AS and learning things outside special interests

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My friend who has AS is having trouble in University. She is doing pharmacology as this is her special interest. However she is in the first year and is doing modules such as biochemistry which she has no interest in whatsoever. She knows that she has to study this and it is not optional, but she is struggling to learn it due to her AS and rigid special interests.

Do you have any suggestions for her on learning things outside her special interest? Because she is having a severe "mental block" on biochemistry and certain parts of physiology.

Thanks.

All I know about the matter is the fact that I, too, have this problem, and I would appreciate advice as well.

I have struggled with this; the term "mental block" is exactly how it feels to me, too. I don't know how I got through enough revision for all of my subjects in Summer!

Maybe mixing up the studying would help? That's how I approached it with my exams. For example, I would do some studying of the subject I was interested in, and then some studying of the subject I wasn't, and then go back to the one I was interested in etc. It's a bit easier when you know that you are going to go back to the subject you like after awhile. Also, planning the revision(/work) with a timetable or something might help break it down and to have a visual aid showing you when you are going to have to study the subject(s) you are not interested in can help prepare you for it.

Also, lots of short breaks? That may help too, to get away from the biochemistry a lot and to break it into smaller bits.

That's all I can think of right now.

My best suggestion is for her to figure out rationally how the biochem will aid her in pharmacology. The biochemistry professor could help her figure this out. The professor or another professor in the pharmacology department could give her a different perpective on how doing well in biochemistry will help her be successful in pharmacology. It can help to also find something in the class that is somehow related to her special interests, however tenous the relationship.

I made it through an entire masters degree, physical volcanology, doing something not related to my special interest, seismology, by doing this. I realized that if I wanted to be successful in getting into a seismology program I would have to successfully complete a masters, get good references and show that I was capable of independent research. I also found a project where interesting uses of math were used, which touched on my special interests because using math in interesting ways is key to being successful in seismology, my special interest. I had to view the masters in an unrelated field as just one necessary step that I had to successfully complete in order to pursue my special interest.

I think the hardest thing I've had to learn is that in order to achieve what I want and in order to be successful in my special interests I can't tackle a problem all at once, but I make more progress if I can break up the work into small steps. I just have a really hard time breaking down goals into achievable baby steps. I just have to keep trying a little bit every day.

Good luck to your friend!

I find I'm better able to study something if I'm actively looking for an answer to a question I have for myself. Maybe she could approach studying biochemistry as a means to better understand some aspect of pharmacology that interest her.

I find it helps to relate everything back to my special interest in some way... even if it is at times a bit of a stretch!

I kinda treat non-interest stuff like puzzles/tests. So even though it was difficult it was bearable, if I treated the course as an exercise in solving a boring puzzle.

I have this problem too. I would prefer it if I learned things other than special interests but with special interests mentioned in it somehow. I'd like it if I was doing a maths test and in an equation it was all "so there are 34.6 baboons, and 10% of those... etc etc"

I couldn't learn in school if it wasn't about my special intrests. I just physically could not pay attention. The only thing that helped really was incorperating my special intrest into the lesson such as figuring out how much to feed a meerkat that weighs so much or how much medicine to give it.

Someone PLEASE explain to me why vet students are required to have so many credits in literature. I'd rather have someone who knew nothing outside of veternery medicine looking at my pet. The less you know about one thing, the more you will learn about another. Most presaquits are nothing more than a lesson in ass kissing.