Here you’ll find almost every book and tool I have found useful and resources recommended to me by PA colleagues and students.

Doing Right: A Practical Guide to Ethics for Medical Trainees & Physicians

This book is a case-based approach to ethical dilemmas that occur in medicine. It has been touted by many students as being extremely helpful with providing a framework and strategy for interview questions that deal with ethics.

Multiple Mini Interview for the Mind

Reading this book will give you a better understanding of how Multi Mini Interviews (MMIs) are conducted. This draws from the author’s personal experience, to help you prepare and increase your confidence in this interview setting. There are cases and scenarios within this book help you with the MMI format and guide your practice sessions.

How to “Ace” the Physician Assistant Interview

Although not specific to MMI, this book an excellent resource for Pre-PA Students when approaching PA school interview questions. It provides the strategies for research, prep and self-reflection prior to interview, top mistakes made during an interview, types of interview questions, dealing with anxiety, silencing the inner critic, approach to questions, and how to focus your answers.

How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement

The author shares the insights he learned from Admission directors and faculty from PA programs across the US. The book provides strategies to write a winning personal statement. This includes tips on form, structure, and content – with plenty of examples.

Essays That Will Get You Into Physician Assistant School

This book includes 40 essays of Pre-PA students who successfully entered PA school. This book will help you if you do not know where to start with your long-form PA personal statement, from the brainstorming / gathering examples portion to structure, content and form and connecting with your reader.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This is one of the most inspiring and impactful books I’ve ever read. This book provides practical application to self improvement, discipline, communicating effectively, choices, consequences, impact and community – allowing you to show up more powerfully in your personal and professional life. I picked up this book when I was in my first year, and I re-read it every 1-2 years, as the principles are timeless and can always apply to you no matter what stage of life you are in.

How to Be a Straight A Student

Author Cal Newport provides strategies to help you study smarter (not harder) and optimize your GPA to avoid cramming and painful all-nighters. An “essential” for anyone who hopes to ace university landscape. This includes how to streamline and maximize your study time, overcome procrastination, engaging in study material that helps you absorb information more effectively. This draws from behaviours and techniques used by Straight A students across the country and breaks it down into a framework that can be adapted by anyone. Excellent for anyone preparing for university or currently completing their undergraduate degree.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Author Angela Duckworth dives into a key mover and shaker of achieving success in performance of school, work and life – grit. She examines the secrets behind high achievers, and how readers can replicate this for themselves, teams, organizations, and loved ones.  This is the best book I’ve read so far in 2018.

An important disclosure: These links are Amazon Associate links, which means if you choose to make a purchase through the link I will earn a commission which helps me support my activity on Canadian PA. You are more than welcome to purchase the books at your local bookstore, or just go directly amazon.ca to search the book titles and purchase that way. Using the links below comes at no additional cost to you – however I do recommend these books because they are helpful and useful. Do not spend money on these books if you do not feel they would be helpful in achieving your goals.