How to Study for PA School: A Guide to Effective Study of Medicine for 1st year PA Students

Learn how to effectively study for the first year of PA school with this comprehensive guide. From mastering memory retention to finding the right study methods, this blog post covers it all. Maximize your active learning and achieve success in your pursuit of learning medicine.

Welcome to the start of your career as a Physician Assistant! As an incoming OA student or a current first-year student, you’re embarking on a journey that will challenge and stretch you in ways you may not have thought possible.

Studying medicine requires a unique set of skills and a different approach than what you may have experienced in your undergraduate studies.

The good news is that with the right mindset, a solid study plan, and a commitment to putting in the work, you can be successful in PA school. The goal is this post is to help you understand how to approach your studies in a way that maximizes your chances for success.

We’ll take a look at the differences between undergraduate and PA school studying, tips for retaining information, approaches for remembering complex medical concepts, and much more.

Whether you’re a visual or auditory learner, prefer to study solo or in a group, or are just looking for some guidance on how to balance work and study, this article will provide you with the tools and tips you need to succeed. So, let’s get started!

How is the study of Medicine different than studying in Undergrad?

One of the biggest differences between undergraduate and PA school studying is the volume of material. PA school requires a deep dive into a vast array of subjects, from anatomy and physiology to pharmacology and pathology.

In many ways, learning medicine is like drinking from a fire hose. The information comes at you fast and furiously, and it can be overwhelming at times.

Another key difference is the rigor of the curriculum. PA school is designed to test your understanding of complex medical concepts in a way that challenges your critical thinking skills. Unlike undergraduate courses, which may have focused on rote memorization and recall, PA school requires a deeper, more in-depth understanding of the material.

Retaining information is also more critical in PA school. Unlike some undergraduate courses you may have taken so far, the information you learning is meant to be retained for long-term. Afterall this will come in handy when it comes to treating your future patients. Therefore rote memorization with forgetting after.

Actionable Tips:

• Get familiar with the volume and rigor of PA school studies: watch Youtube Videos about current PA students and their experience in learning medicine; speak with upper year students or PA alumni on their experience in learning from PA school.

• Create a plan for retaining information over the long term: reflect on what has worked for you when it comes to how you studied in undergrad, and see what new methods you may need to incorporate to practice critical thinking and in-depth understanding of material.

Tips for Organizing Your Studies

With so much material to cover in PA school, it’s important to have a plan for organizing your studies.

Here are a few tips to help you do that:

1. Set goals: Start by setting clear, achievable goals for what you want to accomplish each day, week, or month. This will help you stay focused and motivated as you study.

2. Create a Study schedule: Once you have set your goals, create a schedule to help you achieve them.

   • Consider studying in blocks of time, such as 30-minute, 1-hour, or 2-hour blocks. This will help you stay focused and avoid burnout. You can choose to study between classes, or wait until after you get home from class to study.

   • Try to be consistent with studying, at the same time if possible since it is easier to establish a routine.

   • Take regular breaks: Consider taking a 5-10 minute break after every hour of study. Look into the Pomodoro technique for studying

3. Use a planner: A planner can be a valuable tool for keeping track of your schedule, goals, and to-do list. Consider using a paper planner, or an app like Google Calendar to keep yourself organized.

4. Stay organized: Finally, make a habit of keeping your study materials organized, so that you can easily find what you need when you need it. Consider using a filing system, or an app like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote to keep your notes and study materials organized.

Favourite Calendar and Scheduling Tools:

• Google Calendar

• Asana

Different Note Taking Methods Used in PA School

There are several different ways to take notes while studying. You can trial different types or use a combination. For example, you can use the Cornell Method and annotation of lecture slides when first learning material, but switch to Mind Maps, Practice Questions and Case Files when you are approaching a test).

Examples of Different note -Taking/study Methods in PA school:

1. Cornell Method: This is a structured method that helps you to organize information and review it later. It's particularly useful for dense or complex information. This involves dividing a page into sections for main points, cues, and summaries, helping you to organize information and review it later.

2. Annotate your lecture slides:

   • Pen and paper: Print out your lecture slides ahead of class, and write directly onto the slides as the class proceeds. Highlight important points, include questions that need clarification or points you’d like to go back to.

   • Annotate the slides on your screen. You can export the PDF (using Adobe Reader, Mac Preview, Notability, Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, etc.) you can annotate directly on the PDF.

   • What note taking app should you use use? Check out youtube reviews on the best notetaking apps for your laptop, PC, or iPad. For example: videos comparing Notability vs. Good Notes for iPad.

   • Note: Relying on this alone (annotation, highlighting, etc.) is not usually sufficient to do in-depth learning. I recommend incorporating other methods.

3. Outline Method: This involves using a hierarchical structure to organize information, breaking it down into main ideas, subpoints, and details.

4. Mind Maps: This involves creating a visual diagram of interconnected ideas and information, allowing you to see relationships between different topics. PA students love using a whiteboard (without using notes to reference) to see if they have really retained and understood the information.

5. Create or Use Mnemonics: Mnemonics are memory aids that use rhyme, humor, or other techniques to help you remember information. For example, to remember the order of the cranial nerves, you might use the mnemonic “On Old Olympus’ Towering Top, A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops”.

6. Flashcard Systems: These involve creating digital or physical cards with information on one side and questions on the other, helping you to memorize information through repetition. You can utilize flashcard apps like ANKI.

7. Case Files: This involves compiling information about specific medical cases and using it to understand and remember medical concepts.

8. Practice Questions: This involves answering questions related to the material you're studying, helping you to understand and retain information. This can be found at the end of some textbooks, or look for “exam practice questions of [specialty] [condition]” for ones online.

9. Narrative Notes: This involves taking notes in a more conversational or storytelling style, helping you to understand and retain information by putting it into context.

Adopt an Active Approach to your Learning

Passive reading and listening may not be an effective way to study. In fact, studies in cognitive science have shown that active learning, where you engage with the material, leads to better retention and understanding of complex concepts.

PA school is no exception. In order to maximize your chances for success, it’s important to adopt an active learning approach to your studies.

Tips to actively engaging in learning material:

1. Practice problems: Work through practice problems and examples related to the material you are learning. This helps you to apply your understanding and reinforce the concepts you have learned.

2. Draw it out - Visual aids and Mind Maps: Draw or create visual aids to help you understand the material you are learning. This can include mind maps, flowcharts, or diagrams.

3. Hands-on activities: Engage in hands-on activities that apply the material you are learning. For example, in PA school, you could practice taking a patient's blood pressure, perform a physical exam on a partner, or work with a simulated patient. Or arrange for a clinical placement to be in the area you are learning (e.g. if you’re in Cardiology Unit, consider doing one day placement in Family Medicine or Cardiology). Sometimes timing doesn’t always align with your you are in your curriculum.

4. Group study: Study with others and engage in group discussions. Explain concepts to each other and ask questions to deepen your understanding.

5. Quizzes and flashcards: Test yourself on the material you are learning by creating your own quizzes or flashcards. This helps to reinforce your understanding and identify areas where you may need further review. Or have you and a study buddy create multiple choices questions or practice questions and trade questions and answer them.

6. Self-explanation: Explain the material you are learning to yourself in your own words. This helps you to clarify your understanding and identify areas where you may be missing information. Or use the Rubber Duck Method to learning, keep reading!

Learn by teaching others: The Rubber Duck Method to Learning

A term borrowed from programming, where you explain your thought process out loud to an inanimate object (such as a rubber duck, plush toy, teddy bear) to clarify your understanding and find solutions!

This technique can also be applied to studying, as explaining complex concepts and theories out loud to yourself or to a study partner can help you to understand the information better and retain it more effectively. The act of explaining the information out loud forces you to think critically about the material and actively engage with it, rather than passively reading or listening.

When using the rubber duck method for studying, you can start by identifying a concept or topic you want to understand better. Then, take a rubber duck or any other inanimate object and explain the concept to it as if you were teaching it to someone else. This process can help you to identify areas where you may be missing information or understanding, and can also help to reinforce your knowledge of the topic.

By actively engaging with the material and forcing yourself to explain it in your own words, you are likely to remember the information better and be better prepared to apply it in future exams or real-world scenarios.

Utilizing Different Resources to Learn Medicine

There are many different resources available to help you study for PA school, including textbooks, podcasts, and online resources.

Sometimes finding out which resources work best for you is experimentation. Try your hand at different resources, and reflect on which ones have been most helpful for you to retain information and think critically through different patient and clinical scenarios.

To get the most out of these resources, it’s important to approach them in a strategic way. Here are a few tips to help you do that:

1. Use lectures and textbooks as a foundation: Lectures are a great starting point for your studies, but they can also be overwhelming. To get the most out of your textbooks, it’s important to read them actively, taking notes, highlighting important information, and asking questions as you go.

   • Example of textbooks as a foundation: Use Toronto Notes/Essential Med Notes as a foundation to see what material you may have to learn about, then do a deep dive using other resources

2. Utilize online resources to do a deeper dive: There are many online resources available to help you. Other than the ones outlined by your PA school, you may consider some resources outlined here. See the end of this post for favourite PA school online resources.
   
   However keep in mind that you can go into a rabbit hole of reading tangential details that may not be relevant to the concept or case that you are reading around (e.g. electronic transport chain? Maybe you’ve gone too far). Part of the skill of learning is deciphering what is important to know and prune the rest.

3. Listen to podcasts: Podcasts can be a great way to learn on the go, and there are many medical education podcasts available that can help you learn medical concepts in a more engaging and conversational way. I would recommend doing your own review of your material first before proceeding with podcasts, that way you aren’t trying to transcribe the entire podcast when notetaking.

Adjust your Study Method to your Learning Style

Everyone has a unique learning style, and it’s important to identify your own learning style and develop a study strategy that works for you. Here are some common learning styles and study strategies to match:

1. Visual learners: Visual learners often remember information better when they see it. Consider using mind maps, diagrams, or flow charts, Youtube videos to help you understand and retain information.

2. Auditory learners: Auditory learners often remember information better when they hear it. Consider using podcasts, audio recordings, or attending lectures to help you learn and retain information.

3. Kinesthetic learners: Kinesthetic learners often remember information better when they engage in hands-on activities. Consider using flashcards, case studies, or hands-on learning activities to help you understand and retain information.

Group Study

Group study can be a valuable tool for PA students, as you can benefit from the knowledge and experience of others.

Here are some tips for making the most of group study:

• Find a study group: Look for a study group that is focused on the same subjects or topics that you are studying. You can often find study groups through your PA school or online. This can be a great way to collaborate, learn from each other, and stay motivated.

• Set goals as a group: Set goals for your study group, such as reviewing a certain section of the textbook or working on practice questions. Make sure to hold each other accountable to these goals.

• Participate actively: Make sure to participate actively in your study group, ask questions, and share your own knowledge and insights.

• Stay organized: Keep track of what you need to study, and make sure that everyone in the group is on the same page. Assign each other different topics, and then come together to teach.

• Don't rely solely on group study: While group study can be a valuable tool, it's important to also study independently and seek help from your professors or tutors when you need it.

When to Seek Help for Challenging Topics

Advocating for your own learning means taking responsibility and ownership of your education. It means actively seeking out resources and opportunities to improve your understanding of the material, seeking help when needed, and continuously evaluating your learning methods to ensure that they are effective for you.

This is not important only for you to succeed in PA school, but also your knowledge and understanding now will benefit your future patients.

PA school is challenging, and there will be times when you need help. Don’t worry, your are a MEDICAL LEARNER, the expectation is that sometimes things don’t always come easily, and students will often ask for help. Professors/tutors/faculty and instructors are very used to students asking for additional help or resources for more challenging topics during first year of PA school.

Also, the longer you put off mastering the subject, the harder it is to grasp more complex subjects later. So ask now rather than later!

Here are some tips for when to seek help from professors and tutors:

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help: If you're struggling with a particular topic, don't be afraid to ask your professor, faciliator, instructor or a tutor for help. They're there to help you succeed.

2. Ask for clarification: If you don't understand a concept, ask your professor or a tutor to clarify it for you. Don't be afraid to ask for additional examples or explanations.

3. Get extra help: If you're struggling with a particular subject, consider getting extra help from a tutor or upper-year buddy. A tutor can provide one-on-one attention and help you understand the material more thoroughly.

4. Seek help early: Don't wait until you're behind to seek help. If you're struggling with a particular topic, seek help as soon as possible so you can get back on track.

Final Notes

Studying for PA school is a challenging and rewarding experience. With the right approach, you can master the material and succeed in your classes. Find what works best for you, stick to a routine, and never be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Remember, PA school is a marathon, not a sprint. Take it one step at a time, and soon you'll be on your way to becoming a successful practicing PA!