Stimulants and Academic Achievement
My child is so nervous before taking an examination. But when he takes a stimulant before, the grades come out much better.
Should this be a problem?
It has been clearly shown that the use of stimulants by non-ADD college age and high-school students does not enhance academic achievement. The person who abuses Adderall or Ritalin may feel energized and mentally “hyper”, but the results on examinations are not improved—in fact may be lowered. Yet, there are some students who do improve their test results when they take stimulant medication before an examination.
An article was written by Peterkin, et al, in the 2011 JOURNAL OF ATTENTION DISORDER, p. 263. It may explain why some students who do not have the diagnosis of ADD improve their scores on examination. It was shown that those students whose examination scores improved had undiagnosed ADD and were self-treating themselves for that very condition.
If you truly find that stimulants aid you when taking examinations you probably have ADD and should seek medical help. Procuring stimulants illicitly is an unreasonable way to get the medicine you need to function for an examination as well as in the conduct of daily life.
Are you a parent of a child who truly improves his or her academic performance by taking stimulant medication?
Then please, help your off-spring acquire appropriate medication by legal means. Stealing, procuring the medications from a street corner drug vender or borrowing from other students who have the medication from proper medical sources will not benefit your child in the long run.