I have heard many fellow physician assistants describe didactic year of PA school as the hardest year of their life. This statement does sound a bit dramatic, however that year did prove to be the hardest year of my life thus far. I started PA school in January of 2020, three months before the entire world shut down and I was confined to my tiny apartment for pretty much my whole didactic year. Covid certainly changed the course of my PA education for the entirety of the program, but no matter when you are going through your didactic year of PA school the bottom line is the same, lectures all day, study all night. Here are 10 tips to surviving didactic year of PA school.
- Create a routine: For the majority of my didactic year we had lectures from around 8:00am-5:00pm. Some days the hours varied but no matter what, the routine stayed the same. I would get done with lecture, 1 hour of “me time” see tip #3 for more on that, shower, eat dinner, and then study until I went to bed at about 11:00pm. Creating a routine will help you avoid day to day distractions, and keep you from falling behind.
- Finding a study style that works for you: Everyone learns differently. Finding a study technique that helps you retain as much information as possible is very important. During didactic year you are expected to learn an insane amount of information, so it is important that you find a study style that works for you. For me it was flashcards and practice questions. I simply could not just read a study guide or powerpoint and expect to retain very much of it. I often would make quizlets based on the individual powerpoint lectures given in class, and I would run through them until I had completely mastered the set. However, my other classmates would make their own study guides, reread powerpoints, or listen to the lecturers over and over again. Some programs start you out with the least amount of credits in your first quarter/semester. This will give you time to figure out what study style works best for you.
- Leaving time to do something you love everyday: This is VERY important. You might be thinking I won’t have time for little things like that, but trust me you will need it to keep you sane. Taking at least an hour a day to not think about school and do something that is for pure enjoyment. For me it was going for walks, baking, or watching a movie. Be sure to maintain your hobbies in PA school, it will help keep you going when the days get long and hard. I recommend scheduling this time in between class and study time to give your brain a break.
- Optimizing chore time: Unfortunately, you still have to be a functioning adult during PA school. That means, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. These things can really take up a lot of time, so it is important to optimize this time. I recommend two options. The first is to block out 3-4 hours a week on a Sunday to get all of this done. For example, put laundry in, run to the grocery store, switch laundry to dryer, meal prep, fold. This helps get it out of the way so you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week. My second recommendation would be to multitask and study while you are doing these things. I recommend relistening to lectures while cooking and cleaning or finding a podcast you like that is relevant to what you will be tested on that week. Definitely don’t forget about meal prepping. The last thing you want to do is be cramming for an exam and realize you don’t have any food and then having to drop 30-50 dollars on uber eats.
- Getting enough sleep: This one seems obvious, but is a great reminder. You may be tempted to pull all nighters before exams, but I would encourage you not to. Your brain and body need to rest. It will help you retain the information you are studying if you get 6-8 hours of sleep after a study session. My motto in PA school was if I didn’t know it by midnight, too bad.
- Taking quality notes: I would recommend doing some research on note taking and finding a method that works for you. I don’t really enjoy typing notes, but that is what worked for the majority of my classmates. I took notes on my iPad using the app notability. This allowed me to handwrite my notes (which has been shown to increase retention) directly on the powerpoints that I downloaded to the app.
- Try new study methods to spice things up: I know this kind of contradicts tip #2, but there is a very high likelihood that you will start to get burned out around month 5 or 6. If you are feeling like you are in a rut or extremely unmotivated, I would suggest spicing up the routine by changing a few things so not to disturb the study style that works for you. You could change the location in which you study (coffee shop, library, outside) or study with other classmates to help boost motivation.
- Share study materials with classmates: My cohort had both a group quizlet and google drive that helped us share study materials. This is a really easy way to cut down on time spent actually making study materials.
- Don’t forget to spend time with friends and family: PA school does this really cool thing to your brain where it makes you guilty for doing anything other than study. Be sure to make time for your friends and family. Add calling a friend or family member to your routine, this will give you an outlet to vent about all the studying you have to do and motivate you to do your best at the same time.
- When you lose motivation, remember what you are working towards: I hit some really low points during my didactic year. When you lose motivation it is important to remember your why you are putting yourself through this in the first place. When I was feeling really burnt out it helped to visualize what my life was going to be like once I got that dream job, which was definitely not my first job as a PA, but that’s a post for another time.
Anyways, I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck in your didactic year!
