I frequently get questions like:
“I just found your show and I’ve got two weeks before my exam.Can you give me some advice?”
Or
“I’ve been following you for years and I can’t believe my PANCE is 2 weeks out.Is there anything else I can do?”
Everyone freaks out in that last week.And it’s pretty reasonable.No matter how you look at it, you’ve been working for months or years to pass this exam.There is a lot riding on it.
All that worry and concern is a huge mental drain.It sucks the life out of you before you even get started.Now let’s add in studying.Cramming.Wondering what little tidbit will make the biggest difference in that last week.
Those last few days.
“Should I focus on ECGs?
What about vaccination schedules?
What about diabetes?I’m sure diabetes is going to be on there…
Were vascular ulcers painful or was that venous stasis?
Ahhhh!”
My number one piece of advice for the week of your exam is to take the day before your test off.Two days if you can.Don’t study, no matter what.
Before my PANCE, I took a whole week off.No studying.Nothing.
Before my PANRE I didn’t have that luxury, so I just took one day.
Your brain needs to be at its best.It needs to be nimble and agile.It needs quick reflexes.
Most of all, it needs to build connections and recognize patterns without you getting in its way.
When I went in for my PANCE, I figured I’d already spent 3 YEARS preparing for this day.I had spent the better part of month hitting the books hard.I did the Live Rutgers review course and was bombarded with 3 years of medicine in one week.
There wasn’t anything left to do.There was no more I could cram in my leaking brain.Nothing I could study was going to change my score.
The one thing that could change things was how well my brain was working.
The PANCE is 5 hours of reading and answering questions.Even in my most rested state, that’s hard.
There are things your brain stops doing when you’re not ready that you don’t feel.It isn’t making abstract connections like it should.It isn’t culling into obscure references you read months ago.It isn’t doing those things and you don’t even notice.
A well-rested brain is worth 10x what you could study in that last day.
If you don’t do anything else I recommend, if you think all of my strategies are silly and worthless, heed this one:
Give your brain a rest the day before the exam.
Marathon runners don’t run the day before an exam.
MLB pitchers don’t pitch the day before a game.
Smart test takers don’t study the day before a 5-hour exam.
My #2 piece of advice it to get a copy of The Final Step and use it the day before you stop studying to rest.
I can’t help you much on the first one, but I can help you with #2.I’m running sale until Friday at end of the day on the 20th onThe Final Step.
You can get it this week at 20% off.
Enter the code Holiday at checkout [on the checkout page] and like a Christmas Miracle, 20% will come off your total; but only until Friday.
Brian Wallace