ETS/GRE Testing Accomodations for ADD/ADHD

[StartingoverVet]

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Academic difficulty was associated with ...older age (> or =35 years). Students who attended three-or-more undergraduate institutions or two-year colleges prior to attending a four year institution were 1.9 times more likely to experience academic difficulty and 3.87 times more likely to fail to graduate than students who attended a four-year institution (major or small) to complete their prerequisites.

I'm old (ancient?) and attended multiple institutions.

😱 I guess I'm screwed 😱

Maybe I should look for a month-to-month rental?

 

[nyanko]

Wow. I'm obviously a little late to this party but it's a subject I'm pretty interested in and it's worth talking about some more.

Even though I was really interested in your post's contents I just couldn't bring myself to read through that whole huge wall of text. Like, I'd start and then forget where I was in it and have to go back, then I'd look at the whole thing and think "that looks like an awful lot of words" and then I tried to read it again and well, it just failed.

Then I saw that StartingoverVet quoted something I posted and looked back to see why I posted that and I must have been in a pretty bad mood or something. Then I started writing a post in response and noticed something in the electropherogram on my other screen for awhile and looked back at this screen and saw that I had a half written post, had no idea what it was about, and now I am finishing it.

I wouldn't usually post something this low-content, but I'm sort of making a point here I guess...

This is what my brain is like without medication. Welcome.

 

[twelvetigers]

Hey, low content does not mean low quality, you know. See my recent 'banana *****' post as reference.

 

[eventualeventer]

Hi, I'm eventualeventer, I have ADD-like tendencies, and I am a banana *****. I am posting because in order to study I have to have several things going on at once. I am reading SDN, doing stuff on FB, and reviewing neuroscience. Also, I just clipped my cat's claws.

 

[twelvetigers]

Pandora, planning next semester's classes, Words With Friends, Trillian (AIM) chat, Facebook, the forum. OH! And genetics. Haha.

ETA: and I just emailed someone on my iPhone.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Y'all would make great instrument pilots. Biggest problem with students is fixating on one thing . Hardest skill to learn is to switch back and forth from many different instruments very quickly. You're hard wired to do exactly that!

 

[VeganSoprano]

And that's why I love ER/ICU work. Doing a TPR on a stable patient when an emergency comes in? Stick the first guy back in his cage and go deal with the emergency. The TPR can wait. That stuff is easy for me. What's not easy is juggling 10 things that are all equally (and usually not very) important. I'm a lousy ward tech, but I kick some butt in the ICU.

 

[squibby]

Wow, I'm surprised at how many of us share the ADD or ADHD diagnosis.

I definitely don't think we'd be any less proficient as a vet.
That's ridiculous. As long as we can learn what we need to in school.

How many of you went under the radar for too long because intelligence hid your problem?

 

[VeganSoprano]

*raises hand*

 

[nyanko]

Yeah, I think a lot of us fell into that grey area where we were just assumed to be lazy underachievers because we had so much "potential" (IQ tests, standardized tests, etc) but still got mediocre or inconsistent grades rather than failing grades. And I misbehaved in class because my parents were divorced... 🙄

I was the only person in gifted class who got the "does not turn in homework" and "speaks at inappropriate times" marks ON MY GIFTED REPORT.

I brought all of my old elementary through high school records into my psychologist when I was finally getting formally diagnosed about three years ago. The fact that I wasn't diagnosed earlier just looked silly when all of them were considered together.

I actually wrote a PhD application "overcoming adversity" sort of essay about my lifelong academic struggles. I had to totally pause and step away from it a few times because it made me so upset/angry and sort of brought back a lot of the old feelings (I'm actually not smart, I'm an idiot and even when I try really hard I screw something up so why even try...) that I had through compulsory schooling. It didn't help that I got my CSU and Cornell rejections while I was in the course of writing it.

 

[heddi]

Test taking is a different skill than functioning in a clinical setting. Students with ADHD are often brilliant, creative and talented professionals and are incredibly focused when working on a problem or area of interest.

 

[nyanko]

Isn't it early for the yearly revival of the ADHDthread?

 

[Lilly63]

**Thread resurrection**

Has anyone successfully got accommodations for the GRE with ADHD? Is the process near impossible for those diagnosed with ADHD as an adult?

 

[flameshock]

**Thread resurrection**

Has anyone successfully got accommodations for the GRE with ADHD? Is the process near impossible for those diagnosed with ADHD as an adult?

I had childhood diagnosis but was recertified as an adult before I went back to school. I received time accommodations but I learned from my experiences in applying that it is much easier to get time and a half than double time. Took multiple times and I had all the paperwork too.

 

[morninqlory]

**Thread resurrection**

Has anyone successfully got accommodations for the GRE with ADHD? Is the process near impossible for those diagnosed with ADHD as an adult?

I did get accommodations on the GRE when I took it last year. I'm pretty sure I'd submitted the paperwork around a year? before and decided not to take it then. I can't remember exactly. I was allowed time & a half and a separate room (I think they also let me have additional breaks but I don't know what kind of breaks the other test-takers were allowed). I do not think the ADD/ADHD diagnosis was on my documentation, but instead only had dysthymic disorder (or whatever it's called now) and trichotillomania. I have since had an ADD/ADHD diagnoses added after the doctor I've been seeing decided that the testing I went through for that was a false-negative.




Regarding some older comments that I was reading through:
I asked for a paper-based test for the reading and/or? writing because I am more comfortable reading & writing on paper than the computer (because I'm old or something) but they did not allow it since I didn't have any documentation stating that it was necessary.

I saw a comment concerning people who don't do well in testing situations not being able to handle the realities of having to make quick decisions as a vet. I'd say you have to consider that there are multiple reasons why a person might need accommodations. For me, when I was in undergrad I was used to finishing test first and would race through my tests when I tested in class. I'd get really stressed out if someone finished before me. Yes, I know it's stupid. Sometimes, yes, my various disorders were a distracting factor, but these are all things that really only affect me when I'm sitting on my behind. Sitting is the format of most testing situations, but not that of being a vet where you're up and moving around and handling animals. Additionally, I'd say I don't generally need the extra time given to me, but it is there. When I'm not sitting in the same room with people taking the same test as I am and "racing" them in my mind, I can pace myself better. I can do well without the extra time but I'd rather do better that, especially when it mattered so much, getting into vet school and all.