I took my second PANRE not to long ago, and I did things a little different. I like to spend some time thinking about what makes sense to spend time on, what will give me the most significant return on my investment of time.
One theory I’ve been working with is to stop studying treatment plans. Ok, before your head explodes, I’m not saying don’t study them at all. I’m saying don’t focus on them. Read over them. Learn them, but don’t kill yourself learning and memorizing every detail of the chemo plan for ALS or drug regimens for HIV. They’re hard to retain and not that profitable when it comes to your PANCE. You will probably get less than 1 question on those two topics combined.
But diagnosis on the other hand, now that’s where the points are. Most, not all, questions ask you to find the diagnosis. Even if the question says, “Here are the symptoms, what medicine would you give?” You still have to figure out the diagnosis first and then give the treatment.
This time around I focused on diagnosis and presentation. I covered treatment, but not as thoroughly. I figured I would be able to get close on the majority of treatments. Maybe that’s just me, but it seems like it worked.
The point isn’t to follow how I do it. The point is to take a little time and THINK about how you do it. Is there another way or do you just follow along like a lemming?
Don’t want to think about it? No worries. The Final Step has tons of the most important key terms. Memorize those, and you’ll be well on your way.
Brian Wallace
