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Advice to Beginning PA Students


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There's also a gradual move even on your first semester towards scenario based questions that take a long time to read, and have several correct answers on the choices. It is at this point that your reading comprehension and clinical judgment get practice as you have to decide between all these good treatment plans, what works best for that patient, and their underlying contraindications/comorbidities.

 

Is it more important to gain the definitive diagnosis right away, or stabilize the patient? 

What drugs are likely to interact?

How do you rule out the differentials?

What nerves and vessels are likely to compromised with an injury, and how will you test for their integrity?

 

These and more will be practice for the PANCE, and though brutal at first, will be good practice for your PACKRATs and rotations.

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I have just been accepted to PA school at the University of Colordo - Denver and I was wondering if anyone actually referred back to their textbooks from undergrad?

 

Basically, I am wondering if they are worth keeping (and moving across the US) or if I should donate/sell them??

 

I figure my anatomy book is worth keeping but what about various chemistry textbooks?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

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 @wmthompson: First of all, Congrats!! So 6 months into my program, I have not looked at a single undergrad textbook. I brought my anatomy and biochem texts with me but the class notes and powerpoints from PA classes were excellent so I never felt the need to go to the textbook. I've found that we rarely have time to read a textbook in general haha. I would suggest trying to get in contact with someone in the program now so they can give you more specific details. Hope that helped!

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Hey Pre-PAs and Pre-PA-Ss! I saw this thread and thought it'd be a good place to put in a plug for my blog. I'm a first-year PA student at Touro University of Nevada and I keep a weekly blog regarding my experience at school and my life in general as a PA student. It started as a way to keep my family and friends informed that I was alive (as I don't have time to talk to them individually), but I've been told by many that it's helpful/interesting, so I figured why not share. Anyway, check it out it ya want. Otherwise, best of luck to everyone in their pursuit of our common dream!

 

Here's a link to my blog: reviewofsystems.wordpress.com

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Thank you tool man for all your suggestions.

 

I have recently been accepted into PA school and will start this upcoming may.

 

I have read the suggested test bank books you have listed and was wondering what you would advise me to do now before beginning PA school to better prepare myself or to get a head start in learning.

 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all! My name's Anthony and I'm a first year PA student at Touro University of Nevada. I keep a weekly blog in which I write what's going on in my life relative (and sometimes not relative) to school, so it's sort of in line with this forum thread. Anyway, I posted a new entry yesterday and thought I'd share it with anyone who's interested to read along. Hope you find it interesting!

 

Here's the link: ReviewOfSystems.WordPress.com

 

All The Best

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I'm in highschool right now and I'm a pretty good student, my GPA is 3.7 and I'm taking ap calculus and ap chem and I'm an average student in those classes. Do you think I would be able to survive PA school

 

You will learn more about yourself as a person and as a learner once you are in college, and can more accurately guage your interest, desire and ethic in time then.

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Hey all! My name's Anthony and I'm a first-year PA student at Touro University of Nevada, about to finish my second term. I keep a blog in which I write every 1-2 weeks all about what I've been doing inside and outside of PA school. Maybe it will help give some people some insight as to what to expect? Anyway, here's the link in case you want to check it out! Best of luck to everyone!

http://reviewofsystems.wordpress.com

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I'm in highschool right now and I'm a pretty good student, my GPA is 3.7 and I'm taking ap calculus and ap chem and I'm an average student in those classes. Do you think I would be able to survive PA school

I agree with PAtoB.  Your college experience will teach you how dedicated and how much you can handle.  I wasn't very sure what I wanted to do until after I had completed some of the prereqs that the PA route was for me. 

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I've been reading about how nervous some pre-1st years are getting before even stepping into the front doors of their respective P.A. Programs. I'm actually feeling quite the opposite. I'm not really feeling nervous, but just laid back and excited/anxious. Is/has anyone else felt like this prior to beginning school?

Cowboy during the launch in Armagedden.

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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I can’t emphasize enough how important Test Banks can be.

I’ve listed some of the books I’ve used. I’m not advocating Amazon, I’ve just used them to show you the name, ISBN, and cover. You can get ‘em anywhere. Get them used if you can. Get as many as you can or care to.

I was taught about test banks from a physician who was triple boarded in IM, Pulm, and Critical Care…so the man had taken a lot of tests. His advice is as follows:

Say you’re studying Internal Medicine in class and you’ve got a test coming up on Cardiology. You then just go to each test banks section on Cardiology. There may only be 50 questions in each bank on Cardiology so it will only take you a few hours to go thru 4 or 5 test banks. Each test question usually has ONE POINT that the author’s trying to make. You could write or type on a separate piece of paper, the MAIN POINT of each question. When it comes time to review for that test, or even in 2 years for the PANCE, you have a shorter list of main points to go over, (instead of trying to review all of Harrison’s).

 

PA schools tend to use test banks a lot to write tests questions. There are only so many ways you can phrase a question.

Thanks for your list(s) of test banks. One nice thing is that with a heads up many of these books can be found on the cheap, in very good condition. I have been buying them for my daughter and have found some great books for almost nothing. In fact, I don't think I have spent over $20 on any of them and some cost less than the shipping.

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

hi guys does anyone know any quick reference book on EKG that is not too expensive. I was looking on amazon and trying to compare btwn "rapid ekg" and "the only ekg book you will ever need" which is better and is there a difference btwn the newer versions versus the older editions.

 

Thanks

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hi guys does anyone know any quick reference book on EKG that is not too expensive. I was looking on amazon and trying to compare btwn "rapid ekg" and "the only ekg book you will ever need" which is better and is there a difference btwn the newer versions versus the older editions.

 

Thanks

I just used EKG plain and simple (2nd efition),for my winter quarter and found it very helpful! It has a ton of practice strips which are essential to pattern recognition.

There is a newer edition as well, but it is way more expensive.

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Hello all,

 

I went through this entire thread on Advice for Beginning PA Students and created a summary of everything stated. I also updated the review and book lists with current editions and their prices. You can read it here.

 

My blog is DoseOfPA.blogspot.com. Feel free to read other articles, subscribe, or shoot me an e-mail with questions or suggestions.

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