Lack of concentration and studying

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I'm currently preparing for exams and I'm having a tough time focusing. I find that when I'm reading/learning something, I tend to notice the things I already knew and disregard other things. I'm also very easily distracted and my mind tends to wander off. My grades are very important to me as I have a (small) chance of becoming a PhD student so I'm always trying to expand my knowledge in all sorts of areas, but it seems like my brain prefers learning new details on topics which I already know quite a lot about instead of entirely new topics. I find it very exhausting to study for exams and I have almost no time at al left for leisure during the school year.

Does anyone have these problems as well? How do you deal with it? Sometimes I wonder whether I shouldn't be taking Ritalin or something.

I need to start by saying that I'm new to the site and Im not diagnosed with anything specific but i think i have many of the AS symptoms i've read about, so mabe my answer will apply to you somewhat. I'm a college student and while i think most people have trouble studying for exams, some of us have more trouble. I do a few things to try to keep down the distractions and mind wandering. First, try periodically switching between subjects your studying. I've found that trying to do a multi hour marathon study session of one subject results in more wasted time than anything else. I spend usually about 45mins to 1 hour on a single subject before switching to something else. I'm a chemistry major and if i sit down and try to crank out math problems for more than an hour at a time, i ruin my attention span for the rest of the day. So work on something until you feel yourself getting worn out, then switch. Try to rotate stuff so that you can reward yourself for working on something particularly tedious. If you really like a particular subject, then first work on the one you hate, then when you get tired of that, switch to the liked subject to try to refresh yourself. Also, i find that finding a quiet part of the library helps me focus. I get immediately focused on other people's conversations i can hear, or stuff i can see out a window. so mabe try finding a quiet, boring looking area free of things that move or make noise. And if you have a cell phone, leave it at home, cell phones can be very distracting. I made the choice about a year ago to get rid of my cell phone to try to help my focus on school and it has been the best academic choice ever. I just couldnt leave the darned thing alone, even if i wasnt using it for anything, i would spin it, reflect light off of it, look at the time every 2 mins. Anyway, the key is finding where your roadblock and time wasting and distractions occur and try to eliminate them. None of this is anything magic (i wish it was), its all the little things that add up. Good luck! And as far as leisure time, talk to other people who are working on difficult things, i think youll find that many of the serious ones don't have much in the way of leisure time.

Two things that have helped me:

1. I need to get out of my home, otherwise I'm distracted by everything else that I either need or want to do there. I'm supposed to be studying and the next thing you know I'm folding laundry or playing video games. The library is too far from my house so I often go to a friend's house down the street. She works full-time and has a boyfriend so she's not home much. (In exchange I care for her pets.)

2. I've found this past semester that listening to music improves my concentration, but it has to be instrumental and have a reasonably fast beat. Vocals are distracting to me when I'm trying to process other words at the same time. Classical music was putting me to sleep but then I started listening to some dubstep/chillstep and that actually was helping me stay alert and on task.

Studying in smaller time chunks through out the day allowing you to take breaks.

Taking advantage of time consuming things that are inevitable like being on the bus or train to and from school. Heaphones/music might help if it's too distracting.

Organizing the info. you have to study in smaller chunks and kept prioritized in terms of what is the most urgent to learn and what you know you will need to spend more time on.

Start studying some time in advance before tests. Don't wait till last minute/night before.

Keep well hydrated. Don't study when you're hungry.

This topic is of great interest to me. I have a terrible time concentrating on uni work. I get excellent grades, but the enormous effort and hours that it takes to be able to concentrate for more than a few minutes is unbearable. I have trouble just reading a sentence to the end without forgetting the beginning. And writing is even more difficult. It is like I can't maintain concentration to form a complete sentence or concept in my head. It can take all day to read a couple of pages or write a paragraph.

I think I would qualify for an ADHD diagnosis. My working memory is very poor.

As for tips to study, I have tested out everything that I can think of. I actually find that the biggest help is to do my work in a rapid burst. I will work super hard and fast for a very short amount of time (eg. Like you are in an exam). I get myself all hyped up, usually only for one hour. This is actually the only way that I can do any work, by doing a disjointed series of bursts over several days or even weeks. It completely drains me afterwards, but is far better than slogging through endless hours of achieving almost nothing.

The other best thing that I have worked out is that I need to work in an environment that is not static. I find it easiest to work outdoors, or somewhere that people are moving around. I think this is because it is giving me some kind of extra sensory stimulation that allows me to SIT and READ which provide so little sensory stimulation that I want to poke my eyes out. I feel like it lets the distracted part of my brain be occupied enough to let my working brain do its thing. Similarly, I sometimes walk around while I work, or bounce on an exercise ball.

Perhaps you can explore if there is a way that you absorb information more easily. I realised that when I read I have to work ridiculously hard to take in the information. But if I listen to that same information (I usually get the computer to read it to me) it is far better. Listening means that I don't get stuck on words, there is no time to drift off because the computer will just continue on, and it also let's me walk around while I'm listening. What works best for me is if I get the computer to read to me whilst I follow with my eyes, again I think it's that extra input.

I hope these tips are of some use to you. I understand your frustration. Although I sound like I have found some things that work it is still an unbearable situation. I am due to begin uni again this week and to be honest I can't even bear the thought of the mental toll the concentration takes. It is sad that the hardest part of doing the work has nothing to do with my ability to understand the work (I find it simple), but everything to do with being able to sit and actually do it.

Good luck.