161: Last Chance: Is 33 Days To Pass The PANCE Right For You?

Hello and welcome to the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast. I wanted to let you know that tomorrow is the last day to register for the April cohort of 33 Days to Pass the PANCE. That’s right, we close registration on March 25th. So today we’re going to do something a little bit different and we’re going to walk through the program and see if it’s a good fit for you and answer some questions that I’ve been getting this week in a format that you can see and hear and understand. Sometimes when I write, I’m maybe not as clear. And I want to make sure that by the end of this episode, you can make an informed decision. Yes, this is a good fit for me or no, I’m going to hold off and find something else.

That’s the decision I want you to make today because again, registration closes tomorrow. So I want to make sure that you’re in, if you want to be in. Too many times, like, I get emails from people after registration closes, asking if I can get them in. And the way we set everything up, the way we get started as a cohort, it becomes really difficult to do that. So who is this for? What’s the program about? What goes on, and by the way, if you’re listening to this after March 25th, then you can go ahead and skip this episode because it’s not going to be relevant to you at this point.

So what we do inside of 33 Days to Pass the PANCE is different from any other program out there. There’s nothing like what we do. Here on the podcast, I teach content. Maybe I cover one skill here or there, the email list, I might cover one skill here or there that’s going to help move you forward. The 33 Days to Pass the PANCE program is completely different in the sense that all we teach are skills and schedules and formats. We develop the entire test taker, the entire student, the entire studier. That’s the point of the program.

It’s not to pound more cardiology. It’s not to pound more pulmonology. Yes, all those things are important without a doubt. But where I feel and I see that I can move students the most, the furthest, the biggest number of points in the least amount of time is with skills, not with content. You’ve been pounded with content over and over and over again and every time someone struggles and they fail an EOR or they fail the end of curriculum exam, they get one-to-one tutoring on content. They get someone giving them a different review book. They get someone telling them they’re not working hard enough.

They’re being told they’re at risk so they should do better but they don’t know how. That’s what this program is for. That’s for what this, that’s the person that this program is for. The person who’s failed an end of rotation exam, who’s failed two end of rotation exams, who’s tried multiple things and can’t quite figure it out. They’re smart enough to get into PA school, but they’re struggling and they can’t solve the problem. And what I’ve seen is they are trying to solve a skills problem with more content. And that’s where the frustration comes in.

That’s where the anxiety comes in. That’s where the sleepless nights come in. Because it’s not that you don’t belong in PA school. It’s not that you’re not smart. It’s that you’re using the wrong tools. You’re using the wrong systems. Not because you don’t have the brains, but because you don’t know.

Because you haven’t tried certain things, ’cause no one’s showing you certain things. Most of the time what I see is that students are have been smart enough to just force their way through it. It’s almost like a super talented athlete who gets to the next level and doesn’t know how to work. They put in the time, they put in the effort, but they haven’t had the reps at what the work looks like because they’ve always been good. And I feel like that’s how most of the students here are. They’ve always been really good. Then they get to PA school and it’s test after test after test content after content after content and after content how do I keep up?

How do I keep it moving? That’s what we teach. That’s how we make it work.

Now, if you’re getting straight A’s, you absolutely should not join this program. You don’t need it, you’re doing great. I’ve actually talked to a handful of people this week, like, “Nope, I’m doing awesome.” Okay, fantastic. That’s amazing. If you don’t want to change anything you’re doing, in fact, our best students are the students who have failed the PANCE two or three times, or have failed two end of rotation exams and are about to get kicked out of school. Those are our best students. Why?

Because they are going to change what they’re doing. They’re going to be looking for what we’re teaching and they’re going to be implementing it. So if you’re not someone who’s interested in changing or someone who just wants to talk about how hard it is, then this program’s not for you. Absolutely. You won’t get anything out of it. I definitely have people who join, who fall into that category, who join in, after a day or two, let it just sit on their desktop and don’t participate. That’s not going to help anybody and that’s not what I want.

My goal here is to move your score, or my goal here is to make you a better student to help you get better scores in less time. That’s what we do. That’s my ultimate goal. I want more students who are in PA school to feel good about themselves, to pass their exams, to learn while they’re in PA school, to get as much out of school as possible for all the money that they’re spending, to still have a life and to pass the PANCE. That’s my goal, that’s what I’m trying to accomplish. What does it actually look like inside of the program? It’s really pretty straightforward.

It’s a little tough to describe, and everyone has it differently because it’s a framework that applies differently to each person. But I built it with the idea in mind that if you are in PA school, if you’re in didactic year, if you’re in clinical year, if you’re on a rotation, that’s really heavy. If you’re on a rotation that’s really light. If you’re getting ready for your PANCE, if you failed the PANCE and all you’re doing is studying for your next one. If you are a PA and you’ve got two or three kids at home and you’re working a full time job and trying to figure out how to study, this was designed for you. When I put it together, I sat and thought, how on earth can I help students the most, the biggest impact on them, taking up the least amount of their time. I knew you didn’t want to sit for three hours a night with me, and I knew I didn’t want to sit with you for three hours a night and go over material.

I also thought that would be really expensive and not make a lot of sense and not move the needle very far. So, instead I came up with this hybrid system, a system where everything is set out for you. And you know exactly what to do each day. And you do it on your terms. You get it, I do require that there are certain things you get accomplished every single day. This system is built on winning a 24 hour day over 33 Days. But I show you exactly how to do that.

And you fit it into and around your schedule. Some people do the things first thing in the morning. 5am, 5.30. Not everybody wants to do that. Some people do it at lunchtime. Some people do it right after work, some people do it before bed or after dinner. It really doesn’t matter to me and that’s the beauty of the system.

You can fit this in to anywhere within your day. It really isn’t a problem.

Now, it does take some time, so you’re going to have to figure out when. And here’s the key. Here’s what makes it difficult, but easily accomplishable, is you just have to put some thought into when you’re going to do it. And that’s what we do the week before. It’s one of the reasons I shut down registration a little bit early, is because it takes some time for you to think about how am I going to fit this into my day? Where is it going to go? But I promise you, I’ve had, out of the hundreds of students, maybe two or three who just simply couldn’t fit it in.

So what happens each and every day is I deliver a lesson to you, a video recorded lesson on either test taking, mindset, anxiety management, peak performance, or advanced study skills. You’re going to learn what type of test-taker you are, you’re going to learn how to use that in your favor, whether you are someone who finishes really early on your exams or someone who runs out of time on your exams, we’re going to deal with those kind of problems. Whether you’re someone who has trouble remembering and has too much overwhelm and too much information. Whether you’re someone who walks into your exam terrified, heart rate through the roof and can’t remember anything that you studied, we’re going to deal with all of those pieces. Each of those make up the daily lessons over the 33 Days and they stack as we go. But you listen to those lessons, they’re delivered directly to your phone whenever you like. Throughout your day, some people listen to them on the way into clinicals in the morning or on the way home or again at lunchtime or maybe when you’re out for a walk.

But that’s the backbone. Those are the skills and the philosophies you’re going to learn that are going to move your scores with the information you already have. They’re going to make your studying quicker, faster and help you to retain more of it by doing it in the way we teach. But you’re absolutely not doing this on your own. In fact, I’ve had people reach out and say, “Can I get the lessons? I’ll pay you just for the lessons.” And I say, “Absolutely not. I won’t do it.” Why?

Because I don’t want it collecting digital dust on your computer. My goal isn’t just to turn this around and sell it to you. My goal is for you to pass. And I know if I just hand you the videos, the completion rate on every single online course is like 10%. That’s not good enough for me. That’s not what I want for you. I want you to go through them, I want you to implement, I want you to learn it, and I want your scores to move and I want you to get some of your life back by increasing your free time.

And maybe not getting rid of your anxiety, but dialing it way, way down. So in addition to the daily lessons, what we do is once a week, I host a live call with all of the students. And this way we can talk about the lessons that we’ve gone through that week. So some of them are going to be new ideas. So we talk about how to use them, what they mean, how different people in the group are using them, how different students I’ve used them, talk to in the past I’ve used them. Then on Wednesday, middle of the week, I have two of my coaches host a workshop for the 33 Days students. That workshop is to help to implement each of the lessons that you’ve been learning.

So if you learn a new skill, and on Monday we go over it, and we talk about it and you’re starting to work through it, and you’ve had a chance to test it out, but you’re not quite sure, that coach’s workshop meeting is designed so you can show up there and say, “Hey, you guys have been through this before,” because all the coaches are alumni of the program. People who were struggling before came through the program, turned their lives around, did amazing things, and then asked to give back, and I finally allowed them to. So I’ve got about, I think we have six coaches with this cohort, it goes in and out, we have one person out who’s having a baby, one person who’s out who’s getting married. But regardless, the coaches’ calls are there to help you to implement things, to make sure that you’re using it. Like I said, I don’t want you just to purchase this and have it sit on your desk, that’s not useful to me. I want you to start implementing the skills so they can show you not just how I describe how to do it, but how they actually did it during the program when they were part of the program. Some things they like, some things they don’t like.

Like I said, each piece won’t apply to everyone. If you’re working on your EORs, then a couple of the lessons are very PANCE-centric and those aren’t going to apply to you. The way we set up the study structure may not apply directly to you, but we’ll give you live support there so that you can get it taken care of. Make sure it doesn’t fall through the cracks. So make sure that this all applies directly to where you’re at. And in addition to that, we have a live, always on group chat. Think private Facebook group or something different without all the videos of your nephews and birthday parties and cats playing games.

It’s a very private, very closed system where everyone inside the cohort is there and can ask questions: one, of me, two, of the coaches, and three, of each other. What sort of resources are you using for this? How are you accomplishing that? I didn’t quite understand this lesson. How are you using it? And all of that goes on inside the community. It’s really been a fantastic thing.

The other part of that is if you’re someone who’s struggling, if you’re someone who’s failed an exam. You get to come into the community and look around and say, wow, this community’s filled with intelligent, vibrant, smart people. And all of them are struggling too. All of them are having problems. Maybe I’m not so alone. Maybe I’m not broken. Maybe it’s not me.

You start to realize it is the system you’re using. Let me say it again, it’s not you, it’s the system and the tools you’re using. Let us show you some new tools, let us show you some new systems. I promise it can make a difference. So inside that community, it’s a place to share resources, share ideas. A lot of students will build their own study groups and study partners inside of there, where they’re meeting once or twice a week outside of the regular group, as a way to hold each other accountable and work through some of the material on Zoom calls. Some of those groups continue well after the program ends.

I have a couple groups that go for months afterwards, which is fantastic. In addition to all this, I set out content for you and a schedule for when to cover it. This isn’t mandatory, but it is a helpful tool. Again, everything in here is a helpful tool in a framework. If you’re getting ready for your PANCE, following our content calendar keeps you on track, keeps you moving forward, shows you exactly what to do each and every day, and has you working with the whole cohort. There’s a whole other set of reasons why I set it up. I’m not going to go into here.

But if you’re working on an end of rotation exam, we simply adapt that structure. If you’re in didactic, it’s a little bit different, but we’ll help you there as well. One of the main keys to winning the 24-hour day in building that momentum and keeping burnout at bay is to know what you’re doing. Have a plan for each day. Have it set up so that you know what a win looks like, and we’re going to help you to do that. I’ve had so many people come through this program and change their lives. You can see at physicianassistantexamreview.com/testimonials, just a wall of testimonials.

I actually just stopped adding to it, but they roll in almost every day. I recently had a student go up 214 points on her PANCE. Amazing numbers. 150 points. Students who have failed every end of rotation exam and turned it around. I see it over and over and over again. And it has a lot to do with approach to learning, to building out understanding of how the brain works so you can hold on to more information.

So when I say it’s not content, I don’t necessarily mean it’s not content. What I mean is it’s the way you’re approaching content to pound more content and pound more content the way you’ve been doing it isn’t going to change things. It’s not going to make a difference. But we’re going to show you how you can make a difference, how to move that needle. We’re also going to show you, as far as test taking skills go, there are so many times and I say this over and over throughout the program, that you can get questions wrong that you do know. I do it all the time. A second best answer or a very good answer, but not the best answer.

Or I misinterpret the question, or I misread it. And I’m getting things wrong that I do know. You can also get things right that you don’t know. That happens all the time too. You can eliminate things. You can use some of the key terms to remove some ideas. There are lots of different strategies to get closer and closer to the right answer.

On a 300 question test, all we need to do is tilt the odds in your favor a little bit and your scores move dramatically. So there’s so many different tools and techniques out there. One of the most frustrating things for me, I actually saw on Reddit a couple of weeks ago, where a student said, is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong with me? I’ve tried everything there is and my scores aren’t moving. And that frustrates me because I know there’s nothing wrong with the individual. It’s just the tools and the structure that they’re using.

But what’s even more frustrating is they think they’ve tried everything. Because they’ve tried different review books, because they’ve done what their neighbors said, that because they did what their friends said who’s doing a little better than them. I promise you there’s so much more, and over the last 15 years, I’ve been working through it. I spent six years writing a monthly newsletter on each and every one of these topics and then pulled the very best out of them to deliver to you. That’s where this comes from. And it’s been tested on hundreds of students. And again, with hundreds of testimonials.

In fact, if you just go back to episode 159 and 160, you can hear two of those interviews in the podcast. They’re also sprinkled throughout the podcast and on the YouTube channel. Other students with the same stories over and over and over again.

Now, real quick, before we close out for today, the questions that I get and the reason people are concerned. Number one, does this fit into where I’m at? I’m on my second EOR. I’m getting ready for my EOC. I’m in didactic year, does this fit? The answer is yes. And the next question is, well, how could it possibly work for everyone?

And I’m going to explain that to you because we don’t pound content here. We teach skills. Those skills are geared toward the PANCE, your EORs are essentially mini versions of the PANCE. Your end of curriculum exam is essentially a PANCE style test. So it’s an easy transition from one to the other. The information’s almost the same.

Now, there are a couple of differences, yes. There are a couple of differences. I point them out throughout the program and show you how to adapt things. But I literally had a student reach out to me and say, “This was so amazing for me. I moved my score so far.” Not only that, I used the videos I used the lessons to teach my wife who was getting ready for her bar exam because what you train is so transferable. I thought that was just great, and it’s 100% true. So we can accommodate each of those situations because of what we teach.

But like I said, also because of what we teach, we can see scores move by 50, 100 to 150 points on the PANCE or people who’ve been struggling on end of rotation exams shoot through and never struggle again. How do I fit this in on top of everything else I’m doing is the other question I get? Well like we said, this is designed specifically to fit into and around your schedule. All the lessons are delivered to your phone asynchronously at 5 a.m. You can listen to them anytime throughout the day. On a walk in the car, wherever you are. There’s a couple more things I’m going to ask you to do throughout the day, but they don’t take very much time.

And what you’ll find is as you continue to build up, what students typically find is they’re moving faster, retaining more, making things easier and easier and it snowballs as they go. They start to understand test questions and be able to pull them apart so that when they’re studying, they see exactly what to study and then it sticks because they understand why and how. So rather than adding more time to your day, this actually takes less time, gives you more time with your friends, more time at night, better sleep because you’re not so anxious and worried you’re not covering enough. One of the other questions I get obviously is about money and the cost of the program. You know, I had a Q&A call last night and this came up. You know, how come it costs what it costs? And I said quite frankly, because my coaches and my children like to eat jokingly.

But the reality is we’ve been able to keep this an incredibly low price for what we’re delivering. I had students come to me all the time who want one-to-one training, That’s actually where this was born from, was students were asking for one to one training. And I thought, okay, if I sit down with you for an hour, two, three times a week, how far can I move your score? If we’re covering cardiology, if we’re covering pulmonology, if we’re covering ENT, I can move it a little. With each session, maybe I can move it five points, but it’s going to take us 10 sessions. And I’m going to have to charge you, I don’t know, 150, $200 a session. Something in that neighborhood, all of a sudden, that started to sound like a lot of money.

Charging people a thousand or two thousand dollars and knowing that I can’t really move their scores, I would just be hand holding. And I didn’t want that. So instead I developed this system that I know moves scores because I’ve got the proof. And I know it doesn’t take up a ton of your time because I’ve run it now for four years. And I designed it that way. And I do all of that at a fraction of what I could do in one-to-one training. On top of that, you get the group.

You get all the coaches and access to ask them questions because they’re always inside the group answering questions. You get access to me answering questions. You get access to everyone else. Study groups inside. You get a Mock PANCE exam, a complete 300 question Mock PANCE exam. So there’s so much inside of here. We just keep adding and adding too, and making things better and better, at a fraction of what I could do in any other format.

Well, what if I go through it and I don’t do well, or what if I can’t keep up? There’s another question. I do, listen, like I said earlier, I love when students are fully committed. The way to get the most out of this program is to fully commit. Every single day, those are people who do the best without question. If you fall behind, everyone falls behind. 33 Days is a long time.

Someone’s cat gets sick. Someone’s car breaks down. If you’re in clinicals, you have an exam that doesn’t match up exactly with what we’re doing. That’s all fine. We have systems in place to fix that. Like I said, I’ve been running this for four years. You don’t, it’s not going to be a new situation.

We haven’t dealt with before. I promise you. Things happen. And we can get you caught back up. Or in a worst-case scenario, I have people who drop out and rejoin the next cohort. It’s not a big deal. Again, understand my philosophy and my foundation.

My goal is to get you to pass this thing. That’s what I want for you. So when we talk about the guarantees that go along with as it works the same way, come on in and join us. I have you run it for 10 days. So from in this case, from April 1st to April 10th, you have complete access to everything. If at that point you look up and say, you know what, this isn’t for me. I didn’t realize ’cause it’s different.

I wanted to try it and now I’m not so sure. Great, no problem. We can part absolute friends. Just let me know, email me, I’ll refund your money, no problem. If after that point, you work through the whole system and you don’t pass, we are here for you. We’re not a nameless faceless company. I’ve been working at this for almost 15 years now.

I’m not going anywhere. You all have my email address. I check it every day and I respond to 90% of them myself once in a while I pass it off to my coaches because I just can’t, I get overwhelmed and I can’t answer everything. But I’m here. So then you join the next cohort and we walk you through it and I get on the phone perhaps and set up a call with you to make sure that we have a plan set up for you to make it work. Again, understand my goals. So I hope that clears some things up.

Hope it clears up some questions for you. You can register through the 25th at midnight at physicianassistantexamreview.com/33. All the information is there. Again, you don’t have to believe me, read through the testimonials. There’s literally hundreds of them. And I pretty much stopped collecting it because I just couldn’t handle it. Registration does close at midnight on the 25th.

And after that, like I said, I have to get everyone inside and set up. I close registration to take care of all the people on the inside and make sure that everything’s working and everything’s functioning. So you’re going to have to move quick. It’s going to have to be today or tomorrow. Again, I’d love to have you if you’re struggling at all or you know someone who’s struggling, even better let someone in your class know or let everyone in your class know because or someone there who’s struggling and you don’t even know it. Because most people won’t talk about it. Most people are scared to bring it up.

So I’m here to share a different way to do it, a different way to solve the problem, and something no one else out there is showing you. physicianassistantexamreview.com/33. I’d love for you to join us. It’s going to be a ton of fun. Every one of these cohorts is a blast. I look forward to working with them. Those of you who are already in the program, I can’t wait to get started with you.

Then that’s about it for today. Thank you, take care. And again, share this with your classmate, share it with a friend, share it with someone who’s struggling because, again, my goal is to get you through PA school, get the most out of PA school, and get you to pass your PANCE with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible.

All right, take care.