Please go to the Career Help forum, and you'll find a thread there you'll surely want to read. Then, copy & paste your post at the end of that thread too. That'll bring it in-house!

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Addaway and I are both lawyers in private practice. Nice to meet you. The Adderall is eye-opening, isn't it? My first thought on taking just 2.5 mg of it was "So this is what it's like for everyone else? This is easy!"

But it isn't. You develop a tolerance and your blood pressure ends up in the stratosphere and yada yada yada and, yeah, you realize that you need a lot of tools in the tool box. But you do have hyperfocus. And hyperfocus can be a big, big, big plus sometimes.

HFQ

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Hi Felix,

I am also a law student with ADD and although I was diagnosed and started taking Adderall XR before starting law school, I struggle with the same problems. But there are a few things that I have done that have really helped. For instance, I also have a retention issue, which is why I try to do all of my reading for class as close to the class meeting as possible (if I read something the day before, I usually don't remember it enough for class the next day). Also, I use a daily planner and try to schedule everything, including study time, being as specific as possible (for instance, 10-12:30-study Torts; 12:30 to 2:30- study Con Law). Flash cards are also a huge help and there are a lot of good computer programs for typing them and printing them out, so they are neat and you get the most out of them.

Things still get away from me from time to time, but overall, these tips generally work.

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Many students with AD/HD struggle with retention problems. Reading and studying close to test time is certainly one way to deal with this problem. However, I might suggest you try a different strategy. The problem with this approach is the one you state -- retention. It is probable that you will retain very little of the material. You will probably get through the test, but the purpose of graduate and professional programs is to equip you with a base of knowledge you can use in your professional career. This may not be the best approach.

Now, the alternative may not seem very appealing, especially at first, but I would encourage anyone with this problem (which is 99% of people with AD/HD) to give it a try. Begin by approaching the material at the earliest opportunity. In other words, get started asap. Don't wait till test time to cram.

Notice I said "approach" this material. That's because you cannot read and study the same casual way you read an interesting work of fiction. You have to approach this the same way, for example, you would approach learning to play tennis or golf: with focus and determination. Read the material at your first opportunity, even if you think you are not retaining much that you read. That is because the mind has two primary components. One is the conscious part and the other, well, is not. It is subconscious and not readily available to awareness. Believe me, it's there. I do hypnosis with many of my clients and I can assure you that your subconscious is actively recording much of what you experience, whether or not you are aware of the process.

So sit down and read through the material at your very first opportunity. Then when you read through it a second time, even if it is the night before a test, you will find some familiarity with the information and your retention will be much higher than if this were the first time you had read it. Try it! I have used this myself as a way of coping with my own ad/hd and I have used it with many clients over the years as they struggle with school.

Now if you want to take it to another level, there is more you can do. Let me just suggest one very powerful technique. When you sit down to read the material, whether it is the fist, the second or the tenth time, sit with a note pad next to the book. When you find you struggle with retention of even a single sentence, then begin to copy the sentence onto the notepad. That's right. Just copy whatever you want to read on a legal pad. Sometimes you might even have to copy the material two or three times, but do whatever it takes to challenge the brain to move past the short term memory stage of learning. In time with this approach, you will likely find that your attention has improved within the current study session and you are much more productive in your work. Again, give it a try. And good luck.

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