A RESOURCE GUIDE FOR CURRENT PA STUDENTS
You got in. Here is everything we have for PA school and beyond.
The PA Platform started as a blog written by a PA student, and we never stopped writing for the people in the program. Didactic year study systems, rotation guides, PANCE plans, money, wellness, and the first job. All of it is free, and all of it is here.
DIDACTIC YEAR
Survive didactic year without losing yourself
The firehose is real. These are the study systems, exam strategies, and honest recoveries our team and guest PA students have written about, so you can borrow what works instead of inventing it mid-semester.
80 Study Tips for PA School
Crowd-sourced tips from PA students and practicing PAs.
How to Study Clinical Medicine in PA School
A repeatable system, not a motivational speech.
How to Study and Succeed in Didactic Year
A guest post from a PA student who figured it out.
How to Study Anatomy
What actually sticks for anatomy, in undergrad and in PA school.
How to Prepare for EOR Exams
Planning for end-of-rotation exams before you are in the rotation.
So You Failed an Exam. Now What?
It happens to good students. Here is the recovery plan.
Using Picmonic to Study in PA School
How one PA student used visual mnemonics to keep up.
Favorite Books to Get Through PA School
The references worth the shelf space.
What to Expect from PA School
A realistic preview of the first year.
How to Start an Organization in PA School
Building something for your class without burning out.
Normal Physiology of the Heart
A quick refresher before cardiology hits.
CLINICAL YEAR
Rotations: what to expect and how to stand out
Clinical year is where you become a clinician. Our rotation-by-rotation series was written by PA students in the middle of it, plus practical guides on electives, preceptors, and what to carry.
Tips for Rotations
How to show up prepared on day one of every rotation.
How to Choose Your Elective Rotations
Pick electives that serve your first job, not just your curiosity.
Working Well with PAs, MDs, and the Whole Team
Relationship skills that turn rotations into references.
What Is in My Medical Bag
What a PA student actually carries on rotation.
Clinical Year: Family Medicine
What the rotation is really like.
Clinical Year: Internal Medicine
Rounding, presenting, and keeping up.
Clinical Year: Emergency Medicine
Procedures, pace, and how to be useful.
Clinical Year: Surgery
Scrubbing in, retracting, and learning the OR.
Clinical Year: Pediatrics
Tiny patients, big learning curve.
Clinical Year: Psychiatry
Interview skills you will use in every specialty.
Clinical Year: OB/GYN
Deliveries, clinic, and the long days.
Clinical Year: Endocrinology
A specialty elective, up close.
How to Survive the Night Shift
Sleep, food, and sanity on overnights.
Tips for Your First Medical Conference
Getting real value out of a conference as a student.
LIFE, MONEY, AND WELLNESS
The parts of PA school nobody puts in the syllabus
Mental health, money, relationships, and the big life events that do not pause for exams. Written by PAs and PA students who went through it.
How to Stay Sane in PA School
Boundaries and routines that hold up under pressure.
How to Stay Healthy in PA School
Sleep, movement, and food when time is the scarce resource.
Anxiety in PA School
An honest look at the pressure and what helped.
Dear PA School: A Letter for PA Students
Perspective from the other side of graduation.
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before PA School
From a practicing PA-C.
Advice from Current PA Students
What they would tell their first-semester selves.
How to Make Money During PA School
Realistic side income that does not wreck your grades.
How to Save Money in PA School
Where the budget actually leaks.
The Financial Maze of PA School
Costs, loans, and payment options explained.
How Students Afford PA School
Loan options and refinancing basics, with our partner Juno.
Getting Married During PA School
Planning a wedding around a PA school calendar.
Having a Baby in PA School
What it is really like, from someone who did it.
Motherhood and PA School
Balancing both, from The PA Cafe.
Providers as Patients
When the clinician is the one on the table.
Staying Healthy in Medicine
Long-term habits for a long career.
PANCE AND BOARDS
Pass the PANCE the first time
Study plans that worked, the resources we recommend, and our free PANCE Blueprint video series on YouTube.
Tips for Passing the PANCE the First Time
How to structure the final months.
My PANCE Study Plan
A week-by-week plan from a PA who passed.
A Picmonic PANCE and PANRE Study Plan
Using visual mnemonics for boards.
PANCE Blueprint Breakdown Video Series
Our free YouTube series walking the blueprint system by system.
PANCE and PANRE Review Course
The review resource we recommend for boards.
GRADUATION AND YOUR FIRST JOB
From student to PA-C
The job search, the first year of practice, loans, residencies, and the specialty questions that come up once you are out. This is the part of the journey we keep hearing new grads wish someone had explained.
What to Do After PA School Graduation
The checklist between commencement and your first shift.
Preparing for Life After Graduation
Licensing, credentialing, and the paperwork nobody warns you about.
The PA Job Search: Where to Find the Jobs
Where the good postings actually live.
How I Landed My Dream Job (and All My Mistakes)
A new grad job search, told honestly.
Should You Do a PA Residency?
The trade-offs, from PA Cents.
One Year Out
What the first year of practice really felt like.
The Hard Parts of Practicing
The things that are difficult even when you are good at the job.
How I Paid Off My PA School Debt
A real repayment plan.
Interview with Student Loan Planner
Forgiveness, refinancing, and repayment strategy.
Going Part-Time as a PA
What it looks like and how to negotiate it.
When to Have Kids as a PA
Timing a family around a clinical career.
What Is Lateral Mobility?
Switching specialties as a PA.
The PA Title Change
Physician assistant to physician associate, explained.
Non-Traditional Options for PAs
Careers beyond the exam room.
A Day in the Life of a Neurohospitalist PA
One specialty, hour by hour.
What It Is Like to Be a Dermatology PA
100 questions answered by our founder.
Dermatology Resources
For students eyeing derm.
Mission Trips as a PA
Serving abroad as a clinician.
The Few Disadvantages of Being a PA
The honest downsides, so you can plan for them.
KEEP LEARNING
Books, talks, and more from the team
Reading lists and reviews for medical people, plus the channels where we publish new content every week.
Books for Medical People
Our running list.
Books You Should Read
Titles that shaped how we practice.
Book Review: Being Mortal
Atul Gawande on medicine and what matters in the end.
Book Review: Complications
Gawande on the imperfect science of surgery.
Book Review: Better
Performance in medicine.
Book Review: Still Alice
A novel every future clinician should read.
TED Talk Tuesday
Talks worth a study break.
New content every week
The blog is the archive. The newest guidance for PA students and new grads goes out on YouTube, the podcast, and the newsletter first.
Know a pre-PA who needs a plan?
You remember how confusing the application was. Send them to the coaches, essay reviews, and mock interviews that got you here.