I am built different, but it’s more that I’m built incorrectly: I just can’t memorize. My ADHD/autism makes it impossible to memory dump because I can’t pay attention unless I find it interesting. If I don’t engage with it on a deep level, I don’t learn anything at all, even for a test.
Despite more than a decade of classes, I can’t even understand complex conversations in Spanish. I was never forced to use it in my day-to-day life, so I never learned anything. On the other hand, I joined college level courses late while in high-school, yet still scored higher than everyone else on the end of the year tests. I found psychology and economics intuitively fascinating because I could see how they shaped the world around me.
It may sound obnoxious, but my study strategy was to genuinely learn stuff and integrate it into my understanding of reality. I find learning fun, so I’m able to focus and learn better than most people. It’s a truly broken ability.
I am built different, but it’s more that I’m built incorrectly: I just can’t memorize. My ADHD/autism makes it impossible to memory dump because I can’t pay attention unless I find it interesting. If I don’t engage with it on a deep level, I don’t learn anything at all, even for a test.
Despite more than a decade of classes, I can’t even understand complex conversations in Spanish. I was never forced to use it in my day-to-day life, so I never learned anything. On the other hand, I joined college level courses late while in high-school, yet still scored higher than everyone else on the end of the year tests. I found psychology and economics intuitively fascinating because I could see how they shaped the world around me.
It may sound obnoxious, but my study strategy was to genuinely learn stuff and integrate it into my understanding of reality. I find learning fun, so I’m able to focus and learn better than most people. It’s a truly broken ability.