<p>I am sure plenty of people have faced this problem when they started college, or any school, after a long, unstimulating break from school. I feel like I cannot read, write, reason as well as I did back in high school, especially my senior year. My mind was sharp; I feel like my brain atrophied over the summer and it is hard for me to focus and process information. Do I just lack motivation or can ADD/ADHD have later onsets? </p>
<p>If you need more information or have any tips, please reply!</p>
<p>Dude, you do not have ADD or anything. You have to do your granny merlin's nerdy trick to set things straight.</p>
<p>Gosh...</p>
<p>Granny Merlin thinks you should do the following thing...</p>
<p>Buy a big datebook
Get out all of your syllabi
Organise the datebook till midterms
Make sure you do not leave anything out of the datebook which are due right after midterms</p>
<p>Then do this...
Make daily to do lists for your schooling and be sure to include fun and games and clubs and things.</p>
<p>Stick to the to do lists until you take your last mid term</p>
<p>Then go to a party and relax
A day or two after the party, lather, rinse, repeat, for the rest of the term.</p>
<p>The more you try to focus on the layout of your courses as well as the schedule of your own personal life, the more your attention will increase and all of that good stuff.</p>
<p>My semester started 21 aug 06 and I thought that I had a mini stroke until I got all of my business organised. </p>
<p>the first few weeks after every summer, I always felt the same way. And like granny merlin said, what got me back in the loop was a scheduler. Without it, I would've been stressed beyond belief. Instead, since I kept every event I needed in there, I could look every morning and say "ok, what's on the plate for today?" and just go get 'em with confidence. It made an enormous difference for me.</p>
<p>What you need to focus is an OLD computer. Get a 486, cripple it with Windows 95, and install Word 97. It'll be slow as heck but will run Word (and nothing else) fine. This way you will focus in on what you need to and can't get distracted with the internet or games.</p>
<p>I just set my old 486 back up and have noticed a 100% increase in concentration during studying. The only time my mind wanders is when I realize that I can save my work to a 5.25" floppy.</p>
<p>Also, Word 97 is compatible with the newest versions for PC and Mac in terms of file format.</p>
<p>You can probably find the PC and software pretty cheap on eBay if you aren't lucky enough to have a 13 year old PC sitting around.</p>
<p>Also, exercise is good for stress. I advise you work out the day before a test no matter what your normal routine is. I usually take all my syllabuses and plan my workout routine around the tests.</p>
<p>Planners only work for 90% of the population. I can't use one, I just don't work that way.</p>
<p>A 486 is an Intel chip that drives a Windows-based computer. The 486 is the chip that came out before the Pentium I.</p>
<p>The trouble with using an older Mac is that even with a big word processor installed you still have enough RAM to open some other program (game) and get sidetracked. Windows 95 makes a 486 crawl and Word 97 doesn't help much. Old Macs are just too capable.</p>
<p>The 486 machines were made mostly from 1989-1995. They FLY with MS-DOS.</p>
<p>The original 1984 Mac, by the way, had a 68000 processor. I recommend the Mac SE/30 if you want an old Mac--that one has a ton of power.</p>
<p>Just wait until you get out of college, have children, and your favorite political commentary show airs at the same time as Blue's Clues....</p>
<p>I've been out of grad school for a couple of years now, and I so want to go back to school again, but it is just too hard to juggle work, family life, and grad school.</p>
<p>I have taken a side gig as an adjunct instructor at a juco. It helps, but it isn't the same as being in the classroom as a student.</p>