How can I stop procrastinating when I need to study for a test?

Question

Do you find that you cram before a test and your body sends you messages that this isn't the best idea? Well, that's because it isn't. New research shows that just studying 10-15 minutes a day on one subject will help you do better on a test than cramming.

We introduce ways to keep your studies short and sweet and if one strategy for study doesn't work there are other strategies that might stimulate your brain. The problem is that when the brain detects something boring it wants to switch tasks. There are 'tricks' and ways to get your brain to cooperate with you.

College is tough and most people who have ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder are challenged by symptoms that create obstacles for proper studying. It doesn't have to be this way. There are many ways to help you increase your focus and keep your grades up.

Answer 1

If you procrastinate when you need to study for a test, chances are you procrastinate very often, and for many other things. Procrastination is a habit. You simply avoid facing responsibilities until they are on your face. The good thing is that you can change. Stopping procrastination is not that difficult. I will approach this as a behavior analyst. Therefore, I will consider the stimuli that trigger the procrastination, the avoidance of the behavior that you should be doing, but are not, and the consequences that procrastinating have.

You have a test. The time when you should start studying has come, but you avoid it. Do you feel guilty about it? Do you get anxiety because you are not doing your work? Or do you avoid the guilt and anxiety by getting busy with other things? I am sure you avoid the guilt and anxiety. I am totally sure you have that guilt and anxiety because you are asking the question. Asking the question is asking for help, which is a way to fight your guilt. So, instead of fighting your guilt and avoiding the anxiety, face them. Yes, just sit there and do nothing when it is the time to study for the test. Sit there and think about the test. Contemplate the time after the test, when you will have screwed up and know you may have flunked, even when the test was easy. After a few minutes of that, have you been stimulated enough to start studying, or would you rather go to a party?

We need to have a situation that will foster the effort to study. Going to a party is a bad idea. Thinking about the outcome of not studying is a good idea.

Now, if you decide to study, you have a few problems to confront. Your mind may go in and out as you study, and after a couple of pages, everything is jumbled. You may have procrastinated so many times before that now you cannot make heads or tails of the current material. This means you need to go back to much earlier material before you can really grasp this. The longer you have been a procrastinator, the more difficult future lessons will be. You may also try hard to study, but your study methods may not be appropriate to your skills. In other words,you need a tutor. Ask the school for help. You may be dyslexic, have ADD, or simply have accumulated deficiencies. that are now costing you success. The biggest problem if you don't correct this can be something called "learned helplessness." It is a condition in which the person gets so used to failing that they stop making efforts. You don't want to get there. You have the inclination to ask for help. I am sure you will, and the help will lead you to succeed.

Answer 2

One way to make college less stressful is to keep up with the reading and other work. Take notes and take 15 minutes to review the class material every day. If you have an assignment, work on it as soon as you get it. This approach will make you feel in charge of your learning and will eliminate stressful last-minute cramming for a test or last-minute deadline pressure for a paper.

Answer 3

Hello Friend-

In my own experience of becoming academically successful with ADD, I find that a great way to beat procrastination is simply starting. This may sound like an oversimplification, but hear me out.

Many of us who have ADD literally feel like we're dying when we're bored, hence our generally shorter attention spans. Our brains are starved for dopamine and we go in search of short-term gratification to scratch this itch. Sometimes we just get stuck and it feels like we can't start, no matter how hard we try. Armed with this self-knowledge, here are some tips:

1. Get started with a short timer. Maybe it's five minutes, maybe it's twenty. But spending a small amount of time starting the work takes the pressure off of the beginning. Knowing it's a short time commitment makes it less scary, it'll be over before you know it, and now you have at least a little progress, which makes the task easier to return to.
2. If possible, designate a study space and only study there. Don't bring your phone to this place. You may find that each time you return to this space, it becomes easier for you to get into a working headspace more quickly.

For more tips, reach out to me! I have ADD myself and successfully learned to study with this different mind of mine, and I can help you too! I finished college this month with a 3.92 GPA after my late-in-life diagnosis.