I've recently found out that I have ADHD. One of the things I am struggling with is related to school and grades. Please don't take any of the following as bragging, etc. I ask it because I am having difficulty accepting that I have ADHD. I know this is pretty common. I find many, many things in my life that fit with ADHD. But, I find some areas that don't seem to fit.

I've done a lot of reading, and seen that many people have: difficulty reading, difficulty taking tests, learning disorders, etc. It seems many people have had great difficulties in school.

For me, I haven't necessarily had these difficulties. I found that I almost always did well on any standardized testing and was able to do well in classes when I "applied" myself. Plus, I have always been an avid (almost voracious) reader.

I did well for the most part in grade school and high school. I had (and still have) CONSTANT problems with procrastination. I would put off homework, studying, papers (and pretty much everything in my life) until the absolute last minute. But, usually was able to pull it out in the end. I've tried just about everything over the years to get over procrastination, but I found that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get anything done until the last minute. Now that I have more of an understanding of ADHD, this is starting to make sense to me.

Anyway, once I got to college (engineering) things were somewhat different. I made it through, but my grades fluctuated from A,B's one semester to C,D,F's the next. At the end of college we had to do a line chart of our GPA by semester - and mine looked like the teeth on a saw blade :(.

I ended up going to graduate school (business) after that and did much better. Part of this, I believe, had to do with the fact that this included many team projects. Plus the grad school I went to had significantly less distractions for me than undergraduate.

Anyway, my question is: have any others done well in school and standardized tests? Obviously,this would have to be without medication because I didn't know about ADHD in myself until a few months ago.

I was always advanced in primary school, I used to have to go up a grade for reading classes, as I was the only one who could read in my class :)
That all came tumbling down when I was about 12-13...and it kept going downhill from there!!!

I did, for the most part. Science was my rough subject through high school, as well as some of my history classes. I sailed through 3 years of honors math and lost it at precalc. I did well in English except for the marking period that I just didn't feel like doing anything. Most of my papers were pulled from my butt, but they followed the standards that were set.
The bad grades I did get were mostly from not doing assignments or knowing how to study.
I did great on state tests and SATs and pulled a respectable GPA, but I was a mess when it came to college. I've been to 4 different schools and have 6 non-transferrable credits to show for it!

My 4th grader has received *maybe one B since starting school. Yet he has almost no real reading comprehension skills. The ability to compensate for deficits is a blessing and a curse!

I was much the way you described. I didn't have any problems in grade school. My problems didn't begin until high school - and then it was math. Anything math related was a nightmare for me.

I get good grades at tests, always have; the problem for my overall grades is homework. HK is my doom.

Did well in grade school, high school, and graduated college with a science degree and a GPA of 3.7 (please forgive me if this sounds like patting myself on the back). (I asked the doctor who diagnosed me about why I could do well in school. His said that school is very structured and more forgiving when compared to the real world - for me anyway.)

Troubles began after college. I took a technical job at a pharmaceutical company that required a lot of attention and detail. The amount of detail this job required was more than I could compensate for. This led to a lot of frustration for me and my employers.

Left that job to become the office/billing manager for a physical therapist. Found out that filing insurance claims/keeping track out of accounts was not for me either. Still needed a lot of attention to detail and also I hated talking on the phone to all the ins. cust. serv. reps. Yuck!

Went back to pharmaceutical company. This time worked in a lab that required (forced) me to detail all the testing I did (step by step) in a scientific notebook. This was very tedious, but at the same time was so good for me. I could go back and see exactly what I did the day before or even the month before. Also, it was therapeutic.

Two years later, I left that job to try medical transcription. I really like MT because I find the subject matter extremely interesting and also it requires less organization. Also, not so many corporate rules to remember/follow and nobody (except hubby and kids) interupts me when I work. The bad thing about this job is that I don't feel like I am living up to my potential. For the most part though, I am happier. The funny thing is I have started planning my next career move.

I was just recently diagnosed with ADHD. To be honest, although I am very disorganized and forgetful, it does not bother me much. It is the impulsiveness, the irritableness, and the boredom that I hate plus the social awkwardness. I feel that I take much of this out on my family and I hate that. It's just that they don't seem to move fast enough for me. I would think it would suck to have a mom that is always yelling "HURRY, LET'S GO!"

These are my random thoughts. I'm not sure if they can help with your situation, but hopefully all of us will realize we are not alone.

Did well in grade school, high school, and graduated college with a science degree and a GPA of 3.7 (please forgive me if this sounds like patting myself on the back). (I asked the doctor who diagnosed me about why I could do well in school. His said that school is very structured and more forgiving when compared to the real world - for me anyway.)

Troubles began after college. I took a technical job at a pharmaceutical company that required a lot of attention and detail. The amount of detail this job required was more than I could compensate for. This led to a lot of frustration for me and my employers.

Left that job to become the office/billing manager for a physical therapist. Found out that filing insurance claims/keeping track out of accounts was not for me either. Still needed a lot of attention to detail and also I hated talking on the phone to all the ins. cust. serv. reps. Yuck!

Went back to pharmaceutical company. This time worked in a lab that required (forced) me to detail all the testing I did (step by step) in a scientific notebook. This was very tedious, but at the same time was so good for me. I could go back and see exactly what I did the day before or even the month before. Also, it was therapeutic.

Two years later, I left that job to try medical transcription. I really like MT because I find the subject matter extremely interesting and also it requires less organization. Also, not so many corporate rules to remember/follow and nobody (except hubby and kids) interupts me when I work. The bad thing about this job is that I don't feel like I am living up to my potential. For the most part though, I am happier. The funny thing is I have started planning my next career move.

I was just recently diagnosed with ADHD. To be honest, although I am very disorganized and forgetful, it does not bother me much. It is the impulsiveness, the irritableness, and the boredom that I hate plus the social awkwardness. I feel that I take much of this out on my family and I hate that. It's just that they don't seem to move fast enough for me. I would think it would suck to have a mom that is always yelling "HURRY, LET'S GO!"

These are my random thoughts. I'm not sure if they can help with your situation, but hopefully all of us will realize we are not alone.


Our experiences are quite similar. Just because you do well in school (high structure environment) doesn't mean that it will always translate into an exciting and succesful career path. This is true for a lot of us with ADD.

(in what follows, I am in no way trying to brag on myself -- just sharing my story). I'm 30 and was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. My grades got progressively worse throughout high school -- from A's, B's as a freshman to B-'s, C's as a junior-- but my senior year I had the perverbial "light bulb" moment and realized that to do well I was actually going to have to apply myself. I'm naturally very disorganized and absent-minded, but always had quite a bit of self-discipline, and to do well in school (and now in work), I had to really regiment everything I did (to the point where most people probably thought I was the exact opposite of ADHD). I did well in college and law school, and I'd like to think I've been pretty successful as a lawyer. But my life is a continuous struggle to stay on task, and procrastination is still my worst problem. The best way I've been able to explain it to my wife is that the way she is normally and, to a certain extent, subconsciously, I've got to continually work at on a conscious level.

I'm 41 and was diagnosed last summer. Had straight As until high school where I got an occasional C when I hated the teacher (I believe I had two Cs total). I was in the top 2% of my high school class (about 400 students), tested well on the SATs, went to a top 5 liberal arts college, tested well on the LSATs (though nowhere near as well as SOMEONE on this board... ;)) then a top 25 law school, where I did well again. Now I'm doing well as a lawyer. Procrastination is also a HUGE bugaboo for me.

I had the same question when I was diagnosed just because of everything I had heard. And the response was that I'd naturally developed good coping skills. That last part is true. Somehow I naturally settled on a lot of the things (neatness, organization, routines) with my home life that I needed to cope there, but not so much with my work life. Again, though, the main issue with work is the procrastination.

Once I accepted the diagnosis and started studying up I saw all the signs. They were there all along, but masked.

Oh, and I'm female and primarily inattentive, so it's not uncommon to get diagnosed late, if at all.

I had always done extremely well in school. I even skipped a few grades here and there, so sometimes I have issues with the whole ADD thing; it has helped me though to be on the medication so I try not to question it.

Same here blueyeyore.

My parents dealt with my non-Dxd issues back in the 60s and 70s by making me skip multiple grades so I would be challenged. We also moved a lot, and I would get put back a grade or two for various reasons. Then, I'd have to skip again and then some.

While that helped some with my distractedness and kept me challenged, it was hard because I was often disliked by my older classmates. I was the "tag-along younger kid," the "Johnny-come-lately," the "smarty-pants" and the "teacher's pet." That's because teachers were the only ones who really understood my plight and respected me. They protected me from the bullying and ridicule, and booted two students out after one very traumatic experience I suffered in 6th grade. All I wanted to do most times was to please my teachers by showing how much I had learned and knew. I tried to connect with other students by helping them with their homework. But with most students, and some teachers attuned to my "social skill deficits," I didn't help matters much by raising my hand all the time and blurting out answers.

Here are some of the report card comments from 7th grade ('69-'70). Negative: Doesn't show respect. Isn't cooperative. Does not make good use of time. Doesn't complete assignments. Isn't well organized or neat. Poor penmanship. Mixed: He could be an excellent student. He has the potential, but he is too restless and distracted too easily. Positive: He has great ability to be on the top. Shows sportsmanship. Works independently and well with a group too. Observes safety practices and is personally neat. He should progress this last period. (Last period: Very strong-willed. Can do much better.)

Oh well, I eventually graduated cum laude from college and scored over 92 percentile in the country on my graduate school admission exam (I didn't get extra time and figured out a way to finish). I graduated in the middle of my class at one of the top two universities in the country.

As for my improvement over my 7th grade report card, I can say that I did do better. On the other hand, I still have problems with making good use of time, completing all the details of assignments, restlessness and distractability!

I don't worry now about the fact that ADHD wasn't recognized back then. I just accept the facts and try to do better one day at a time. :cool:

I was on the honor roll every year, never got anything less than an A in my life, even in college, in high school I was in Honors Classes (with the weighted grades), the Honor's Society, I won a state award for an essay that I forgot to do for homework and concocted in 20 minutes, was on the debate team in school, sang at the east coast music festival level and played piano and violin. Graduated number 7 in my class.

The other half that pertains to ADHD is that I was suspended the maximum allowed time each year, I fought, pulled fire alarms, skipped school, was caught under the influence of drugs numerous times every year since seventh grade and I was gothic (mid 90's was high school) sent home to change often, was really popular but never cared for most of them, had (and still have one of them) enough true friends to count on both hands, the rest was social facade and merely attraction to those who wanted to rebel against their parents by hanging out with or dating the 'freak'. I am not exactly ugly and I can charm a sociopath if I want to so I can understand my 'appeal'.

I got in trouble in 1st-3rd grade for doing all my work for the day in an hour and then proceeding to read books for the rest of the day. I was admitted to a gifted/talented classes in 4th grade and continued with them until I graduated from high school. I won numerous academic awards in everything from math-english. I got bored easily even though I was in a g/t program, but I managed to do well by making up my own assignments. I always hated the work my teachers assigned, but I would think of an alternate assignment and ask them if I could do it. I managed to get permission to do this all through elementary, middle and high school. In college, I would go speak with my professors during their office hours and propose essay topics to them, etc. and receive permission to do them instead of whatever they had assigned.

I graduated #2 in my high school class and went to the 1st of 4 universities I attended. I did well my freshman year of college, but all hell broke loose soon thereafter. My bipolar became significantly worse and I dropped out and worked as an exotic dancer. I went back to school numerous times (each university involved multiple "medical" withdrawals-- I wasn't diagnosed as bipolar and ADHD until recently, but each time I would drop out, the deans would label it medical for psychiatric reasons). All the while, I maintained a 3.7 GPA. The last time I dropped out (from an Ivy League school), I told the dean that I believed they were brainwashing me and if I continued my studies I would no longer be able to win the Nobel Prize for literature.

Since then, I've considered going back to school numerous times, but haven't quite gotten around to doing it. At this point, I'm not sure that I would be able to handle the stress. Although I always did well in school, I am completely incapable of holding a job for any length of time. I have a tendency to fight with whatever boss I have and manage to get fired from just about every endeavor I've tried. Fortunately, I discovered dogwalking. I'm self-employed and it suits me well. I work my butt off, but make a decent living and there's no way in heck that I will ever be anything but self-employed again.

Another interesting aside-- I had neuropsychological testing done this summer (which led to the ADHD/bipolar diagnosis) and it also uncovered an auditory learning disability. In thinking back upon it, I realize that I learned to compensate for this by developing a system to translate everything into a visual form so that I could remember it. (I have all my clients trained to text message me-- this eliminates a lot of confusion because I don't have to remember any auditory information) I also developed my own form of shorthand for taking notes so that I can record absolutely everything a teacher/professor says and do not have to rely on my auditory memory. I also tried to pick classes that only involved writing papers and did not involve tests. This sucked the semester I had 4 5-7 page papers due every week, but it was still preferable to taking even one test!

I got good grades too for the most part and also read constantly. I definitely had problems with procrastination, though, and still do. I liked learning/school and love reading so I think my tendencies towards "hyperfocus" helped me out there. I would definitely space out during geometry class, though. Snore...

Yep. I always got good grades, but don't remember paying attention much. Seems I'd catch the concept pretty quick and doodle and daydream the rest of the class away. Always did great/above average on the standardized tests. Seems like a lot of ADHDers are big readers - I was different in that way, some kind of LD I guess. Hated reading. All the more surprising that I managed to get such good grades. Loved science and much of math. So so SO hated English and writing essays, that's where my B's were. Also hated anything that required plain memorization like "Social Studies"/Geography. BORING! Have to admit that my good grades in those classes were attributed to creative cheating techniques. So...hated school but got good grades anyways, with an occasional "needs to participate" "needs to apply herself". Bleh.

College was another story. Finally I was challenged - and really enjoyed that. Still never studied until the last minute and was starting on a serious drinking career - and yet, got pretty good grades and got my useless degree. It was fun, though. I liked college.

Yes. And I can still get good grades off medication if I try extremely hard or the topic is especially fun/interesting/engaging.

High IQ, could get into any university course I wanted, blah blah.

ADHD is not an intelligence problem.

EDIT: Of course, once I actually got to college, I spent too much time drinking, socialising and avoiding going to lectures. I did approximately 0 study, but that's just a rough estimate. ;) Which is why I've gone back on medication. It's working well so far.

I didn't start taking medication until I was 38, and only then because things came to such a head for me that I was at the end of my rope, personally and career wise.

I did extremely well up until puberty. I was always in the advanced class of my school and was always considered gifted. Even though I had teachers that appreciated my mental ability they continuously had to remind me to stay out of other students business. I would always finish my work, get bored and start my own "extracurricular projects", which were extremely disruptive to the class, but I didn't appreciate how annoying I was, and always felt unfairly done by when disciplined.

Puberty, combined with the ADD, did a real job on me, and I barely kept my grades up enough through high school to make it into University.

University was hell for me. It was the low point of my life. I really felt useless and stupid. It took me eight years to complete a four year undergrad degree, and there was no way I would have been able to move onto to a post-graduate degree, even though I wanted to. My biggest life's regret was not having the benefit of medication during my 20's, but at least I finished what I started, and the suffering made me into the stubborn *** that i am today.

Yes and no. Shipped off to a gifted and talented program when I was a tot, I was smart enough to figure out how to make C's on tests without really learning, spent my time doodling and completely became overwhelmed when I got to college the first time. At 39 I finally went back and finished my bachelors and almost destroyed my family by hyperfocussing on classes for two and a half years. I graduated suma cum laude, though, and did it without meds...though if I had it to do over again...

I never got good grades in school because I never did my homework. I always tested well, and I actually paid attention in class. It was when I got home that I never felt the urge to do work. I simply felt I had better things to do with my time out of school than to do school work. I never got medicated until I was in college, and I stopped taking my meds after a month. To this day I am unmedicated.

IQ tested in the 100th percentile and had no problems in primary school, but grades went down from 13-14 .. I was tested the best of 150 in grade 7 and my final exam marks were probably the lowest. University .. ground to a halt within 6 months.

Yup. Well, I guess I'm still young, but... top of my class in highschool, and in my fifth of what will be six years of undergrad. University has been an alphabet soup of marks from A to F. Not looking forward to explaining those huge inconsistencies on my transcript down the road. Interesting about reading - I loved it as a kid, but stopped in highschool because I would hyperfocus on it to the point it interfered with my life, like reading all night to find out what happened at the end of the book. Intelligence and attention not a problem here; control of the latter, however...

up until high school i did...then it went down like a bobsled corse......got the dx late high school and did ok threw college....i went from A's in gr 8 to F's in gr 10

i got good grades at school. Did really well.
It was after I left hill, things went downhill. There were too many choices and options. Different routines to get used to etc.
Meds are helping, routines are getting better..

IQ tested in the 100th percentile

Really? I'm travelling at the speed of light.

Kidding. I'm aware it's a rounding. ;)

I was one of the best students allt through high school, but never did anything for it- skipping classes, or spending them exchanging notes/whispering with classmates or reading something that din't have to do with class (got in a lot of trouble for that, almost failed about 100 times because of lack if atttendance, but they let me graduate because of my results).

God, that din't come out well, I sound like I'm braggging and is really full of myself. I don't have ta patence to re-phrase it, so I'll just say sorry.

Btw, one thing i could never understand is why e.x. my English teacher (I live in Norway, so "English class" does not mean what it means to native english speaker) would go mad at me for reading Hemingway, Steinbeck etc. in classes where they thought things I already knew. My techer knew that I knew, and I din't disturb anyone by sitting still and reading, and I read great American and English novels, that should be relevant in en English class?

I did crappy at school until my Jr high year then it was like I caught up and zoomed by my classmate - that is the story of my dyslexic life always doing things a** sdrawkcab!

i've always been an avid reader. Was so advanced that after preschool, i was only in kindergarden for 2 weeks before they transferred me to a first grade class. Why? i was bored. i had no interest in playing with playdough and dolls, and watching my peers eating paste. It wasn't stimulating enough for me.

i was always more advanced in my classes, and frankly it drove me crazy having to wait for the other kids in class to catch up to where i already was. Reading, writing, science, history...loved it. Soaked the information right up and wanted more. And then there was the math. i always had a problem with it. Couldn't figure numbers in my head, but if i had scratch paper, i could do it. i was ok with that, though.

i never took algebra in hs, so when i got to college and had to take it it was a bad thing. Even in my placement testing i got 97-99 on every subject except math. On that i only got a 25. For some odd reason i have no trouble whatsoever with the geometry...but simply cannot grasp the algebra. In class, the professor was the math department chairperson, and when she worked the formulas on the board...i was completely lost in minutes. It just didn't make sense how she could get a number from a letter. And to make things worse, when she asked the class if everyone got it...everyone did but me.

As a kinesthetic / tactile learner, i get things better if i watch how it's done, then get in there and do it with my own hands. i need written instructions, so i have something to go through step by step, and refer back to. If you just tell me, i'm gonna forget halfway through what was said, and then become frustrated.

At this point in my life, i've accepted and am ok with the fact that i'm bad at math. It's not my fault that my brain needs information that is concrete, and that algebra is fluid. i'm not embarassed to need a calculator.

I had good grades in HS because my parents structure my life for me, especially with school. They checked homework, knew when my tests were and made me study etc.

I fell apart when I had to organize my own life at college. I failed at 2 colleges already. Then I was diagnosed with ADD and medicated, I'm at my 3rd college and am doing great! Imagine that! I wish I could say I should have caught it earlier, but my Dad has been asking me to get tested for ADD for years, and me being my defiant self refused. Silly me:p

Hey, U wrote it wrong again! Now right it write 25 times on paper, meadd823. ;):)

sdrawkcab **a

I did crappy at school until my Jr high year then it was like I caught up and zoomed by my classmate - that is the story of my dyslexic life always doing things a** sdrawkcab!

I did pretty well all the way through high school, well enough to get a National Merit scholarship. But I never completed a reading assignment, never studied for a test (other than cramming for something specific like memorizing the bones of the body). I missed a lot of assignments, and the ones I did were done at the last minute. Only the adrenaline of waiting to the last minute would motivate me.

I test really well, usually 99th %ile in English and 90% in Math. I loved taking standardized tests! Partly because I knew I would do well, and partly because I loved filling in all those little circles with my #2 pencil.

I remember starting in first grade, not finishing assignments. Somehow I made As anyway. Every year starting in second grade I would start out with such good intentions ("this year is going to be different") but could never follow through. I would hear about how I wasn't living up to my potential, blah blah blah.

College was a disaster. First semester I made Bs & Cs, which was not good enough at all for maintaining my scholarships. I missed more classes than I got to. Second semester I got mono and was sick for a month, then my boyfriend died. I wound up dropping out because I wasn't keeping up with anything at that point -- they were kind enough to give me "Ws" instead of Fs. I still have nightmares about Music Appreciation -- that was 1 class I really couldn't BS my way through. If you didn't show up to class and listen to the music, you were sunk.

I went back part time and finally finished a Bachelor's degree when I was 30. But it was always the same story -- intending to do well, but never getting around to doing the reading (or reading the same paragraph 5 times and then giving up), doing assignments at the last possible minute, skipping a few too many classes. Late to every class I made it to. I only got through because I took it 1 or 2 classes at a time (while working full time). Then I realized that I hate what I got my degree in. LOL.

I did well in kindergarden and 1st grade than it was downhill. I always got unsatisfactorys on my conduct card for not following directions, distrupting the class, etc. In junior high I was put in special ed where it was sort of a self taught class. Strange when I think back now because the teachers were like substitues and had no clue. There was a box with lessons in it which you studied and then took the test, you could do as many as you wanted and work at your own pace. I aced through a bunch of them everyday and they realized I wasn't supposed to be there. I hated school dropped out in 11th grade, later got my GED. Attended community college 3 different times making mediocre grades. I did the same thing then that I do now almost like a mantra....starting Monday I'm getting my **** together and will focus and try to do better. Twenty five years later I'm still saying the same thing. Make me tired........

In high school I had mixed results, either excellent, if the subject interested me, or barely average if it didn’t. I could have entered any university, to study whatever I wanted….and did so twice, without finishing either degree. As easye said, “I had (and still have) CONSTANT problems with procrastination. I would put off homework, studying, papers (and pretty much everything in my life) until the absolute last minute. But, usually was able to pull it out in the end. I've tried just about everything over the years to get over procrastination, but I found that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get anything done until the last minute.” This pretty much sums up my situation. I always did extremely well in standardised tests.

Me, too, PJHN. Me, too. Totally.

I always did really well in subjects that interested me, like social studies or math. Or I did average in subjects that were boring, like science or English. I had pretty good grades in high school, college classes in my major, and grad school. Procrastination was a huge problem for me in college. I would turn in my term papers/reports at the very last minute. Fortunately I forced myself not to procrastinate in grad school. I also had problems falling asleep for 1-2 hours when I had assigned reading (after just five pages). School was truly a mixed bag. At times I felt like an idiot savant.

I did well all the way through school, when I wasn't getting in trouble. Did well in college also. Procrastination was always a huge problem though. I read a ton also, always have. What got me is after my business got large enough, with too many moving parts, then it started to crumble in on me a little. Enough to scare me to get help. The anxiety became unbearable. Started meds about a month ago, and hardly have any anxiety at all. Still procrastinating, although it is a lot better then it was.

Me too, D. I make court deadlines... internal deadlines.... mmmmmm another story. Very, very, very frustrating.

Easye, your experience sounds pretty much the same as my own. I always did very well in grade school -- near the top of the class, but rarely actually *the* top student. I was generally quiet and kept to myself, but often not really paying attention, daydreaming, and being generally spacey and slow to react physically.

I enjoyed reading and got into D&D and other role-playing games around the age of 12. The only academic subject that gave me any trouble in school was Math, and even then I mostly had As. I had a lot of trouble in three areas though: long division, logarithms, and pre-calculus. Rote, repetitive work didn't sit well with me, and I developed my own "technique" for doing Math homework (such as those tedious geometric proofs) by using page breaks to "accidentally" skip assigned questions. :-P

Had a 4.0 in Grade 11, and just below that in Grade 12. University was where I first started to notice major problems. Got a D in Calculus my first term, and a C in my Computer Science (programming) class (which I had enjoyed before then). It had never occurred to me before that I could do that poorly in an academic class. That CompSci class made me hate programming for years, and I drifted aimlessly for a bit before settling on a Psychology major. I had many assignments where I just could not concentrate on getting it done, and ended up handing them in late, going to my instructors practically in tears of frustration. The inability to concentrate plagued me through university, and I did finish, but it took me 5 1/2 years instead of 4.

The issues with concentration have likewise been a thorn in my side at every job I've ever had... within 3-6 months, I generally couldn't stand to be there and I hated every boring, tedious minute of my existence when at work -- and that left me drained when I wasn't at work either.

From what I've read about ADHD since first getting a diagnosis a couple of years ago, I feel like I'm a pretty "classic" example of the ADHD/Primarily Inattentive type. Flew under the radar for years, and everyone thought I was either depressed or just lazy and unmotivated.

My pattern was that I had to work enormously hard to get okay grades in elementary school. In high school I made the honor roll, in college I graduated Magna cum laude (but I also dropped a bunch of classes I wasn't cutting before they made it to my GPA), and managed 4.0's in my masters programs. I tested well most of the time in most, but not all areas. I did extremely well on my verbal IQ, but so so on my performance IQ. I did excellent on my language and teaching skills tests, but not so hot in math. It looked like two different people took some of my tests they were so far apart. Much out of pattern I once flunked a teacher's writing proficiency test and passed the math one -- couldn't figure that one out:rolleyes:. Anyway, folks with ADD are consistently inconsistent. It's part and parcel of having ADD. Depending on the interest level, amount of time, distractions, etc performance in classes, tests and such can vary widely.

I've always tested well in school. Homework? Not so good. Mainly because I either don't do it, or else wait until the very very last moment and hand in mediocre work. What saved me was that I've always been a bookworm. I read lots and I'm good at writing. So I can generally get good grades on tests if I've heard the information once or twice, even if I don't study until the night before the test. As for writing papers, it generally takes me about 6 weeks to choose a topic, about 3 weeks to get around to gathering sources of information, about 4 days to take notes and then about 6 hours to actually write the paper. You get the idea. So I'll get A's on my tests and D's on my homework. Which led everyone, including me, to figure that I was really smart but also really lazy. It's been that way pretty much in all my schooling. My problem is that even though I'm a bookworm and I love learning things, I also HATE being told what to do! So if someone tells me that I HAVE TO read something, I automatically rebel! Do you know that I actually have never read Tom Sawyer because someone assigned it for a book report in grade school? Ever since then, I've had absolutely no interest in it. But I absolutely devour other books. This works out better in college than it did in grade school or high school, since I actually got to pick my own major. This means that for at least some of my classes, I can pick things to study that I'm actually interested in. That way, if I hyperfocus and start reading everything I can on a subject, the information might actually be on one of my tests. Sometimes I think my brain is like a pile of flash cards. They all have useful information on them, but you have to sort through the pile to find what you want. And there's no rhyme or reason or organization to the pile. That's me. On tests, I can 'dig up' the right card in my mind and answer questions like 'what is the definition of A?' or 'List the characteristics of B' correctly. But I have problems when I have to 'find' more than one card at a time for questions like 'Compare and contrast C and D' or 'Which are more alike, E and F or G and H?' But I generally did OK up until last semester when I had to take chemistry and trigonometry. Both in the morning, one right after the other. And both required that I not only acquired a pile of new facts in my mind, but that I kept them in order and accessible at all times. Well, I ended up dropping trigonometry and failing chemistry. On the other hand, after going to the counseling center for "stress and depression", I also ended up with a diagosis of ADHD, so I guess the semester wasn't a complete loss. This semester, I'm doing a little better. Weekly ADD coaching at the campus disability center helps. It also helps that 3 of my 4 classes are in subjects I like. But I still keep waiting until the last minute, or later, to finish things and end up, of course, stressed and depressed! Hopefully meds will help. I have my first appointment with the psychiatrist this coming Wednesday and I am expecting him to prescribe SOMETHING. So anyhow, in answer to your original question, yes, I've done very well academically and yes all of that was with me being either undiagnosed or newly diagnosed and definately not on meds. Do I think that I could make it without meds? Yes. But I also think that the damage done to my self-esteem by having to deal with ADHD alone is far greater than the potential side affects of any medication. So I am trying meds. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Amy

I got B's in school when I was a kid, which aren't perfect but they are not bad. However, in College while taking meds I am doing pretty good, except for a programming class. I always did ok in tests as long as they were multiple choice. Essay problems were another story though. Most of the time I couldn't remember what I learned after the the test was finished, like it would all dissapear through the holes in the sieve, that was my brain :)

Ha! Jacquline, my joke with my law partners is that "my mind is a steel sieve." They'll come into my office to discuss some case that they talked to me about maybe a month ago and I'll just be staring at them thinking.... WTF? What case was this? And then something will jar my memory and I'll be off to the races (usually remembering details that they forgot). Sooooo funny.

The fact you did well does not contradict having adhd, maybe you're so much smarter and more capable than the gerneral society that you fit in as "average" because of your adhd.

Ha! Jacquline, my joke with my law partners is that "my mind is a steel sieve." They'll come into my office to discuss some case that they talked to me about maybe a month ago and I'll just be staring at them thinking.... WTF? What case was this? And then something will jar my memory and I'll be off to the races (usually remembering details that they forgot). Sooooo funny.

Haha! I do that all the time!

But people don't trust the extra details I remember, because how could I be correct if I didn't know what they were talking about initially?

Academically, I was one of those kids who sorta fell in the middle of the pack.... a B and C student, mostly. In general, I tested fine... I respond well to pressure, so testing tended to stimulate something in my brain. I had issues with homework... I was the kid who purposely would skip over math problems that I thought were going to take too long to do or would forget to do homework that I thought was boring.

I was a kid who really liked to be challenged... and when I wasn't challenged, I slacked. I missed out on a lot of gifted programs in elementary and middle school because I never performed well enough in the normal academic programs to be considered to be put in a gifted one... and since I was undiagnosed, special exceptions couldn't be made.

I did very well in school, especially college, where I graduated summa cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa. I got to choose mostly classes that interested me. I was unmedicated and didn't know it was ADD at the time. I was very motivated to succeed because I wanted to escape my family/the podunk town I lived in. I saw too many of my friends sucked in and never spit out.

You would think I would go into a Master's program and rock it out. No, I moved to another state in with a totally unmotivated guy, smoked reefer and drank beer for many years, and wasted my potential. I've been struggling to catch up since. It makes me want to barf when I see people who were less talented with PhD's and stuff. Dang.

Standardized tests were hyperfocus-ville for me and I always did very, very well.

It's never too late amiegrace ... Go kick some bottom! :cool:

re: 45 & 46

Never say never, my dear.


I used to work at a Student Centre on a university campus: I've seen 45 and 50 year olds go to Law School or start Grad Skewl. I've seen 70 year olds start a B.A.

Honestly, where ELSE will you be in 5 years?

We only live once.

Yes. Like some others here, very good grades in elementary/primary school. There was much conversation about skipping me a grade. I finished work too fast and cut up the rest of the time. Put into a "gifted and talented" program in 3rd grade.

Around 13-14 things started to change. Honors level classes in math and science became a problem.

I was saved in literature and history classes by very strong writing skills. High school was more of the same. Major struggles with mat and science. I think focus and memory were twisted and angry with one another. Still was able to shine in the humanities areas. Stayed in Advanced Placement Government and Economics and truly struggled though I was very interested.

College was very writing focused, almost exclusively, and I was able to shine. Literature classes were often a surprise because I was incredibly challenged to remember anything more than a few pages deep, but I did manage well in class and on papers.

Work is another story as I find myself afraid and buried under tasks with no thought of how to work through them and what is hiding in those piles.

up until my sophomore year of high school i maintained a 3.7-4.0 gpa. i was in all of the advanced classes. then it was all downhill from there. i kind of just stopped giving a f**. i wanted to have fun. school merely got in the way lol. that aside, you couldnt get me focused for more than 5 minutes at a time. i only paid attention to things that i felt like paying attention to. otherwise id slouch in my chair- bored out of my mind, or id write notes, or in my journal i toted everywhere, -or id annoy the hell out of the teacher blurting out random answers out of nowhere. sometimes it was like they were progressing way too slow for me. i dont know. i wasnt on any meds back then...but i was still capable of being productive. once i got introduced to adderall...things got significantly better but now 6 years outta there i cannot comprehend how i functioned without taking any thing!!!!

I did very well all the way through up till graduation of high school. Great at homework, top 10 in graduating class, standardized tests, NOT so standardized tests, reading, math, science, memorization. All of that was great!

Then...

COLLEGE!
My own personal hell.

College demands that I use so many life-skills and executive functions that I just don't have or can't make work right. Procrastination. Pooooor time management. Anxiety. Depression. More procrastination. Inability to realize just how soon things are due. It plagues me every day. Although, without college, it's going to be awfully hard to become an engineer. Someday I'm sure I'll get my 4 year degree. It just might be more like an 8 year degree.

I could get really really good grades when I really aplied my self and was doing something i liked.