I’ve seen a lot of people on here saying that they’re struggling with stuff like doomscrolling during revision, and what I’ve found has helped me is removing apps from my Home Screen, I literally became more productive in my revision instantly.

❗️If you’re worried about loosing accounts or passwords, then just use the “remove from Home Screen” option, and they will be on your list of apps when you scroll to the right. The whole point is that when you go into your phone to use it for revision (especially if you’ve got ADHD like me), you see those apps right in front of you and your brain goes “I need to check how a post is doing on there” or something like “I will just scroll for a bit and see what’s going on”, and then that scrolling suddenly kills three hours somehow! So - just remove them from Home Screen, and it means now that when you open your phone, you’re greeted by apps like Google and teams or whatever you use to revise.

I know revising can seem physically impossible with ADHD, so here are some ways I’ve been doing it -

⭐️ Using my iPad to draw visual representations of my revision, so for example in law I’ve been drawing the cases and what happens in them. It’s more fun, and I enjoy it because I did art college before I started A levels lol. The way I do it, is that I will write it all down first of all, and then cypher through what I’ve written and draw it all, and it’s like a reward I give myself after writing it all down. I will attach a photo of a table I’ve done for law! 

⭐️ Watching documentaries (especially useful for students taking most essay heavy subjects)

⭐️ Learning fun facts as a way to remember certain names and people that I otherwise would have literally no interest in. For example I couldn’t remember Henry Kissinger, so I started to learn some random facts about him, like the fact he fled Nazi Germany as a Jewish teenager! 

⭐️ Watching things while revising. I’m not sure about anyone else out there with ADHD, but it feels like I have two brains, and when I’m revising I will have one half of the brain like this little man in my head trying to find ways to distract me by conjuring up random thoughts, and I’ve found that watching YouTube videos (like reaction YouTubers) turns that one noisy half of the brain off and distracts it.

⭐️ I know chatGPT and Ai in general is hugely controversial, and honestly if you’re against it you don’t have to do this, but I’ve found that asking chatGPT to give me quick fire questions based specifically around my exam board and subject, really helps. And also, because I think my motivation to know stuff has always derived from the fact I want to prove something and win arguments, I literally get chatGPT to sometimes argue with me about a certain topic in my three subjects 😭 definitely works for any people who like a good argument, it’s like the only way my brain will retain information is if its in survival mode and needs to remember this stuff in order to win.

⭐️ Finding a dedicated area to revise, no matter how weird it is, don’t think you should be sat at a desk because “that’s what they were made for” - when the hell have neurotypical people ever been right about anything anyway? I’ve found that I can’t concentrate for more than five minutes if I’m sat at an actual desk. First I realised that sitting on the floor was nice, but if you do this you’ll need a higher platform to write on because leaning down to write on the floor was a pain in the arse. What works best for me is my bed. But anywhere could work for you. Get a huge cup of your favourite drink (non alcoholic… or I guess alcoholic as well, who am I to judge), put on your comfort show that you’ve watched hundreds of times, get your favourite stationary out, and start revising! 

⭐️ Do NOT focus on anyone else or their progress, I look at all these kids in my class who can sit there and retain information like a… normal person, and I get so annoyed and jealous. But ADHD and Autism can be my superpower in my own way, because when I find a way to be interested in a certain topic, there is literally no stopping me from researching every single thing about it.

⭐️ You’re going to feel inclined to not want to study certain parts of your subjects, because “this part is boring” or “I don’t care about this part”, stop that thinking immediately, look at how you can make that topic interesting for you.

⭐️ I KNOW that right now you’re struggling to use the long term benefits as motivation, you don’t care that this will help you in 5 years time, you want to see some active rewards now, don’t you? So, find ways to reward yourself right now. For example, “if I finish 3 hours of revision today then I’m going to get myself a McDonalds later on”. 

⭐️ Take breaks, It’s been proven that the brain can’t retain information for longer than 20 minutes at a time.

And if you’ve for this far into my literal essay and still think “I just can’t focus on anything for that long if it’s boring”, look at all that you’ve just read! Because you were (hopefully) interested in the instant benefit you will get from reading it and it’s something personal that interests you. Please don’t give up, there are ways to study to your full ability as someone with ADHD, they may be weird, but once you get on the right track there’s no stopping you. That’s the really frustrating thing about ADHD - you need to find that motivation and concentration and it is REALLY hard, but once you do, you have the ability to revise better than anyone else. 

❗️does anyone know how effective Monsters Energy’s are? I’ve been told that they’re really good for ADHD if you’re on that annoying waiting list for medication. If anyone’s heard of this too and tried it, would you be able to give it a honest review?

Good luck with exams everyone! 😋

I’ve got ADHD and Autism, so here are some (weird) ways I revise