thought you could relate to Corey and the issues that Corey was smart and brave enough to put forward.
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Hi Brian!
My name is Corey, and I’m currently a first-year PA student at xxx xxxxx xx xxxxxxx. I’ve recently just finished the first half of my didactic year of schooling, and while the summer and fall semesters were incredibly difficult and tests were almost the death of me, I was proud of myself for persevering through all of it. With that being said, there was no doubt that I still struggled with test taking and the OVERLOAD of information thrown at me.
This semester, I’m hoping to study smarter and not harder and hopefully become more confident with exams and retaining more information. I recently came across your podcast and absolutely love it! Listening to your podcasts has helped concise everything down while studying and is exactly what I’ve been searching for. While I know The Final Step is more geared towards the PANCE and PANRE, I was just curious if you thought using your book would be beneficial during didactic year. I also came across your Physician Assistant Exam Scholars newsletter and wanted your opinion as well if it would help me.
Overall, I would love your guidance and wisdom on what resources I can take advantage of. I want to be the absolute best PA student I can possibly be and hopefully one day be an even better PA-C.
Thanks so much!
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Wow, what a great email. This is a motivated individual. Someone who wants to get better and knows that flattery works. This is someone I want on my team.
First of all, Corey, bravo on making an excellent step forward by reaching out to me, of course. (I’m not sure that line is as funny when I write it as when I think it in my head)
And how did I reply to Corey? What sage advice did I give? Well, it went something like this:
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It sounds like you’re in the same boat with thousands of other PA students. Don’t ever feel like you’re alone. Pretty much everyone else feels and is experiencing what you feel and what you’re experiencing.
The Final Step may not be for you…yet. It depends on what classes you’re in. It’s a medical key term review book. Great for the PANCE. Great for comprehensive exams. Great for medicine exams. Good For EORs. Terrible for physiology and micro. I don’t think now is the right time to get that one, but you would know about that better than I. (When you are interested reach out, and perhaps we can set you and your classmates up with a group discount)
I do have two things that would be good for you. The course Maximize Your Time and Efficiency is spot on for what you need.
Now for the good news.
I absolutely recommend Physician Assistant Exam Scholars. Every issue may not fit you at the exact moment your in, but overall it’s exactly what you’re looking for. It’s about learning and growing as a student, a learner, a test taker, and a person.
It’s obviously a little self serving, but if I were in your shoes, I’d sign up for PEAS today. But you have to understand one thing. Not every issue will hit you at exactly the right time. Take the May issue, for example. It’s about understanding heart failure and using it as a base to understand and remember all of cardiology. You may not be covering cardiology right now or even for some time, but here’s the kicker. The May issue is actually about a method for setting up your studying so that you have a better understanding of the main topic and you can remember the important details longer.
You see every issue has a main topic and a hidden topic. When I cover methods for procuring a job. Those are skills you can easily translate to your clinical rotations. When I write an issue about techniques for managing anxiety on the day of the PANCE, well you can use all of those techniques for any quiz, test or final exam you have.
You have to put a little thought into how what I’m teaching applies to your specific situation. The Scholars program is about growth. It’s about getting better over time by learning new methods and new ways of looking at problems.
Hope that answers you questions.
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And that my friends is the advice I’d give any PA student.
Join me here: Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace