Tales from the PAI heard from another successful test taker, and I wanted to pass along this piece of advice with her story.
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I would just reinforce what you have said in your podcast all along, to try and anticipate any and all problems, because you never know what might happen. I scouted out the testing site the week before. I even made my teenage son spend the night elsewhere the night before the exam so that I could get a good night’s sleep. When I took the test, the first three test blocks went relatively well, but as I returned from my last break and was getting ready to take my last block, the proctor accidentally started my test without me being ready, so I asked her to reset the test. This set off a whole chain of events that ended up causing me to have about a 45 minute break between my third and fourth blocks. Of course I was nervously pacing in the lobby as she tried to contact the helpdesk to get the test reset. When I finally started the test again, I felt like I missed the first 10 questions of that block.
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She passed, it was fine, but small things can totally throw you off – and small things happen all the time.
For example…
During my PANRE, right in the middle of section 2, the power went out. The entire building went dark.
You know how it’s all locked down and serious when you get there. Photo ID. Fingerprint scan. Retina scan. Urine sample.
All that obviously broke down a bit when the power goes out and 15 of us are milling about. No one really knows what to do or how long it will be out for. Bathroom? Food? Pace around waiting.
Will your work be saved? Will you have to redo the block you were in? Will you have to leave and take the whole thing over?
For me, it wasn’t a big deal. I was ‘bout 5 questions into my block, so even if it got wiped out I was ok with that. The only catastrophe I was worried about was retaking the entire exam.
About 20 minutes later, the lights kicked back on and I was able to pick up right where I left off.
Obviously, you can’t control the power to the building. What you can control is how you react. If you get mad and start freaking out, it will take you down.
Be prepared for everything you can be prepared for, and then roll with the things that WILL come up. It isn’t only you. Things happen all the time.
One way to be a little more prepared is to be a member of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars program. You’ll learn loads of techniques to get your anxious mind calmed down and help you take control of situations like this one.
Take a look here Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace