even if you did well in PA school, even if you smoked your EORs, that you did well on the pack rat, and you did well on your EOC and all of that, but suddenly like a week before the exam, it's like that never happened. It all just goes out the window and you're like, oh man, what's about to happen? I don't know anything. I'm so nervous. I was so terrified about this exam and you're very, very worried about passing the pants. Just like, no, that you're not the only one, you're not alone.  You know, I'm ready for my break. The assessments are actually valid. The assessments that you take all the way through PA school, your test scores during first year, your end of rotation exams during second year, your clinical pack rat that you take kind of like in the middle, maybe end of clinical year, very accurate, and they should predict your pants score quite well. Hey guys, I'm Boris. I'm a certified physician assistant. That's right. If you've watched this channel before, you're used to me saying I'm a PA student. I'm a first year PA student. I'm a second year PA student. That's over. I've graduated PA school. I passed the pants. I got my New York state license to practice medicine as a physician assistant in the state of New York. So that's it. I'm now officially a PA. So now at long last, you know, two years after I made this channel, the channel Boris the PA is legit. I'm actually a PA now. I'm no longer a PA student. Another thing you might notice if you're used to any of my car videos with really crappy audio, I got this little microphone. So I know I should just be recording at home with my camera and my nice microphone, but sorry, I've been busy. And sometimes when the motivation strikes me and I'm on a long trip, like I am right now, I'm going from Cleveland where my parents live to Columbus where my sister lives. And so I got two hours on the road, tired of listening to music. So I thought I'd make a little video for all of you guys all about the day I took my pants. And maybe a little bit about like leading up to the pants, but that might be a separate video. I don't know, we'll see where this takes us. And we'll also see how good the audio is. Again, I might just toss the video. Anyway, I'll quit rambling. I just wanted to give you guys that quick update. Yes, I did pass the pants. Yes, PA school is over. And yes, I got a job. I'm gonna start the day after Thanksgiving weekend is over. So November 29th, my first day on the job, I can't freaking wait. It's like my dream job. But anyway, more on that later. Right now, let's talk about the pants. So the pants, the PA physician assistant, national certifying exam, I think that's what it stands for, is the big test, five hours, 300 questions, five blocks of 60 questions each. The big exam that you have to take after a PA school is over in order to actually be a certified PA.  But what you really want is that C, P-A-C certified. And you only get that by passing the pants. And that's what you need in order to practice, teach, whatever it is you wanna do as a physician assistant, you know, you gotta be certified. So anyway, it's kind of a big deal. You have to take this test. In fact, your entire PA school like training, your entire curriculum, everything that happens during PA school is basically geared towards training you to take this giant important exam, everything. And if you think about it, at least the good PA programs like mine, excellent PA program at Lemoine College, every single program that's good at least, basically is designed to train you to take this test. So eventually you start getting test questions, you have like a minute per question, and they try to simulate like the difficulty and the language and the timing, basically just getting you ready to take this exam because that's the important thing. And that's also kind of how PA schools are measured is their first time pants pass rate, how, what percentage, what proportion of the class pass the pants on their first try. So I think my school had a hundred percent the last couple of years, I could be mistaken. It's definitely in the nineties and above, but I think it's been a hundred. And I'm not sure what it is this year yet. I'm hoping it's a hundred. You know, I'm hoping all my classmates pass the pants on their first try because it's really stressful if you don't pass it. So anyway, just happy to contribute to that hundred percent. If we did end up getting the hundred percent, I'm just stoked that I got it, you know, on my first try. Like most people do, you know, it's a big deal, but it's also, it's not unique. Most people do pass this thing on their first try. So that being said, that does not mean the exam is easy. It is not. It is not an easy exam. It's probably the hardest test I've ever taken. Probably the hardest test I've ever taken. Definitely the longest. And so I'm not gonna talk about like what the test entails. You can find a million YouTube videos about that, but what I will tell you is my exact experience. So these tests are taken at what's called a Pearson View Testing Center. And there's like hundreds of them all over the country, maybe thousands. And these testing centers are basically just made to deliver official tests like these and like all kinds of other exams. So you might be in there with like five, 10 other people taking all different exams, taking their breaks at different times and stuff like that. So it's not just all people taking the pants. That's important to know. Another thing is these testing centers could be set up in all kinds of different ways. So there could be like noise, there could be distractions, there could be different bathroom policies. The bathroom might be like a five minute walk away from the testing center, where it might be just a little 30 second, you know, walk away from where you're taking your test. And that's important because you get five breaks. And so you might wanna plan and think about how you're gonna use your breaks. And if you have to walk further for the bathroom, for instance, you might wanna think about that versus like a 30 second walk like I had at my center.  So anyway, my testing center was at a public library. And so it was, I was alone in the room for like, I think the first three hours and then there was another girl in there like the last two hours of my exam. Like I said, the bathroom was a really quick walk away. You get in there, there's lockers for all your stuff. You're allowed to bring like food and water and basically that's it. You're not a lot of have your phone or I think you might be, but it has to be off. So you may as well just leave it in the car just in case. You're not really allowed to have anything else. No smart watches, nothing like that.  There's like a little, sorry, these windshield wipers are loud. There's like a little intro section. They kind of tell you how the exam is. They tell you how to use the software, which basically you should already know because you've taken so many practice tests on the same kind of software. But basically you have to click through all that and then, you know, your test begins. Five sections, 60 questions each, one minute per question. So you have up to five hours with a total of up to, I think, 45 minutes of breaks. So if you do the math, that's like a little over 10 minutes per break you're allowed to take. You know, you take one section, take 10 minutes, take section two, take 10 minutes, take 10 minutes, and so on and so forth. So you can have like 11 minutes or so per break if you're really calculating that out. I didn't take anywhere near that. I think I got out, you know, ate a snack at every single break, took a bathroom break at every single break, even if I didn't need to. You know, it's like my worst nightmare, having to go to the bathroom halfway through a test section and like having that distract you. That's like my worst nightmare. So like I made sure I went to the bathroom just in case, even if I didn't need to. So might be TMI, but it's what I did. Anyway, so the test center, you don't really have much interaction with the person proctoring your exam until you're ready to take your break. And that's like, you're on camera the whole time, by the way. So they're watching you, they're listening to you, make sure you don't have like notes scribbled on your hand or anything.    So these test centers are really strict. They got you on camera, they got you on microphone.  You know, I'm ready for my break. And it feels like forever as you're sitting there like waving at the camera like, hey, all right, I'm ready. I only have 10 minutes for this break. I've got to eat, I've got to pee. I've got to stretch. I've got to get my mind right between sections and like, you know, the person might take a minute to get to you, but that minute feels like an hour. You're like, man, I just want to get this break and then get ready for my next section. Basically, that's what you got to do.  It's that strict. So anyway, that was my experience. Not really sure if anyone's interested to hear in any of that, but what you might be interested to hear is how was the exam? What was it like? So obviously I can't give you any questions or even like topics or anything like that. Like we're strictly prohibited from talking about anything remotely what's on the test, but I can give you some comparisons. So if you're a pre-PA, you're not in PA school yet, this may not make a whole lot of sense to you. If you're already a PA student, depending on where you are in your training, this is going to make a whole lot of sense to you and it will hopefully give you a lot of comfort.  You're just trying to get any insight whatsoever about what this exam is like. You've been preparing for it for two years or three years, however long your program is. You've been tested. You've had all kinds of examinations that are supposed to simulate it. The PAC-RAT, the end of curriculum exam, all your exams in PA school, your end of rotation exams, all this stuff that's supposed to simulate it, but suddenly, like a week before the exam, it's like that never happened. It all just goes out the window and you're like, oh man, what's about to happen? I don't know anything. I'm so nervous. I was so terrified about this exam. Like anyone who's taken the pants knows exactly what I'm saying and you know how terrifying it is. Even if you did well in PA school, even if you smoked your EORs and you did well on the PAC-RAT and you did well on your EOC and all of that, and I'm not saying I did. I was like average, middle of the pack on most of my exams. I didn't fail any EORs. I failed I think one exam where I had to remediate one exam in PA school, but like I was a pretty average student in PA school. Some things I dominated and I smoked and some things I just like really struggled and held on by my fingernails, skin to my teeth, as people say. So I was a pretty average student and I had a pretty average pants score as it turns out. So I guess what I'm saying with that big long-winded comparison is the assessments, the PAC-RATs, your grades in PA school if you have a good program, the end of curriculum exam, all of that, your EORs, your end of rotation exams. I found that the pants was actually quite similar to all those things. So I'd say like question-wise, the PAC-RAT it was probably most similar to that. Obviously it was longer. And for me personally, I found the end of curriculum exam to be much easier than the PAC-RAT. Excuse me. I did quite well on the EOC. I did pretty average on the PAC-RAT and I did pretty average on the pants. So I mean, take that for what you will. I thought the EOC was easier. I thought the EOC was valuable, the end of curriculum exam, just because it was set up exactly like the pants. You know, it was proctored the same way by your program. It was five hours, you know, five sections of 60 questions, just like the pants. So just like getting through that really long exam and knowing that I had the stamina to last and do that, that was comforting. But as far as the level of the questions on the EOC, I personally thought they were much easier than on the pants. The difficulty of the pants questions I thought was pretty comparable to the PAC-RAT. So I'm not like promising anything, but if you did well on your PAC-RAT, you know, you're like middle of the road right around the national average, you'll probably be fine on the pants. And I think that's kind of the thesis of this whole video is the assessments are actually valid. The assessments that you take all the way through PA school, your test scores during first year, your end of rotation exams during second year, your clinical PAC-RAT that you take kind of like in the middle, maybe end of clinical year, very accurate. And they should predict your pan score quite well.  But if you take it in test mode, you know, in little chunks and you actually use it as an assessment, they predict your pan score and they give you like a, you know, a percentage of how likely you are to pass, but they predict your score. And I found that to be very, very accurate as well. So between the EOC, the PAC-RATs, your EORs and then the rush review, predicted score, if you're passing, especially like if you're passing with flying colors with all that, again, I can't promise anything. I don't know if you have test anxiety, I don't know what kind of headspace you'll be in, what kind of mood you'll be in, but with pretty good likelihood, I should tell you, or I should be able to tell you, you'll probably be fine on the pants if you're fine on all of those things.  Yellow light students, which if I'm honest with myself, I was probably somewhere between yellow light and green light my whole time in PA school. Now, I had a lot of like really, really unfortunate stressors that came up, especially during clinical year, some family stuff, some personal stuff that I'm just, I don't know, I might share with you guys at some point, but I'm not gonna share right now, I'm just, it's not the time, but anyway. So, I mean, if it wasn't for those things, and I had like a kind of normal, stable grad school experience, like I think most people do, I feel like I would have been, you know, green light all the way, I would have done much better overall. But like I said, despite all that stuff, I was a pretty average student. So I'd say like yellow light to green light, which is where I was. And I also know that's not everybody's experience. I know some people might be red light, like they are hanging on for dear life their whole time in PA school. You know, they're remediating exams during the first year, they're struggling with their EORs, maybe they failed one, maybe they failed two, they're like right on the cusp of possibly getting dismissed from the program, we're having to repeat the first year, like those people exist too. I don't wanna ignore those people and those people make very good PAs possibly, you know? So like just because you don't do great during the didactic, you know, portion of PA school or you're not a great test taker, doesn't mean you're not gonna be a PA, and it doesn't mean you're not gonna be an awesome PA that like your patients love and that, you know, it does really good work for their community. Absolutely not, that's BS. Like just because you're not good at school, doesn't mean you're not gonna be a good provider. And I want, excuse me, am I getting emotional about this? I'm getting emotional about this. More people have a cough. I did just get over COVID a few weeks ago.  People do that all the time and those people come out at the end as, you know, stronger for the experience and they become great PAs and they have a long, thriving, awesome, lucrative career where they do great work and they help their communities and you know, they make a great life for themselves and for their family. So if you happen to be one of those red light people, you know, I feel for you. I don't think I personally was one of those red light folks, like for most of the year anyway, like there definitely were times when something's got to me and I kind of probably got pushed to that category. So I know what it's like to fail an exam and be terrified. I know what it's like to almost fail an end of rotation exam and be terrified because it's right there in your PA school contract.  You're dismissed from the program.  You fail two of these, you're out. You're done, good luck. And if you happen to have a hundred grand in student loans from this program, you know, double good luck, you're screwed.  So it is terrifying, but the good thing about things that are terrifying and that scare us to death and where we see our whole life like flash before our eyes our whole career, the whole future that we built flash before our eyes. When you see that possibly being taken away just like that, you get better.  And, you know, it makes you a better provider to kind of like have the fear of God in you a little bit. I'm getting totally off track. My point is, if you happen to be, you know, a red light student and you're very, very worried about passing the pants, just like, no, that you're not the only one, you're not alone. There's other people that have been in that category their whole time in PA school and they came out ahead, they came out in the end and their PA's now. And then there's people like me that, you know, have kind of flirted with that category a little bit, you know, have seen it and know what it's like, but haven't necessarily been their whole PA school career.  I strive to be more like that. We all should. So, you know, I guess the point is, we're all in this together. But anyway, I'm totally off track. I should probably end this video. And I also saw a little sign that said, it's like 40 miles to Columbus. So I should probably turn my GPS back on so I don't get lost. I'm visiting my sister and my niece. Right now, I can't wait. I never see them. Like I almost never see them. Yeah, my niece is five years old. She's like growing up and, you know, it's gonna be nice to see her. But anyway, man, I'm totally off track. I think that's all I wanted to say, I guess. Just tell you guys about my experience with the pants. Tell you I passed. I'm certified. I'm licensed. I'm ready to go. If anyone has any specific questions about the pants, you know, ask away in the comments or, you know, shoot me a TM on Instagram. I reply to all those. I might take a little bit sometimes, but I usually reply. Yeah, I'll probably make a lot more videos about this kind of thing. It's just been really crazy lately, like finishing up, you know, PA school, studying for the pants, trying to like take these couple of months off after PA school ended and just like traveling, seeing friends, seeing family, just doing some reading, trying to like unwind and like remember who the heck I am as a person, you know, that like this last year just totally just pushed aside and kind of took away for a while. So like it's just, it's a good break and it's a good idea to take some time after PA school's over to just like chill, see everybody unwind, read some books, try to sleep in, you know, get some exercise, just like, just chill. Try not to jump into a job right away.  I'm definitely excited to start my job. I can't wait to like actually be a PA and do all this stuff, but like it's been, it's been fricking magical, just being able to like travel a little bit, see my friends that I haven't seen forever, see my family I haven't seen for a long time and just, you know, not being school, not be working. Yeah, I'm gonna quit rambling. Thank you guys for watching. Hopefully the audio was okay. Yeah, much more to come about the pants, about the end of PA school, about all kinds of stuff, about my new job. I'm also gonna be kind of shifting the channel's focus a little bit away from PA school into my, you know, actual work and life and passion, which is medical weight loss and, you know, fitness and things like that because that's kind of the field I'll be working in, internal medicine, as well as medical weight loss. But anyway, more to come. Thank you guys for watching. Have a great day.