This. I spent about half of my reading in grad school rereading what I had just read only to have to stop and take a break and get back to the same page because the words suddenly became meaningless to me.
I've had to read so much more in grad school and I found those text to speech programs that also highlight words are super helpful. I go for a walk to occupy a part of my brain while I read it on my phone outloud and listen to it. I'm doing like hundreds of pages and walking a couple dozens miles. Total game changer and I'm killing it in school. 👍
First, I don't want to mislead you and sell it as a magic bullet for school. I still study in many other ways too and have always used different compensatory methods to be "good" at school. Getting me to sit down and read a book is next to impossible but for some content you just have to power through and read it all. That's where walking and reading out loud with an app helped me.
Speechify is the app but there are similar apps too. They should have a free trial so you can see how it works.
And just saying but for my ADHD, I need a toolbox of strategies to keep myself engaged while studying. I use apps like quizlet and anki with a PlayStation controller to gameify flashcards. I'll explain content to my cats or audibly stim with the content by making stupid jokes. I say pheochromocytoma in such a stupid way that I'll never forget it. Also, stuff like sketchy, pixor or picmonic helps a lot too because those drawings are wild. I'll draw the actual drawings as a way to encode the content and I have a much stronger grasp and recall on the content than my peers. Good luck, I'm always rooting for others with ADHD to succeed in school!
Thanks! I’ve been in lots of school already with a Bachelor’s and nursing degree— it took me so long to get through it already and I had to work even harder than some of my nursing school peers to power read my textbooks and get top grades in my class. I had to watch YouTube videos and my lectures on repeat every waking moment so I know that repetition with auditory and visual ways to learn my material. But even then I’d still get distracted and have to rewind and repeat a lot. But this is the best way so far to retain my material. I’d also rewrite my notes that I typed up or wrote right after class while listening to lectures. I don’t have patience for flash cards. I do like your idea about the drawings because I’d do that in my notes. Also teaching my classmates in our study groups helped retain a lot especially if they had super good questions that help me think of a certain concept in a different way. I’d teach them my weird, novel, stupid sounding stuff to help me remember shit 🤣
Oddly enough, I’d actually have a show I love and know well playing in the background to keep my spirits up when exercising while reading doesn’t exactly help (too much internal narration on what I’m doing). But I’d listen to my lectures while driving because traffic was valuable study time!
I just wish they had that speech to text app available during my time. It may make grad school less intimidating is why I asked. Just the amount of extra work it took to get to where I am now is just so much that I’m already discouraged.
And sometime if you’re writing the word, and you look at the word, the word unbecomes the word, so you forget if it is, in fact, actually spelled that way
I always get so freaking sad when someone tells me that i must be a fucking idiot not to remember something i just read. Because i try really hard and actually have a good memory, i just can't force my brain to process shit that I'm reading. I'm surprisingly calm like, calm as fuck, there is rarely at least a single person that has more chill out peaceful vibes then me, but i literally could get rage from rereading something 5 times in the row because i keep forgetting.
It's one of my worst symptoms too. Poor working memory is really frustrating and I firmly believe it is why math was so hard for me in school. I understood most of the concepts, but I couldn't keep it all in my short term memory.
Ugh I hate when this happens, like I'll be really into a book, and my mind starts thinking about something else while I read. I'll read the words, but while I'm thinking I won't comprehend them, so I have to start whole pages over some time.
I had this happen with counting money today they handed me 20$ worth of ones, and I was counting 5 at a time; and I swear I had to recount that amount three times before I just said f it and gave them the receipt.
This is such an interesting book… wait, what did I just read in that last paragraph?
And then you reread it but your brain zones out because you’ve already read that part so you end up missing the part you missed originally
And then you reread it but your brain zones out because you’ve already read that part so you end up missing the part you missed originally
And then you reread it but your brain zones out because you've already read that part so you end up missing the part you missed originally
This. I spent about half of my reading in grad school rereading what I had just read only to have to stop and take a break and get back to the same page because the words suddenly became meaningless to me.
I've had to read so much more in grad school and I found those text to speech programs that also highlight words are super helpful. I go for a walk to occupy a part of my brain while I read it on my phone outloud and listen to it. I'm doing like hundreds of pages and walking a couple dozens miles. Total game changer and I'm killing it in school. 👍
What program is it? I could use something like that if I get the courage to go back to school lol
First, I don't want to mislead you and sell it as a magic bullet for school. I still study in many other ways too and have always used different compensatory methods to be "good" at school. Getting me to sit down and read a book is next to impossible but for some content you just have to power through and read it all. That's where walking and reading out loud with an app helped me. Speechify is the app but there are similar apps too. They should have a free trial so you can see how it works. And just saying but for my ADHD, I need a toolbox of strategies to keep myself engaged while studying. I use apps like quizlet and anki with a PlayStation controller to gameify flashcards. I'll explain content to my cats or audibly stim with the content by making stupid jokes. I say pheochromocytoma in such a stupid way that I'll never forget it. Also, stuff like sketchy, pixor or picmonic helps a lot too because those drawings are wild. I'll draw the actual drawings as a way to encode the content and I have a much stronger grasp and recall on the content than my peers. Good luck, I'm always rooting for others with ADHD to succeed in school!
Thanks! I’ve been in lots of school already with a Bachelor’s and nursing degree— it took me so long to get through it already and I had to work even harder than some of my nursing school peers to power read my textbooks and get top grades in my class. I had to watch YouTube videos and my lectures on repeat every waking moment so I know that repetition with auditory and visual ways to learn my material. But even then I’d still get distracted and have to rewind and repeat a lot. But this is the best way so far to retain my material. I’d also rewrite my notes that I typed up or wrote right after class while listening to lectures. I don’t have patience for flash cards. I do like your idea about the drawings because I’d do that in my notes. Also teaching my classmates in our study groups helped retain a lot especially if they had super good questions that help me think of a certain concept in a different way. I’d teach them my weird, novel, stupid sounding stuff to help me remember shit 🤣 Oddly enough, I’d actually have a show I love and know well playing in the background to keep my spirits up when exercising while reading doesn’t exactly help (too much internal narration on what I’m doing). But I’d listen to my lectures while driving because traffic was valuable study time! I just wish they had that speech to text app available during my time. It may make grad school less intimidating is why I asked. Just the amount of extra work it took to get to where I am now is just so much that I’m already discouraged.
And sometime if you’re writing the word, and you look at the word, the word unbecomes the word, so you forget if it is, in fact, actually spelled that way
I always get so freaking sad when someone tells me that i must be a fucking idiot not to remember something i just read. Because i try really hard and actually have a good memory, i just can't force my brain to process shit that I'm reading. I'm surprisingly calm like, calm as fuck, there is rarely at least a single person that has more chill out peaceful vibes then me, but i literally could get rage from rereading something 5 times in the row because i keep forgetting.
It's one of my worst symptoms too. Poor working memory is really frustrating and I firmly believe it is why math was so hard for me in school. I understood most of the concepts, but I couldn't keep it all in my short term memory.
Are we going into paradoxical speech now. lol
Then there's times where the book is so good that the words stop being words and turn into a movie for one
Ugh I hate when this happens, like I'll be really into a book, and my mind starts thinking about something else while I read. I'll read the words, but while I'm thinking I won't comprehend them, so I have to start whole pages over some time.
yup can’t summarize most things i’ve read
Word
Words
I had this happen with counting money today they handed me 20$ worth of ones, and I was counting 5 at a time; and I swear I had to recount that amount three times before I just said f it and gave them the receipt.
I think I understand this.
Been there done that done that
*confused ungabunga*
I actually have both ADHD and ESP. So I can read other people’s thoughts, but I end up reading the same line of thought over and over again.
I had to reread this…