How hard is it to become a physician's assistant?

Question

Zippia Team · Accepted Answer

It is pretty hard to become a physician's assistant. The whole process takes about seven years to complete. The first four years are spent obtaining your bachelor's degree. Next, you will complete a physician assistant program that is typically about three years long.

After this, you have to take and pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam and apply for your state license.

While completing your bachelor's degree, certain classes must be taken as prerequisites for the Physician Assistant program. These prerequisites usually include classes like Physiology, Anatomy, and Chemistry. Classes can be very difficult, require a large amount of study, and must be passed with a high enough score.

Entrance into Physician Assistant programs is highly competitive, and some programs require you to have previous healthcare experience with hands-on patient care.

Along with completing coursework, students also have to complete roughly 2000 hours of clinical rotations in various facilities such as physician offices, acute and long-term care facilities, and hospitals.

After you have graduated from a Physician Assistant program, you are eligible to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam. The exam consists of 500 multiple-choice questions, which are broken down into five separate sections.