How to succeed in physician assistant PA school

By Kevin1533

Make sure you manage your time (Easier said than done)

Spend at least 1-2hr each night reviewing lightly the topics that were discussed in class. Then spend about 1hr reviewing tomorrows topic. It will allow you to get the most out of the lectures, and plus you can participate and look smart :)


Preparing for the exams.

The goal of every PA program is to have you pass the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certification Exam)provided by NCCPA (National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants) after you graduate. Therefore, when they test your knowledge after each topic, they base their question on the NCCPA board exam. The best way to prepare yourself is to read board exam study guides and questions.

On the left side bar are some of the popular Physician Assistant board review books, you will end up buying when you begin preparing for your boards at the end of your 2nd and final year of PA school. Looking back I wish I had access to the books early as it would have definitely help me to focus on relevant material.


Practical Exams

The instructor will ask the student to perform specific physical exams from a specific topic such as abdominal exam or neurological exam. As you advance further in Physician Assistant school, these exam will be more scenario based as you are given a short description of a patient history and be asked to perform necessary exams to come to a diagnosis.

You will be required to get the "Bates" book on physical exam and history taking, which is the "bible" on this topic and all physician assistant and medical schools require students to purchase the book.

The book also comes with a CD with video instructions on each physical exam so that you can review the material that you might have forgotten from class or are unsure of.

Clinical Rotation

Don't freak out about these too much. As long as you know how to take a history and do a basic physical exam, your preceptor wont expect you to know it all, and be more than willing to teach.

If you want to really impress, read up on the rotation topic; if its family medicine read up common illness and the causes such as ear infections and common cold. Unless you are rotating in surgery, I don't think you will need an extra book.

For the surgery rotation, the must have book everyone will recommend is Surgical Recall, which is a question-answer quick review book on most commonly "pimped" questions during surgical morning rounds. If you review the material on a specific operation before scrubbing in, you can really impress the attending doctor and residents, who will likely be asking you questions related to the case.