Many people assume medical students are extremely bright and never have any academic difficulties. However this could not be further front he truth. Many Medical Students actually have learning disabilities such as ADHD, which makes absorbing massive amounts of information extremely difficult. For this reason, there is a lot of fear and uncertainty for medical student with ADHD. Being able to Study in med School is not impossible but takes deliberate planning and steps to ensure you are a successful student. In this article I will be discussing how to study in med school with ADHD.

Utilize Chunking

This is one technique which is  extremely effective. Chunking is simply taking larger pieces of information and breaking it down into smaller more digestible pieces. There are certain question banks which utilize the principle of chunking such as Picmonic and Med bootcamp. These contain bite sized questions rather than full vignettes, so that you don’t become overwhelmed with massive amounts of information at once.

Medical Students with ADHD should look for ways to simplify or shorten information so that it can be digested more easily. In the long run it will be much easier to recall and recognize information that you were able to easily grasp when you first were exposed to it.

Compartmentalize

It is important to only focus on a single thing at once. Often times students with ADHD have a tendency to want to focus on multiple things at any given time. From experience this only leads to a scatter brain and in the end instead of accomplishing one task you end up accomplishing no task at all.

Use Technology

Many medical students with ADHD struggle with reading large amounts of information. Medical Students with ADHD might benefit from switching the way in which they consume information. Rather than reading dense text, other modalities such as video or speech may be preferable. This can be accomplished by using Text to speech software. Software such as Murf.Ai  and speechify provide voiceovers in over 20  languages that can be used to convert text to speech. In fact this technology is emerging as a way that dyslexic and ADHD students can better process words and numbers.

Always Have A Plan if you have ADHD in Med School

Having a plan of attack before you begin studying can keep you from falling into the trap of sitting down to study but not really knowing what you are going to do next. Making this mistake will cost you precious time that could be spent actually studying and being productive.

One good way to prevent this from happening is to use a schedule template. One product that I recommend for this is Spreadhseet123, which contains a variety of free word and excel spreadsheets for things such as daily checklists, calendars, meal plans, etc. Another resource that contains schedule templates is Canva. On Canva not only can you use free made digital templates, you can also customize your own. Additionally sign up is free, and if you decide to upgrade to the pro subscription it only costs $9.99/month for a year.

Meet with Professors

Despite how hard medical school is, and even though you may think professors are trying to fail you, it is actually quite the opposite. The professors want you to succeed and are actually quite encouraging. At my school the professors regularly met with me outside of classroom hours to ensure that I knew everything and allowed me to ask them questions on anything that I didn’t understand.

If you are respectful, and show a desire to improve and become a better student, Profesors will gladly meet with you to ensure that you don’t fall behind.

Get accommodations if you have ADHD in Med School

This is one that a lot of medical students do not know about. There are many accommodations out there which are available for students with disabilities. These include things such as extended time on tests, or testing in a separate room. To obtain these accommodations communicate with the the Universtiy student disability center and be sure to present them with the appropriate documentation.

This documentation normally requires testing from a professional, as well as a past history of how your disorder has affected your previous academics.

Use the Pomodoro method

This is a method where you study in on and off cycle. So for example you could study for 40 minutes, and then take a 10 minute break to allow you brain a bit of time to rest and prepare for the next block of studying.

There are plenty of apps online which provide timers that go off at certain intervals to help facilitate this technique.

Become Data Driven

In the times that I did  well on a test I always took note of what worked and created a word document with all these notes. Even though you might think something is working if the results say otherwise then you have to rely on that information. Becoming good at studying efficiently is a difficult skill to learn. Improving comes from tracking your results over time and measuring which systems are working and which systems are not working.

Keep track of time

One problem students with ADHD have is that they have a tendency to run out of time on tests because they have trouble keeping track of time. Hours will go by but for students with ADHD it feels like a brief moment in time. For many this occurs either because they become too distracted or because they hyper focus on the wrong thing.

One way to practice keeping track of time on tests is to use questions banks which keep track of how long it takes you to answer questions. One question bank which does a good job of this is the True Learn questions banks. The format of how it keeps track of the time it takes you to answer questions can be seen below.

You can read more about the True Learn question bank here

Less is more for Students with ADHD in Med School

One common mistake when it comes to studying with ADHD is focusing on every piece of information that comes your way. Not only is this wildly  inefficient because not every piece of information is important, but also it leads to information overload. 

Rather than trying to allocate your attention to all of the information in your lectures, spend time focusing only on the important high yield topics that you are likely to be tested on.

Use Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is when you review a topic and then re-review after a certain interval of time has passed by. Many medical students with ADHD have the tendency to review something and then will forget to re visit that topic to really reinforce the information. This stems from not being able to plan things ahead in the future well and hyper focusing on the present. In Medical School this is a recipe for disaster.

Having something which automatically plans out your review sessions and then quizzes you on them can go along way for medical students with ADHD. Some good study tools that have spaced repetition features are anki, and Picmonic. Both of these tools quiz you on information and then show you the information again after an interval of time has passed. You can read more about the Picmonic question bank here

Don’t Copy what other people are doing

It might be tempting to just start doing what everyone else is doing but you have to remember that the other medical students do not have ADHD. You do! Make sure that you create a tailor made study plan that suits your own needs. Don’t create a study plan just because someone else says to.

Learn to Filter the outside environment

With so much stimulation every where it is very easy for medical students with ADHD to get distracted. It is important to create a situation where there is minimal distractions. This might mean silencing your phone shutting off your email.

Can you Survive Medical School with ADHD

It is Certainly possible to survive medical school with ADHD. It comes down to being aware of your unique circumstance and situation and planning accordingly. Fromy my own experience as a second year medical student, although it has not been easy, I am continuing to get through it by planning ahead of time and identifying which resources I will need for the future. For me this meant taking the following actions

1. utilizing the school’s Peer mentor tutoring services in which students are paired with an upperclassmen
2. Requesting the necessary accommodations on exams such as extra time and a quiet study environment. This is applies for Board exams as well
3. Meeting with the Schools Director for Academic Achievement to go over additional study strategies
4. utilizing question banks for better retention of important concepts

In Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to study better even with a diagnosis of ADHD. While having ADHD may put you at a disadvantage in regards to performing at the same level as your peers, it should in no way deter you from accomplishing your goal of becoming a doctor.