ADD medications are generally marketed to “unleash the potential of the student,” which is accurate. In my case, I could finally barrel through those lecture notes without stopping five times to look at some shiny thing in order to earn a slightly below average grade on an exam (I’d stop only 2 times, instead). Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that high-functioning students do not benefit from stimulant use the way lower-functioning students do. Of course, “high” and “low” functioning takes on a whole new meaning when we’re now splicing up classes of some of the highest achieving students from their colleges, but this is part of the issue in saying “ADD versus ‘normal.’” It’s really “ADD versus your potential.” The ability to synthesize complex ideas in my head had never been the issue, even through college (i.e. my intellect on its own was plenty strong). My ability to utilize this abstract synthetic ability was the issue, thus the obvious utility of Focalin. - in-training.org