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Is it normal to not be able to remember anything during burnout? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 days ago by StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I'm tired boss. I've had a really rough semester and I can't look at my calculus without my eyes glazing over. Now that it's time for the final I'm looking back at all the concepts I had "breakthrough" moments with... And I got nothing. Can't remember a lick. I don't have any gusto in me still, I'm already planning to retake the course but fuck me ive never experienced burnout like this.

Is this normal?

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[-] Allero@lemmy.today 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes.

During prolonged and extensive stresses, a brain temporarily loses some of the ability to pay attention and remember.

When the stressful part is over, your memory will restore. I would not advise to strongarm through it, though - find a way to unload yourself and find better rest before your body forces you to by introducing stress-induced health issues you'll have to address.

Been there, lost a lot of health to it, don't recommend.

Also, agree with others saying you need to sleep well. Sleep is essential at sorting your memories and preparing you for the day. During the periods of stress and processing a lot of data it is more essential than ever.

[-] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 63 points 3 days ago

Yes. This is a common consequence of burnout.

[-] blackbrook@mander.xyz 16 points 2 days ago

Stress and being short on sleep are two things well established to make your brain worse at forming memories.

[-] Vanth@reddthat.com 37 points 3 days ago

Normal effect of burnout.

Retake because of the grade you expect to receive? Or retake to absorb the concepts better on a second go around?

If the latter, I recommend studying independently instead. There are so many online resources now that are better for learning than the traditional college lecture model.

[-] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

For learning calculus?

[-] Interstellar_1 1 points 2 days ago

Yes

[-] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Can you link me some? I'd honestly really appreciate it. I've used Khan academy but it was too sparse on exercises

Edit: spelling

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

It looks like they did away with the mastery system for the banner thing?

It's quite possible you're missing something from more fundamental maths. When i went back for an engineering degree i found through Khan academy that i needed to relearn 4th grade fractions. I just worked from there through every lessen from 4th grade up through calc 1 in one go. Took like 3 months but college level calc and above was a breeze with that strengthened foundation of knowledge.

Then when other students asked me for help i saw them having the same issues. It's really hard to tell an adult they need to work on 4th grade maths when they're studying for a calc exam. It's not their fault the classic education method gives you Swiss cheese knowledge.

[-] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I didn't struggle with any of it when I went through it, I just have subsequently found that I didn't retain many of the rules. The derivative's power rule is about the only rule I don't have to look up these days. I'd like an online resource that has a bunch of practice exercises to help drill that stuff into me.

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I'm lamenting that Khan Academy had such a system in the past but it looks discontinued for a seemingly less useful one-and-done approach. Just throwing out the idea about gaps in knowledge in case.

One option would be to find additional textbooks. I believe my math courses used an open source one.

This looks similar maybe, I can't recall: https://openstax.org/subjects/math/

[-] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

Thank you!

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

ive done that in college, especially with very tough stem courses like gem chem, gen bio, and gen biochem. basically have to reread all the material from last semester, plus googling things to remember.

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 24 points 3 days ago

Get in contact with student support services, most universities have some sort of mental health “crisis” support system. (Crisis between quotes because what they can handle varies wildly). They can not only help you with your burnout, but also get in contact with your prof and let them know. You could (likelihood depends on the university) get a second chance at a later date without having to retake the full course.

Unfortunately, burnout and similar health issues have skyrocketed between university students since covid, the universities try to keep up, but… funding processes suck, so it really depends on the state/county/specific university.

All the best!

[-] StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

Its not that severe I don't think, though it's good to know that's an option, I think I just need to do what I can on this final and move on for now, I already get an extra hour for my disability, but I would love nothing more than to just take the test and be able to not think for like a week or more, ugh, and not look at converging functions

[-] SigmarStern@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 3 days ago

It could get pretty bad pretty fast if you are not careful. Been in the situation a couple of times, thinking "meh. I will push through it". And then it got ugly. Please take care of yourself and take all the help you can get.

[-] StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah that's true, I think I need to get better about actually taking breaks every single hour instead of pushing on.

Whats not helping is I'm no longer working and bills are coming hard and fast, so I'm actively trying to think up a way to make money while doing all this

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 6 points 3 days ago

When I was a student, I tried to take rest days before exams if possible. During my bachelor I had a strict rule of never studying more than 6 days a week, 10 hours a day (including commute). Having some time off was fundamental. I dropped that rule during the master and barely graduated :/

Now as a teacher, I often see students not able to pace themselves, giving it their all and collapsing half way through exam season. Understanding your own limits is rough… in particular when it had worked for so many months. But they overlooked how each month took a toll and at some point you can’t keep it all together.

If you see your burnout lasting more than a couple of days of rest, reach out. The sooner the better.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 3 days ago

I also feel like a lot of students don't know how to set goals for studying. For instance studying for math may be solving x problems in y time, which roughly mimics test time. If you can't do that, time to reach out for help rather than spinning wheels.

[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 3 points 3 days ago

Mini-rant incoming

There is that, sure, but also courses are structured to make sense as a whole, such that the end connects to all the pieces you have been gathering along the way. Therefore, it is often easier and mire fulfilling to study at the end of the semester, when the end goal of the techniques studied is shown. On the other hand, postponing all to the end is obviously a bad plan. So to avoid that, courses are structured with mid-terms and homework hand ins and so on to force students into learning a bit at a time, thus often loosing track of the global picture and making studying feel harder and less motivating. Plus, constant testing is a source of increased stress and lower productivity (who would have guessed).

I don’t know the solution to this conundrum, I just rant about it.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 3 days ago

I've taken junior level college classes that relied on concepts taught from freshman year without any class in-between reinforcing that knowledge. Hell, I've had college courses continue concepts that were last taught to me in middle school.

I feel like part of the problem is that students demand full understanding as to why they need to know a specific something immediately while having little context as to why this may be important. There are also cases where it may be important to some students in the class, but the school doesn't know which students yet because those students aren't there.

[-] oneser@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

You sound like me at uni. If you can, go and try get your exam deferred, take a decisive week break and get back to it at a pace that works better for you.

I have 4-5 realllly dark spots on my transcripts because of my stubbornness. Didn't help in job searching very much.

[-] MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Yes.

[-] iii@mander.xyz 1 points 3 days ago

It's called a blackout. It's common, yes.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025

152 points (100.0% liked)

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