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Comment by contravariant | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure what the situation is like in the UK but is this all stuff that needs to happen now? Because you don't sound like you're doing too well. You're studying drugged on caffeine and painkillers and then wonder why you don't retain information well.

From what I've seen first hand a concussion like this needs time to heal. Your brain, the organ responsible for processing information, has been harmed and needs to heal.

The main thing you need is time, which you seem to be lacking severely. That is the part I would focus on first. I'm not familiar enough with the UK's educational system to tell you how, but if you know where you want to end up try to find a way that gives you more time (whether that means starting later or starting something else and then transferring).

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Agreed. In your shoes I would take a year out to recover. University is not going anywhere. A year can seem like a long time when you’re 17, but it’s really not.

I entered college at 17. I remember there were two "Mature students" in my year who seemed old. They were in their mid 20s. They hung out together between classes, and didn't stay on-campus getting involved in clubs, societies, drinking competitions etc. In short: they were adults, and being a student, I felt that I had deferred adulthood for a few years. Looking back as a 47 year old, it feels utterly ridiculous. I dropped out of college, farted about for a few years and only started to get somewhere on my career years later, and still passed out my old graduate friends. By the time I hit 35 I was debt-free. I now work a 30 hour week, by choice. Taking a year or five out at 17 isn't a big deal as long as they help you heal and grow.

That's the plan with the gap year. I'm not sure about taking a year out in the middle of my A levels. I'm hoping next year is better. As a result of doing further maths I did the two-year maths course in one year but didn't do the exam this year due to not getting the necessary grades. The plan with the course structure is to do further maths next year, but I've dropped it, so I should need to "just" improve my maths grade through practice instead of learning new content. I still have computer science and physics of course.

I've got three weeks left of this academic year, and since we've finished the content for the year I might take those three weeks out so I get 9 weeks of break before next year. Hopefully I can improve in that time.

Ya investing in healing is the best thing to do right for yourself in my opinion. 17 is really young even more when at this age you already know Rust, Python, and TS well… At this age I was barely starting to code. You could be 22 and know those well and I will still say you are young have a heads up. Not many people have this advantage.

So use this heads up you got at your advantage to negate what is happening to you right now, by taking the time to heal first. It will literally pay dividends of a lifetime.

I will be praying for you.

Also, a year at university when you have good health habits will result in much more learning than a year when you have poor habits.

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