The didactic year of PA school is no joke, especially when it comes to exams. You’ll go from taking one big test every few weeks (like in undergrad) to juggling several each week, all while trying to keep hundreds of new concepts straight in your head. There’s a reason this year is likened to “trying to drink from a firehose!”
Whether you came straight from undergrad or spent time gaining clinical experience, the pace of PA didactic year is unlike anything you’ve experienced before. You’ll quickly realize that staying afloat isn’t just about studying hard, but about studying smart and finding ways to retain information under constant pressure.
Feeling overwhelmed at first is completely normal. Balancing lecture material, lab work, and near-constant exams can make even the most organized students feel stretched thin. But with the right strategies, you can adapt quickly and keep your stress from spiraling.
To help you start strong (and stay sane), we’ve gathered practical tips for managing your workload, building efficient study systems, and staying confident through those back-to-back exams.
Here are some tricks to get you performing well from the start!
1. Study as you go.
Many students fall behind because they don’t review the material as soon as they get it. Yes, I mean as soon as that evening or the next day, you should review material from the lecture!
My best piece of advice is to at least try and review the material briefly before you go to that class again. If there’s something you couldn’t quite grasp in class, watch a video on it or reference your textbook.
2. Don’t wait too long to ask for help.
Be sure to seek out assistance from professors early if things aren’t making sense. If you wait until the exam review, it’ll be late in the game before you’re even grasping the material. Or worse yet, you’ll find yourself heading to the exam without a good understanding.
3. Create a schedule.
A study schedule is crucial to success. Time is extremely valuable in your didactic year. You’re in lectures most weekdays, with many different topics to review each week. While the topics you’re reviewing will change week-by-week, I encourage you to block out designated study time in your weekly schedule.
In addition to scheduling designated study time, make sure you block out time for things you enjoy. Whether that’s going to the gym, making dinner at home, or talking on the phone with a friend, be sure to make time for it! That way, when you do something you enjoy, you don’t feel guilty or behind schedule. And you can confidently say you planned your study times around it.
For example, my PA school friends and I blocked out Monday nights for “The Bachelor.” It was something we loved to do together, so every Monday we made it a priority! Because I planned for this, there was a lot less stress associated with taking a pause from studying to do something I enjoyed.
4. Ditch the flashcards.
I get it. In the past, you used flashcards and did very well. So did I!
While there are a few times in PA school when they might be useful, overall I highly encourage you to ditch them. Whether you’re handwriting the flashcards or using online platforms, you simply don’t have enough time to make them for all the material you need to review.
Furthermore, you can’t adequately test your grasp of pathophysiology and detailed disease processes with a flashcard. This is a habit I recommend breaking.
5. Incorporate active learning.
Active learning requires you to engage with and think critically about the material you’re studying. This is in contrast to passive learning, which involves things like watching videos or reviewing notes.
A key part of active learning is that you’re forced to recall the material during the course of the study exercise. This type of effortful processing is crucial to testing your understanding of the topics you review.
The good news is that while difficult, active learning pays off. Students that incorporate active learning into their studying often perform better on exams.
6. Use question banks.
Practice questions are especially useful throughout your didactic year, because most students don’t have experience answering questions in a clinical vignette. Using Qbanks gives you an idea of what to expect on the exams and allows you to practice the kind of thinking you’ll use on test day. This is very beneficial, as test-taking is a skill in itself that needs to be learned and practiced.
A lot of question banks are geared towards PANCE prep students, but it’s important to focus on questions made for those in their didactic year. Blueprint Prep offers didactic year Qbanks specifically designed for your Subject Exams and End of Didactic Year Exam.
These questions go a bit more in-depth on pathophysiology of the disease processes, which more accurately matches what you can expect to see on your exams. In addition, the questions are designed to match your learning level and they won’t have any topics you didn’t yet learn!
7. Grab a friend or two!
Like I said before, PA school can be a trying time. It’s isolating for a lot of students because they are too busy to keep up with family and friends. Opening up to your classmates, who understand what you’re going through, is invaluable and may provide you with lifelong friendships. While PA school was exceptionally difficult, the friends I made along the way left me with such wonderful memories I can almost say I miss it sometimes.
In addition to building a community, I encourage you to form relationships with your classmates as study buddies. Working in small groups allows you to quiz each other, break down difficult information, and hold yourselves accountable for studying.
Keep these groups small, I recommend no more than two or three people! If it gets too big, just split it in half when it’s time to study. This will cause fewer distractions and allow everyone to make the most of their time.
8. Get enough sleep!
This may sound impossible with your never-ending to-do list, but I can’t say enough about how important it is to prioritize your sleep. PA school is not the time for all-nighters! They won’t help you retain the material in the long run, and you’ll be right back where you started when the cumulative exam comes along.
Don’t just take my word for it— multiple studies link academic performance to sleep hygiene. It’s important to prioritize your sleep and avoid things like blue light and caffeine before bed.
I recommend trying to consistently get at least seven hours of sleep per night, especially before any exams.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re preparing to start your didactic year or you’re halfway through it and want to make some positive changes, it’s never too late to incorporate these strategies! After all, each day is something of a “refresh” point. You get to start fresh on your approach to PA school anytime you choose.
Take a deep breath, incorporate these strategies into your daily routine, and believe in your ability to create positive change in your life and career. You’ve got this!
