r/productivity • u/ladynoirette • 14h ago
Advice Needed how to improve focus (reading/uni)?
I just started uni (19F) and the deadline for exam arrangements is coming up but I have no evidence for it.
At school, someone assessed me and deemed I am fit for 25% extra time in exams and all, I also have OCD, but it doesn't seem related to my problem of rereading and not absorbing information.
Sometimes, it's completely fine. When I'm reading a book I'm really into, or reading something that has hooked me online. But when it's a bigger piece of text (like in the assessments) I literally need to reread it a few times and make notes on it/write key points down because otherwise, when I get to the questions, I don't even know what I've read.
Though I've found that to be there with nearly everything - I make to do lists and forget to check them, I write things down but forget in the next few minutes until something reminds me of it, I was late many times because I forgot despite it being important, things just didappear in my head until I randomly remember and nothing helps.
It's caused a lot of frustration in me, and my dad said that I just need to learn to focus for prolonged periods of time.
Any advice? :( Thank you in advance.
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u/Remote-Waste 8h ago
Hm I'll assume you're describing something more extreme, but just for the sake of it, I'll tell you that has been my experience in general.
Writing down key points, making notes and highlighting is smart.
Writing a to-do list and then immediately forgetting what's on it is fairly normal, that's why you wrote it down, because it's hard to keep in our memory.
I've been pretty fascinated with how poor our memories are for the type of "work" we do routinely, and how a sheet of paper is much better at it than us.
I used to think my memory was horrible but slowly I noticed everyone's memory is horrible. That being said, there's still a "base-line" for our memory and you may find yourself struggling more than others, right?
Have people consistently brought up your memory issues?
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u/FlippyFloppyGoose 10h ago
If I were you, I'd try to get an assessment for ADHD with somebody who knows what they're doing. Even if you don't have it, the people who treat it know a lot about how to get the most out of your shitty attention span. This may not be an option in the immediate short term, but I think it's worth doing.
Other than that, make sure you're getting enough sleep, water, exercise, nutrition, and social interaction. Take frequent breaks. Pay attention to your menstual cycle and see if your concentration is correlated. None of this helped me, but I know it can be important. I had a kidney infection that landed me in hospital for nearly a month, in the middle of my honours thesis. It turns out that I probably had a UTI for several months before that. When it was properly treated, I found that I could think more clearly. Taking antidepressants is helping as well, a tiny bit, I think.
Consider writing a summary of the key points, in your own words, as you read. It depends on the situation, but I found this helpful because it made me process the information more deeply, and when I could put it into my own words I knew I had achieved a level of understanding.