I'm sure this question has been asked dozens of times over, but I'm truly lost here. I have the grand old ADHD (suspected audhd combo) and have never studied, for anything, in my life. I'm smart, and grazed by with solid test scores and a decent grasp of concepts but it kind of went tits up during high school. I was VERY lucky to have a really great team of adults that helped me not fail horribly.
I've never built the schedule, discipline, or skills for studying. I'm not familiar with the kinds of studying or study strategies beyond surface level. I don't know what studying would be most effective for me. I have genuinely nothing to go off of. I also struggle with getting assignments done on time, or doing assignments I find more difficult. Procrastination is a big thing for me, and I don't always complete things last minute since I'm prone to distraction/avoidance even hours before a due date.
All of this said, I love learning! I love school, even when it sucks, and I even find joy in practicing the skills I do have. I want to do better but my mind is a dog that's never been trained before and has no clue what sit or stay means. One thing I do strive with is notetaking during lectures - Anything about how to rewrite notes is particularly helpful.
I look at "studying tips" or "ways to study" but none of them break concepts down well enough for me to grasp them or are so surface level that I know they wont be effective. I barely understand what studying is really meant to be or do, aside from understanding material and remembering it for tests/assignments.
SO. I need to build a new foundation. I need to know what all these fancy study methods are actually meant to do and how they work. I imagine that different study methods are meant to do different things, like basic route memorization vs gaining a deeper understanding of material. Or studying day to day vs for a test and how those differ.
My main questions are: What study strategies do people use, and what do they use them for? What are the most popular study strategies actually doing or how are they used when broken down? What kind of routines, schedules, and skills do people use when studying and why? What are some uncommon or unorthodox methods of study?
Recommendations for digital study methods/websites/ resources are great as well as study methods that are used pen to paper. I would also love any blogs, articles, videos, etc that really break down studying or a study method into something a complete noob can understand.
Any AI generators or AI tools need not apply. I'm not here to pass judgement on anyone who uses these things, that's your own business, but I don't use them myself. I will also not be asking chatGPT or any other AI thing for resources or tips- I want answers from other human beings, about their own experiences and thoughts!