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Advice/Tips for people with ADHD
rakinalikhan
Alum Member
i was hoping if there are any 7sagers with ADHD (or ADD) or even without that could maybe give some tips or pointers for writing the actual lsat/studying for the lsat. i find myself rereading LR questions and wasting precious time. also i find myself missing on key words and phrases because i read over it too fast. what are some methods that i can use that would be effective when studying for the actual test and also manage my time when answering them timed?
Comments
Here are a few tips that helped me (I don't have ADHD...at least, I don't think so):
1) Spend time upfront. Read the stimulus carefully. Don't try to "read faster." Instead, read more efficiently.
2) Make sure you understand the stimulus before moving on to the answer choices. If after reading the stim you have a "wtf?" moment, go back and reread it. If you have another "Gah! What the heck?!" moment, skip the question and come back to it later.
3) Learn to skip!! Sometimes, after the initial reading of a stimulus, it won't make sense. Often, all it takes is a fresh set of eyes.
4) Take a 5-10 second breather. If you start to feel overwhelmed. Or, if your mind starts wandering, put your pencil down, close your eyes, and breathe for a few seconds.
I did what you are describing for almost a year before I broke down and asked for accommodations. (standard accommodations for ADHD are time and a half, separate test room, and no experimental section, from what I understand. These are the accommodations I was granted for ADHD).
For me, it really came down to needing extra time. My score improved by 5-8 points almost immediately and for the first time, I was able to get to all 4 RC passages, and all 4 games.
Other things that have helped me are:
1. If a question is really just giving my attention span a hard time, i skip it and come back to it at the end of the section. I learned that I'm gonna probably get it wrong or spend WAY too much time on it.
2. if i'm on a question more than 2 minutes, i skip it and move on.
3. *VERY IMPORTANT* YOU MUST READ THE QUESTION STEM BEFORE THE STIMULUS! If you know from the beginning that you are looking for a "flaw" or a "main point" you're not going to be reading through this stimulus like "who cares?" you're going to be reading it with purpose. You're on the hunt. (something I do, i'm not sure if this really helps or not, but it's part of my routine at this point - is put a little marker by the stimulus to remind me what i'm looking for
for example: i'll write a small "mp" next to it to remind me i'm looking for main point, or NA to remind me i'm looking for necessary assumption. This eliminates me from having to go back down and remind myself what kind of question it is.
4. I do a 5 minute, guided meditation before i take PTs. It helps my brain settle down and cut out a lot of distractions. Now, by the time I'm on section 3, it kinda wore off and i have to do it again on my break.
5. get up and walk around, take some stairs, do some stretches during your break. that helps me settle the tendency for me to rock, bounce, shake. ALSO, if tapping your foot or rocking or whatever helps you, just do it. you're not going to be around a ton of people in your test room if you get accommodations, if anyone at all. don't feel embarrassed by it if it helps you because i find that trying not to rock or shake my leg takes my concentration level down to 0.
this is all i have for right now, but i'll think on this some more and come back when i think of more things that helped me.
6. do your PTs at a desk with nothing on it but some extra pencils and your watch. don't put anything else up there. it eliminates the need to fidget and takes away things for you to zone out on.
7. when i do BR, i write each question with a different color ink. So like if i want to BR question 7, 9, and 26, for example, I'll write out in black ink why answer choices A, B, C, and E are wrong, and write in purple ink why D is right. This forces me to think through why i not only chose the right answer, but why i thought i should eliminate the wrong ones. The different inks help 1: my brain to remember any patterns in questions I'm getting wrong and B. to keep me from looking at a solid sheet of one color ink - which we all know is an ADHD death sentence
Also, I've found that writing out things next to the stimulus is helpful. What I mean by that, is if there's a flaw question, I write out a short note what the gap is in the logic next to it, and then look at the answers and eliminate. Prior to starting this as a habit, there would be times that I would forget what I had just identified as the flaw and have to go back and reread the stimulus again to figure it out. I do the same for any questions that aren't more objective or focusing on the structure. It takes a couple more seconds to do, but it saves me time overall.
As far as staying focussed on BR, it's definitely a thing I also still struggle with.
Other than the different color pen thing, these are some things that have helped me:
1. I set small goals for myself. So, for example, let's say I'm gonna BR a PT, but I'm just feeling overwhelmed by trying to BR a whole test, I'll just do 1 section. Then go eat or do something else and come back to do the other section later. Now, that's if I only have 5 or fewer questions to review. If I have a particularly hard LR section where I marked a ton of questions, Ill use the next strategy
1b. If I have like 10 questions to do, or more, I usually just get overwhelmed and don't know where to being. That's when I'll set a time goal for myself. So I'll look at the clock and decide "okay, i'm going to BR the f out of as many questions as I can for the next 20 minutes." And I'll literally turn off my phone, computer, tv, everything. Just focus for 20 (or 10 or 15 or 30 whatever you have time/ability to do). This helps because I have a real goal in my mind. And like, if i only get to 2 questions in 20 minutes, okay. fine. I now have a much better understanding of those 2 than if I either didn't start at all because I was overwhelmed or if I was lolly-gagging around on Facebook or texting someone in the middle of BR.
I also think that ADD/ADHD probably have something to do with the mind wandering thing. At the end of the day, these are disorders that are related to impulsivity and instant gratification. It is often extremely difficult for us to continue on a path that we're not seeing immediate results from.
That being said, please try to power through. I am ADHD af (plus I have another neurological disorder that affects my learning, as I mentioned above), and I have made significant gains through using this method (151 diagnostic, now up to 170 average on my last 5 PTs) and 175+ with BR average.
I KNOW how discouraging it can be, and I know how frustrating it is to feel like you're battling against your own brain to accomplish a thing. I promise I do. But you're not alone, and there are definitely things you can do to work with your brain and body to make progress.
Also, try not to compare yourself or your progress or your methods too closely with people who don't have ADD/ADHD or other learning disabilities. It's awesome to take some of that advice, and it can be super helpful most of the time, but if something doesn't seem intuitive to your learning/testing style, just don't do it. For example, some people say "you shouldn't ever erase anything on Logic Games; just cross it out." And, idk about you, but if I don't erase a thing, I will spend WAYYY more time distracted by that wrong game board than I would if I just erased it. Or the advice that some people say it's better NOT to write anything on the RC passages. Lemme tell you one thing, if I didn't write and circle and underline and summarize and star and all kind of other things, I might as well stare at the ceiling through the entire RC section.
That's honestly the biggest regret I have from this whole process. Trying to force my neurodivergent brain into a learning/testing style that isn't very well suited for it. Listen to your heart, your mind, and your body. You've lived your whole life with this thing, you have an intuition as to what is going to work best for you. Sometimes, ADD/ADHD just aint having a 2-hour BR session; and that's ok. Watch Bob's Burgers and chill. Read the discussion forums. Take a walk. Listen to one of the webinars. Go back over some of the lessons. As long as your doing something, that's better than nothing. Slow and steady. You got this
ok sorry that got long. /rant