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There is a growing trend of students actually using ADHD drugs as a "study aid" more than as an attention management tool that addresses a real attention "deficit". Does anyone have any experience with this? Do you know of someone using this to improve their LSAT score?

http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/201 ... ocid=msnhp

To be clear, I would never use a drug to help my test performance (wouldn't need it at this juncture anyways), but it is interesting.

Imagine some of these 180 scorers testifying before grand juries that they "didn't knowingly take Ritalin". Lol. Long after they've gotten their degrees the LSAC might wind up putting asterisks by their scores, and they won't go to the halls of fame at their law schools. Lol.

I think this news articles is a bit behind the times.

Why is this in the employment forum?

gaud wrote:I think this news articles is a bit behind the times.

This. Also, for most people, Adderall ends up being far more trouble than it's worth.

OH BUT WAIT....

I changed my mind. Let's leave this open.
I'm interested in how this plays out, but let's keep it nice, K?

nygrrrl wrote:I'm interested in how this plays out, but let's keep it nice, K?

Why leave it in the legal employment forum?

I do know someone who took adderall for a whole summer, locked himself away and studied for the LSAT. He didn't score well enough to get into John Marshall and is a waiter now. I don't really believe adderall is as "performance enhancing" as it's made out to be. I suspect a lot of it is placebo effect.

JusticeHarlan wrote:

nygrrrl wrote:I'm interested in how this plays out, but let's keep it nice, K?

Why leave it in the legal employment forum?

Was not entirely sure where to put this, but since the OP related the article to LSAT prep this will do for now.

Nygrrrrrrrllll, feel free to move it somewhere else. I defer to your judgment <3

GAIAtheCHEERLEADER wrote:

JusticeHarlan wrote:

nygrrrl wrote:I'm interested in how this plays out, but let's keep it nice, K?

Why leave it in the legal employment forum?

Was not entirely sure where to put this, but since the OP related the article to LSAT prep this will do for now.

Nygrrrrrrrllll, feel free to move it somewhere else. I defer to your judgment <3

Yeah, I don't know where this belongs but this is better than Employment. (In retrospect, I'm actually not that interested in how this plays out. haha)

IAFG wrote:I do know someone who took adderall for a whole summer, locked himself away and studied for the LSAT. He didn't score well enough to get into John Marshall and is a waiter now. I don't really believe adderall is as "performance enhancing" as it's made out to be. I suspect a lot of it is placebo effect.

i've used adderall during my academic career

it helps a lot to maintain focus and not get distracted at all
also, you become more interested in whatever youre studying, allowing your memory to work a bit better.

but if you're stupid, no amount of adderall will save you
it will not make the stupid smart.

I would say it would help the smart learn everything more time effectively.

steroids allow you to go past your natural potential and actually make you stronger/bigger than you could ever have become

stims just help people pay attention


Sure, the way our public school system/some universities work, it will get you better grades because effort > intelligence

but not the same thing

I agree with the above posters that it cannot make you more intelligent. In fact, in my experience, it makes you more frequently make stupid mistakes in your reasoning. The difference, though, is speed; writing a philosophy paper on adderall, you can make 10 incredibly stupid mistakes that you otherwise wouldn't have made, talk with strangers outside the library for a few hours, come back inside and browse reddit for a few more hours, fix those those mistakes you made earlier, eat a bagel, write the rest of your now glorious paper, and still finish faster than you would have without adderall.

Ioannis wrote:

IAFG wrote:I do know someone who took adderall for a whole summer, locked himself away and studied for the LSAT. He didn't score well enough to get into John Marshall and is a waiter now. I don't really believe adderall is as "performance enhancing" as it's made out to be. I suspect a lot of it is placebo effect.

i've used adderall during my academic career

it helps a lot to maintain focus and not get distracted at all
also, you become more interested in whatever youre studying, allowing your memory to work a bit better.

but if you're stupid, no amount of adderall will save you
it will not make the stupid smart.

I would say it would help the smart learn everything more time effectively.

I think it has a small real impact and a big placebo impact.

IAFG wrote:

Ioannis wrote:

IAFG wrote:I do know someone who took adderall for a whole summer, locked himself away and studied for the LSAT. He didn't score well enough to get into John Marshall and is a waiter now. I don't really believe adderall is as "performance enhancing" as it's made out to be. I suspect a lot of it is placebo effect.

i've used adderall during my academic career

it helps a lot to maintain focus and not get distracted at all
also, you become more interested in whatever youre studying, allowing your memory to work a bit better.

but if you're stupid, no amount of adderall will save you
it will not make the stupid smart.

I would say it would help the smart learn everything more time effectively.

I think it has a small real impact and a big placebo impact.

i would say 50/50

It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

I am aware of the contents of Adderall. That doesn't make it an effective "performance enhancing drug" for LSAT or law exam prep. If it were a matter of staying awake and alert longer, I will grant you that, but that isn't the question.

IAFG wrote:

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

I am aware of the contents of Adderall. That doesn't make it an effective "performance enhancing drug" for LSAT or law exam prep. If it were a matter of staying awake and alert longer, I will grant you that, but that isn't the question.

I wasn't aware anyone ITT actually believed it granted an actual increase in aptitude. Only ability to stay awake and alertness are improved. None of that being a placebo, all things considered.


Both of those 2 things are enough to improve grades in HS/UG and to an extent, improve your LSAT score not during the test, but while prepping.

Eh, I think it kind of works, actually. Maybe not steroids, but I'll say performance enhancers.

Anyway, I think taking anything like that is stupid, although I dose myself on caffeine to pull all-nighters before exams, so I could be full of shit.

Doesn't make you smarter but keeps you focused and up. Don't see how that would help for lsat studying?

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

That's why they can/do fuck people up.

HeavenWood wrote:

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

That's why they can/do fuck people up.

Yeah, they totally do. I became addicted one semester. It got to the point where I could not think about anything even slightly complex without first taking adderall. I haven't used anything but coffee to enhance studying since that experience.

superdingle2000 wrote:

HeavenWood wrote:

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

That's why they can/do fuck people up.

Yeah, they totally do. I became addicted one semester. It got to the point where I could not think about anything even slightly complex without first taking adderall. I haven't used anything but coffee to enhance studying since that experience.

The marginal increase in productivity isn't worth the drastic cutback in sanity IMO.

desiballa21 wrote:Doesn't make you smarter but keeps you focused and up. Don't see how that would help for lsat studying?

Focused is different than awake. Able to do higher order thinking is also different than awake. That is where I start to doubt how much adderall actually helps vs. how much people think it is helping them.

superdingle2000 wrote:

HeavenWood wrote:

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

That's why they can/do fuck people up.

Yeah, they totally do. I became addicted one semester. It got to the point where I could not think about anything even slightly complex without first taking adderall. I haven't used anything but coffee to enhance studying since that experience.

how often did you take them before you became addicted?

I've been taken them on and off, only when I have like 3+ examsin a span of 2-3 days. I've never felt any withdrawal symptoms or anything

Ioannis wrote:

superdingle2000 wrote:

HeavenWood wrote:

sinfiery wrote:It's amphetamines. It isn't a placebo.

That's why they can/do fuck people up.

Yeah, they totally do. I became addicted one semester. It got to the point where I could not think about anything even slightly complex without first taking adderall. I haven't used anything but coffee to enhance studying since that experience.

how often did you take them before you became addicted?

I've been taken them on and off, only when I have like 3+ examsin a span of 2-3 days. I've never felt any withdrawal symptoms or anything

happened to me when i took them as prescribed for three months. fucked up my sleep schedule too-- i ended up pulling an all-weeker at one point.

now i take them on and off. feels like shit the day after taking them, but its way better than being cracked out all the time.