Preparing for school

[Wannabe13]

Hello all,

 

I will be starting PA school next year and I am looking for any tips on brushing up on my anatomy, pharmacology, physiology, and biochemistry.  I have been told by current PA students, that aside from taking the appropriate classes and working in the medical field there is no other way to prepare for PA school.  "You just gotta do it" They say.  While I would like to simply just accept this grim fate, my past experiences in life tell me there is always something more that you can do to prepare yourself.  

 

So...  What, if anything, did you do to help prepare for PA school?

[Maynard]

I'd recommend you search the forum, before we get into another Rev vs. the world debate.

 

I've asked this question many times myself and the answers I've seen (here and elsewhere) in order of frequency are:

1) Don't study

2) Study physiology

3) Study anatomy

 

I haven't made it to PA school yet, but I would recommend you check out the "Made Ridiculously Simple" series since they distill out the essential and high-yield information. Pathophysiology Made Ridiculously Simple was especially well-written and enlightening. 

 

I haven't seen anyone pose this idea before, but I think it might be worth your time to work on studying itself and how you might improve your studying efficiency. There's a number of books that deal with the subject, some of them from people who've been through the rigors of medical school. PA school involves a leap in the amount of information you learn each semester so it might be wise to think about how you can up your game a little and learn from others' mistakes.

[arosswoods]

Haha "Rev vs the world"! Glad I'm not the only one that noticed

[Guest MedLib42]

 

 

I haven't seen anyone pose this idea before, but I think it might be worth your time to work on studying itself and how you might improve your studying efficiency. There's a number of books that deal with the subject, some of them from people who've been through the rigors of medical school. PA school involves a leap in the amount of information you learn each semester so it might be wise to think about how you can up your game a little and learn from others' mistakes.

 

That's actually one of the best ideas I think I've seen posted, especially if you've been out of school for awhile. My most efficient studying came from finding the ability to ignore all of the extraneous information I didn't need. This meant I didn't spend time reading whole chapters in textbooks, I would first start with posted lecture notes and powerpoints, then augment with the parts of the text I thought were most relevant. I also used a lot of question bank books while in school. 

 

That said (and I've mentioned it elsewhere on the forum) studying prior to school would have been useless for me. I could have read through a million generic texts but our classes picked and chose such specific information to focus on I would have missed it studying ahead on my own and wouldn't have gotten any benefit. 

 

But working on studying efficiency? I think that's a great idea. And yes, you can find some really good books on the subject. 

 

And yes, the Made Ridiculously Simple series is good, especially for classes you may have zero undergrad background in. They didn't all work for me - I found physio and pharm to be helpful, but tried anatomy and micro which really didn't parallel what we were learning in class, unfortunately. But they are pretty universally loved by a lot of PA students, so if you do end up studying I'd say they're a good choice.

[zoopeda]

That's actually one of the best ideas I think I've seen posted, especially if you've been out of school for awhile. My most efficient studying came from finding the ability to ignore all of the extraneous information I didn't need. This meant I didn't spend time reading whole chapters in textbooks, I would first start with posted lecture notes and powerpoints, then augment with the parts of the text I thought were most relevant. I also used a lot of question bank books while in school. 

 

Any recommended texts on how to improve studying efficiency?  

[Guest MedLib42]

Any recommended texts on how to improve studying efficiency?  

 

Study without Stress: Mastering Medical Sciences (Surviving Med School Series) by Kelman & Straker (I did use this one during my first year)

Oklahoma Notes Study Skills and Test Taking Strategies for Medical Students (focuses on putting together study strategies based on your learning style. I used this one during my first year as well, but probably didn't go through the whole book - I think I skimmed through it)

How to Study in Medical School (a little basic - I didn't end up using it, but I know some classmates said it was really helpful)

Study Smarter, Not Harder (I read this during my second undergrad degree and I personally found it really helpful).

 

I'm pretty sure I also went through and googled "Study tips for PA school" or something to that effect, and read a lot of PA student blog posts about what worked and what didn't work during their first year, which was also really helpful. I kind of kept a running list of study strategies I found. 

[dchampigny]

The only thing I would recommend would be to brush up on med term if and only if you are substantially weak in it.

 

 

Seriously. I was the same way before I started, wanting to get ahead and blah blah blah.

 

 

 

Just relax, spend time with family, and enjoy your self. You will look back on this once you start and understand. You just have to trust that the program accepted you and that your background is adequate, because it is.