I Did It!

I have officially completed my first semester of PA school!   Grades are in and it is official!!

My schedule these past few weeks has been so crazy with studying that I pretty much neglected to blog, so I am so sorry.  But I am back now!  I have 2 weeks off and start back up with my second semester on May 14th.

So last week I had a final each day of the week: Patient assessment on Monday, Pharm on Tuesday, Clin Med on Wednesday, Pathophys on Thursday, Anatomy on Friday (not to mention a pt. assessment and anatomy practical the week before).  So needless to say, I have been a hermit the past few weeks...it's great to be out again :)

 So my pt assessment final consisted of going into the exam room, 8 students at a time.  There were 8 stations set up and before we went in you drew a card to let you know which 2 stations you were going to.  Once at the station it has a sign saying what exam you will have to perform on the "patient" (actor) or you will have to draw a card letting you know what exam to perform.  The faculty member watching you just stood there with a clipboard and checked off each part of the exam as you did it.  Not only did you have to do each part of the exam, but during each part your have to say what you are looking at and different pathologies you should be aware of that you would be looking for.  Then the faculty member could ask you questions related to different pathologies you may find and then that was it.  You had 10 minutes to complete each exam and you did not know how you did when you walked out, I had to wait over a week and a half to get my results but I got a 96 and was thrilled.
Then we had our anatomy practical.  Same as last time, 84 questions were spread throughout the room and you had 20 seconds at each question before you had to rotate.  Purely identifying the labels or says an action a muscle does or what innervates each muscle.   I only have my final grade for this class so far, do not know how I did on the practical.
Next was the start of finals week.  Patient assessment was the first final.  Since there are future students of my program reading this, I can not divulge how the rest of these exams were set up.  I can say that it took a lot of studying to do well on these exams but it was totally worth it :)
In my program, you must maintain a 3.0 average GPA (a B or 83%) to stay in the program and you can not receive a grade lower than a C.  I am thrilled to be doing well and going on into the next semester and to tell you all how the summer session goes
Thank you for staying with me throughout my short hiatus and I look forward to letting you all know how my break went!  Hope everyone is enjoying their first taste of summer and enjoys every minute of it.  I will update you all soon!!