He hasn’t even started PA school yet, and he reached out to me with an excellent question. His email was very long, but I pulled out a few things I think you should see.
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I do have a question for you. It seems to me, after speaking with so many people from the cohort ahead of me, that the real challenge of PA school (beyond relentless studying/social and mental strain) is just the sheer volume of material we will be expected to learn. This is an interesting problem to me, and I am trying to craft new study strategies that best deal with this volume effectively.
What do you think is the best way to learn the “volume” of PA school? If I have until Friday to “memorize” 500 powerpoint slides, how should I go about trying to study? It seems that your solution in The Final Step is to break down the material into simple, one line statements that can be quizzed (like flashcards). Is that something you would agree with?
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The good news is that he’s getting good advice. I’d say the volume of material and the constant mental strain are the difficult parts.
I loved flashcards during school, and I wrote thousands of short tight questions during pa school to quiz myself constantly. That’s where the idea for The Final Step came from. Something I always did for myself I thought I’d make it available to everyone.
It’s also important to see through the material and choose what needs to be studied and what can be set aside. That’s something I covered in great depth in the August issue of The Physician Assistant Exam Scholars when we went through cardiology. In that issue, we discussed learning to let some of the details go in favor of focusing on the more important stuff. It’s hard to do, but it’s a major skill to learn.
As far as the relentless mental strain goes, as luck would have it, that’s precisely what the September issue of Physician Assistant Exam Scholars is all about. In this month’s issue, we cover how to break free from the overwhelm once and for all with a technique I started using just two short months ago. It is astounding, and I felt the effects within a week of getting started. I held back two months from sharing it because I wanted a little time to get my head around it and make sure it works.
Anyway, if your feeling down and out, left behind, sluggish, exhausted or forgetful than this issue is for you.
The deadline looms. Don’t let another issue go by. Saturday is your last chance to get this one. No sob stories about how you were out drinking with your friends and forgot to order it. Do it today and get it done.
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace
P.S. I’ve got a special offer for PAES members in September. Something no one has had access to up until now.