One in seven GCSE students have taken 'study drugs', poll claims

Students are popping pills in a bid to help them revise, according to a new poll.

YouGov research suggests students taking GCSEs are turning to black market medications developed to help people suffering from serious medical conditions.

Eight in 10 students say they feel fairly or very stressed in the run up to exams and as a result 14%, or one in seven, of pupils taking GCSEs have admitted to taking so-called study drugs.

Among A Level students the figure was lower with around one in 14, or 7%, admitting to using the drugs to help them concentrate.

The substances, including Adderall, Ritalin and Modafinil are typically prescribed to people with conditions like ADHD, narcolepsy or Alzheimer’s.

This drop-off among older students continues, with one in 18 (6%) of those who finished undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in the past two years saying they had taken them.

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Four in 10 (41%) students who have taken GCSEs in the past two years said that they think at least half of their close friends have taken study drugs, with one in six (15%) saying that ‘most’ or ‘all’ of them have.

A quarter (26%) of A-level students said that the majority of their close friends had taken them during exam season, with half (48%) saying at least ‘a few of them’ have.

One in eleven (9%) said ‘most’ or ‘all’ did so.