Studying and ADHD: Work with your brain and not against it.

Studying with ADHD can feel impossible — until you find ways to work with your brain instead of against it.

Person holding a graduation cap

Six years ago, when I told my husband I wanted to do a degree with Open University, I’m pretty sure his heart sank. Maybe he thought it was another thing I’d start and never finish. To be fair, so did I sometimes.

But now? I have one year left, and I can’t wait to share my graduation photo.

I was officially diagnosed with ADHD combined type, 2 years ago, but obviously all the issues were there before. These are some of the strategies I’ve used to get me through.

• Choose brick or non-brick
  Think about whether you would do better at a brick uni (one you have to go to) or Open University, which is completely self-motivated. I really didn’t want to go to a brick uni, I didn’t want to be tied to set tutorials or set classes. But for some that would be absolutely needed. I also really wanted to study on my own. My study times are my happy place and I don’t speak to a single person, this gives me my recharge time so I can do my work well.

• Tutorials
  Another reason for me doing Open university is I can listen to recorded tutorials. I really struggle to sit in classes, so having the option to listen to a tutorial when I have the brain space to do it is great! I also listen to them on 1.25 speed my brain can process it better and also I skip the bits that are not relevant or the bits where they have had an interactive time.

• Where you study
  Again this is about you knowing your learning style, I cannot study if it’s quiet, I also can’t study at home because all I want to do is sleep. So my favourite place to study is in a cafe. I put in my noise cancelling headphones (they don’t cancel all noise) and I hide in the corner of a cafe. I also choose my cafes carefully. Independents don’t like you taking up space or small cafes, i choose carefully so my brain isn’t subsumed by the thoughts of the owners feeling cross at me. When I had my ADHD assessment they said this was very telling, because I need stuff going on around me, but not too much.

• Dopamine hits
  Now I love the topic I am studying, but there are going to be times where even ADHD meds can’t get you through, Sometimes the essay is not completely about a topic I enjoy (although I always bring it back to my topic of disability) or sometimes it is just genuinely overwhelming , during my last essay, we were also supporting my son in a transition to his new school so life was chaos. It’s in these times that you need a little lift. My way of doing this, is buying some new stationery that I can use to write my essays or a new notebook or a new studying system altogether. This gets me a bit excited and a different way to get myself studying. Sad I know, but it works and you need to find your thing.

• Planning
  I plan my essays so carefully. Each paragraph is planned and worked through, I find all the quotes I want to use and then I stick to that plan. Again this way it brings variation to my studying. You are not constantly writing essays. I also set myself the task of every time I sit down to study I have to write one paragraph.

Studying in a cafe

• Find the best time of day for you
  For me I work all day at my job, come home, have a nap and then go to a cafe that is open until 10pm.
  This is helpful on a number of levels…
  
  - The cafe shuts, so I cannot go down a rabbit hole. I have to get my paragraph done before the cafe shuts - helping me focus.
  
  - I also cannot just work and work into the night. I personally don’t do my best work after 10pm, so when the cafe shuts that’s it for work time.
  
  - Also my husband is doing child care, so I literally can give all my brain space to my essay (unless it’s a bad day for my son!)

• Choose what you study
  I know that I get bored, so I chose to do an Open Degree, which means I pick the modules each year and if I really wanted to I could veer off onto something different (I haven’t, but the choice was there). Choose something you are really passionate about, not just the subject you think you need to do. Then when it gets tricky, at least you still have a passion for the topic.

• Give yourself fake deadlines
  I tell myself, that I need it in 2 days before the deadline. I mean I normally do, as something else will need my attention. This works for me, but may not work for anyone else. That way if you don’t make the first deadline, you’ll make the second.

I did apply for Disability Student Allowance, which is something that is available for anyone who has a diagnosis. I had a call with an advisor and they set me up with a computer (you do have to pay towards it), some software to help, training for the software and I was also offered an extra tutor. Some of the software was really helpful. For example I have to write all my essays out on paper first, as I cannot think creatively whilst typing. For me, writing by hand slows my thoughts down enough to process them properly. My brain moves quickly, so handwriting helps me organise ideas before typing.

I was awarded some software, that I can talk my essay into and it types it for me. Also another piece of software that will read PDF’s and articles to me. Again it slows down the pace so I can actually take it in. Since doing this the software on my computer has progressed so much, that I just use my computer now, but when I first got it, it was brilliant.

I’m not saying that every moment has been rainbows and unicorns, I have found that some times have been completely overwhelming. But by using little hacks I’ve been able to make it this far.

I’m so excited about next year as I’ll be studying children’s literature (my work involves writing plans, based on children’s books) and the development of language. So hopefully I won’t lose focus next year!!!!

If you’ve been thinking about studying but ADHD makes you doubt yourself, this is your reminder that it is possible. You might just need to find ways of studying that work for your brain rather than against it.