question about adderall to prep - no preachy answers please Forum

[rocksolid325]

im not thinking about whether if i use it now to get a good score if ill need it later in lschool and all that kinda stuff, i just want some honest answers about if and how its helped people in the past...

let me give you some background...

ive taken it in the past to do school work and its helped me tremendously but ive also noticed that it does slow my reading speed as im focused on every little detail. i think i would also over read questions and fall for different trap answers but at the same time, it really motivates me to study and im able to comprehend and connect different concepts in amazing ways...

overall, i have experience with it and i know how to handle it

i am debating on taking it for studying purposes and possibly a small amount on test day, no more than 5-10mg. for those of you who have used it to study, was it useful in getting through/learning the powerscore methods and such? did you take it when you also prepped using practice exams too? did you find that learning methods on adderall didnt transfer onto taking practice exams without it? were you able to train yourself to read more efficiently under time constraints without falling for traps?

please share your experiences or tips...honest advice is appreciated....if you dont want to publicly post on here, message me as any info would be helpful.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

it wont help nearly as much as you think. in fact, it can hurt you by slowing you down and killing your ability to think clearly about tricky logic.

take very little if any at all

[T14_Scholly]

I think you'll get a rock solid score if you take adderall.

[3ThrowAway99]

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[DoubleChecks]

ive always heard it isnt that useful unless you actually have that deficit

if you havent been diagnosed w/ ADHD but somehow got your hands on some, id take it in very small amounts and sparingly

too much would be ineffective, i imagine, or possibly even detrimental

[Kiersten1985]

im not thinking about whether if i use it now to get a good score if ill need it later in lschool and all that kinda stuff

i am debating on taking it for studying purposes and possibly a small amount on test day.

And oh yeah - it's cheating. I'm not being preachy, I'm just telling you the facts as I see them.

If you study your ass off and eat well and get enough sleep before test day, YOU WILL ROCK THE EXAM sans substances. Have faith in your own ability and you'll do great.

[FreeGuy]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=90239

[rocksolid325]

to clarify, this is more meant for people with personal experiences (with a prescription or without) and im moreso interested into the effects on studying (and perhaps not even practice tests, although info on that is also highly appreciated)

[Zapatero]

Why not take a few PT's with and a couple without? See if there's any difference, and go from there.

[willwash]

Try it on three PrepTests, and compare to your normal trend. Odds are, if it increases or decreases your score each time relative to your average, it will do so on test day. I've got nothing as to whether to use it IN law school.

I took an adderall one day and read an entire 250 or so page book in one sitting (which is ridiculous for me as I have no attention span) and retained it all, then went to class and felt no need to take notes.

It's definitely steroids of the brain.

[rocksolid325]

Try it on three PrepTests, and compare to your normal trend. Odds are, if it increases or decreases your score each time relative to your average, it will do so on test day. I've got nothing as to whether to use it IN law school.

I took an adderall one day and read an entire 250 or so page book in one sitting (which is ridiculous for me as I have no attention span) and retained it all, then went to class and felt no need to take notes.

It's definitely steroids of the brain.

yeah, i can study 8-14 hours straight, just finding enough time in a day to sit that long is the problem

[3ThrowAway99]

..

[lawschoolstudent85]

/

[colemf]

I used it to great affect on the dec. lsat, one minor hiccup was that the reading comp. section was particularly difficult for dec. and i found myself reading things over and over to completely understand a section when i should have proably skimed over it, as a result i was rushed towards the end of that section.

[3ThrowAway99]

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[lawschooliseasy]

Do not use adderall.

[phoenix323]

Think you'd willing to mention this foray into pharmaceuticals during your C&F exam? If not, I'd suggest not taking it. It's not fair to people who studied and preformed au natural.

You said "no preachy answers" which means you don't want to hear the truth, which is that taking adderall on test day in wildly unethical and constitutes cheating.

Do your best without drugs and I'm sure you'll get into the great school you deserve to get into. And you'll probably feel a lot better about yourself for having done so. And, if you are willing to something so ethically nebulous just to get into law school, how will you handle making the tough ethical decisions a practicing attorney must make?

Good luck on your cycle.

[colemf]

Think you'd willing to mention this foray into pharmaceuticals during your C&F exam? If not, I'd suggest not taking it. It's not fair to people who studied and preforms au natural.

You said "no preachy answers" which means you don't want to hear the truth, which is that taking adderall on test day in wildly unethical.

Do your best without drugs and I'm sure you'll get into the great school you deserve to get into. And you'll probably feel a lot better about yourself for having done so. And if you are willing to something so ethically nebulous just to get into law school, how will you handle making the tough ethical decisions a practicing attorney must make?

Good luck on your cycle.

I could not help but notice that in your profile you claimed yourself as a minority, no doubt this is included in all of your apps. No offense, but your the last person who should be talking about getting into what school one deserves.

[Zapatero]

Ruh Roh.

[phoenix323]

Think you'd willing to mention this foray into pharmaceuticals during your C&F exam? If not, I'd suggest not taking it. It's not fair to people who studied and preforms au natural.

You said "no preachy answers" which means you don't want to hear the truth, which is that taking adderall on test day in wildly unethical.

Do your best without drugs and I'm sure you'll get into the great school you deserve to get into. And you'll probably feel a lot better about yourself for having done so. And if you are willing to something so ethically nebulous just to get into law school, how will you handle making the tough ethical decisions a practicing attorney must make?

Good luck on your cycle.

I could not help but notice that in your profile you claimed yourself as a minority, no doubt this is included in all of your apps. No offense, but your the last person who should be talking about getting into what school one deserves.

So, that fact that I am a URM, something I have no control over, is tantamount to someone making a conscious decision to use drugs to boost their LSAT score? You're right. That is a perfectly logical argument that is not dripping with bigotry at all.

[3ThrowAway99]

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[colemf]

There is no bigotry here, if i were a minority i would also use it to my advantage as well, but i damn sure wouldn't go around preaching fairness. As to the issue of the comparison between URM status and whether or not to take a drug, we all know being a URM comes with a huge boost in the admission process and you made the conscious effort to check that box knowing full well the ramifications when the fair thing to do, the ethical thing to do, the only thing that would ensure you got into the school you deserve, would be to check the box labeled Decline to Respond. But you didn't do that did you?

[Knock]

5 hours a day for 10 days not on adderrall > 50 hours of studying over 5 days on adderall

or any ratio you wish to draw up. at a certain point you reach diminishing returns on studying, plus it is important to sleep on it and really digest it as to learn it rather than try to cram it.

[willwash]

There is no bigotry here, if i were a minority i would also use it to my advantage as well, but i damn sure wouldn't go around preaching fairness. As to the issue of the comparison between URM status and whether or not to take a drug, we all know being a URM comes with a huge boost in the admission process and you made the conscious effort to check that box knowing full well the ramifications when the fair thing to do, the ethical thing to do, the only thing that would ensure you got into the school you deserve, would be to check the box labeled Decline to Respond. But you didn't do that did you?

And thread locked in 3, 2, 1...

[phoenix323]

@colemf: Whether AA is best practice is a legitimate question, but being a minority is not an ethical dilemma and does not constitute an illegally-based performance advantage in the same way that taking a performance-enhancing drug in an illegal manner does. That comment was an uncalled for personal attack IMO, and I suspect may point to the fact that you have some of your own ethical challenges to work out regarding the theme of this thread. Ad hominem attacks don't seem particularly enlightening or legitimate to me.

+1

@colemf You take no account that I have an extremely solid application, with a great PS, great LOR, work experience, am a published poet, or any of the myriad things that make me a competitive candidate.

Since the premise of your argument is that because I am an URM I am somehow inherently unqualified and that the sole reason I am being accepted into any law is because of my URM status, your post is NAI.