Revising with dyslexia

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Hi, I'm Charlotte and I am a marketing student at BCU. So, I got diagnosed with dyslexia when
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I was still in primary school, I think I was around 10 years old and the three
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biggest things that I noticed, my parents noticed, before I got diagnosed was that I
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struggled to read large bits of text. I was watching all my friends read these really
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big books and I was still on really small books with really large text. The second
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thing was that I struggled to concentrate and write large bits of work, and then the
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third thing was that my spelling was really bad and to be honest it's not any better today. So,
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those are the three biggest things I noticed and then when I went to sixth form to do my A Levels
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I got tested again and I got extra time on my exams which really helped me in that instance.
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So, in terms of tips for helping you do coursework, revision, exams anything like that,
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so firstly if you're having to read a lot, like if you're reading an article or something that's
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you know quite a few pages, it can be really straining on the eyes and my mind so I like
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to break it up into chunks. And then I also never just read it, you have to read and then make some
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notes on it as well, because otherwise it just goes in one ear and then out the other, and yeah
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I'll just never remember that way. Also, use as many colours as you can, highlighting it that
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really helps me as well so I can visualise what's actually on the page. Secondly,
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if I'm reading something and it's on a Word document I personally like to change the colour
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of the Word document to black, and then change the text to white so it's sort of reversed and
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that just helps me read it a lot better. You can get software for overlays which I know a lot of
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dyslexic people use as well. I used to personally use a green overlay which used to help me,
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but I'll tell you at the end of software you can use to put overlays on pieces of text
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on your laptop or on your phone. The third thing that I would do is get a revision timetable or
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a coursework timetable and actually stick to it. So you can actually see mine there,
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I just need to be organised because what you want to do is avoid feeling stressed and anxious
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about having a lot of reading or writing to do, you want to avoid that at all costs,
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so if you just get a little bit done every day work towards it you'll avoid feeling horrible,
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you know, towards the end when it comes to deadlines you don't want to feel that way at all.
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The first thing that I would do is proofread your work before you submit it, get somebody else to
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read your work before you submit it, use things like spell check or Grammarly on your laptop, just
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anything you can to prevent any spelling mistakes. It definitely helps to have somebody else read it
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because you know you might have spelled the word right but it might be the wrong word
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and spell check isn't going to pick that up, so that's something to remember. Before you actually
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start writing your coursework, I would again when you're reading something take notes and highlight
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lots of different colours is the best thing for me. Also, I'm not a huge fan of silence when
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I'm doing coursework or you know something a bit creative that's not just dedicated essay writing,
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but I can't listen to any music that's got words in because I will hum or sing along
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in my head so I have to listen to something without words like classical music or you
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can find study playlists which you know just piano or it's no one singing. So,
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I really find that helps occupy my mind so it's not so silent when I'm trying to do work and that
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makes me get distracted. If you're doing research on a topic or you're struggling to understand the
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theory or concept I would definitely recommend watching some videos or documentaries on it,
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and that will just give you a starting point and then you can go off and do your reading and you
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know reference that on your work. But, visual things again are so much easier to understand
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than large bits of text for me so utilising any documentaries or videos is something that is just
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really helpful. Another thing similar to doing your notes before the lectures. I would definitely
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start your assignments as early as possible, this will not only give you chance to speak to your
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tutors as early as possible, and hopefully give you multiple chances to speak to them throughout
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when you're doing your assessments, it will also just help you feel a lot more prepared you have a
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lot more time to do your work and again you just don't want to feel anxious when you get to that
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deadline day, so starting early as possible is the best possible thing that you can do.
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In terms of like revision methods, one of the big things that helped me during my A Levels was cue
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cards I always like to say things out loud because that just helps me remember them instead of just
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reading it, because it just, like I said, it goes completely over my head so practicing
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with your friends and family that really helps as well. Yeah just saying things out loud is
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the best thing to do for me, also with cue cards you're putting things in concise bits of writing
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you know you're not having to remember really large bits of text, which to be honest I don't
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know who can do that anyway, so making sure your notes are concise, they're visual you're using
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colours of different cue cards to categorise you know topics or subjects, that really helps
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as well because you associate that colour with the topic and then you remember what's on the
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cue card. The second thing is having multiple methods of revision for example I like to make
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posters I like to do like visual creative things and that helps remember them, so you know putting
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pictures next to keywords that's something that I find really helpful and then like I said I'll do
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the cue cards, I also do past papers because you know you have to be realistic about it if you're
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doing exams you have to know what you're writing, but like I said before you're trying to avoid
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feeling stressed and anxious on the day or on the deadline so doing things like that beforehand
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are just really helpful. Another thing that I would do is when you come to University a
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lot of your lecture notes will be put on a site called Moodle where you can see all of them before
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or after the lesson, so personally what I like to do, I like to look at the notes
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before the lesson do all of the notes, so you know write everything that's on the PowerPoint
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and then within the lesson you're actually able to concentrate and take in what your teacher's saying
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instead of panicking and writing all the notes down within the one or two hours that you have,
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so that's another thing that I would do just be prepared before your lessons.
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If you think that you might have dyslexia, there are a number of things you can do before coming to
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University. So, you can speak to the Student Support advisors or the Disability Team and
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they'll be able to screen you to do a test to see if you have dyslexia, and this can lead to things
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like you know extra time on your exams or special exam arrangements and you get extra time on your
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coursework, and you might have extra support from your tutors, so you've really got nothing to lose
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by speaking to the Disability Team to see if they can help you out during your University journey.
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In terms of apps that will help you with dyslexia in University or you
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know whenever you're doing your exams like I said Grammarly is really helpful,
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it basically brings up any spelling or grammar mistakes that spell check not always brings up
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it's a lot more advanced and you can download that onto your laptop and use it on things like Word
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when you're writing out coursework or essays. Secondly, there is a
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platform called ColorVeil which, like I mentioned before, is an overlay software
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where you can you know put different colours over your reading and then that will help you
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read it a bit better, and you can also choose from like so many different colours on it and
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you can also change the opacity which a lot of softwares don't allow you to do.
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A bit of final advice, like I said speak to the Support team at Uni they are more
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than willing to help you out. Also, there is a Neurodivergent Society at BCU so if
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you want to speak to people who you know understand your situation or you want to
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ask them any questions they'll be really open to you know inviting you in and answering any
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questions that you possibly have. I really hope this video helps and good luck ,bye.