Hello, I’m a 16 year old, in the 11th grade, school has started for about a month now and I feel like I’m a failure I’m in my room all day to “study” but I don’t I don’t even know why and when I do study for an exam or a quiz I manage to fail every quiz and exam I’ve done so far I’ve failed them, I study on average for about an hour a day, but I feel like I’m not reaching my full potential I could be so much more but I just can’t seem to figure out how to reach that potential last year I used to pull 4-5 hours average study time, I want to get back up to that point of my life where I can confidently say “yes im smart” or “yes I have a 20 out of 20 on every exam”, I need make changes but what type of changes I don’t know but I will figure it all out, is anyone else in the same boat as me? Or am I alone here?

During lessons when teacher is talking and I try to retain all the information they are saying I have less energy for studying. What should I do instead?

I turn 20 next month and haven’t accomplished anything I hoped for. During my gap year I had to prepare to retake my exams because of things that occurred in school. I ended up not being able to sit a paper for one of my subjects, which has meant I won’t even have the grades to reapply to the university courses that actually mattered to me.

There’s so much I wish I did differently and the regret from it is eating me alive. My life is starting to appear mundane and I have been struggling to find enjoyment in anything. Most my day just involves sleeping and I find it hard to be productive because of how demotivating it feels. I currently work in a cafe but am on the verge of being fired because I don’t really get on with the other people there. Does anyone have advice for what I could consider doing next as I don’t know how to get over this?

Basically, this year, I really locked in, and started studying for 6+ hours a day (if needed tho, I usually don't have to study THAT much) and now I got sucked into the study grind to the point I feel bad for resting. I oftentimes feel just extremely tired after school and my brain just cannot function and studying in that state would be nonsense because I wouldn't retain anything anyway (I lowkey just end up trying to memorise 1 flashcard for 5 mins on those days), yet my mind is somehow making me feel like the most useless and lazy person and I just spiral into feeling really guilty about resting and not studying...

I procrastinate a lot since I am extremely avoidant from a fear of failure to reach my own standards. Found out that wathcing internet detox videos work a charm to snap back. Then I do everything to keep me in this state so I work only on paper to avoid opening yt and watching vids. And I physically make it so I cant move and procrastinate like working in the living room infront of my parents and tying myself to a chair. I also do not let myself eat until I reach half my daily goal or until I feel like my body is too faint to accurately perform in my studies. Toxic? Yes. Works? 90% of time, so a yes for me.

I'm appearing for my professional exams' final level, my last professional exam, and I have just 15 days left. I haven't studied nearly enough, nd I'm genuinely scared of failing because I cannot afford another setback.

The problem isn't that I don't know what to study. I've made a detailed, realistic 15-day plan with important chapters prioritised. I know exactly what I need to do to maximise my chances of passing.

The problem is that I just cannot get myself to start.

This has been happening for almost three years now. I know how important these exams are, I know the consequences of failing, and I know that every day I waste makes things harder. Yet, somehow, I still sit there unable to make myself study. Even when I finally sit down, I struggle to concentrate and actually get going.

It's incredibly frustrating because I'm not someone who necessarily takes a long time to understand things. I'm a relatively quick learner, and when I do study, I can catch up on material fairly quickly. I genuinely believe that if I could get myself to execute my plan consistently for these 15 days, I would have a fighting chance.

But that's the catch, isn't it? A perfect study plan is useless if I can't get myself to follow it.

I'm not asking for a new timetable or generic advice about making a schedule, prioritising chapters, or staying motivated. I've already done all of that.I want to know how to get past this mental block and actually start working, especially when the stakes are this high and time is running out.

For anyone who has experienced something similar, especially during demanding professional exams - What actually helped you break out of this cycle?Are there any practical, immediate techniques that helped you get started when you felt completely stuck?

How did you deal with the inability to concentrate, even when you desperately wanted to study?

Ok so im a 4th year medical student, family hx of adhd (both parents dont have it but all 3 of us siblings have it) i have a history of taking methylphendidate last year for 2-2.5 weeks under a doctors prescription but i immediately stopped taking it so bec i had started to suffer from extreme somnolence, it somehow made me 10x more sleepy and inatttentive, i had my finals in 2 months and it took 2 weeks to taper off the synptoms after abrupt stopping (10 mg) whicg i myself inc to 30mg.

Long things short, it didnt work at all and i couldnt risk having 2-3 more doc sittings and wasting my last 2 months w the sideeffects.

Fast forward to one year, i now again have one month left for my finals with 3x more course than j had last year and now i have this sudden attack of adhd to a point like i cant even sit straight for 5 mina. I have 9h screen time my brain is fried i wanna k*** myself. Ive always been a good student and i cant fuck up.

What do i do now? I dont wanna repeat that methylphenidrate phase again because it was useless asf. Tried putting my phone away and my head starts prompting distractive scenarios.
2 tbsp of coffee and i still sleep. What do i do? I still feel dull.

I'm a first-year student, and I genuinely need help with studying math. It's been about a month, and I've already failed two quizzes. I don't know what I'm doing wrong anymore.

I study for around 6–8 hours a day on average, with one rest day a week. I practically live on campus at night because of how much time I spend studying. I do tons of practice problems because I know math requires practice, but somehow, when the actual quiz comes around, I keep making "silly mistakes." I don't know why this keeps happening, and it's honestly so frustrating.

I feel so disappointed in myself because I genuinely try my best. I don't know what other study techniques I could use when practicing problems is already what I spend most of my time doing. I've even reached out to tutors, but I still feel like I'm not making enough progress.

I'm honestly scared of failing this class. I only have one quiz and two major exams left, and 40% of my grade comes from quizzes. So far, I've scored 55/120. I know that's not a good score, and I'm really worried about whether I can still turn things around.

I've never been particularly good at math, but this is the first time I've genuinely wanted to improve and get a good grade. I'm putting so much effort into this class that I've barely been sleeping. Most of the time, I sacrifice sleep to study and end up sleeping a lot on Sundays just to recover.

I really don't want all this effort to go to waste. I want to pass this class so badly, but I feel like I'm running out of time, and I don't know what else to change.

Does anyone have any advice on how to study math more effectively, especially when you understand how to solve problems while practicing but struggle during actual quizzes and exams? How do you stop making careless mistakes under pressure? Are there any study techniques that have genuinely helped you improve your math grades?

I'll take any advice, even if it sounds unhinged at this point. I'm willing to try anything that could help me pass this class.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this. I genuinely appreciate any advice you can give me.

Why is it like that, where am I getting wrong 🥲🙃

I’m an English major, and I’m usually really good about sticking to my weekly study schedules. I study every single day, and I actively use Anki and mind maps because my courses require a lot of constant repetition and recall

The problem is, whenever I actually take a day off to rest, my brain completely tortures me. I get overwhelmed with intense guilt, and my mind tricks me into believing that I’m going to forget everything I learned that week just because I took a 24-hour break

It makes me feel like I need to immediately open my notes and review the subjects all over again, even though my mental energy is completely zero on those rest days. Logically, I know it’s physically impossible to lose all my progress in one day—especially since my study habits are consistent—but I just can't shake the anxiety 😔

Does anyone else experience this kind of irrational study guilt? How do you guys quiet your brain and actually allow yourself to rest without feeling bad about it?

So, I (18F) completed my 12th-grade exams at the beginning of this year. I was a commerce student, but I decided to pursue a BA program.

I have a really bad procrastination problem. I spend the whole day thinking about studying, but instead of actually studying, I end up doomscrolling. Even while doomscrolling, I keep thinking that I should be studying, but I never actually start. I end up doing anything and everything except studying. Then, every night, I regret wasting another day and tell myself that I will definitely study tomorrow, but the cycle just repeats itself.

Now, even when I sit down to study, I get tired within 15 minutes. I also don't know how to study subjects like History and Political Science. Should I just read the textbook and make notes from it?

Even when I do study, I forget what I have learned within two days, and then I have to study everything all over again. I also can't get rid of my phone by putting it in another room while studying because I need to use it to study.

English isn't my first language, but all my subjects are taught in English, so memorizing information is a little difficult for me.

So, please give me any advice that might help!

To be clear, I don't feel tired AT ALL. I feel FANTASTIC, in fact. I've just heard that sleep is crucial for encoding memories and I know that this is supposed to drop your cognitive function substantially even if you don't feel it. I'm worried if I study today, it'll be pointless. I'm worried I won't recall what I learned yesterday or what I'll learn today later on now, even though I feel fine. I tried to look for a question like this on Reddit, and I shockingly haven't been able to find literally anything so far that asks my specific question under my specific situation for some reason. In my case I was not trying to do this. Again, I do not feel tired at all.

I'm supposed to study for my GED.

Short story short, I was drawing and accidentally got really, really locked in. I tell myself "okay, I'll just do this and then I'll sleep." Next thing I know, I did way more than I intended and oops it's 5AM. This is basically unprecedented for me, by the way. I'm usually fatigued quite quickly. I have literally been on a ROLL for some reason.

Is this a dumb question? Because again, I couldn't find literally anything asking this specific question under my circumstances no matter how hard I tried to look, it was all from people who were TRYING to do this. I wasn't. I need to be busy. Oops.

getting back into the whole studying thing (as an adult) to change career is so humbling.. I don’t think I even realized before how I‘ve never learned how to actually study.. like how did my brain obtain that information? Does anyone have tips or tricks as to how to handle being overwhelmed by the amount of information and not knowing what to really do with it or how to study it?

I am psychology ABA masters international student I love to learn .i m curious person i had paid my life off for this masters but yet i feel zoned out after an hour of lecture and even if i force myself to listen i would be out of track as i missed so many points.
While Zoning out i would be thinking about productive things related to study and life itself but not on the lecture. I would think i can go home and read text books and understand concepts at home with help of chatgpt. Idk i feel bad as i payed this huge amount for masters and i do so. I want to be expert in my field but still ido this . And when im home i will cut and paste full chapters from authors and paste in chatgpt and will study alone.

Anyone does same ???