Do you score better if you take Adderall for the SATs?

<p>About athletic performance and Adderall/Ritalin, a friend of mine has ADD and takes Ritalin daily. He is a state distance runner and can run a 4:35 mile. Just thought I'd mention that.</p>

<p>Well, I take something called focaline.. It is the "Cocaine" of ADHD meds... It makes Adderrall looks like fire works. </p>

<p>I have seen people take it during exam week. Normally they will stay up all day, they will be very impulsive during the exam which will screw you over... If you think B might be the right answer... You will put down B too fast to read D and you probably won't. Your brain won't think through decisions... Sort of like speed in many ways.
You will write essays in a confused manor.. Your thoughts won't be in order and the like.</p>

<p>I take focaline everyday, I will tell you the first 2 weeks didn't help but after that my ADHD was not a problem.</p>

<p>^^Okay, first of all it's spelled Focalin.
As far as the "cocaine" of ADHD medications, I would say that Desoxyn would fit that mold. Desoxyn is prescription methamphetamine, while Focalin is just the right isomer of the methylphenidate molecule (dexmethylphenidate). For reference, ritalin is pure methylphenidate, as is the Daytrana patch, Concerta, and Metadate.</p>

<p>All prescription stimulants boil down to 2 drugs: amphetamine and methylphenidate. Everything else out there is either the left/right/mixed isomers of those 2 molecules, or a different delivery system. </p>

<p>For example, the new stimulant Vyvanse (Lisdexamphetamine) is just Dextroamphetamine (same as brand name Dexedrine and also the right isomer of the amphetamine molecule) bound to the amino acid l-lysine to prevent abuse. Since the l-lysine has to be cleaved off in the GI tract to metabolize into its active form, the drug can't be as readily abused by snorting or injecting. There are ways around this security measure (such as using Trypsin, which will cleave off the l-lysine and activate the dextroamphetamine. Shire initially wanted the drug to be marketed as a non Schedule 2 drug, which would allow prescribers to phone in scripts as well as add refills.</p>

<p>-Takes Molecular and Cell Biology C62: Drugs and the Brain off his course list-</p>

<p>Seriously.</p>

<p>True confessions time: many years ago, I took Ritalin (the highest prescribed dose) to help with GREs. Result: 1270 (V + M). Several years ago, I retook the GREs having consumed only coffee. Result: 1420, and I didn't prepare except for reviewing the math (and I hadn't been anywhere near a math book in 20 years). I don't have ADD/ADHD. </p>

<p>Your mileage may vary, but the Ritalin did not help me and probably hurt because, in retrospect, it made me overconfident and careless.</p>

<p>about athletics, these drugs actually decrease your performance in the long run because they raise your resting heart rate like woah. my resting heart rate is over 100. it may work in the short run, like pounding a red bull before a match, but not in the long run.</p>