This email rolled across my desk yesterday:
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Good evening Brian,
My name is [redacted] and I’m a recent PA graduate from [redacted] as of March 2020! I’m also a huge fan of yours, having listened to almost all of your PAER podcasts, purchased TFS, am a member of PAES, and love receiving your daily emails. Unfortunately, I had to reschedule my PANCE from April 7th to April 20th due to COVID-19 and as a result, my study plan has changed quite a bit, having had to incorporate 3 extra weeks into my original plan.
The bad news is I received word today that they’ve re-opened testing centers for this coming Friday and Saturday and I’m torn as to whether I should jump on the opportunity to take it or wait until my new scheduled date of April 20th.
I’ve taken the last 5 days off after “graduation” to refresh, regroup, catch up on life things, and re-plan with today being my first day back to studying. Now the good news is I did complete a three-day review course with John Bielinski March 23-25 and received a 163 on the PACKRAT that I took March 26th, although I’ve also neglected any PANCE review material for the past 5 days. Do you think it’s possible to safely take the PANCE this Saturday even with only 2-3 days left to really prepare? Any of your input would be so helpful! Thank you for everything you put out for us fellow PAs!
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My first reaction was to the fact that she said, “having listened to almost all of your PAER podcasts.” Almost all? Lol
Things are changing at a rapid pace. I emailed this fine student back as soon as I saw the dilemma (she is a PAES member after all, and that’s one of the perks), but I thought this was relevant enough to share with everyone. It also ties into my philosophy on taking major exams; all I need to do is apply that philosophy. I’m not reinventing the wheel here. This isn’t exactly what I wrote her, but let me share my thoughts on how to approach this problem.
When I graduated from PA school, I did the Rutgers live review course. I forget how soon they run it, but it was about a week or so after we graduated. I sat in the back. I doodled. I did not take notes. I did not even really pay attention. I took the practice exams very seriously, but the lectures were more like running in the background.
That course ended on a Friday. My exam was scheduled for the following Friday. Do you know what I did for that week? Nothing. I didn’t study a thing. Not a THING. I think cramming before an exam is dumb. Standing in the hall reeling about what might be important is worse than a waste of time. I talked all about why in the February issue of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars Newsletter.
And I feel the exact same way about studying the few days before your PANCE. My thought at the time (and still is today) that I’d been studying for three years. Every waking second for THREE YEARS was devoted to passing this ONE exam. If I’m relying on these few days to make it, I’m in big trouble.
And I think the same goes for you. You know enough medicine to pass this thing. The real question I have is, does moving the date around shake your confidence? When we walk through those doors into that cubicle, we need to believe in our deepest places that we did everything we could prepare. That sounds like a I’m saying two different things here, but I’m not. At some point, more studying is detrimental. Despite popular belief, more isn’t always better.
Now if you are done studying and you’ve been put into a holding pattern, a really good way to stay fresh is by using The Final Step. That won’t require a ton of brain power and will pay HUGE dividends on test day. This smart lass already has her copy, so I’m sure she’s already doing that.
You can get yours by clicking the link below:
Brian Wallace
