by StaceyKoprince Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:52 am
Hmm. Have you been tested for anything like attention deficit disorder? If you have something like that, there are a lot of resources out there to help you learn how to concentrate better - though I think if the problem is that serious... it will probably take quite a bit of time to learn habits that will help you to overcome the problem. I'm thinking 6 months at least - not 13 days.
I don't know that much about ADD and similar disorders - I'm not a doctor or therapist! - but what you describe sounds pretty significant / serious. You may want to talk to someone who specializes in such things.
You mention misreading and even skipping words. Try reading with your finger - that is, put your finger on what you're reading and move it word by word as you read. You have to "touch" every single word. If you get to the end of a sentence and realize you were thinking about something else while you were reading that sentence, read that sentence again.
When you find that you're thinking of something else, what do you do? Do you tell yourself to stop thinking about that, to concentrate on the test, etc? Try this instead: tell yourself "I'll think about that as soon as I'm done reading this." That is, tell yourself you're just delaying the thought. That can help sometimes because, when you tell yourself NOT to think about something... well, you often just end up thinking about it more! But when you tell yourself, "oh, yeah, just one second, hold that thought," then it's easier to push the thought aside for a moment and concentrate. And then you just keep doing that - just keep telling yourself, "Yeah, I'll think about that as soon as I'm done with this problem..." until you're done with the test. :)
Those are just some ideas. I do think you should talk to someone who specializes in learning or concentration disorders and see what a specialist can advise.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep