I’m new to PR and was trying to think of some way I could immediately contribute to the community. Since I’ve spent most of my adult life in academia (almost all with ME/CF) I thought I’d write some tips for students. These are all based on my own experience as a student, graduate student, teaching assistant (TA), and instructor at a particular university with a particular set of ME/CF symptoms. As such, they may not apply to you.
I will, however, offer one general piece of advice. University/college is where you go when you’re better (or better enough), not where you go to get better. I was mild for most of my academic career, and it was still a struggle a lot of the time. You are the best person to assess your abilities. Just make sure you’re honest with yourself when you do and try not to put your education over your health.
[Point-form TLDR at end]
Register with Accessibility Services
This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often students either don’t know that they qualify for accommodations or simply don’t take full advantage of them.
Accessibility services are designed to remove potential barriers for students with disabilities. The registration process typically involves an application accompanied by supporting documentation. The latter is usually a form that must be filled out by a health care provider.
Which accommodations you get will depend on your specific needs. Particularly useful accommodations might include:
Ask for Help and Be as Honest as You Can
Precisely because accommodations are standardized and often slow, it can be easier to go directly to instructors for help in addition to registering with accessibility services.
Accessibility services are (quite rightly) designed to preserve students’ privacy. At the beginning of the year, they send notices to instructors detailing which accommodations a student is entitled to, not why they are entitled to them. Speaking directly to instructors, however, requires at least some degree of disclosure.
How comfortable you are with doing this will depend a great deal on the people involved. I can say only that, as a student, I have never met a professor/instructor/TA who was anything less than understanding and compassionate, nor have I ever refused a request for help from a student as a TA/instructor.
If you do take this route, it can be helpful to stress the impact of your condition rather than simply disclosing that condition itself. For example, when asking for an extension, you might explain that you need to rest to help manage your symptoms and that you therefore have fewer hours in which you can work.
If you anticipate not being able to attend class on a regular basis, let your instructors/TAs know. Volunteer notetakers can help cover absences from lectures. For tutorials, you can ask your instructor/TA to fill you in on anything important you may have missed. You can also ask a fellow student to do the same. If tutorials are offered on multiple days, you can ask to attend a different session. Just make sure that the TAs are in communication with each other so that you get credit for your attendance/any participation.
Schedule Your Courses Strategically and Minimize Your Course Load
One of the most helpful things for me was creating a course schedule that gave me at least one day off per week. Usually, I would aim for Mondays or Fridays so I would always have a relatively extended period of time to work and rest over the weekend. At my university, doing this was fairly easy as fewer courses were offered on Fridays. (Scheduling a course on Friday morning was an unofficial way of keeping attendance low).
Whether or not scheduling a day off is possible, you can also simply reduce the number of courses that you take. This may require you to either take courses in the summer or to take an extra year to complete your program. I went for the latter option as I found having the summers to rest and recharge particularly important. I realize that the ability to do this requires a certain degree of privilege. But if it’s possible for you, it can make a huge difference.
Depending on when you tend to be most productive, you can also try to avoid scheduling courses early in the morning or at night. I often tried for both. That said, you may find it more beneficial to schedule longer days to facilitate days off.
If, on the other hand, you tend to get more fatigued over the course of the day or find multiple tasks on a single day particularly taxing, shorter days with no days off may be better for you.
The distances between your classes is also an important thing to keep in mind. If you’re on a large campus, you may have to travel long distances quickly from one class to the next. If you can avoid scheduling back-to-back classes that are far apart, do so. If you can’t avoid it, let the instructor in the later course know that you might be a few minutes late and/or explain to the instructor in the earlier course that you might have to leave a few minutes early.
Learn How Long It Takes to Do Things and Make a Plan
This was one of the most important strategies for me. At the beginning of the year, I wrote down the due dates for the assignments in all my courses, made a plan for the work I needed to do, and plotted it out on a calendar.
To do this well, you’ll need to find out how long it takes you to complete typical tasks like researching, writing, and studying. You may have a sense of this already or it may take some time to figure out, but it can really help you to manage your time and to spot any potential workload issues in advance.
For administrative reasons, you’ll often find that assignments cluster around particular periods. Know when these periods are and ask for extensions in advance if needed.
There may also be assignments that are unmovable because they are based on “practicals” like lab work. Tests/exams also tend to have less flexibility, so it’s a good idea to start here when making your plan.
It’s also important to build flexibility into that plan. ME/CF is often, as I’m sure you know, unpredictable. So is academic work. For both reasons, you may need more time than you think to complete an assignment. If you can plan out three days for something that typically takes you only two, do it. Of course, you can always ask for more time if you need it.
In the shorter term, I found it helpful to write down the length of each reading for each of my courses at the beginning of the week so that I knew how much work was involved and could plan accordingly.
Do What You Can to Minimize Exam Workloads
Studying for exams can be very taxing, so it’s important to do what you can to minimize the effort involved.
The strategy that I found most useful was taking extensive point form notes on course readings throughout the year. That way, when it came to studying for exams, I had less information to review and was always reviewing information that I had already processed.
If you’re good at reading and processing information quickly, this might not be necessary for you.
In either case, I strongly encourage you to avoid cramming. Again, figure out how long it takes you to study and plan accordingly.
Be Aware of Institutional Policies and Sessional Dates
Make sure you’re familiar with your school’s policies surrounding things like extensions, absences, missed tests/exams, dropping courses, and leaves of absence. That way, if the need arises, you’ll know what you can do and how to do it. When in doubt, ask for help from someone like your registrar or program administrator as soon as possible.
It’s also important to be aware of sessional dates, particularly concerning grade submissions. If you need an extension beyond a certain period, you may have to make a formal request. This sounds scarier than it is, but it’s important to be aware of the processes involved.
Tips for Particular Symptoms
Anxiety, Speech Difficulties
These issues can make it difficult (or just uncomfortable) to speak in front of a class. If your course has a participation component or you’re required to give a presentation, you can ask for an alternative method of evaluation.
It has become increasingly common for students to ask for alternatives to in-class participation, so your instructor may already have a specific method in place. If not, one of the most popular is to simply keep a dairy of your observations from each class that you can then submit on a weekly or monthly basis.
Sensory and Environmental Sensitivities
It was always very difficult for me to find spaces on campus in which to work. Due to both sensory sensitivities and GAD I need a relatively distraction-free environment, and these are often quite scarce.
For sound sensitivities, you can, of course, wear noise cancelling headphones. I was never a fan of them, though, and wearing headphones or earbuds in the classroom isn’t a great look. You also may not be allowed to use them during tests/exams.
Recently, I’ve found silicone earplugs particularly helpful. I like loop’s. They’re small, relatively inexpensive, come in a bunch of colours, and some are even adjustable to different sound levels.
If you are going to use sensory devices like earphones or tinted glasses, it’s a good idea to let your instructors know. It’s rare, but I have experienced professors calling students out for wearing sunglasses or headphones during lectures.
It was a bit of a running joke at my university that the central library was designed to keep the books comfortable, not the students. Whether or not that was really the case, I often found libraries (particularly stacks) uncomfortable to work in. If you have general environmental sensitivities, this may also be the case for you. I much preferred empty classrooms when I could find them. You may need to be creative when it comes to finding spaces that suit your needs. I simply got off campus and did my work at home whenever I could.
I live in a cold climate so this may not be a universal experience, but also be prepared for drastic changes in temperature between spaces. If a classroom that you must be in is particularly unpleasant due to heat/cold, odds are that other students are uncomfortable too. Get some of them behind you and ask if it can be changed.
Cognition and Memory
You’ll find a host of studying tips online, many of which are helpful for cognitive and memory issues. I found note-taking and active reading particularly useful. Active reading can take a number of different forms and involves strategies that you can use before, during, and after reading. Again, there are plenty of guides online.
There are two basic ways to take notes: by hand and digitally.
Writing notes by hand has been shown to aid in memory and information processing. It can also help keep you in the practice of writing a lot at speed, which is important if you usually type and are then asked to write tests/exams by hand. I found taking lecture notes by hand also helped with focus.
Digital notes have the advantage of being searchable, which can help you find information more quickly when it comes to studying or completing assignments. This is particularly helpful if you’re good at remembering what you’ve read but not where you’ve read it.
It can also be helpful to record lectures so that you can simply listen on the day and write notes later. However, you should always ask permission before doing so. Remember that (at least here in Canada) lectures are considered the intellectual property of the instructor. Recording for personal studying is considered fair use, but some instructors aren’t comfortable with it so it’s still best practice to ask.
For reading notes, make sure that you include references. That is (unless you're taking notes directly on a digital/hard copy reading) don’t just write down a piece of information but also the page it’s on in the original reading. Again, this will help you access information more quickly later on.
Sorry, that became a bit long. I'll try to write a TLDR if anyone would like. I'd also love to hear any tips you might have.
TLDR
Register with Accessibility Services
Designed to remove barriers for students with disabilities.
Because accommodations are often slow/standardized, it can be easier to go directly to instructors for help.
Studying for exams is taxing. Do what you can to reduce workload.
Make sure you’re aware of policies surrounding: extensions, absences, missed tests/exams, dropping courses, leaves of absence etc.
Anxiety, Speech Difficulties
Can make speaking in front of class difficult.
For sound sensitivities, try noise cancelling earphones/earplugs.
I will, however, offer one general piece of advice. University/college is where you go when you’re better (or better enough), not where you go to get better. I was mild for most of my academic career, and it was still a struggle a lot of the time. You are the best person to assess your abilities. Just make sure you’re honest with yourself when you do and try not to put your education over your health.
[Point-form TLDR at end]
Register with Accessibility Services
This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often students either don’t know that they qualify for accommodations or simply don’t take full advantage of them.
Accessibility services are designed to remove potential barriers for students with disabilities. The registration process typically involves an application accompanied by supporting documentation. The latter is usually a form that must be filled out by a health care provider.
Which accommodations you get will depend on your specific needs. Particularly useful accommodations might include:
- Extensions: Standardized extensions that can be requested with no questions asked. At my university, they still have to be requested (it is not an automatic process), so make sure you do so if needed.
- Volunteer note takers: Volunteers agree to take notes for a particular class which are then distributed digitally to registered students. This is a great resource if you are worried about missing lectures or have difficulty keeping up with the pace of notetaking.
- Exam/test accommodations: These include more time for exams, allowing you to take breaks while writing, taking exams in a quieter/more distraction-free environment, and taking exams on a computer rather than by hand.
- Accommodations are often standardized and may not meet your specific needs. You may not even know what your needs are, or they might change depending on the types of courses that you’re taking.
- Accessibility services are often overworked and understaffed. As a result, you may not always be able to get help in a timely manner.
Ask for Help and Be as Honest as You Can
Precisely because accommodations are standardized and often slow, it can be easier to go directly to instructors for help in addition to registering with accessibility services.
Accessibility services are (quite rightly) designed to preserve students’ privacy. At the beginning of the year, they send notices to instructors detailing which accommodations a student is entitled to, not why they are entitled to them. Speaking directly to instructors, however, requires at least some degree of disclosure.
How comfortable you are with doing this will depend a great deal on the people involved. I can say only that, as a student, I have never met a professor/instructor/TA who was anything less than understanding and compassionate, nor have I ever refused a request for help from a student as a TA/instructor.
If you do take this route, it can be helpful to stress the impact of your condition rather than simply disclosing that condition itself. For example, when asking for an extension, you might explain that you need to rest to help manage your symptoms and that you therefore have fewer hours in which you can work.
If you anticipate not being able to attend class on a regular basis, let your instructors/TAs know. Volunteer notetakers can help cover absences from lectures. For tutorials, you can ask your instructor/TA to fill you in on anything important you may have missed. You can also ask a fellow student to do the same. If tutorials are offered on multiple days, you can ask to attend a different session. Just make sure that the TAs are in communication with each other so that you get credit for your attendance/any participation.
Schedule Your Courses Strategically and Minimize Your Course Load
One of the most helpful things for me was creating a course schedule that gave me at least one day off per week. Usually, I would aim for Mondays or Fridays so I would always have a relatively extended period of time to work and rest over the weekend. At my university, doing this was fairly easy as fewer courses were offered on Fridays. (Scheduling a course on Friday morning was an unofficial way of keeping attendance low).
Whether or not scheduling a day off is possible, you can also simply reduce the number of courses that you take. This may require you to either take courses in the summer or to take an extra year to complete your program. I went for the latter option as I found having the summers to rest and recharge particularly important. I realize that the ability to do this requires a certain degree of privilege. But if it’s possible for you, it can make a huge difference.
Depending on when you tend to be most productive, you can also try to avoid scheduling courses early in the morning or at night. I often tried for both. That said, you may find it more beneficial to schedule longer days to facilitate days off.
If, on the other hand, you tend to get more fatigued over the course of the day or find multiple tasks on a single day particularly taxing, shorter days with no days off may be better for you.
The distances between your classes is also an important thing to keep in mind. If you’re on a large campus, you may have to travel long distances quickly from one class to the next. If you can avoid scheduling back-to-back classes that are far apart, do so. If you can’t avoid it, let the instructor in the later course know that you might be a few minutes late and/or explain to the instructor in the earlier course that you might have to leave a few minutes early.
Learn How Long It Takes to Do Things and Make a Plan
This was one of the most important strategies for me. At the beginning of the year, I wrote down the due dates for the assignments in all my courses, made a plan for the work I needed to do, and plotted it out on a calendar.
To do this well, you’ll need to find out how long it takes you to complete typical tasks like researching, writing, and studying. You may have a sense of this already or it may take some time to figure out, but it can really help you to manage your time and to spot any potential workload issues in advance.
For administrative reasons, you’ll often find that assignments cluster around particular periods. Know when these periods are and ask for extensions in advance if needed.
There may also be assignments that are unmovable because they are based on “practicals” like lab work. Tests/exams also tend to have less flexibility, so it’s a good idea to start here when making your plan.
It’s also important to build flexibility into that plan. ME/CF is often, as I’m sure you know, unpredictable. So is academic work. For both reasons, you may need more time than you think to complete an assignment. If you can plan out three days for something that typically takes you only two, do it. Of course, you can always ask for more time if you need it.
In the shorter term, I found it helpful to write down the length of each reading for each of my courses at the beginning of the week so that I knew how much work was involved and could plan accordingly.
Do What You Can to Minimize Exam Workloads
Studying for exams can be very taxing, so it’s important to do what you can to minimize the effort involved.
The strategy that I found most useful was taking extensive point form notes on course readings throughout the year. That way, when it came to studying for exams, I had less information to review and was always reviewing information that I had already processed.
If you’re good at reading and processing information quickly, this might not be necessary for you.
In either case, I strongly encourage you to avoid cramming. Again, figure out how long it takes you to study and plan accordingly.
Be Aware of Institutional Policies and Sessional Dates
Make sure you’re familiar with your school’s policies surrounding things like extensions, absences, missed tests/exams, dropping courses, and leaves of absence. That way, if the need arises, you’ll know what you can do and how to do it. When in doubt, ask for help from someone like your registrar or program administrator as soon as possible.
It’s also important to be aware of sessional dates, particularly concerning grade submissions. If you need an extension beyond a certain period, you may have to make a formal request. This sounds scarier than it is, but it’s important to be aware of the processes involved.
Tips for Particular Symptoms
Anxiety, Speech Difficulties
These issues can make it difficult (or just uncomfortable) to speak in front of a class. If your course has a participation component or you’re required to give a presentation, you can ask for an alternative method of evaluation.
It has become increasingly common for students to ask for alternatives to in-class participation, so your instructor may already have a specific method in place. If not, one of the most popular is to simply keep a dairy of your observations from each class that you can then submit on a weekly or monthly basis.
Sensory and Environmental Sensitivities
It was always very difficult for me to find spaces on campus in which to work. Due to both sensory sensitivities and GAD I need a relatively distraction-free environment, and these are often quite scarce.
For sound sensitivities, you can, of course, wear noise cancelling headphones. I was never a fan of them, though, and wearing headphones or earbuds in the classroom isn’t a great look. You also may not be allowed to use them during tests/exams.
Recently, I’ve found silicone earplugs particularly helpful. I like loop’s. They’re small, relatively inexpensive, come in a bunch of colours, and some are even adjustable to different sound levels.
If you are going to use sensory devices like earphones or tinted glasses, it’s a good idea to let your instructors know. It’s rare, but I have experienced professors calling students out for wearing sunglasses or headphones during lectures.
It was a bit of a running joke at my university that the central library was designed to keep the books comfortable, not the students. Whether or not that was really the case, I often found libraries (particularly stacks) uncomfortable to work in. If you have general environmental sensitivities, this may also be the case for you. I much preferred empty classrooms when I could find them. You may need to be creative when it comes to finding spaces that suit your needs. I simply got off campus and did my work at home whenever I could.
I live in a cold climate so this may not be a universal experience, but also be prepared for drastic changes in temperature between spaces. If a classroom that you must be in is particularly unpleasant due to heat/cold, odds are that other students are uncomfortable too. Get some of them behind you and ask if it can be changed.
Cognition and Memory
You’ll find a host of studying tips online, many of which are helpful for cognitive and memory issues. I found note-taking and active reading particularly useful. Active reading can take a number of different forms and involves strategies that you can use before, during, and after reading. Again, there are plenty of guides online.
There are two basic ways to take notes: by hand and digitally.
Writing notes by hand has been shown to aid in memory and information processing. It can also help keep you in the practice of writing a lot at speed, which is important if you usually type and are then asked to write tests/exams by hand. I found taking lecture notes by hand also helped with focus.
Digital notes have the advantage of being searchable, which can help you find information more quickly when it comes to studying or completing assignments. This is particularly helpful if you’re good at remembering what you’ve read but not where you’ve read it.
It can also be helpful to record lectures so that you can simply listen on the day and write notes later. However, you should always ask permission before doing so. Remember that (at least here in Canada) lectures are considered the intellectual property of the instructor. Recording for personal studying is considered fair use, but some instructors aren’t comfortable with it so it’s still best practice to ask.
For reading notes, make sure that you include references. That is (unless you're taking notes directly on a digital/hard copy reading) don’t just write down a piece of information but also the page it’s on in the original reading. Again, this will help you access information more quickly later on.
Sorry, that became a bit long. I'll try to write a TLDR if anyone would like. I'd also love to hear any tips you might have.
***
TLDR
Register with Accessibility Services
Designed to remove barriers for students with disabilities.
- Find accommodations that best suit your needs.
- Helpful accommodations include: extensions, volunteer note takers, more time on exams, taking exams in a more distraction-free environment.
- Accommodations are often standardized and might not fit your needs.
- Accessibility services are often overworked/understaffed.
Because accommodations are often slow/standardized, it can be easier to go directly to instructors for help.
- Requires some disclosure of your condition.
- Can be helpful to stress how your condition impacts your work v. condition itself.
- If you anticipate not being able to attend class on regular basis, let your instructors/TAs know.
- Absences can be covered by: volunteer note takers, asking instructors/TAs or fellow students to fill you in on what you missed.
- If tutorials/classes are offered on multiple days, ask if you can attend different session.
- Try to schedule at least one day off per week.
- Mondays and Fridays are best allowing extended periods for rest/work over the weekend.
- Reduce the number of courses you take.
- May require taking courses in the summer or taking extra year to complete your program.
- Schedule classes around when you tend to feel most fatigued/symptomatic.
- Avoid morning/night classes if needed.
- Or schedule more classes each day to facilitate days off.
- Take distance between classes into consideration, especially on large campuses.
- Try not to schedule classes that are far apart back-to-back.
- If unavoidable, inform instructors you may have to leave early/arrive late.
- Learn how long it takes you to do typical activities like studying, researching, writing.
- At the beginning of the year, write down all your due dates and make a plan for completing the work.
- Start with unmovable assignments like tests, lab work, etc.
- If you notice trouble spots, ask for extensions in advance.
- Build flexibility into your plan.
- Ex for a task that typically takes two days, plan three when possible.
- But if needed, ask for more time.
- In short term, write down how much reading you need to do each week and plan for that.
Studying for exams is taxing. Do what you can to reduce workload.
- My preferred strategy: writing extensive point form notes on course readings throughout the year.
- Information already processed therefore easier/faster to study.
- Find a strategy that works for you based on your learning style.
- Avoid cramming.
Make sure you’re aware of policies surrounding: extensions, absences, missed tests/exams, dropping courses, leaves of absence etc.
- Important to know what's required of you/deadlines if situation arises.
Anxiety, Speech Difficulties
Can make speaking in front of class difficult.
- For classes with in-class participation/ presentations, ask for alternative method of evaluation.
- Asking for alternatives for participation is very common. Find one that works for you.
For sound sensitivities, try noise cancelling earphones/earplugs.
- Wearing earphones in class can be considered rude.
- If using earphones, let your instructor know to avoid misunderstanding.
- Silicone earplugs are a good alternative to headphones.
- Know what works for you and be creative.
- Or just get off campus to work.
- Libraries often aren’t ideal.
- In classrooms, if you’re uncomfortable due to hot/cold ask if it can be changed.
- Standard study tips are often helpful.
- My favoured strategies: note taking and active reading.
- Handwritten v. typed notes.
- Handwritten
- Been shown to aid in memory/comprehension.
- Will keep you in practice of writing a lot at speed for exams/tests.
- Can help with focus.
- Digital
- Searchable: very helpful for retrieving information latter.
- Try balance between the two: ex taking handwritten lecture notes and typed reading notes.
- Handwritten
- Recording lectures/writing notes later can be helpful.
- But make sure you ask permission before recording.
- For reading notes, make sure to include references (i.e. page numbers) to help find information later.
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