I forgot to answer about searching your brain for answers. While it could be a lot of things, it is often characteristic of ADD. I often find myself in situations were I have a hard time answering questions because I know the concepts, but I couldn't really spell everything.

Hi Chris
Is auditory disruption related to dyslexia? : )
I know Ive read something about the inner ear and how the message can get scrambbled from there forward
so that your brain isnt recieving the right message or like a mix match and then you go HUH?

It happens in other places too...kind of life long circumstance..
I hear them talking and Im staring at them in the face.. just a few feet away..
I end up laughing and saying huh? what did you just say?..
luckily I can laugh with my friends who know me and my ways...
If Im talking to someone who does not know me I tend to have that intense look on my face as if Im forcing myself to listen... Im literally breaking a few words down at a time in my head so I dont lose track of the conversation....
Its so odd now that I notice the process...
other times all is good and the information goes through well.. stress is a BIG no no for me...

"I have an appointment to see someone at school but since I dont have this officially documented( cant afford it) it will be hard to get any help... "

Most schools can do there own basic testing. Something I had to do myself when I got help in college as I hadn't been treated for ADD for more then a decade (parents who refused to have me medicated).

Often self-diagnosis of ADD, with the various test one can find online, are often fairly reliable - after all they are the same test the professionals use. Find an online test, www.amenclinics.com/store/index.php for example, take them and print out the results and then take those with you when you talk to student services.

"we used to be able to record ..now they dont want you to..have to find out if I still can ... "
It is no longer allowed without the express written permission of your prof - it is a copyright issue. Also a student had recorded a professor he didn't like, edited the recording and caused a lot of trouble for the prof, so to prevent that from happening again no recordings allowed.

As a former teacher: beware of open book tests, they are often much harder then the closed book ones.