n this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we use breast complaints to do two things at once: sharpen your clinical pattern recognition and force you to upgrade how you organize your studying. We walk through the core breast topics that keep showing up on exams: mastitis vs breast abscess, fibroadenoma vs fibrocystic changes, galactorrhea, gynecomastia, and malignant breast neoplasms. You'll learn how to decide when to reassure and when to escalate by focusing on a few key levers: pain vs painless, mobile vs fixed, unilateral vs bilateral, and the red-flag skin and nipple changes you can't afford to miss.

Instead of memorizing an alphabetical list like "mastitis, abscess, fibroadenoma…" we reorganize everything around the actual decisions you'll be tested on: infection vs neoplasm, benign vs malignant, reassure vs refer, and which labs or imaging come first. We'll use tight priming questions to push you on: when to think abscess, when a painless, rubbery mass in a young woman is actually reassuring, what to do with cyclic bilateral pain, what lab to check in galactorrhea, and the exact next step when you see a hard, fixed mass with skin dimpling.

We also talk honestly about why most people never do this kind of reorganization: it exposes gaps, and that's uncomfortable. But that discomfort is exactly where your score improves. If you're working hard but your results don't match the effort, this episode will help you think different, work different, and score different.

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we tackle skin integrity from two angles: what you need to recognize on exams, and how to reorganize your studying so you can finally see (and fix) your gaps. We walk through burns, lacerations, pressure injuries, urticaria, pilonidal disease, and the big three skin cancers: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. You'll learn how exam questions are actually written: TBSA and depth for burns, time and contamination for laceration closure, staging and offloading for pressure injuries, severity (not appearance) for urticaria, and when a "weird spot" on the skin needs biopsy right now.

Then we zoom out. Instead of memorizing disconnected facts, we use this content to show you how to reorganize your studying around patterns and decision points: which lesions are benign vs premalignant vs malignant, what represents true cancer, and what the very first step is when melanoma is on the table. We also get honest about why most people avoid finding their gaps, why that avoidance is quietly capping your scores, and a practical way to make gap-finding less scary and more systematic.

If you're working hard but still feel exposed on derm and procedures, this episode will help you think different, work different, and score different.

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we walk through the "Do I worry?" side of derm: how to quickly sort benign vs concerning skin lesions using pattern recognition, not panic.

Instead of memorizing every lesion in isolation, you'll learn to organize them into buckets you'll actually see on exams and in clinic:

• Keratotic lesions: Actinic keratosis vs seborrheic keratosis – rough "sandpaper" vs waxy "stuck‑on," and when premalignant SCC risk should be on your radar
• Vascular lesions: Cherry angioma, infantile hemangioma, purpura, and telangiectasias – which ones are harmless dots and which should make you think platelets or systemic disease
• Benign soft tissue growths: Lipoma vs epidermal inclusion cyst – the "soft, rubbery, freely mobile" mass patterns and why the central punctum matters
• Chronic inflammatory lesions that mimic infection: Hidradenitis suppurativa – why recurrent "boils" in the axilla/groin aren't just another abscess

By the end, you'll be able to answer:

• Recurrent abscesses in the axillae or groin – what diagnosis?
• Rough, scaly, sandpaper‑like lesion on sun‑exposed skin – what diagnosis?
• Waxy, stuck‑on pigmented lesion in an older adult – what diagnosis?

If you're working hard but your scores aren't reflecting it, that's not a character flaw, it's a systems problem. We fix that inside 33 Days to Pass the PANCE, where we train how you study, how you approach questions, and how you manage yourself on exam day so your effort actually shows up as points

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we walk through five derm vignettes that show up on high‑stakes exams: melasma, alopecia areata vs telogen effluvium, onychomycosis, paronychia/felon, vitiligo, acanthosis nigricans, and stasis dermatitis.

Instead of memorizing another list, you'll learn how to recognize the patterns in the question stem, how to organize these conditions while you study, and how to avoid the thinking traps that quietly cost you points. If you're working hard but your scores aren't reflecting it, this is how you turn effort into exam points.

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we tackle one of derm's most intimidating corners: desquamation and vesiculobullous disorders. You'll learn how to quickly separate erythema multiforme, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and toxic epidermal necrolysis by asking three simple questions: sick or well, mucosa or not, and how much body surface area is involved. Then we contrast bullous pemphigoid and pemphigus vulgaris using tense vs flaccid blisters and mucosal involvement so you can stop memorizing and start recognizing patterns.

Along the way, you'll work through priming questions designed to train your brain to notice what actually matters on exam day, not just random trivia. We'll also dig into a controversial topic: extra test time. For some brains, more time helps; for others, it destroys scores. You'll hear a specific way to practice with less time and a smarter way to use approved extra time so you don't talk yourself out of right answers.

If you're working hard but your scores don't show it, this episode will help you think different, work different, and score different

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, Brian talks with Ealum, a PA student who was stuck after three failed PANCE attempts and finally made a 90‑point jump to pass on his 4th try.

He had teenage kids at home waiting for life to move forward. He was in Alaska, couldn't attend a single live session, and still used the 33 Days to Pass the PANCE framework to turn things around.

Inside, you'll hear:

• What it actually feels like to fail again and again while your family is watching
• Why "working hard" wasn't enough, and what finally changed in how Ealum studied
• How he used 33 Days completely asynchronously (no live calls, Alaska time zone) and still got results
• The specific mindset shifts around failure, shame, and starting over that made this attempt different
• How he handled test‑day anxiety on the 4th attempt after so many defeats
• Ealum's advice if you're on your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th attempt and wondering if you should even try again

  If you're working hard but your scores aren't moving, and you see yourself in Ealum's story, registration for the February 33 Days to Pass the PANCE cohort is now open.

  • Daily structure and score‑driven studying
  • Test‑taking and anxiety management
  • Built so you can win even if you can't make the live calls

  Registration for the February cohort is open through Thursday, January 22 at midnight.

  Learn more and register here: https://www.physicianassistantexamreview.com/33

In this episode of the Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast, we take the "dreaded" childhood viral rashes and make them organized, predictable, and testable. Instead of memorizing numbered diseases, you'll learn how to sort exanthems, HFMD, chickenpox, HSV, molluscum, warts, and genital warts by pattern so you can pick the right diagnosis under pressure.

We'll cover:

• Which infant rash appears after several days of high fever (and how to never mix it up again)
• How to tell measles, rubella, scarlet fever, fifth disease, and roseola apart using fever timing and distribution
• The difference between viral exanthems and hand-foot-and-mouth disease on exam stems
• Why "vesicles in multiple stages at once" should instantly trigger varicella in your mind
• How to separate HSV, molluscum, and warts using pain, grouping, and umbilication
• The key clues that distinguish common warts from genital warts (condyloma acuminatum) on test day

If you're working hard but your scores aren't moving the way you want, it's usually not effort. It's strategy.

On Thursday at 8 pm EST, I'm hosting a free PANCE Game Plan Class where we'll walk through:

• A 33‑day PANCE content calendar built from the blueprint percentages
• The 5‑part Score Stack system to make every exam push your score up
• An anxiety‑proof exam protocol you can run before and during every test

Grab your seat here: physicianassistantexamreview.com/mastercl...

In this episode you'll learn how to instantly recognize cellulitis, erysipelas, impetigo, fungal rashes, scabies, lice, and common bites so you can pick the right diagnosis and treatment bucket on exam day. • Poorly defined erythema on one shin is either cellulitis or erysipelas. Which one? • Beefy red rash with satellite lesions what's the organism? • Expanding rash after a tick bite, whats' the treament?

Want a 33‑day content calendar, score stack system, and anxiety‑proof exam protocol? Register for the session here

https://www.physicianassistantexamreview.com/masterclass

Not just skin facts. How to quickly tell acne from rosacea, folliculitis, perioral dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, seb derm, and pityriasis rosea on exams so you think different, work different, and score different.

Think different, work different, score different.

We're walking through PANCE questions today. We finished GU so this is a solid way to pull it all together.