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Old Dec 23, 2013, 08:28 PM
Anonymous50006
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It's been suggested that I have ADD before by a psychiatrist when I was a little younger but my parents and I just ignored him because we sort of thought he was a quack.

But I have most of the symptoms…and have had since I was a child. It was just ignored because if I have ADD it would be the inattentive type and despite my inability to concentrate in most classes, I still got pretty much all A's my entire life, so nothing was thought of the fact that everything must be written down for me not to forget it, I've had to greatly adapt to make up for the fact that I can't concentrate/remember things and I can't handle remembering things that aren't written down—like a long or multi-part question or directions to an address. Or where I'm supposed to be when.

With modern day technology, I can adapt…I use the alarm on my phone, the calendar on my computer, and I also summarize things in to-do lists all in my journal in order to keep as organized as possible. But I constantly forget things, almost immediately as they're said or thought but if it's written down or I think really hard, I can often remember it.

This hasn't overly impacted my life as I've learned to adapt in almost every situation…except one. Remembering names of people, places, and things has always been difficult for me, but I'm going back to get my doctorate soon and I'm worried about oral exams…I had trouble with my masters oral exams, but my committee wasn't overly concerned about them and considered them a formality. But I couldn't even hardly remember the question they just asked, let alone be able to remember the proper words for the answer for a lot of the questions. And of course the oral exams are hard core and difficult for people who have no trouble with this at all.

Is there a way to adapt so I can remember questions and pay better attention in conversations and actually be able to remember the names of things? Some things I remember very well and some things I can't remember to save my life and I can't figure out why I can remember some things and not others.

Also, if I do have ADD, since I've adapted in everything but oral communication, would I even be diagnosed? I'm less concerned about the label/medication (I already take too much) than I am being at a big disadvantage in my oral exams which I may be able to fix if I use the disability services…but I'd need a diagnosis. Or is there a way to adapt and make my brain remember things orally, without having them written down?

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  #2  
Old Dec 26, 2013, 08:16 PM
kptclutch kptclutch is offline
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Member Since: Feb 2013
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 47
While I lack the capacity to offer any advice on whether or not you have ADD, I can certainly say our personalities overlap in terms of memory. I rely heavily on technology to assist me with keeping on schedule, keeping lists, producing study materials, etc.

BUT, I can recommend a book that will help you with any oral exam or presentation. Methods offered by the author are taken from Aristotle's memory methods that leverage something known as "memory palaces" as well as other memory techniques. Give it a try!

http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Ei.../dp/1594135312
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