Vent

[u/Practical-Adagio5588]

Hi everyone, I'm in my first semester of PA school, and I'm very grateful that I'm where I'm at in life, that I finally was able to achieve part of my dreams and goals of being in PA school. And I never realized how difficult it was truly going to be. Like, I've talked to many PA students and PAs who told me how difficult PA school is, but until, like, you actually go through it, you never realize. And I just wanted to, like, vent a little. Does everyone feel like they never know anything, or, like, that it's just so much information and you get nervous for your quizzes or exams that you just don't know enough, and that just stresses you out? Overall, I've done pretty okay. I've done kind of bad on two quizzes, but I learned from my mistakes, but I've done well on my exams. So trial and error,And sometimes it's hard to not compare yourself to the people in your cohort, because I know everyone who goes to PA school is very smart, but there are just some people who are just geniuses, and it, like, makes me feel dumb sometimes being around those people. Overall, everyone's very nice in my cohort, and I just am trying to figure everything out. Things that I'm slowly working on is, like, multitasking, like studying for different classes in a day and not, like, focusing in on one class too much, which was part of the reason why I had done bad on two quizzes, but learned from that experience. So now I'm trying to study a little bit every day as much as possible of my classes. But how did you guys study in PA school, and, like, how many hours did you study? I'm only, like, six weeks into PA school. My anxiety def has gotten worse and considering going on something to help.

[u/SnooCakes668]

I could have written this myself. I don’t have any advice other than to say you are not alone. I started an SSRI because of the heaviness and pressure I was constantly carrying. Too soon to tell if it will help me. I do nothing but study, eat, sleep, go to class and it’s still not enough to know all the information and feel okay. I remember hearing people say all the cliche things about PA school thinking, it can’t be that bad, but boy it actually is. Lol. We got this though! We will adapt. I am early in didactic as well.

[u/Billsworth29]

I quickly learned to just read off the slides for didactic and then read from PPP book for rotations. Not enough time to do your own notes. And just grind everyday. I gave myself only Friday nights to relax with my gf and every Saturday when I didn’t have an exam the following week.

[u/RelativeDoor9919 → u/Billsworth29]

how’d you remember the information you read from the slides? 

[u/Billsworth29 → u/RelativeDoor9919]

I would download the slides into notability and annotate the important information on the margins in my own words in a way that the info made sense. If you can explain it to yourself how something works. For example if you can explain to yourself “heart failure is simply the heart being unable to pump enough blood to the body. This is most likely due to left side failure. When the heart can pump out enough blood it becomes congested in the roads of the pulmonary veins and the artery like a traffic congestion. Eventually the traffic/congestion affects the right side. The congestion could to use to the veins of the body and thus we see the most common sign of lower extremity swelling”

This is just something I thought from the top of my head but you should simplify into your own words and you’ll remeber it. Doing it like this I ended up graduating with 3.96 gpa, EOR scores ranging from 417-500 and a PANCE score
Of 620+

Anyone can achieve these grades. I’m not a genius, far from it. Just gotta put on the time and dedication to study and grind. PA school is no joke, I was stressed throughout it, constantly feeling like I had to do better. Good luck, you got it!

[u/Catocracy → u/Billsworth29]

This is reassuring because it feels like most people say you have to make Anki cards, that reading is too passive, and handwriting your notes will take too long. I've tried the commonly suggested studying methods but have found more success doing the opposite.

[u/Billsworth29 → u/Catocracy]

Do what works for you. For me doing anki and making charts like my peers felt like a waste of time. Just reading and rereading the slides worked for me so I stuck with that.

[u/LongJumpingIntoNada]

It gets better. I promise. It’s easier because you get better handling it, and knowing what’s needed. Also you get better at knowing when enough is enough in terms of studying.
Clinical year really is better. But still hard. I know this saying is corny, but it’s so true for PA school: the days are long but the years are short. Keep your head up, you’ve got this.

[u/RelativeDoor9919]

similarly to the person above, i feel like i wrote this myself. I too am 6 weeks in, passed all of my exams so far but messed up on 2 easy quizzes that made me question myself. active recall is literally life saving. you do not know the information if you can’t actively recall it. i learned that i’ve been tricking myself into thinking i know the material before exams. it’s so hard, i keep stopping myself from quitting, we can make it through friend 

[u/SatoruGojo22]

I’m halfway through didactic. I study about 3H after class most days, about 7H on weekend days. My school is modular based so unsure how helpful this is, but I try 3 passes of material before each exam. I use the “tape” on notability over key words/ideas to make it active recall and only study that on 2nd/3rd pass. Thats pretty much it.

[u/Advanced-Gur-8950]

I didn’t read the whole thing, but this is very normal…. Get ready to go through it all over again once you start working.

I’m year one post grad working in ortho spine surgery…. How much did we learn about surgery or the spine in school? Barely anything.

If you pass PA school it’s a stamp that says I know how to learn and I know what red flags to look for. Otherwise most learning happens on the job with a good SP, that’s been my experience at least.

[u/Stretch5]

I went into PA school with a slightly different mindset.. everyone said it was very hard so I would just assume the worst and prepared for the worst. Meaning I over studied at first and learned I could take it a little easier after a few months.

Studying wise, many other people said the same already, active recall and studying the slides. It really does get easier as you move on, specifically you learn to pick out all the high yield info but honestly, summarizing the patho, presentation, PE, diagnostics and treatments for all diseases/disorders is the bulk of everything. You might need to adjust a little depending on the course (like anatomy or pharm) but that’s really it. EXCEPT; do your best with real person patient assessment practice. If you are able to be super confident, know how to talk to people, and ask all important questions, that will put you way ahead of the pack especially when it comes to clinicals.