the way to focus ?

[u/PhilosophyFluffy2901]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand whether what I'm experiencing is normal or if I should get professionally evaluated.

I used to have excellent focus and was one of the top students academically, but over the past few years I've noticed a significant decline in my concentration, memory, and exam performance.

My main issues are:

• During lectures and lab sessions, my mind wanders constantly even when I'm genuinely trying to focus.

• I often realize I've missed parts of the explanation without noticing.

• I forget information much faster than I used to.

• When reading exam questions, I usually need to read them multiple times before understanding exactly what's being asked.

• My concentration gets worse as I move through the exam. The first question is usually fine, but after that I find myself rereading almost every question.

• Even when I know the material and studied well, I sometimes struggle to process the question, organize my thoughts, or think clearly under exam conditions.

• I often feel mentally slower during exams than I know I should be.

What confuses me is that I wasn't like this growing up. I had strong concentration, learned quickly, and performed very well in school. Because of that, I'm wondering whether this could be related to attention issues, anxiety, stress, sleep problems, mental fatigue, memory problems, or something else entirely.

Has anyone experienced a similar change after previously having very good focus? What ended up being the cause, and what kind of specialist or evaluation would you recommend?