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PA STUDENTS - how are lectures really like?


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I am applying to PA schools this April. Many people say that PA school is basically med school but in two years. That frightens me, because let's be honest, who would not be frightened by that. I'm reaching out to anyone in PA school, how are lectures really like (whichever program you're in). Are you miserable? Do you have time for the gym? dates? anything else but studying. I am prepared for the hard work but I also want to know what PA lectures and after-lecture life is really like

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It's been a while since I was a PA student and I am now PA faculty. When I was a student, I was on campus during the week and then either generally went home on the weekend (without my books) or else my wife came and visited if I needed to study for a test early the following week. If I treated the workweek like a job, it seemed to work fine.

School is "death by PowerPoint" sometimes, but if you keep up, it's manageable. Most students can’t just pick up the slides a few days before a test and they'd be fine. I often "kitted" my notes -- adding to them and building packets to study from when the exams came. I also needed to adjust my go-to study methods to fit the course. I could work from slides for many classes, but anatomy needed a more hands-on style and I drew family trees of drugs for pharmacology. Be ready to try something new, especially if something old doesn't work!

During the week, I got up early, studied, went to class, used any time during the day greater than one hour to go back to my apartment and study. After class, I took a walk and then studied. Then ate dinner. Then studied some more. Then watched a TV show, then got to bed early to do it over again. I took time now and then to grab a beer (that's ONE beer) with classmates. 

Unless you were in an especially challenging undergrad program, this isn't that. Just stay focused, get some exercise, eat well, get enough sleep, and budget your time and you should be fine.

 

 

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It's all about prioritizing your time. 

I made Fridays my day off from studying or if I had to really study maybe light studying for 1-2 hours. 

Saturdays I would study from 10am - 5 or 6pm so that my GF and I could have a date night afterwards. 

But weekends is where I was able to get a lot of studying done and even better if you start early in the morning, so that you can have the evening available. 

Weekdays after leaving class at 5pm, I'd go home take a break for an hour and eat dinner within that time and then study for about 3-4 hours depending on my mood. 

I wasn't much of a lecture person so at times I would just be reading notes for whatever exam was coming up.

You'll notice some lecturers are better than others, and the good ones can make the topic they're teaching interesting. 

 

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9 hours ago, UGoLong said:

It's been a while since I was a PA student and I am now PA faculty. When I was a student, I was on campus during the week and then either generally went home on the weekend (without my books) or else my wife came and visited if I needed to study for a test early the following week. If I treated the workweek like a job, it seemed to work fine.

School is "death by PowerPoint" sometimes, but if you keep up, it's manageable. Most students can’t just pick up the slides a few days before a test and they'd be fine. I often "kitted" my notes -- adding to them and building packets to study from when the exams came. I also needed to adjust my go-to study methods to fit the course. I could work from slides for many classes, but anatomy needed a more hands-on style and I drew family trees of drugs for pharmacology. Be ready to try something new, especially if something old doesn't work!

During the week, I got up early, studied, went to class, used any time during the day greater than one hour to go back to my apartment and study. After class, I took a walk and then studied. Then ate dinner. Then studied some more. Then watched a TV show, then got to bed early to do it over again. I took time now and then to grab a beer (that's ONE beer) with classmates. 

Unless you were in an especially challenging undergrad program, this isn't that. Just stay focused, get some exercise, eat well, get enough sleep, and budget your time and you should be fine.

 

 

I couldn't be more thankful for your guidance, thank you. I have been in a constant state of anxiety (lol) because I have worked for this for a long time and I just want to get there and be successful. Your words gave me relief and encouragement, and I truly appreciate it. thank you so much, once again!

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3 hours ago, JD2012 said:

It's all about prioritizing your time. 

I made Fridays my day off from studying or if I had to really study maybe light studying for 1-2 hours. 

Saturdays I would study from 10am - 5 or 6pm so that my GF and I could have a date night afterwards. 

But weekends is where I was able to get a lot of studying done and even better if you start early in the morning, so that you can have the evening available. 

Weekdays after leaving class at 5pm, I'd go home take a break for an hour and eat dinner within that time and then study for about 3-4 hours depending on my mood. 

I wasn't much of a lecture person so at times I would just be reading notes for whatever exam was coming up.

You'll notice some lecturers are better than others, and the good ones can make the topic they're teaching interesting. 

 

sounds like something I would definitely be able to manage! thank you for your guidance!

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During the week I did my best to be done studying by 6 pm. I think there were only a few occasions that I didn’t accomplish that. If class ended late, I would take the opportunity to play Xbox and drink a beer at night. I saw far too many of my classmates that tried to stay up late and study and ran themselves into the ground without the grades to show for it. The weekends I would be at the library at 9 am and stay til about 3pm. I’m on track to graduate summa cum laude and I attribute it to studying smart, not hard and also taking plenty of time for my own sanity.


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During the week I did my best to be done studying by 6 pm. I think there were only a few occasions that I didn’t accomplish that. If class ended late, I would take the opportunity to play Xbox and drink a beer at night. I saw far too many of my classmates that tried to stay up late and study and ran themselves into the ground without the grades to show for it. The weekends I would be at the library at 9 am and stay til about 3pm. I’m on track to graduate summa cum laude and I attribute it to studying smart, not hard and also taking plenty of time for my own sanity.


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You are living proof that budgeting your time is the key. I wanted weekends with my family and you were willing to trade weekend studying to give yourself some time off during the week.

The key is planning and discipline, whatever you decide to do.


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Most of the time lectures are death by powerpoint. Our program tries to integrate other learning opportunities throughout our lectures which is nice. Most days I take minimal notes during lecture and then spend several hours at home after class going over learning objectives and the lectures from that day and make my own notes. I also try and do 60-100 questions from rosh review didactic year package per week, typically the ones that directly relate to the topics covered that week.

I personally have never really felt overwhelmed with material but that being said I attend one of the longer programs in the country. I go home most weekends and really only spend a couple of hours over the weekend doing pre-reading of articles for the upcoming week.

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2 hours ago, PACrankset said:

Most of the time lectures are death by powerpoint. Our program tries to integrate other learning opportunities throughout our lectures which is nice. Most days I take minimal notes during lecture and then spend several hours at home after class going over learning objectives and the lectures from that day and make my own notes. I also try and do 60-100 questions from rosh review didactic year package per week, typically the ones that directly relate to the topics covered that week.

I personally have never really felt overwhelmed with material but that being said I attend one of the longer programs in the country. I go home most weekends and really only spend a couple of hours over the weekend doing pre-reading of articles for the upcoming week.

So “death by PowerPoint” - how do you know which information to study and which to ignore? In college, I usually study most, if not all, of the slides. I don’t think This would be effective studying when I’m in a PA program. Do you have any tips? 

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14 hours ago, Bf555 said:

During the week I did my best to be done studying by 6 pm. I think there were only a few occasions that I didn’t accomplish that. If class ended late, I would take the opportunity to play Xbox and drink a beer at night. I saw far too many of my classmates that tried to stay up late and study and ran themselves into the ground without the grades to show for it. The weekends I would be at the library at 9 am and stay til about 3pm. I’m on track to graduate summa cum laude and I attribute it to studying smart, not hard and also taking plenty of time for my own sanity.


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Do you have any tips on studying more effectively? I don’t want to be that student that studies 9am-9pm on the weekends or all night on the weekdays. Also, how do you know which information to study and which to ignore (from the lectures) In college, I usually study most, if not all, of the slides. I don’t think This would be effective studying when I’m in a PA program. Do you have any tips for this as well?

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Different professors have different philosophies of testing. In my case, if I think something is important enough to be tested on, it's going to be in my slides somewhere. Other professors like add stuff from reading materials to make sure the students read the assignments. And then there are the skills you learn in physical diagnosis or experiential learning, which are generally tested during practical exams, as any physical skill would be.

As I was not the best memorizer in the world (I was, after all, in my late 50s at the time), my approach was to understand the core concepts of, say, a disease and then be able to derive the details during exams. To me, understanding the physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology was key. If there was a point that I didn't think I could remember or derive on the fly, then that factoid would make it into my study notes.

Bottom line: feed your "study engine" whatever "fuel" it does best with. Also learn from your "big" (the person in the class ahead of you who has been tasked with helping you situated) the different testing styles of your faculty. And be willing to adapt as you go.

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Guest thatgirlonabike

Like UGoLong said:  The important thing is to understand the disease process and the treatment and why it does what it does.  You will NEVER  be able to memorize everything.  Grades are important (kinda) but being a competent provider is more important.  Will you recognize the disease and know how to treat it?  

Don't learn for the sake of testing.  Learn so you can better take care of your future patients.  Nothing makes me crazier than my classmates who ask, "is this going to be on the test?"   

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3 hours ago, AspiringFuturePA2022 said:

So “death by PowerPoint” - how do you know which information to study and which to ignore? In college, I usually study most, if not all, of the slides. I don’t think This would be effective studying when I’m in a PA program. Do you have any tips? 

Most programs and most lecturers will provide learning objectives for each presentation. Our faculty does a great job of making sure the lectures meet the objectives. I use those learning objectives to then make my own notes on various topics. Some topics I may go above and beyond on, but that is because they really interest me. 

I feel like the Rosh review questions also help me figure out what things are important to retain and what is minutia, it can be really easy to get stuck in the weeds on various things. Generally if you are down at the molecular level at some really specific receptor site or your reading on  the synthesis of purine then you are too deep. That kind of stuff they talk a lot about in med school but not PA school.

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Do you have any tips on studying more effectively? I don’t want to be that student that studies 9am-9pm on the weekends or all night on the weekdays. Also, how do you know which information to study and which to ignore (from the lectures) In college, I usually study most, if not all, of the slides. I don’t think This would be effective studying when I’m in a PA program. Do you have any tips for this as well?

I agree with Ugolong 100%. If you can understand the pathophysiology and the basics of the diseases you’re taught in school, then you can reason through most questions in pa school. Some things are just plain memorization and there’s not really a good explanation. You’ll learn how your professors will test. Some will be nit picky and some will focus on broad concepts. I found my use in flipping through the powerpoints as much as possible than I did rewriting everything on the slides. But you need to do what works best for you. Some professors will test on certain percentiles of things and at that point you kinda just take your best guess lol. Overall, take time for yourself because grades don’t matter as long as you get the required GPA. You’ll be a PA whether you’re at the top or bottom of your class


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  • 2 weeks later...

We do all of our PEs/skills/ and live pt interactions with the 1st and 2nd year DO students in our area so we get a lot of interaction with them. From what the DOs have seen and told us, we all go over the same Pathologies. They go WAAAAAAAAY more in depth with the A&P/histology and because of this they also have a more in depth knowledge of the Pharmacokinetics/dynamics of Pharmacologic treatments (PAs are taught the same drugs, but just not as in depth that a DO/MD know them). Where our education is similar, in terms of Pathologies, is in the evaluation and management. From getting a good HPI, forming/ruling out differentials, evaluating with the appropriate tests/tools, and forming  a proper treatment plan, we were told that all of that is similar to what the DOs learn.

PA school is death by power point for a lot of it. That's just the burden of the beast. If you develop good study habits, you should be alright. M-F I typically wake up at 6am. Get to the gym @ 7am. Work out will 745-8am. leave gym by 820am and IO'm in class from 9-4pm. A lot of the time we get out before 4pm. After class I take a couple hours off then study or organize notes for another couple hours. I'm usually in bed NLT 10pm. Weekends are high yield times for studying, but my no means do I study the WHOLE weekend. I'll typically spend 4-6 hours recalling things. I spend the rest of the hours of the day sleeping, hanging out, drinking with friends. You can still have a social life in PA school. Just don't forget what you're trying to achieve.

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  • 1 month later...

Everyone has posted such great advice I really want to echo all of it. I tried to filter out program-specific issues and give a quick summarized list: 

It's "Med school in two years" on paper. What I mean by that is, the topics and content in the course objectives that will be "covered" in class are so numerous and exaggerated it's inappropriate. You will be sling-shotted through so many systems, disease states, pharm, patho, diagnostics, etc... just do your best to learn what you can. If you're a savant/genius I would expect you to ace everything and retain all information that was ever mentioned in lecture and know every reading assigned, but I have yet to meet anyone like that in my program.

Death by power point is SO real. 90% of time spent in lecture is wasted, unfortunately (depending on who's lecturing). When guest lecturer's come to present, 99% of the time it's really engaging to hear their insight, stories, and perspectives.

Team based activities are helpful if they've been planned in a thoughtful way.  The good team based activities really make you think about the topics and shows you gaps in your knowledge and re-solidifies information you know. 

I haven't walked into a single test thinking "yup, I studied just enough, I know what I'm going to see in there". Like they've mentioned in previous comments, knowing the patho will really help you deduce the answers from the vignettes. Do your best and learn what you can - you'll never be "done". 

Asking a 2nd year student would be REALLY helpful, especially for testing tips. (For example, the slides are useless/essential for this class, do/don't listen to the recordings for this class, don't buy that text book)  

Study with a group, just do it, at least once. They're going to study things you didn't even think of and it's going to be on the test and they're going to teach it to you and visa versa. If you can explain something to someone else, that's a great sign you can move on to the next topic. 

There are people in my program with families, that leave for the weekend, go to karaoke and happy hour every now and then, sleep in on the weekends, and they do okay on their exams. There are also people that push themselves, stop sleeping, and seriously have turned into zombies - they do "slightly" better on tests. At the half way point in our didactic year, half of our program had bombed at least one test at some point. If you can make it through without totally screwing up an exam, awesome! I'm jealous. If you do bomb something, well then welcome to the club.  

If your program accepted you, they probably accepted someone smarter than you too. They also accepted someone that is dumber than you, and all of your rankings will change over time and that's okay! You're going to do great! (<-I can say that because statistically, everyone does great, and everyone graduates, and it'll be okay!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would seriously consider looking into programs that don’t have mandatory attendance (unless you learn well that way). So much time is wasted in my program and we have an awful professor that teaches many of the 1st yr courses.. we have to fact check her constantly and comp exams can be covering anywhere from 500-1200 slides. I understand we need to know a lot but some teachers just can’t teach. I learn best at home and I made a mistake going to a school which requires attendence. They also make us meet with our advisor x4/semester and watch random movies and “reflect on them” during class time sometimes. My program finds honestly any way to waste your time so I would look into a program that respects your time. 

 

All I do is study but that’s because the program finds ways to waste hours and hours during the week. 

 

And this isn’t some program no one has heard of. It’s definitely a top program on the east coast. Good luck! 

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On 3/12/2020 at 9:22 PM, AnonHelp said:

I would seriously consider looking into programs that don’t have mandatory attendance (unless you learn well that way). So much time is wasted in my program and we have an awful professor that teaches many of the 1st yr courses.. we have to fact check her constantly and comp exams can be covering anywhere from 500-1200 slides. I understand we need to know a lot but some teachers just can’t teach. I learn best at home and I made a mistake going to a school which requires attendence. They also make us meet with our advisor x4/semester and watch random movies and “reflect on them” during class time sometimes. My program finds honestly any way to waste your time so I would look into a program that respects your time. 

 

All I do is study but that’s because the program finds ways to waste hours and hours during the week. 

 

And this isn’t some program no one has heard of. It’s definitely a top program on the east coast. Good luck! 

If it makes you feel any better, our program sounds about the same. We meet with faculty adviser weekly. Do you know of any PA programs that don't require attendance? 

It makes us jealous when we see the med students roll up in pajamas at 7 am into a group study room and post up there all day, knowing that the PA students won't be finished with death by power point until the evening.

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