (nipple) + edema (swelling) —> optic n/disc looks like a nipple due to swelling.
  • Use visual mnemonics (e.g. Sketchy, Pixorize, the FA chemo side effects man).
  • Make/find flashcards specifically to match the buzzword/disease/drug names to everything else.
  • Use the FA Rapid Review section for HY buzzwords and FA drug names table at the end of the pharm section.

• Change up your study methods throughout the day. I use 8 minute sessions of Anki as a break from other forms of studying throughout the day. Its short enough to not be inconsequential to my schedule, but its long enough to get through a good amount of material. And lets be real, 10 minutes straight of Anki is about as long as I can go without zoning out.
• Let yourself zone out! Staying focused requires a lot of effort, and you cannot maintain that indefinitely! Let your mind wander when you do things that don’t require concentration. I used to listen to music in the shower, watch Netflix while doing dishes/laundry or listen to lectures while driving/working out. I didn’t realize I was sabotaging my ability to maintain focus at other times. These are the times your mind normally gets to run off the leash, so let it. The silence is deafening at first but these free daydreaming periods help your mind relax and get ready to put in all that effort to concentrate.

Aaaand I could go on but I need to get back to studying. I hope this was helpful! Please share any other tips you have!

I should mention that I don’t have an official diagnosis. My therapist (who also has ADHD) said I exhibit a lot of symptoms and I’ve tried many different methods of studying and none seem to work for me. It could be a discipline issue but I’m unsure. I did schedule an appointment, but it got canceled the day of after a 6 month wait. They proceed to tell me they have no available appointments for the rest of the year and will have to notify me of an opening which can take months.

I’ve tried many different ways to try and study. I’ve been downing caffeine and it does help, but the crash is too bad. I mean sometimes I just get sleepy, other times I’m productive for like an hour max before my brain crashes. Then I get the worst headaches and I actually can’t focus for the entire day.

This sucks because I’m a math and physics major. I truly do love the subject, but I just can’t study. It’s not like I don’t want to. I get the urge to sit down and grind my textbooks but when I sit down, I can’t get past the first page.

I’m just kind of out of options at the moment. I don’t know what else to do. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

If you're not medicated you have to make a system for yourself. Don't invite distractions. Record the lectures. Write down every. Single. Word. You have to make yourself pay attention.

I remember thinking my ex-girlfriend must have been some sort of psychopath cause she would just open the book and… learn. Or decide "I‘ll go to the library and study tomorrow 2-5pm. Or teasing and touching her while she was studying and she just. kept. studying. Like I wasn’t there.

Yea apparently people just work like that, found out when I got medication for the first time. And not like "Get medicated and you can study for 12 hours every day for five years", that’s just extraordinary commitment. But yea, with meds you can just decide that you‘ll learn for two hours this afternoon and just do it, no excuses, no negotiating with yourself, no "damn I wanted to start at 4 but now it’s 4:01 so I gotta wait till 5. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.".

the no taking breaks thing really works even tho everyone is always like omg!!! take a break!! u cant be sitting down and studying for so long!!!

and I'm like: no if i take a break I'm not going to study again for today...

I have a diagnosis for Adhd and I had to stop taking meds because I had too many bad side effects. I really gotta organize and I always feel like I have to work twice as hard for half the results, but I manage to do it.

Space dedicated to studying with nothing else. No phone or other distactions. Noise canceling headphones with no lyrics music (usually I'll put synthwave compilations on spotify so it's just a stimulating background noise), stay hydrated and fed so you're not distracted by that, and work in bursts. I usually take breaks where I walk around, move, let the energy out before sitting again. 

I have adhd, I just can't study and I really need some new methods so I don't feel the need to do something else every 5 minutes.

I can't study effectively more than 5 minutes without immediately wanting to do something rewarding like getting on the phone (I don't use my phone while studying) or eating or just moving around and I hate it. It's like my brain is blocking itself from studying.

What do you do to study effectively? Any methods or things you do to get you brain to say "I like this"? Any advice is welcome no matter how weird it is. Sometimes I let AI make movies about topics I have to study.

I had to change locations frequently when I was studying for my big exams. Did some studying in the library, in cafés and at home. And I listened to epic gaming focus music, rock focus music (those are found on YouTube), Caparezza, other aggressive music, or fast and aggressive asmr if I was really tired because chill lo fi music makes me tense and angry. Anything too calm is understimulating and drives me crazy with boredom, so I needed to find music and soundscapes that were engaging enough to keep me alert and focused but not distracting.

Oh and I had to write down EVERYTHING. I retain nothing if I only read because I can't keep my attention on the material. I have a 2023 version of 100 Amboss chapters that I copied on my laptop because that was the only way I could stay focused. When I was REALLY exhausted I tried reading while squeezing a stress ball or playing with a fidget toy, and for a while I recorded ASMR tracks where I did some sounds I could listen to in real time while reading chapters to myself. I know it sounds weird but it works. I also recorded extremely long podcast style voice memos for my best friend where I pretended to explain my study material to her. I never expected her to listen to them, I just needed to feel like I was talking to someone. I had to change it up a lot.

Everyone's different, and there is no perfect study method. It's hard and it sucks either way. The best thing you can do is try out different things and not be afraid of doing something unconventional and changing it up regularly. You might just need the variety.

Anyway, this is what worked for me. Still took me 10 years to graduate but this is what got me through med school and if my rotten brain could turn into a half decent doctor there is more than enough hope for the rest of you.

Hey guys!

​

I've had diagnosed combined-type ADHD since I was 10 years old (now 22) so I've had my fair share of time to experiment with different systems and tips and I thought I'd share my best methods and systems to you guys (I've shared elsewhere but thought you would also find it useful). I run two businesses and I'm in my final year of University. With this system, I log 8-10hours+ of 100% focused work every single day (Which used to be completely unachievable for me)

​

So, here are my tips for studying or general productivity:

​

What to listen to while studying:

- Binaural Beats with active noise cancellation headphones (Game changer!) on for 80% of the session, but let yourself enjoy any music of your choice for the final 20% (Leaves you on a positive note before the next session)

- Brown noise and White noise are also good (particularly if you don't have headphones).

​

How long to study for between breaks;

- Personally, I have found 90 minutes is the perfect amount of time to get into the flow state. It can be a bit tricky at the start but your brain adapts to this being the norm really fast. Start with 60mins if 90mins is just too daunting. If you're still struggling - pomodoro's a great place to start!

- 15/20 minute break where you eat a healthy snack / lunch AND get some fresh air (A walk with a healthy protein bar is IDEAL!). Some deep breath holds are amazing too!

\This resets your brain and makes sure you don't neglect food, exercise, or fresh air. This really is the golden combination for me.**

​

Biggest causes of off-days?

- Poor diet (Unnatural foods, high sugars, processed stuff is AWFUL for me when trying to concentrate)

- Poor sleep (If you haven't got enough sleep, don't try and go to 100% concentration - just take it easy).

​

​

Productivity Tools?

- Notion for note-taking trumps everything. There are some awesome Notion templates which save heaps of time and completely streamline the experience. Some people also like Obsidian. Matter of preference.

- Clickup for Tasks. Takes a little bit of learning but super efficient once you set it up correctly (drop a comment if you'd like some more detail on that)

- Timepage/Google calendar for Calendaring. Keeping a schedule of repeating and random events has been game changing for my organisation.

- Toggl for time tracking - log all of the hours you are working and assign projects to EVERYTHING! This makes sure you are actually working on stuff instead of convincing yourself you are being productive by switching through tabs!

\You can sync all of these tools up beautifully, so that calendars, tasks with dates, and deadlines all show up across each of the different tools (easy tutorials online - happy to share them).**

​

General Tips

- MOVE YOUR PHONE OUT OF SIGHT! When you are doing a 90min session, your phone should be out of your reach or you will grab it before you even realise.

- Forcing yourself into deep focus rarely ever works, accept that nature of your brain, be nice to it - or it won't be nice to you. Ease yourself into your sessions and do whatever you can, don't force it.

- If you are really struggling to get back into a piece of work and your brain is screaming NO at you, just switch tasks to whatever the most different one is. e.g. if you are working with numbers, switch over and do some writing.

- Finally, and arguably most importantly though; the golden trio which transformed my life and my productivity; 45second cold shower (start warm; turn cold), 5-10mins meditation, and intermittent fasting. Those three things have transformed my ability to concentrate.

​

And that's pretty much everything. One thing to mention is; don't try and implement all of this at once; it might work for one day, but in 3 days time; you'll likely feel overwhelmed and burned out. Take it easy, one step at a time. It really is a marathon; not a sprint.

​

If you don't know where to start; just start by organising. Without organisation; we all move 1000mph in every single direction. If you organise your life and your study system (Check out my ADHD Notion Study System in my profile if you're looking for something quick and easy), you can change that to 1000mph in the direction you actually want to go in. The ADHD in your brain is waiting to be unleashed in an efficient way. You can tame it; it just takes some nurturing and patience to begin with!

​

I have spent countless hours optimising my own systems and experimenting with different things to see what works for my ADHD and what does not. So please feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will help however I can. Hope you guys found this useful!

​

\P.S I am just one individual, any others will probably have different tips which they find work better. This is just my take :)*

Severe ADHD (mixed / inattentive type) here. For me, if I'm going to study all day, I have to have absolutely zero distractions. My day has to be ready to go. Medication down, ate something filling, comfy clothes are key with fuzzy socks and a sweater, get coffee and water on board, fireplace going on the TV (no movies or even music in the background b/c it will irritate me when I'm stressing over a topic), candle lit, all lights on, IG and Users deleted from phone (limited social media in general--no checking whatsoever), notifications off, phone charging across the room, emails already checked, cat fed, spray some perfume that is uplifting, bowl of peppermints (help for concentration and memory recall), kitchen already cleaned up (mental weight lifted), absolutely no chores "in the background" or "on breaks" because that's your mental rest time you're stealing from if you try to be productive with other things while you work remotely, etc. Laundry can wait. You will burn yourself out. Condition your mind like Pavlov's dogs. Positive scents, tastes, and calming associations go so far to help you not dread studying. You might still not want to necessarily, but it can be a nice experience if you take it slow.

Or, you might have better luck starting impulsively, especially if you only want to study for an hour or two. If you remember the course, pop open the webpage for videos and watch one. That way, you've started. The hardest part is done. If you wish to continue, which you probably will, just close the apps on your phone, go pee, whatever you need to do, so you can go back to focusing for a little bit longer.

Some really key advice I was given is not to make beautiful notes because it takes too long. I'm just a tad on the fence with this one because I'm an online learner, and immersion is really important. That said, I write too many things down, so there is a happy medium I think.

Hi everyone,

I really need some advice.

I have ADHD and I struggle a lot with procrastination. My entrance exam is in less than a month, and instead of studying consistently, I keep delaying things, getting distracted, or feeling overwhelmed. Every day I plan to study, but I end up doing very little.The exam is really important for my future, which honestly makes the pressure even worse. I want to study, but starting and staying focused feels extremely difficult.

Some things I struggle with:

• I procrastinate even when I know the exam is close
• I get distracted by my phone and random things
• When I sit to study, I feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin
• I lose focus very quickly

If anyone here has ADHD and has gone through something similar, I would really appreciate your advice.

What actually helped you:

• Start studying when your brain refuses to cooperate?
• Stay focused for longer periods?
• Avoid procrastination when the exam is close?

Any practical tips, routines, apps, or strategies that worked for you would mean a lot.

Thank you so much 🙏

No one method works consistently !

Can try body doubling - either with motivated friend IRL or with those study with me videos - specifically ones with timed pomodoro breaks 

If you’re lucky to find a hyper focus song 

Somewhere you can go for a walk or jog every 30 mins to combat restlessness 

Try rapidly changing topics every 30 mins (coming back to previous ones)

Have a messy journal where you can literally scrawl in your worst handwriting, not worrying about making notes, just processing the information as you understand it 

• scratch pad for distractions e.g writing down the thought that distracts you 

Sometimes a really freaking nice pen and ink gives me the dopamine to keep writing 

Double dose short acting med (only if not contraindicated by your prescriber)

Trying to make is psychologically enjoyable eg putting on podcast or tv show you like, easing yourself into it (tbh this hardly ever works for me, because I have poor self control but sometimes it does)

Context: I have a maths degree and I taught mathematics at a university level for a decade. I also have ADHD.

Doing practice problems is the absolute best thing to do for mathematics. And not just until you get it right, you have to do it again and again and again. It has to feel like muscle memory, like you're learning how to play basketball or the violin. There are some school subjects where you have to spend a lot of time reading/watching, maybe highlighting some stuff and taking notes, maybe memorising stuff through flash cards. This is absolutely not the way to go for maths.

Some amount of video watching (or textbook reading) is necessary, but practice problems should be the star of the show. I'm so happy to see that you are doing practice problems in your post - that's great! It was very common for me, and my students, to NOT understand content properly after watching a video or reading a textbook, etc. Videos/textbooks were more like a primer, and then the real understanding happened while we would do practice problems. The brain starts to draw connections the more and more you do the problems. Worked examples are also very helpful, and were a great way to make that transition from videos/textbooks to doing practice problems.

Medication MIGHT (depends on the person) be able to help you do practice questions for longer, and might make it easier for you to initiate study sessions.

One thing my psych taught me is that each person has an 'ideal' level of stimulation (and this may vary throughout the day). For me, listening to music while studying is a no-go. If I'm reading a textbook, then extremely low stimulation is what I need, so I'll get snuggly in bed, turn the lights off, and read through the textbook on my laptop (or with a light if it's a physical book). When I'm doing practice problems, I'll sit in a comfortable chair at my desk, with just paper and the problems in front of me (and a calculator of course). If I'm getting very comfortable with the problems then I'll put a tv show I don't care about in the background. This makes it easier for me to study for longer, and isn't so distracting that I can't pay attention. For some people, music is ESSENTIAL for study sessions - find the amount of stimulation that works best for you.

Another thing that may vary from person to person is what mode of learning works best for you. I'm not talking about the so called "learning styles" (visual, auditory, etc) - those aren't particularly scientific, despite their popularity among some teachers. I'm talking more about how your ADHD affects your attention span, and thus your learning. For me, videos are a terrible way to learn because my ability to maintain focus is extremely bad. This shifting of focus happens whether I'm watching a video or reading a textbook, but with a textbook it is much easier for me to go back to where I phased out - just because I can see the whole page at once. For some people, textbooks don't hold their attention as well as a video, so videos are preferred. Find what works for you.

Overall, you should be optimising for the amount of time you spend doing practice questions. After that it's just time.

For me I try working in 30 min sets and do nothing in 5 min rest time otherwise I can't concentrate so I dry to repeat it for as many sets as possible without doing a high dopamine activity bw study sessions

Starting year 10 in September. Missed over 800 lessons in year 9… unfixable cuz I’m an idiot

I can’t focus or find the motivation for five minutes. Maybe I’m just a lazy shit but my question still stands

It can be as crazy as you want, just so long as it actually works and it's feasible

I'd like to chime in to add what works well for me.

1. This one is mandatory- To Start my day with a 45 minutes to 1 hour workout- "Have a mindset of going out as soon as you wake up". I do this cos exercise is like medicine to me, helps to control my emotions.

2. Set up two times and keep it aside and visible in your phone- total duration of study time for the day e.g- 4 hours and another one 45 minutes for focusing on current tasks. It's really important to not give away to urges at this point. I always try to talk to myself in my mind if I try to procrastinate and it works for me. Try to complete the 4-hour timeline at the end of the day.

3. I also time my breaks to remind me to get back for continuous session.

4. If studying at home does't work, try going to a coffee shop nearby, seeing someone else can be reassuring and you might lock in!

5. Eat whole foods, no sugars, less carbs, no fried foods, just veggies and protein, a little of coffee in the morning and fruits.

6. Try to tame your mind by giving out orders to yourself such as- "Time to listen, time to read and so on" whenever you zone out unknowingly.

I hope it helps!

Do practice questions don't keep spam copying summaries bro

Start with small steps to break the fear. Don’t think about it like you have to study everything. Tell yourself that you’re just going to open the book and read for five minutes only. On the second day, tell yourself you’ll read just one page. On the third day, tell yourself you’ll try to solve or understand just one exercise, or even half of one. Set small goals, and once you start taking those small steps, you’ll often find yourself going beyond the daily goal you set for yourself. But don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Thinking about the entire curriculum and all the mistakes you’ve made will only freeze you