Amanda
What is the best way to manage time going into Physical Therapy School (with applications) and during PT school?
Hi! I will be applying to physical therapy schools next summer, as well as doing an internship and taking my GRE. Does anyone have any good tips on how to stay on top of things and prepare myself for the busy career ahead? #college #graduate-school #physical-therapist #kinesiologist
2 answers
Adrienne Campos, M.Ed.
Adrienne’s Answer
As a graduate student and intern myself once, I can say with the utmost confidence that a planner will be your best friend. Schedule your days and stay organized! Set aside a designated day and times to apply to the programs you have chosen. Do the same for GRE studying as well. You can work things around your internship nicely this way.
I would love to second this! The planner that helped me most was http://www.passionplanner.com/ because each day was segmented into hours large enough to write WHAT I wanted to cover on the GRE (what section of math, or how many practice words I would cover, etc) and if you go to downloads there's instructions on how to get a free pdf which I printed and bound for about $5.
Brendon Larsen, PTA
Thank you so much guys! I love hearing from students as well!
Amanda
Brendon Larsen, PTA
Brendon’s Answer
Time-saving ways to study for the GRE are pretty important, take a practice exam and find what your weak areas are and start there. With the majority of schools, all that matters is that you get above the minimum score. Rarely, if ever, will it be a deciding factor beyond that. So, I used a lot of free apps that I could pull out in the 15 minute breaks between patients or while walking to work.
My favorite free study apps for android were Painless GRE (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phucnguyen.education.vocab.gre&hl=en) for vocab and Ready 4 GRE (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.LTGExamPracticePlatform.Prep4GRE) for general stuff. Both have lessons that take 5-10 minutes to complete. (Side note, Green Light Test Prep has an awesome GRE video course for $60 and you you can listen to the videos at different speeds to cruise through easier topics.) Complete lessons while making dinner, waiting in line at the grocery store, or during lunch. It adds up fast.
Beyond using those little breaks, I think my biggest peace of advice is force yourself to become a morning person. Get up 90 minutes early (30 minutes of making a nice breakfast/day planing + 60 studying your brains out.) There's really no distractions from room-mates at 6:00 AM and studying flies by. You'll learn more in less time and can use the evenings as a review/quiz period for what you studied in the morning.
Best of luck. Physical Therapy Rocks. Also, shutout to a fellow Idahoan!
Thank you Brendon! This was awesome to hear first hand from a PTA! I am so excited to get involved in this career. Thank you for the tips with the GRE! I did not really know where to start with that.
Amanda