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Online PA School: 20 Tips for Success

I'm a distance education student, which means I'm quite familiar with this whole online learning thing. I'm not going to sugar coat it -- it can be isolating, which is further impacted by the pandemic. But I will say this -- with the right mindset, a lot of patience and dedication, and support from classmates, friends and family, you can totally do this.

  1. Have a dedicated study space or two. This will help you stay focused.
  2. Never study in bed -- keep that area strictly for sleep.
  3. Get enough sleep! PA school is dang hard and you need a non-groggy brain.
  4. Keep a schedule. Mine involved getting up at 5am every day. Gross, I know.
  5. Set timers if that helps you stay focused. Study for 50 minutes, chill for 10 minutes.
  6. Put your phone in the other room. Instagram can wait.
  7. Have a study crew. Me and two other students in my area would get together to study all day at a coffee shop before each exam, and we transitioned this to Facebook video messenger after the pandemic. This was a lifesaver.
  8. Consider not wearing yoga pants every day. Yes, they are the epitome of comfort. But I think subconsciously they can make me lazy. Look good, feel good, do well.
  9. Make time for friends, exercise, socializing, whatever gets you feeling recharged. Since the pandemic, I've made time to hike with two friends almost every weekend.
  10. Accept the fact that you will ugly cry during this adventure. And that's normal.
  11. Have the right tools. I have an HP laptop that turns into a tablet, and a monitor. Perfect set up for watching lectures and simultaneously taking notes in OneNote.
  12. Have the right resources. Like most PA students, I relied heavily on PANCE Prep Pearls. I also really like Lange Q&A for practice questions. Osmosis Med is wonderful for videos.
  13. Take care of yourself. Be active and get some sunshine, fuel your mind and body with healthy foods, and take care of your mental health.
  14. Taking anatomy? Get some colored pencils and a drawing book. Drawing things out helped me understand it better, and it's nice to change up the studying method!
  15. Get a programmable coffee maker. It's easier to get up early when the magic bean juice is ready and waiting.
  16. Consider having a giant whiteboard in your study space. Use this for making to-do lists that are always visible, or for drawing/writing things out.
  17. Don't. Get. Behind. I know it can be easy to say that you'll catch up later but believe me, that's a recipe for disaster.
  18. If you're watching pre-recorded lectures, try to avoid pausing and rewinding too much. Before you know it, a one hour lecture has taken up two hours of your time. Treat it just like an in-person lecture. But put those slow talkers on 1.5x speed!
  19. Don't hesitate to ask your classmates or professors questions. I remember not wanting to "look dumb" during anatomy but you're doing yourself a real disservice if you don't ask. Learn and move on. Chances are you're not the only one with that same question, anyway.
  20. Practice gratitude. Online learning probably isn't the way you planned to start PA school. But you got accepted into PA school and now get to work toward your dream of becoming a PA-C! This is all going to be worth it.


You can do this! Good luck.

Thanks for reading,
Olivia
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