How many of you guys have used drugs to get your grades?

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easilydoctor

easilydoctor

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Ritalin, Adderall, etc. so many people in UG take them and often give them a significant edge over others. Does anybody have experience with this? Please refrain from the moral bashing and please contribute constructively.
 
easilydoctor said:
Ritalin, Adderall, etc. so many people in UG take them and often give them a significant edge over others. Does anybody have experience with this? Please refrain from the moral bashing and please contribute constructively.
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I know some folks in my pharm class that did. They said it helped them. Personally, I have never used them. I can get by without them.

I am worried about staying up for 30hrs straight later on!! 😱
 
Fairly common usage across the country. I read an article a little ways back that said that Adderall usage on college campuses is going to or has surpassed marijuana usage nationwide.

The article then went on to say that we pretty much did it to ourselves by expecting more and more from executives and people in the workforce trickling down to better and better performance in school.

Pretty interesting article not really sure on their data but sounds about right to me based on my experiences.
 
Should have added a poll to this thread...
 
Caffeine. Actually, I roast coffee in my apartment sometimes, so I'm not just using, but cooking the stuff.
 
I'd probably hang myself if I had to use drugs to get good test scores.
 
a friend of a friend of a friend....(something to that effect)....knew someone who took adhd drugs w/o a Rx and ended up having a heart attack due to high blood pressure.

i personally wouldn't want a doctor who couldn't concentrate on my case for more than 5 min without a fix.
 
I've used it, but I don't do it regularly and haven't taken it in a while. It really really helps, but it sucks cause you can't go to sleep that night unless you take it at like 11 am. I also didn't like the feeling the next day; kind of lethargic.

Regardless, if someone wants to use it that doesn't have ADD I don't really care. I feel confident enough in myself that I will still score at least as good as them on any given test.

My freshman roomate uses it regularly, and he once told me, "Why use flint to start a fire when they invented the match?" haha it made me laugh.
 
I've heard of this but have never tried....but am curious, does it really help? I drink a couple of cups of coffee when studying sometimes and I definitely feel more focused and alert. What is considered the best studying 'supplement'?
 
I do just fine without having to kill myself studying, so there's never been any reason for me to take drugs so I can stay awake and study. I've always had trouble concentrating but I just learned to deal with it.
 
BeatDeadHorse.gif
 
LOL@ people who take prescription-strength drugs to get through undergrad. The only "drug" I need is not being a ****** at time management.
Caffeine. Actually, I roast coffee in my apartment sometimes, so I'm not just using, but cooking the stuff.
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One time, I showed up to class with an extra mug of Dunkin Donuts and sold it for a buck. Now I'm a dealer!
 
sgtbrushes said:
LOL@ people who take prescription-strength drugs to get through undergrad. The only "drug" I need is not being a ****** at time management.
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hey it's not nice to make fun of me for my disability
 
Insulinshock said:
I've used it, but I don't do it regularly and haven't taken it in a while. It really really helps, but it sucks cause you can't go to sleep that night unless you take it at like 11 am. I also didn't like the feeling the next day; kind of lethargic.

Regardless, if someone wants to use it that doesn't have ADD I don't really care. I feel confident enough in myself that I will still score at least as good as them on any given test.

My freshman roomate uses it regularly, and he once told me, "Why use flint to start a fire when they invented the match?" haha it made me laugh.
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Why use wet wood to start a fire when dry wood can be found with a little extra effort?
 
Curious, anyone know whether actual experiments have been done on normals to determine the effect of these drugs on overall performance in normals? While it is the perception of many students that these drugs increase their performance, empirical data have shown that caffeine may actually decrease performance overall and we know that caffeine primarily creates the illusion of alertness without really making a person more vigilant or more able to perform complex tasks (although most people when on caffeine tend to "feel" as though they could perform more difficult and/or complex tasks and as though they are more alert).

This, along with the fact that most people are not taking these drugs all day everyday (specifically, not during class and/or not at all times when the given subject may come up -- resulting in a loss of access to learned knowledge via state-based learning) would appear to predict a decrease in overall learning task performance and not an increase.

Finally, the impact of these drugs post-use (i.e., during the recovery period) on performance is quite heavy. Since most tasks in a collegiate setting are cumulative (i.e., Exam 2 relies upon a firm foundation from Exam 1) and projects and tests are oftentimes clumped together within a short time toward the end of the semester (often the last 3-4 weeks of a semester are the busiest), wouldn't it be reasonable to expect this inevitable downtime to actually be more counterproductive than the drug's positive effects, assuming those effects are as positive and powerful as many students believe. What is the effect of these drugs on immunity? Do people often get sick following heavy use such that they are "out of commission" for a time?

So I'd be interesting in seeing studies that have been done on this. For someone with ADHD, these drugs are generally taken during most waking hours and have a needed positive effect that the person often cannot function well without. As a result, in those pts, it makes sense to take these drugs despite their risks. On the other hand, for a normal, do the benefits really outweigh the risks? How much of the perceived benefit is real benefit? And how much of the real benefit can actually be attributed to a placebo effect?

(Serious question here. I'd be interested to see any research done on this.)
 
anonymousername said:
👍


....wait, what are we talking about again? 😕
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Putting in the effort for the grade yourself instead of drenching your brain in unnecessary chemicals, I would presume.
 
bleargh said:
i didn't know normal could be a noun
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Well... it commonly is when looking at mental illness. A normal is an individual with a given set of traits near the mean (in clinical psychology and psychiatric medicine, it is generally someone scoring within 2 SD of the mean on each of a given set of psychological constructs being considered; it can also be used in a similar manner for other physical and biological traits, generally denoting the healthy status of a set of traits). In the present context, a normal would presumably be you, me, or most other posters on SDN (or in the general population of college and post-college students).
 
there's no way you, me, or most other posters on SDN are normal
 
bleargh said:
there's no way you, me, or most other posters on SDN are normal
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LOL. From a psychopathological standpoint, I should hope most of us are within 2 SDs of "normal." Perhaps you aren't, but that's neither here nor there (j/k!). To be high-performing, as most SDN posters appear to be, generally requires being a "normal," as most outside those [somewhat arbitrary] limits don't tend to be able to function highly enough to make it through college, much less medical school. So while SDN posters may not be common or typical of premeds, most here are probably not so "abnormal" as to be psychopathological. Basically, if you are functioning well without medications, have healthy relationships, are able to hold down a job (this includes succeeding in your classes), and have no other behaviors that significantly inhibit your own or others' ability to live a productive and moderately enjoyable life, then you are most likely "normal" from the perspective of psychopathology.
 
When it comes to picking up a new drug to experiment with, or when someone is seriously considering it as an option, you should at the very least talk honestly with someone you trust about what is bothering you. Some people will say how a stimulant helped them, others will tell you how it ruined them. You won't know what its going to do to you until you screw around with it. I personally don't think premeds (who are non-ADHD) should experiment with it as it is an addictive substance that produces lasting neurophysiological changes.

I'd suggest the Erowid experience vaults if you're looking for some info on people's personal experiences, especially on "smart drugs". Makes me surprised that no one here talks about St John's wort or ginseng.
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml
 
I used them, but I used them in high school as well. They were ordered by a physician. Does that mean I cheated?
 
Diggidy said:
Drugs? Yes please!
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"What if I had not taken LSD ever; would I have still invented PCR? I don't know. I doubt it. I seriously doubt it." - Kary Mullis, Nobel prize in chemistry 1993
 
i've tried adderall from a friend who has Rx.. didnt work..lol..

for some reason, energy or concentration pills dont work on me... and coffee never does either but that is because i drink tea everyday..
 
I drink redbull, which is bad, but only before long workouts, not really as study aid...

Instead of drugs, you guys should consider exercise... There have been many studies on how it tends to increase neurogenesis long-term, as well as energy and attention short-term, and many other things. Plus, you get to be sexy! Anyway, I exercise a lot.
 
MarinaS said:
I drink redbull, which is bad, but only before long workouts, not really as study aid...

Instead of drugs, you guys should consider exercise... There have been many studies on how it tends to increase neurogenesis long-term, as well as energy and attention short-term, and many other things. Plus, you get to be sexy! Anyway, I exercise a lot.
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the observed final product does not = sexy.

unfortunately.😎
 
just popped an adderall xr 30 mg. It adds another 5 hours of brain time to my day.
 
that ritalin **** makes me hallucinate and paranoid. no drugs here. sometimes i think about scoring some pot because that helps me study, but i haven't bothered doing that for a few years now.
 
hah i doubt that would help you study, its too abstract. Adderall lets you zone in.
 
Knew a friend that once used it and he did amazing on exams. However the guy was also a natural genius from what I could tell, so the drug may not have done all that much. It definitely seemed to carry side effects and even if it doesn't I can't imagine that the lack of sleep and appetite could be good for one's health.

Never actually used it myself because the idea of taking any drug unnecessarily doesn't quite appeal. I'd rather take a B or a C on an exam, or just figure out how to study better. My time management and over stressing are what need to be fixed.
 
For a girl, loss of appetite is a good a thing! lol. It doesnt effect my sleep much because my body processes the stuff fast, it only lasts me max 5 hours and then I sleep through the night. Only annoying side effect is dehydration, i gotta remember to drink water constantly or my skin goes crazy.
 
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