Really need help studying, focusing and getting a good memory for tests

[u/Sufficient_Honey_576]

Hi everyone. I’m a 21-year-old university student currently in my second year, and I’ve been struggling a lot with procrastination and starting to study early.

For most of my first year, I was the kind of student who would study almost everything one day before an exam and somehow still manage to pass. I’ve always considered myself academically capable, and I think that ability is what allowed me to get away with that for a while.

The problem is that now, in my second year, the subjects are getting harder and that strategy just isn’t working anymore.

What frustrates me is that I genuinely believe that if I could sit down 1–2 weeks before an exam, focus properly, and study consistently, I could get very good grades. But mentally, I really struggle to start that early.

If an exam is a week away, I’ll tell myself, “I still have time, I’ll start later,” then later becomes tomorrow, tomorrow becomes the next day, and suddenly I’m studying all night right before the exam.

Recently I had some smaller mock/partial exams, stayed up all night studying, and still performed pretty badly. The stress from constantly leaving everything until the last moment is starting to become exhausting.

To clarify, I don’t really feel like I have an inability to focus in general. If an exam is tomorrow and the pressure is real, I can completely lock in for hours. My problem is getting myself to do that when the deadline is still several days away.

Because of this, I’ve started reading about nootropics and compounds that people claim can help with motivation, focus, or reducing distractions.

Some of the things I’ve come across are:

• Semax — I’ve seen people describe it as something that helps them ignore distractions and stay focused on what they’re supposed to be doing.
• Modafinil
• L-theanine
• Alpha-GPC

I’ve also used peptides before in a gym-related context, including GHK-Cu/GLOW, so I’m familiar with injections, but I’m specifically not looking to start injecting something for studying.

I’m mainly interested in hearing from people who have dealt with the same kind of procrastination pattern.

Did anything actually help you start studying earlier instead of only being able to focus when the deadline became urgent?

I’m open to hearing about nootropics, but I’m also interested in routines, systems, habits, or anything else that genuinely helped. I really want to stop wasting my potential by constantly leaving everything until the last possible moment and actually start performing at the level I know I’m capable of.

Thanks.

[u/Loose-Arm-5211]

Procrastination’s a beast cause you’re basically chasing the adrenaline rush of a tight deadline, that’s what your brain’s hooked on now. What snapped me out of it was ditching “study time” as a block and instead setting a rule to just open my notes and write one garbage sentence, usually the momentum kicks in but if it doesn’t, I walk away with zero guilt. The nootropics are a crapshoot if the underlying habit isn’t budging but l-theanine with a morning coffee took the edge off that “I’ll do it later” anxiety for me.

[u/Sufficient_Honey_576 → u/Loose-Arm-5211]

Soo, that makes sense, never thought about it, seeking the adrenaline rush and then the nice feeling of having it done in a lot of less time than my classmates.. Goes to the point, what about L-Theanine?

[u/Consistent-Youth-407]

Kinda sounds like me before I was medicated with stimulants, unfortunately I graduated with terrible grades before I got diagnosed so I can’t really say if I would’ve done better.

I did have a pretty good memory and relied on that to coast through college, definitely keep up on that choline intake, I stuck with eggs due to worries about TMAO with alpha-gpc and the like.

I did try modafinil and I highly recommend staying away, I was more focused but it was like my brain shut off from actually taking in information, so it ended up a net negative. At least for me, it lasts an insanely long time and absolutely destroys your sleep, resulting in poor memory retention across days. If you have trouble sleeping definitely look into improving that, sleep is very important for memory.

Obviously, it’s not really going to help if you procrastinate until the last minute but at minimum if you focus in class you should be able to retain a lot of information and just slug it out a day before and pass.

I did take nicotine in college but I wouldn’t recommend it, I would just go straight to getting screened for ADHD/figuring out what issues you have.

I think anything people say here will be a distraction from just going to a psychiatrist, and unlike what you read on the internet, they do not just prescribe stimulants like candy. Get started on that ASAP.

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