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PA Student Questions, Answered

PA Student Questions, Answered

real questions, straight answers
Straight answers to the questions PA students ask, from the summer before PA school all the way to the day you pass the PANCE. Every page opens with the short answer up top, then walks through what I've seen work in 15 years of working with PA students.
where are you right now?

Before PA schoolIn PA schoolTaking the PANCEDidn't pass

Two pairs of soccer cleats, one black and one gold

Taking the PANCE

How Do I Tell Lookalike Answer Choices Apart on the PANCE?

The PANCE isn't trying to trick you. When it puts two lookalikes side by side, it has to hand you the one clue that separates them.
Read it →
The sun coming up over a field

In PA school

How Do I Deal With Burnout in PA School?

Most PA school burnout isn't weakness. It's a brain with no sign of progress. Make your own game, protect your sleep, and move every day.
Read it →
Walking shoes on a leaf-covered path

Before PA school

What Should I Do Before PA School Starts?

Don't pre-study. Get very good at sleep and exercise every day, at the hours PA school is going to demand.
Read it →
A climber partway up a rock face

Didn't pass

I Failed the PANCE. What Do I Do Next?

Take a few days. Then find where your last attempt actually broke before you spend another hour or another dollar.
Read it →

How Do I Tell Lookalike Answer Choices Apart on the PANCE?

TL;DR: The PANCE isn't trying to trick you. It puts lookalike answer choices side by side (aortic stenosis and HOCM, pterygium and pinguecula, a thyroid nodule and a thyroglossal duct cyst) to see if you know the difference. And when it does, the question has to hand you the one clue that separates … [Read more...] about How Do I Tell Lookalike Answer Choices Apart on the PANCE?

How Do I Deal With Burnout in PA School?

TL;DR: Most PA school burnout isn't weakness. It's a human brain running with no sign of progress: test after test, barely a milestone, nothing that feels like winning. Fix it in three places. Make your own game so you can see yourself winning, protect your sleep, and exercise every day. Brian … [Read more...] about How Do I Deal With Burnout in PA School?

What Should I Do Before PA School Starts?

TL;DR: Don't study beforehand. Not because it wouldn't help, but because it's probably not the best use of your time. Spend the two months getting very good at sleep and exercising every day, at the hours PA school is going to demand. Those are foundations you can build on, and they're hard to set … [Read more...] about What Should I Do Before PA School Starts?

I Failed the PANCE. What Do I Do Next?

I'm sorry. It sucks, really really sucks. Here's the short answer: take a few days. Then figure out where your last attempt actually broke before you spend another hour or another dollar. Doing the same plan harder almost never moves the score. Failing the PANCE is not an IQ problem. It's a … [Read more...] about I Failed the PANCE. What Do I Do Next?

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