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?

I genuinely want to become disciplined and improve my life, especially when it comes to studying. But somehow, I keep falling into the same cycle of scrolling Instagram Reels, playing games, eating junk food, and wasting hours even when I know I have important things to do.

The frustrating part is that I actually want to change. I make plans, feel motivated for a while, and then somehow end up doing the same things again. It's like I know what I should be doing, but I struggle to make myself do it consistently.

I don't expect to become perfect overnight, but I'm tired of repeating this cycle. For those of you who have struggled with procrastination and distractions, what actually helped you break out of it?

I'd appreciate some genuine advice from people who have been through the same thing.

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.

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!

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

I suck at chemistry and physics even though I study hard. The clear reason is that both are fields in which most of the material we handle is actually invisible or microscopic in real life, which makes it hard to understand how they actually work with calculations. Chemistry is especially my biggest struggle. They are based on elements, and it feels like almost nothing but calculating complex chemical reactions without understanding why the elements react the way they do.
Physics is pretty much the same as chemistry. I studied last time but I only got 55% on a test. I’ve been getting to hate chemistry and physics. They are the main reasons that I can’t get a better grade at all. Yet my teacher tells me to try my best in high school because all the classes we take require us to meet the standard.

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.

The title explains it. I am currently in 11th grade, I had promised to myself to actually lock in to study since last year, but for whatever reason I can't do anything no matter how hard i tried to convince my brain. I desperately needs to get good grades this semester or else I won't get into a good school and I am also scared of disappointing my parents. They have spend so much time and money trying to get my grades up through tutoring, but it will be useless without ME actually spending time to study. I am tired of trying to fight my brain that won't listen to me and ALWAYS get distracted by random crap all the time. I know I have the ability do be sucessful, but I need to find a way NOW before it is too late. Thank you if you are reading this :)

Btw this is what my absurd day of life looks like:

i tried to convince myself to studying as soon as i get home, but ended up watching some random ass youtube videos and scroll on reddit for 5 WHOLE HOURS, and after i finished my dinner i will proceed to watch more videos and reddit posts until 4AM... yes you hear it right, 4 fucking AM and sometimes even FIVE, not to account that my school starts at 8am which is clear that my distraction is so absurdly bad that it cuts into my sleep. (sleeping more won't solve my problem, even if i slept 8 hours i still still get distracted)

Even if i managed to get myself to start studying, I will get distracted 3 minutes later and even if I close all the tabs i will sometimes just stare at the screen mindlessly instead of doing my work

It is also not my fault that the school thinks it is a good idea to put EVERY SINGLE STUDY MATERIAL and assignments to be online

If this can't get better i am afraid i will go insane like my username

It hurts so much seeing my parent's dissapointed face everytime i show them my report card, I want to be sucessful just like everyone else...

Hello! I am horrible at studying. Like when I can make myself "study" it's really just briefly going over the notes I take in class and the slides and that's if I can study. Most of the time I just sit down and get distracted by whatever fiction book I'm reading or I open up Youtube and watch Law and Order. I don't want to do this anymore because I don't want to take any classes over.

I just don't know how I can make myself study and actually study greatly. Any advice would be great. If it helps, I am a biology major and my classes are Cell biology, Neurobiology, Evolution, and astrophysics meausements. I also have an ecology lab.

Hi, first time posting here. I have always struggled with taking tests or exams, even if they are for an easy subject. I study and tried different alternatives. The issue is that I feel like I understand the material and can explain it. I even test myself and I am able to do very well. But when I’m taking a midterm I find myself choosing the wrong option when it comes to multiple choice… i hate this so much.
I’m wondering if someone had this issue and was able to find a way to achieve better results and if you would mind sharing. I am in need of passing with good grades my classes and graduating soon. I would really appreciate any advice.
My current method is to review slides or notes from lectures, write the important or main points in paper and then create mock exams to test myself and see which topics I need more help with. I also try to explain to myself or my cat what I study.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

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.

Lately, I've been struggling a lot with my studies. I spend way too much time playing games, scrolling Instagram and YouTube, and getting lost in my own thoughts. Even when I know I should be studying, I keep putting it off and wasting hours on these things.

My sleep schedule is also completely messed up, which makes everything even harder. I want to get back on track, focus on my studies,and fix my sleep cycle, but I don't know where to start.

It's frustrating because I genuinely want to change, but I keep repeating the same cycle every day.

For those who've been through something similar, what actually helped you break this cycle? How did you regain control over your screen time, fix your sleep schedule, and start studying consistently again ?

I'd really appreciate some honest advice.

For the past few years I’ve been trying to understand the way I study/learn and I just can’t. I’ve tried using chat gbt, online quizzes, a whole bunch of ai’s I just feel behind everyone else. Recently I’ve seen a pattern I can retain the information when I connect the ideas together into categories. For example for one of my history classes we have 200 terms to remember and connect to eachother. What I did was I took the term and defined it then used the material in class to connect eachother. After that I put all the material on a Google Docs and tried to retrieve it from memory. I broke it up into 2-3 concepts per 5 minute interval. And for once it worked. But only so long until I couldn’t retain much longer took a break went back but nothing worked so what I did was I tried a different approach I made a review sheet with the simplest definition to remember and I active recalled it until I knew everything on the sheet. On the exam I knew exactly how to connect and answer what. So knowing this I’m attempting to apply it to my biology exam but I’m in no luck. We have 5 lectures that were getting tested on and I’m clueless. I spent 3 days trying to formulate a way to understand it and honestly I’m wasting my time. The other exam I used anki made 100s of cards and hopped between different material and testing myself and yet scored a 70 while others that studied the night before scored 90’s. I’m genuinely so lost rn. Like I know the best way I understand is through categorizing the ideas together but he gives us so much material and stuff I get so lost. Like we have objectives,study guides, textbook questions. My brain shuts down. I’m facing the same problem in my psychology class as well. I’m only working with a textbook and I’m just as clueless. I’ve been attempting to study for all my classes but i just keep facing the same problem over and over. So what do I do. Cause I know one thing I need to stop formulating plans and idea to start studying cause idek what I’m approaching before. I just need a way I know will work no matter what give or take the subject. Ok someone help me. Cause I know for a fact if I keep going like this I can kiss goodbye to all medical schools and honestly any career in general. Also idk if this helps but I’m usually a straight A student throughout high school i was top 10 in my class. I just fuck up every exam and never passed any ap exam in my life due to this problem.

All my life, I've been scared of getting a low mark or a low rank. I don't know when it started or why it started, but all I know is that I've been afraid, almost fearing result days in general.

When I think about it, I'm scared of how my teachers, family, and friends would react to my marks. Regardless of whether my marks are good or bad.

I've always been scared of judgement, and this is a prime example of that.

But my fear has increased over the years, to the point where I wish that I wouldn't need to write the exam just to escape the fear and anxiety that the result day brings. And this is something that I want to change, but I just don't know how.

Because this fear of scoring low, fear of judgement, and fear of rejection has cost me my confidence and is slowly taking away my love for studying. I want to be the best at what I do, whether it be academics, projects, hobbies, and more. But this fear of mine holds me down.

I want to achieve so much in my life. I want to do everything I've ever wished to do. And I want to put in the effort to do all that. To study and become disgustingly well educated. To have all the opportunities that I want, all the doors of opportunity open because I put in the hard work and the effort.

And yet, when I study and when it comes to exams, tests, and assessments, I wish nothing more than not to write them.

I think it is the fear of disappointing my parents and my teachers, who would've hoped that I would do better.
I think it is the fear of my friends getting a better score and laughing and looking down at me.

But more than that, I think it is the dread and emptiness that I feel when I get a low mark that I fear too. I cannot bear to sit in silence with myself, knowing that yet again, I have done badly and disappointed the people around me and myself. I fear that I will lose hope in myself, that I will lose confidence in achieving my dream.

I want to stop being scared. I want to stop being afraid of what people would say, of judgment, of losing, and of the anxiety and fear that it brings me. I've already given up a few opportunities, like performing on stage or participating in interschool debates, because of my fear. And I want to overcome it.

So, I want to ask you guys. What do you guys do? How do you guys cope with the anxiety and fear when it comes to exams and assessments? Or anything that's nerve-wracking?

Hi everyone! For anyone in need of studying anatomy and physiology terminology, I've created some crossword books. For me personally, things like this have made studying a lot more entertaining than just memorizing vocabulary and definitions on a page.

I'd rather not shamelessly self-promote, but I'll share the links to the books for anyone who is interested.

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?

Hello everyone , this is my second year in medical school and I struggle a lot with studying , I am the type of person who needs to write everything down so I can memorize and with many slides, it takes lot of Time and effort .
When I say I write everything down I mean literally everything , and when I see videos of students they say that active recall is what helped them but that seems impossible since some of my lecture slides contain more than 200 slides .
If anyone could help with the methods that worked for them .
That is why first year was so difficult to me and I really don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

Why is my most productive hour always the one before the deadline? Tell me I'm not the only one with a fake productivity ritual.

​

I'm getting closer to graduation, and I'm honestly scared of losing my motivation and not achieving the grades I'm aiming for.

I really want to finish strong and get excellent grades, but I'm worried about losing my enthusiasm, getting bored while studying, or struggling to stay consistent.

For those of you who managed to maintain good grades throughout university, what helped you stay motivated? Do you have any study methods that make learning less boring and help you stay consistent without burning out?

I'd love to hear your personal experiences, especially things that genuinely worked for you rather than the usual advice to "just be disciplined."

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

I’ve always been that kind of person that usually didnt need to study for tests to get good grades because i either paid attention in class or improvised and adapted with past knowledge of what the teacher is expecting me to write or just general knowledge, but now that i have a very important exam coming up this year (med school entrance exam) for which it is impossible for me to learn as i go, i find it very hard to sit down and make myself learn every single thing in that anatomy book. i really want to get in but at the same time i have no motivation. i made a routine, organised my time but i still just cant do it. has anyone ever been in a similar situation? how can i fix this? i also have unmedicated adhd so that could be a reason

It happens at least once a year for me, but it's hitting hard this time around. I just cannot find a logical reason as to why American History is actually going to be useful for me. I guess it's Somewhat important but that's not enough for it to be in my "top things to work on" list. It's especially difficult because this teacher always formats assignments in ways that my brain just absolutely hates.

Executive function is hard enough as is due to severe ADHD, but everything in this class is slowly pushing it further and further down my priorities list. I can't figure out any reason in my mind that the subject, formatting of assignments, or anything related would be any bit helpful to me. I can't even use the idea of critical thinking because these assignments don't make me do that. The only logic I've managed to get is "learning about it is important so that I'm not a horrible person and that i look like I care about the past slaves etc etc" and even then that's hardly enough for me to actually start working on assignments.

I'm just at a loss here. No clue what I can do that'll help. It's so difficult to just suck it up and do it anyway.

For the past few years I’ve been trying to understand the way I study/learn and I just can’t. I’ve tried using chat gbt, online quizzes, a whole bunch of ai’s I just feel behind everyone else. Recently I’ve seen a pattern I can retain the information when I connect the ideas together into categories. For example for one of my history classes we have 200 terms to remember and connect to eachother. What I did was I took the term and defined it then used the material in class to connect eachother. After that I put all the material on a Google Docs and tried to retrieve it from memory. I broke it up into 2-3 concepts per 5 minute interval. And for once it worked. But only so long until I couldn’t retain much longer took a break went back but nothing worked so what I did was I tried a different approach I made a review sheet with the simplest definition to remember and I active recalled it until I knew everything on the sheet. On the exam I knew exactly how to connect and answer what. So knowing this I’m attempting to apply it to my biology exam but I’m in no luck. We have 5 lectures that were getting tested on and I’m clueless. I spent 3 days trying to formulate a way to understand it and honestly I’m wasting my time. The other exam I used anki made 100s of cards and hopped between different material and testing myself and yet scored a 70 while others that studied the night before scored 90’s. I’m genuinely so lost rn. Like I know the best way I understand is through categorizing the ideas together but he gives us so much material and stuff I get so lost. Like we have objectives,study guides, textbook questions. My brain shuts down. I’m facing the same problem in my psychology class as well. I’m only working with a textbook and I’m just as clueless. I’ve been attempting to study for all my classes but i just keep facing the same problem over and over. So what do I do. Cause I know one thing I need to stop formulating plans and idea to start studying cause idek what I’m approaching before. I just need a way I know will work no matter what give or take the subject. Ok someone help me. Cause I know for a fact if I keep going like this I can kiss goodbye to all medical schools and honestly any career in general. Also idk if this helps but I’m usually a straight A student throughout high school i was top 10 in my class. I just fuck up every exam and never passed any ap exam in my life due to this problem.

I got accepted into uni 4 weeks after studies started. It was due to a lot of incompetence on their side. Basically, where I live people who aren't fresh high school graduates have to take a different path to apply and they take extra time and effort to do so. While others started studying I was still waiting for a response from them.

Now I have no idea where to start, I don't know if I should skip lectures and study on my own until I catch up, and I don't even know how to catch up, and its been around 2 years since I graduated high school so I'm struggling to remember the past curriculum which is the foundation for what I'm studying

Hi, I have a very important entrance exam in two days, and I have two questions: how should I approach these remaining days, and what should I do the day before the exam—especially regarding sleep? I have trouble sleeping when I have something important the next day; my sleep isn't restorative unless I'm extremely tired, but I don't want to exhaust myself.

I quit my studies couple years ago. I was studying sports in another country. I felt like i understood the lectures but when I would have homework I wouldn’t understand shit I felt like I had to come to study already prepared how to write scientific essays and so on. Felt so dumb and stressed. But the main thing was that I couldn’t find housing there I tried many things.
I lived for a month in different airbnbs to find a room
I was so stressed every day , also moving from place to place. I decided to quit and try again in the future. Till this day I am guilt tripping myself for that I quit my studies. I am scared to start new studies I moved again to the other country and can’t forget what i did couple years ago. And scared that I will be not good enough,not smart enough..