It’s no secret that Pance Prep Pearls is the Holy Grail when in PA school. In 2018 Pance Prep Pearls came out with a new version of PPP which added Pediatrics, an index (BLESS IT), and among other additions – a new front cover that is quite aesthetically pleasing (if you ask me). 

Not quite sure what the hype is about Pance Prep Pearls?
At first I didn’t either. As a brand new PA student I didn’t understand why everyone was posting photos that their book just arrived or why upperclassmen were carrying it everywhere. Here’s a synopsis from the site itself to help better understand the material inside: “Written by a professor of physician assistant programs at two established universities, PANCE PREP PEARLS is a study guide formulated for physician assistant students & practitioners to increase knowledge & retention of important clinical information.
While the primary purpose of this book is to serve as a comprehensive review of the material for the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE), it’s also a great tool for physician assistant students to understand commonly encountered diseases while on rotations during the clinical year, and as an adjunctive study guide during the didactic year.” 
Needless to say, PPP = the Bible for any PA student. 

Recently, I posted a photo of my new and improved version of PANCE Prep that many of my Instagram followers requested instructions on how to create one of their own! So, here it is friends:

1. Take your book to Staples or FedEx (I went to Staples)
2. Ask for your book to be bound with a spiral binding, a laminated cover, and laminated tabs for each subject
3. The employee will likely look at you like you have three heads (at least in my experience) and then write out the tabs in your own form of short-hand as some of the subject topics will be too long for a single tab
            Ex: Chapter 6: The Reproductive, Obstetrics and Gynecology — I tabbed as “Repro, OB/GYN“
4. You’ll likely have to wait about ~3 days for the tabbing to be ready & to come back and pickup (so plan to get this done on a week you won’t need your book as frequently.
The total expense the binding and tabbing cost for me was about $12! SO WORTH IT for those of you who you are just as OCD as I am. Highly recommend making this adjustment after purchasing the book!