Hiya Hallie! Would you happen to have any tips for PSA? Would appreciate if you could share any resources that were useful for you. Thanks xx
Ok PSA post incoming, cos I’ve got a few questions about this!
First of all, try not to worry too much. This exam is different to other exams in that if you don’t know something, you can look it up.
This is how I revised for it and I got 85%:
1. In the months leading up to the exam, just try to do a bit of revision on drugs in general - I wrote summary sheets on the most common drugs. It’s good to do this anyway for finals. I recommend the book ‘the top 100 drugs’. Things like indications, side effects, common interactions blah de blah.
2. When it gets to 1-2 months before the exam, start proper PSA-focused revision. I recommend getting the ‘pass the PSA’ textbook because that’s good for familiarising yourself with the type of questions they ask. However, bear in mind that the questions in this book are slightly easier than the real thing.
3. A few weeks before the exam, start doing the practice papers on the PSA website. These are very similar to the real thing, so do them properly, and review your answers, note the sections where you lost the most marks. I think there’s 3, I did them all twice.
- especially make sure you practice the calculations, because they’re not too bad but it’s easy to get in a tizz about them in the real thing. Definitely learn the main types of calculations like the back of your hand!
- practice looking things up in the online BNF. This is practically the whole exam, because unless you’ve got a photographic memory you probably will have to look up drugs for at least half the questions. Being fast on the online BNF will gain you marks. The test is quite time-pressured. Remember to use control+F to find words!
- However, I’d recommend learning some lists of drugs which cause common side effects. There’s almost always questions on drugs that cause hypo or hyperkalaemia, so learn those. Also drugs that cause confusion/drowsiness e.g. diazepam, opioids. You won’t have time to check every drug in the BNF to see if it has a certain side effect so definitely try to learn which drugs cause which common side effects! Again, the Pass the PSA book will help you with that.
- revise fluid prescribing as well, because there’s usually a big question on that
