The way you studied in undergrad will not work in PA school.

The volume is the thing nobody prepares you for. You get more material in a week than you used to get in a semester, and the students who struggle usually aren't the ones who can't handle it. They're the ones still using a method that only worked when there was time to reread everything.

Start by knowing how you actually learn. The VARK assessment is a quick way to figure out whether you're getting more out of reading, listening, drawing it out, or doing. Then build your study time around that instead of copying whatever your smartest classmate does.

Keep the boards in your peripheral vision the whole time. Work practice questions from different sources so you're not just memorizing one question bank's style.

And eat something. Sleep. You cannot outstudy a body you're running into the ground.

What I cover:

• Why undergrad study habits break down in PA school
• Using the VARK assessment to find your learning style
• Adapting your methods to the volume of material
• Keeping board prep in mind from day one
• Using varied question banks and resources
• Protecting your health while you're in it

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

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Happy New Year.

Let's talk about ways to study and prepare for PA School.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

I want to thank mypa Resource and PA School Prep for sponsoring the Prepa Club Podcast.

So mypa Resource is a personal statement editing service that edits only PA school essays, only edited by PAs, and most of us have admissions experience, so I am one of the editors.

Definitely check them out if you need help with your content grammar flow, making sure that you are on track for turning in your application and you can use the Code Future PA for a discount on any of their service options.

They say you're not supposed to like the podcast.

Experts say that you're not supposed to date your podcast, but whatever.

If you're listening to this in real time.

Even though it was a little bit rough at times.

I know for me I definitely was outside more this year than ever before.

I'm not necessarily an outdoors person, but I was outside a lot more.

A lot more family time that I would not have probably had had things not been the way they were.

So I'm thankful to see still have a job, be able to be back at work.

But I also know that this is a just in general, this year has been hard and difficult for a lot of people.

A lot of disappointment, a lot of sadness, a lot of loss.

So it's okay if you are going into this year with not the most positive attitude, maybe a chip on your shoulder and just know that I hope for you that this year is better and I'm just so thankful for this community that we have through the podcast, through social media, through the PA platform, and for you guys for sticking around listening.

I hope that this continues to be something that's helpful for you, but we will jump into our podcast in just a second.

The podcast is not going anywhere.

I'm not planning on it going anywhere unless y' all start telling me that you're tired of episodes.

But for now we'll keep on with it because I I do enjoy getting to especially do the interviews and talk to People, the pre PA conference is tomorrow.

If you did not sign up, you missed the signups for this one.

But it will be available next week on prepacourses.com it's going to be a great lineup.

We have so many awesome PAs and PA students who are going to be speaking as well as topics that should relate to getting you ready to or prepared for what you would need to apply to PA school, not necessarily the application process.

I found this on the web.

Thanks Siri.

That will come later.

So that was so random.

Pleasure.

Oh gosh, go away.

I should edit these things out.

But they're just normal life.

Okay, so there are a few things.

So if you're not on the newsletter list that went out this week for the December newsletter and I think we might start doing like bi monthly newsletters just to make sure that you're able to see what we're doing on the podcast and on the blog and not missing anything.

And one of my favorite tips, if there is something that you're looking for, is to search for the PA platform and whatever it is.

So if you're looking for GPA stuff, search on Google.

Just the PA platform.

GPA or the PA platform.

Personal statement.

Speaking of which, this is a great time to get started on your personal statement.

If you go back last year we had a bunch of episodes where we talked through the personal statement challenge and that's@the PA platform.com personal statement.

And it's a two week free free email course that walks you through getting a draft of your personal statement done.

And so that'd be a good thing to go ahead and get started on.

But yeah, so if you're looking for information, that's usually the easiest way to find it.

But as far as other things, this year I am hoping to have more virtual shadowing events.

I've still got to line those up.

It's just hard with people who have busy schedules finding a time that works with that.

But be on the lookout for those.

I'll probably post mostly on social media whenever those come up and try to integrate them on the podcast as well.

Back then I used to do monthly webinars on YouTube and so we would cover all different topics.

And then I kind of, I guess I just stopped doing them.

I was doing a lot more Instagram lives and things, but I'm Bringing back the webinar series.

So starting on January 19th at 8pm Eastern, that link will be in the description of the the episode and then I'll post it on Social too.

But it's going to be very topic based so it's not going to be like a free for all Q and A. I'm going to take questions ahead of time and our January topic will be over experience.

So patient care, healthcare, shadowing, volunteering, everything that falls into the experience category on CASPA or according to PA schools.

So we'll start out with that and then I'll announce the February one at that webinar.

So hopefully that'll be something helpful for you guys and watch on Instagram for where you can submit your questions for that.

I think that's the only major thing coming up that you should be aware of.

The PA School Interview guide did get some updates, FYI.

I added a section on virtual interviews and a few just questions that had been included in the past.

And so I if you buy it either on Amazon or through thepaplatform.com book and that's where you can use that future PA code, you will get that updated version now or you should.

I think all the old ones have been sold.

So that was a fun update.

Okay, let's get in to study tips.

A while back, like in the summer I was able to work with AAPA and they do a PA student.

What do they call it?

Like a. I think they call it like success series or something, I don't know.

But anyway, they did a series and it was kind of all about how to do well in PA school.

And so the topic that I spoke on was how to study effectively.

I meant to record that presentation and I forgot but I had a bunch of requests to share that information.

So I am going to go through that presentation.

This will be in podcast form.

If you want to actually see the presentation, it will be on YouTube.

So if you're somebody who wants to watch or have kind of the notes to go along with it, go to YouTube.com thepaplatform and you will find it there.

But we'll jump in right now.

All right.

PA school and studying Drinking out of a fire hydrant.

That's what we hear all the time, right?

So let's talk about how you can effectively study in PA school.

First of all, I am Savannah.

I survived PA school.

I went to the University of Georgia and I was a biology major.

And I've been working as a dermatology PA ever since.

And so if I got through it and survived all of that, I feel very confident that you can too.

All right.

Is it even a presentation without objectives?

Not for PA school.

And once you're in PA school or if you are in PA school now, you will know that pretty much every presentation that any lecture lecturer gives, they have their objectives that they go over at the beginning.

So we're going to talk about expectations for both yourself and from the PA programs, recognizing your limitations and study methods and different resources and tools.

I included this super flattering picture from when I was in PA school and we got fit tested for our N95 masks.

So here's a picture of someone trying to drink out of a fire hydrant.

This seems exaggerated and it is, but it isn't.

So the reason people say this when it comes to talking about PA school is that you are getting tons of information thrown at you really fast, making it hard to digest or feeling like you're only getting those little droplets that are coming out and not really getting all of the water.

So obviously you can't drink all the water coming out of a fire hydrant.

And this analogy, I think I've had it said to me hundreds of times and probably said it hundreds of times myself.

And for a little quick story, one of my best friends started PA school about a year and a half ago and she called me during her orientation week and she had also heard this phrase a bunch.

She said, if someone tells me it's going to be like drinking out of a fire hydrant one more time, I am going to lose my mind.

They keep saying that.

I'm so over it.

And about a month into school we were catching up and Taylor had changed her tone and basically said, okay, I understand now.

They were right.

You were right.

This is a lot.

So it's hard to convey exactly how much and how intense PA school is until you're really there.

But just know you will not consume all the knowledge.

You will not fully understand all the knowledge.

And that's okay.

That's not necessarily the expectation, it's just presenting you with it.

And then clinicals help to solidify a lot of that.

So here is one of my biggest tips from the first day that you start PA school.

Keep boards in mind.

Remember that at the end of PA school, you're going to have to pass the pants.

And I think when you're in school, you can get really focused on the test that your program is requiring or the end of rotation exams.

And all of those are helpful.

They're all preparing you for boards.

But depending on how your school tests, it may or may not be completely in line with how the pants is.

So it's up to you to expose yourself to as much information as possible and as many question types and styles as possible so that when you do sit down to take your boards, you feel better about them.

I'm not even going to say confident or that you feel like you did great.

I don't know if anyone's ever felt like they did great, but you feel like you have a good understanding of the material.

This is something that I didn't necessarily do.

It took a few months of me being in school school to figure out those resources and kind of get that mindset.

But I felt much better prepared when it came time to officially study for the pants.

Once I was kind of towards the end of my education because I'd already established really good patterns of using certain resources and I was already using board review resources.

Okay, let's talk about getting started.

So my first semester, I got a C on my first anatomy test, barely.

So a C in my program was 75 or higher.

And I failed my first pharmacology test.

And I think I got maybe like a 74 or 73.

These were within the first couple weeks of school.

So very discouraging and overwhelming to get started like that.

But I'm just warning you, telling you and let you know it's okay that you might struggle.

And the most important thing that you can take away from those struggles is figuring out how to fix them and figuring out quickly and asking for help, which we will talk about a little bit more.

So, learning style going into PA school, your old methods of learning what worked for you in undergrad might not work.

And that could be for a few different reasons.

It might be that you are getting the information differently or the teachers are different or the information is different, or the timing is different.

And that was my biggest struggle, was there was not enough time to do the studying that I had done in undergrad the same way in PA school.

So here are some different learning styles I highly recommend just Googling and taking the Vark learning test to give you insights into each of these learning styles.

There are free tests online that you can take that will kind of help you identify what type of a learner you are.

And if you've never taken a learning test, if you, if you're an undergrad or taking classes or in PA school, it's just helpful.

It's not necessarily an end all, be all that.

If it says one thing, that's the only way you can study.

But it might help you understand yourself a little bit better.

So the V stands for visual.

This is in line with diagrams, charts, designs, not necessarily words, but seeing the information in different ways.

The A is for oral.

This is lectures, group discussion, speaking, talking.

So talking it out, group study, quizzing each other kind of thing.

Reading and writing is the R. So that's words, PowerPoints, lists, and then the K stands for kinesthetic.

So simulation, video, demonstration, case studies, practice.

And so you can use all of these and feel like you relate to all of these.

But there may be one that's better for you, and it may be that different subjects, you do better with one type.

I like to see things organized in different ways in charts.

So that's more kind of in that visual part.

But I also like words.

I'm a note taker.

In undergrad.

I wrote everything out a million times and would connect it and do all these crazy, crazy notes.

But in PA school, there wasn't time.

And so that made me switch over to doing charts on the computer and.

And I'll show you an example of those in a minute.

I also, I would say I'm somewhat kinesthetic and I do like to practice and actually have to apply the knowledge and put it to work to make sure I know it versus assuming that I know it.

So I asked on Instagram for some tips from people of how they study and what they have found works.

And we had one user who said her recommendation for PA school was looking at the material in multiple times in multiple ways.

And that goes back to that learning style and using different techniques.

Be choosy about what resources you use, but use that multimodal approach to make sure you're seeing the information in different ways.

So whether that's you reading through the lecture and then watching a video on it, that's two different ways.

Or reading through a lecture and then quizzing your friends on it, that is also two different ways.

But you've got to make sure that you are not only looking at the material, but understanding it.

All right, let's get into some study techniques.

And there are tons of these online.

And I'm going to say this probably a lot of times, but if something is not working for you, change it.

You've got to be self aware enough to realize like, okay, like me and pharmacology.

What I did for that first test did not work and so I had to change it.

I had to, you know, go back to the book.

More than just the lectures.

I had to definitely talk things out with my classmates, even though I'm usually not a group studier.

So you've got to figure out what works for you, but also be aware enough to switch it if it's not working.

But some study techniques, repetition.

So re listening, writing things out, reviewing the day's material and repeating in 24 hours.

I am not organized enough to do that or like keep a schedule like that.

But I do like to write things out and listen.

One thing that I would do is sometimes when I was going through notes, if I had something difficult or that I wasn't quite understanding, I would record myself reading the textbook or reading my notes and then put it in my phone as a podcast or a song and I would listen back to it on the way to school.

I had about a 20 to 30 minute ride and there are some great podcasts now available too for PA study resources.

But I would just listen back to it and try to consume that material in a different way.

Group study.

So talking through concepts, quizzing each other, teaching each other.

This works well if you are good at not getting distracted or have someone who can keep you on track or if you, you, you just want to make sure you know the material fully or you have people that you're working with that you feel confident that you all are understanding it adequately.

The Pomodoro technique and this is not only a study technique, this is just a time management tip.

And I've tried this.

I think it does help for me a lot with just getting things done.

So what the Pomodoro technique is is you set a timer for study time and then rest time.

And during your dedicated study or work time or whatever, you have no distractions.

So no phone, no email, no social media, no TV.

Usually a good setup for this is like 20 minutes and then either 5 or 10 minutes of break time.

But you may find that a different time interval works better for you.

But you want to make sure you're taking breaks.

You're going to wear yourself out and get too exhausted if you do not do that.

The next one is application.

So making sure you're practicing with questions, creating charts with highlights, teaching someone else Q and A I think is one of the best ways to practice.

Just because a lot of the resources for PA School questions, make sure that they give you reasons why answers are right and reasons why answers are wrong.

And so that will help to make sure you're fully understanding it and not just memorizing facts, but that you can apply the clinical knowledge you're getting in the right scenarios.

All right, if you are struggling or not sure what if you're doing is right, here are some tips.

Number one, Switch it up.

If your study method isn't effective, try something new either.

A new resource, a new method, a new place, something different to see if it works better for you.

Ask for help.

And don't wait on this one.

If you're struggling, ask for help.

When I failed that pharmacology test, I immediately went to my advisor's office to ask her for help and figure out what I needed to do.

So your classmates, your advisors, faculty, friends, family, the Internet, see if there's someone who can help you with the study part of it and also just the mental part of it and the mental health involved with the rigor of PA school can be very, very overwhelming.

And then stick to what works.

Once you find a resource or method that you do find effective, use it until it doesn't work or until you feel like it's not as effective as it was.

Overall.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I made in PA school.

Don't sacrifice yourself.

You need to be taking care of yourself and taking of your health.

So getting enough sleep, keeping a regular bedtime.

Will studying for an extra two hours really impact your grade while you're sacrificing that sleep, Will it make a big difference?

Or will that possibly two hours of studying get you from a 91 to a 92 or 93?

So you've got to look at those things through a different lens and figure out what it's going to take for you to stay healthy while you are in this difficult program.

Eat well, choose healthy foods, Take breaks for meals.

Give your brain some fuel.

Again, you don't want to sacrifice something that your body needs for getting in a few more minutes of studying and then exercise.

Get up, get active, listen to a podcast while you walk or run.

Sitting in a classroom all day day.

My PA classes were from 8 to 5.

We didn't even have windows.

And then I would study in the morning and at night.

It's exhausting.

So make some time for yourself to feel like you are able to take care of yourself, even if it's only a couple times a week.

All right, so I'm going to talk a little bit about exactly How I studied and show you some pictures of my study guides.

So I love note taking and at first I was trying to write things down by hand, but I found that that just was not time effective.

I didn't have time to write everything down I wanted to.

So I would, in my PowerPoint, take notes on any important points and pearls.

A lot of people now I've seen use iPads and so that's a really great way to kind of combine handwriting notes and note taking with being able to do it electronically.

So that's kind of where I found I needed to stay engaged by writing things down during lectures.

And then I would take my lecture notes, the books we used, any resources the program gave me, and combine all of that into a study guide.

My classmates and I were great about sharing our study guides, so we would all kind of share with each other.

So if someone else had something that was in a format that helped me, it was nice to have that.

We all just use Google Docs to share or Dropbox.

So I'd have my study guides and I would review those while I was also using my pants resources.

I'll talk about a couple resources in a second that I use specifically, but I would use some certain books to go through the material that was important to know.

Four boards.

And then I would apply the information by doing a bunch of practice questions in books that had explanations.

And then I would discuss that with my friends in the program as well.

Here's a picture of an example of my study guides.

So some of them were just written out notes like this.

And then others were more of these charts where I would have different drugs or diseases and list out their kind of symptoms, signs, tests, gold standards kind of things, any side effects for medications, treatments.

I would have these and then I would take notes on them.

I printed a lot during this time.

So now I think having an iPad would be so helpful.

I would have definitely been someone who was taking a lot of notes on my iPad.

This is also an example of these charts I made for a bunch of drugs.

And I would basically use a lot of resources, put them all together and put a bunch of information on these one page, kind of like a one page summary of different drugs of everything we needed to know.

Because in pharmacology, I struggled learning that without actually applying it.

And clinical rotations was very helpful for that.

Here are two books I used.

One was the comprehensive review for the certification and recertification exam for physician assistants.

And this is the kind of gold standard book.

It's a nice overview, it does not go deeply into details.

So if we're talking dosing or especially specifics around medications, it doesn't have as much of that in it.

And then I use this Lang Q and A physician assistant exam book to do the questions for each section.

So so if we start a new section like Cardiology, usually I would start by reading through the section in the certification book and then I would use all of our lecture material, be putting all of that together in my study guide.

And then I would go through the questions for that section in the Lang Q and A.

And then before I test, I always read back through the certification book again too.

I also used whiteboards a ton.

This is a picture that someone sent me.

It's not my whiteboard.

I wish I still had pictures of those.

But I used whiteboards and I loved them.

It was always so sad to wipe all of the information off.

So if again, like I wish I had an iPad when I was in PA school, I wish that was a thing.

Okay, here are some more resources that either I've used or I crowdsourced on Instagram.

So Pants Prepped Pearls seems to be the go to book for most PA students for the material and I have a copy as well.

It has a lot more information, more specifics I would say than the certification exam.

But I think when I research in two years, I will probably use both of those books to get a good overview when it comes to question banks.

If you don't want the book form of Lang Roche Review is an awesome resource.

I love their questions and how it's set up.

And they actually have some ebooks too that are very helpful.

Or UWorld.

UWorld's QBank is set up to look exactly like pants, so that's very helpful.

And then if you are a visual learner, Picmonic Osmosis and Sketchy Farm are all really good options that integrate pictures with learning.

So they'll tell a story or have a little video to help put all the information together.

And so those are again some crowd favorites.

And then in PA school you'll do something called Pack Rats, which are these questions.

I guess it's just a test, but questions that are similar to the pants and will help you figure out kind of if you're on track with your studying.

So definitely that's something that you will do in PA school.

And then a lot of people use quizlet.

So if your class can get together and get a quizlet together, that sounds like that would be a really helpful resource.

I like written flashcards, but those aren't always practical.

All right.

I'm always here to help.

So at the PA platform on Instagram, feel free to email me.

I will link a lot of these different books and things so that you can find them in the description.

And happy to share more about my experience if you have any questions.

Thanks so much for listening and hanging in there with me and for following the podcast.

If you have enjoyed this podcast, I would love it so much if you would share it with somebody, leave a review on wherever you're listening and subscribe.

And that just helps more people find it and help more people become PAs.

But I'm so excited for what this year holds, and as always, if there's anything I can do to help you out, please let me know.