 If you're looking for a video on a specific topic, simply type in what you're looking for in my channel, Search Bar. And if I have videos addressing that topic, it will take you right to them. What's up, you guys? It's Adana. I am back with another video for you guys. Guess what? It has been a year since I first started this channel, a year since I first started this journey. And I am officially a P-A-S2. I have just finished my first year of P-A-School. For those of you who don't know, I've been on this journey for a year now. And I'm super excited. Thank you guys so much, everybody that has been following me on this journey, that has joined me on this journey and been supporting me. I really appreciate each and every one of you. And if you're new to my channel, go ahead and subscribe right now and follow me on the second half of this journey throughout my clinical year. So, now that I have made it through the first year of P-A-School, also known as didactic year, I wanted to just kind of share with you guys my five tips. My top five tips to surviving your first year of P-A-School. Be prepared. Now, I mean, obviously, like we already say, hey, you know, P-A-School is hard. You got to come in and, you know, you have to be ready to kill it. But honestly, you have to be prepared. You have to be prepared not only for school in and of itself, like have all the books and the different materials that you need, but you also have to be prepared mentally. It's going to be a lot of information that you're getting just thrown at you, pumped in you, and you're going to have those days where you're like, oh man, like, how am I supposed to remember all of this information? How am I going to be able to kind of like bring this back up to memory when I am actually seeing patients? But you're going to be able to do it. And a way that you're going to be able to do that is by being prepared every day. So make sure that you have a plan of attack with respect to how you're going to study, with respect to your downtime, with respect to everything P-A-School related and life related. Just be prepared. And that is the first tip that you should definitely have down when thinking about surviving your first year of P-A-School. Have a support system. Now, I know that we've done videos where it's like, well, I mean, you know, if you don't support me, then forget it, like, forget you because this is my dream. This is what I want to do. But you definitely still need to have a support system, even if it is not necessarily your family or, you know, maybe your best friend or whoever it is. Have a support system that will help you get through P-A-School because you're going to have those moments when you're like, what did I get myself into? Like, what is going on? This is super hard. I didn't realize that this was going to be so difficult. And you're going to need that person to be like, hey, you got this. You're going to do great. You know, you made it this far. You're one out of 1,700 applicants and you're here. You made it. So you're going to need those people to kind of just uplift you and motivate you to keep going and persevere through the hard times because there is going to be hard times. There's going to be those difficult hell weeks where you have like a whole bunch of exams and quizzes and you're going to have times when maybe you don't do as well on an exam as you usually do or that you thought you had did. So those are all important moments in your P-A-School career that you're going to need that support system. So definitely have a great support system. Have an escape. Now, I mean, I'm not talking about an escape in terms of like, alright, so if I don't make it through P-A-School, what's my plan be? No, I'm talking about having an escape in terms of how are you going to release? How are you going to relax? Some of my classmates work out. I don't know how they find the time, y'all, but I mean, that is something more power to them. I definitely wish I had made the time to do that, but that is their escape. Some people, they have to work out because that's the way that they let out stress. Others, you know, they go out, watch movie on the weekend or take a day from me. My escape was the Sabbath. So since the Friday to since the Saturday, I did not study at all. That was like family time, God time weekend. And I just took that time to myself and that really helped me because I was able to decompress from the week and then prepare myself for the upcoming week starting on Sunday. So that was always just a blessing, just my appreciation of the Sabbath and being able to escape in that route. So whatever your escape is, definitely hold on to that. Don't lose sight of it. Don't lose it. Don't get yourself super stressed out because, you know, now you're like, man, I have to study. I don't have time to go hang out with friends or I don't have time to, you know, go work out. I don't have time to do the things that I used to do. No, make sure that you make that time for yourself so you have an escape so that when times do get hard and although your support system is there, you still have an escape to go to, to kind of just ease the stress of PA's. Don't be afraid to ask for help you guys. Now, when you're there in PA school, your professors are there to help. They're usually willing to just kind of be there kind of even on their off time. Like when they're not during school hours, like some of them stay behind or they come in during lunch to help you out and to talk to you and to show you. Hey, this is how you answered the question. Talk to me. What were you thinking with respect to that? And then you guys can talk it out. You can see the rationale they can give you advice and not only with your professors, but also with your cohort, with your classmates, with your friends around you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. This is not, you're not on an island by yourself. We're all in this thing together and ultimately they want us all to kind of just make it off of this PA school. Chip together, you know, so they want us all to pass. So with respect to that, be afraid to ask for help. They're there to help you. People are going to open up and be willing and usually everyone is fairly nice. So you're going to find somebody that is willing to help you. So don't be afraid to ask for help if things aren't going the way that you feel that they should be going. Or if things are kind of looking a little bleep because that person can fulfill some of those roles as being a support system. To help pick you up and being that escape as well. So they kind of all flow in together. One in a sense goes into the next, but you definitely should never be afraid to ask for help because that's the moment when you're going to get yourself in trouble. When you're trying to do this thing alone and you're on an island by yourself, that's where you can get super stressed and anxiety can hit. And you know, it just goes downhill from there. So definitely keep that in mind. You're not in this alone. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Tip number five. Now they're like, all of these other ones were really, really great, but this is like big flashing like big tip number five. Okay. Please stay on top slash stay ahead of your work. Okay. As I said in the start of this, you're going to get a bunch of information. It's going to be a ton of information thrown at you and you're going to have to really figure out a way of compartmentalizing it, but at the same time understanding. Okay. So I could spend more time studying here. I could spend a little less time studying here. How much time do I need to put towards this class at this moment in time or at this week? Oh, I have a project that is not due until three weeks from now, but I have time this weekend to kind of knock it out. So let me do that. You know, you have to make those decisions and make those adjustments because you have no idea maybe in three weeks when that project is actually due. You have a really bad test week. So you're going to need that time to be studying as opposed to be sitting up here working on a project, right? So you have to manage your time really well, but also just kind of stay ahead of things. If there's time for you to move things here, it's pretty fluid. They'll give you most of your assignments kind of all at once. So you know what exactly you need to be doing and when it's due and therefore you can adjust your schedule as you see fit to make your life in PA school a lot better. But those are just some of my tips that I've learned in this first year of PA school that I just finished you guys. So excited about that. I am about to start clinicals and I will be seeing a real patience on a regular basis. Cannot wait. I'm a little bit nervous if I'm going to be completely honest, but I'm really excited. And so pray for me, y'all. Pray for me. I hope these tips were helpful. If you have any other questions for me, please leave it in the comment section below. If you have any video suggestions that you'd like me to do, leave that in the comment section below as well. And if you haven't already done so, go ahead and subscribe to my channel and follow me on Instagram at edadonnathepa. Thank you guys so much for watching and joining me on this journey. I will talk to you guys next time.