DIY Study Guide for ADHD students

Posted on November, 20, 2024 by Susan Schaefer, M.Ed., M.A.T, Founder & CEO
 

What happens when a teacher doesn’t give out a study guide for a big test? Cue the panic!

For a student with ADHD, not getting a study guide can leave them feeling frantic as they struggle to figure out what to focus on and where to even begin. Without that clear outline, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, frustrated, and procrastinate. The solution is teaching students to DIY their own study guides.

Since most students with ADHD are visual learners, a visual study guide is best to try first. Here are the steps for making your own study guide: 

Step 1: Gather information

• • Collect your notes, previous tests and quizzes, hand-outs, and anything else that may be on the test.
  • Look for important terms, concepts, and facts that your teacher emphasized and highlight them. 

Step 2: Get organized

• • Using the material you collected, write a detailed outline that you think will be included on the test.
  • When writing the outline, summarize the information in your own words. Doing this ensures you know the information.
  • Break down the summary into smaller pieces and organize it by categories using bullet points
    • Look for important terms, concepts, and facts that your teacher emphasized.
    • For each major topic, use bullet points to write 5-10 of the most important information including the most important notes and details under each.

Step 3: Create visual aids

• • Types of visual aids include timelines, diagrams, flowcharts, and drawings to represent facts. ie. a timeline of events leading to the Revolutionary War or a labeling of a diagram of a cell. 
    • Note: A great resource to make visual study aids is www.canva.com  
  • You can create a mind map to show how all the information is connected and organized. Here is an example of a mind map of a student studying for a test in health class: 

Step 4: Create your potential test questions

• • Using the information you gathered and your previous experience with assessments from this class, create sample test questions. 
  • Be sure to use the same type of questions that will be on the test (i.e. essay questions, multiple choice, short answer, compare and contrast, etc).
    • Note: Quizlet is a great resource for testing yourself. Once you make flashcards on Quizlet, you can use the “test” feature to quiz yourself on the material. 

Step 5: Fill out the study guide!

• • Once you can answer all the questions correctly, change them around, reword them, and add or delete them.
  • It would be best if your friends would make one as well, then you can fill out each other’s study guides.

Bonus Step: Ask your teacher to review your study guide 

• • By doing this, you are making sure you are on the right track. 
  • Your teacher will be impressed with your initiative and may even give you some inside information for the test. 

Keep in mind that college professors will be far less likely to hand out study guides so knowing how to DIY your own study guide is an excellent study skill. Academic coaches can help your student learn active study strategies just like this through academic coaching. Click here to learn more about how our coaches at ACA can help!