After finishing my test, I walked straight outside. It was pouring rain. I mean buckets of rain, and I couldn’t have been happier.
My mind was so clouded that the feeling of the cold rain reminded me that I was still there. I was a person. I was so done that I had trouble putting two sentences together in my mind.
I was a little worried about driving straight home (I had booked my test late so the closest testing center was an hour form my house).
Thankfully, in the same parking lot was a Dave and Buster’s. I sat down at the bar and ate what may have been the best cheeseburger of my life and drank what may have been the best beer of my life. I was so exhausted and disheveled that I was happy just to have gotten across the parking lot and ordered food.
Due to the mental and emotional fatigue, I had trouble carrying on a conversation for about 3 days. I had a concussion once and it was the same feeling. I just wanted to sit and watch the grass grow.
I was mentally exhausted.
Every email I get from someone who has just finished their exam is the same. Everyone has two things to say. “I definitely failed.” And “I can’t believe how exhausting that was.”
It’s FOUR HOURS of reading and thinking as hard as you can. We normally only practice in that kind of setting for an hour or two max, and how often do you do even that?
When was the last time you read for an hour straight?
I ran a half marathon last year. I can’t imagine turning around and doing a full. I would have to do significantly more training.
You spend time learning content and practicing test questions, but you’re missing a big part of training for test day. You’re missing training your brain to focus for 4 STRAIGHT hours.
Can you even imagine not checking Facebook or email for four whole hours???? That alone will cause you mental fatigue if you haven’t practiced.
That joke is funny because it’s true. You will have to use up some of your mental energy just to resist checking your phone during your exam. Yes, it will be in a locker, but even so, your brain will keep poking you to check it. Your brain doesn’t care if it’s locked away.
You need to prepare yourself for exam day. There are lots of things you can do to train. There are lots of things you can do to put yourself in the best position.
Focus is a major key to passing the exam. Long extended periods of focus. The ability to work for long periods of time and flourish in them rather than flounder. I cover how to do it and why you should be doing more work like this in general in Maximize Your Time and Efficiency. MYTE is course I created to get you through PA school and the PANCE. The techniques in there are like nothing you’ve seen before and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Click here to find out more:
Maximize Your Time and Efficiency
One of those is to know your key terms. If you know your key terms, it will be like slowing down to catch your breath on some questions. They will be like little rest points along the way.
And, of course, the best way to learn key terms is by using The Final Step.
Get your copy here:
Brian Wallace