Very academic degree! Practical study tips

[peeps]

Hi everyone,

My names May and I have Dyspraxia. I struggle with:

poor short term memory
poor organisation (school work & life commitments)
low confidence sometimes- this leads to poor relations with people sometimes
poor concentration
writing speed & legibility
processing information quickly (especially text, I am more of a visual learner]

To top this all up I am studying Medicine despite these barriers lol lol

I am a firm believer in proactivity. I am aware of my weaknesses and know the degree will be 10x
easier without these barriers, but I also know nothing in life worth fighting for is easy.

I would really appreciate if you could all share your tips on how to get through a vast amount of knowledge efficiently
and how to organise myself better? What coping strategies do you use?

[Andrew_S_Hatton]

Thanks for posting I am sorry there have been no responses - have you had any solutions from elsewhere yet?

I studied before I knew I was DCD/dyspraxic and cannot instantly recall what study aids I had.

The biggest was an absolute determination to get the qualification because I had invested a great deal and seriously disrupted the life-style my wife & I had recently established recently after marrying three years before I commenced my training and I had given up employment I had held for eight years to change direction in my career.

I am not very familiar with this forum, but suspect these issues have been raised before and so if you have not seached the archive it could be worthwhile.

I continue to moderate the oldest social media dyspraxia for adults group I know of, which is just a month or so off of 20 years old. It is moribund now but has a big archive - that can be searched.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Dyspraxia/info

[pixiewithdocs]

Hi May, I hope you've had a good break and are looking forward to going back to your studies!

Your list of dyspraxia displays sound fairly similar to mine - for immediate recollection I make sure I have postits in my pockets and all my colleagues know that if they ask me off the cuff to do something that it has to go on a postit or it won't get done!

Since you're doing medicine no-one needs to understand your handwriting anyway right? Isn't difficulty with writing a pre-requisite for the course?! And in terms of time management and work/life/uni things, I strongly recommend a SERIOUS planner - not filofax, one better than a filofax, something really structured and sexy that never leaves your sight. That's because I don't trust technology, of course, otherwise syncing the hell out of the google suite on your phone, pc and any device is a good idea. Let the future help you!

Anyway, my best friend struggled her way through a degree in medicine with insance mental health issues and a lot of personal trauma going on, and is now really making a name for herself in pre-hospital specialisation (brag haha) so my advice for doctors in the making is: make sure the medical school know (of all the univertsity departments, surely they'll know how to help you best!) in case you get into any trouble, make sure your personal tutor knows, make sure your housemates know the best ways to help you meet your needs or to get out of your way when you just need to meet your own needs - take care of yourself and don't burn out. You need to schedule in rest time for yourself, and I mean it!

I hope this helpsand sending a big clumsy hug your way

x

[JoTaylor244]

Hi,
I do a plant sciences degree, I've always found writing and rewriting things helpful.
Good luck