Long-time lurker, encouraged by this community to get properly diagnosed recently (Thanks!).
Ok, to the point: I know taking longer to reach a college degree is normal, and I should just make peace with the fact that it might take me an extra year or two. But two whole years into college, trying hard and never being enough (to prevent failing subjects & falling behind) is …just sad.
Studying feels like trying to make the stars align. I will have to be in the library, with minimal smart devices (Laptop + MP3 player at most), properly prepare for what I need to study (The correct textbooks, maybe a calculator, the right notebook, etc…), in order to have 90% chance of studying.
(Basically the good ol’ “For the next 3 hour I am holding you hostage” way)
This works… but it is really slow and takes a lot of time for average amount of studying.
I would love to experiment with other methods, and hope to hear about how other people manage their studying.
The way I pulled it off is basically by pure chance. A few classmates had gotten the impression (still don’t know how or why) that I was a good student. Whenever they had any difficulty at all they’d ask me. As such I was constantly explaining a bunch of stuff, especially the more difficult parts of the material. So from the moment I first understood it I just kept on repeating it to others endlessly.
In retrospect that’s probably what helped me get through the whole thing.
Haha, that is some fantastic imposter syndrome right there. “People thought I had answers for some unknown reason. So they came to me for answers and I kept providing the with correct answers. Weird.”
I mean… yes. Definitely yes to the impostor syndrome. But people thinking I had answers made me pay attention differently and made me work harder to understand stuff because people were counting on me to always know.
It was like having an accidental accountability buddy. I could be questioned on the testing material basically at any point in time. So I tried to always be ready.
That makes sense. I had a consistent fear that I would graduate, get a job, and not know what I was doing at all. So it pushed me to understand materials beyond what the class required.