Don't Give Up!
In class, I frequently hear the gripes of other students. One major topic that comes up is whether certain students have an advantage over others. At Marquette, the classes are typically filled with athletic training and exercise science students as the majority, sprinkled in with a few Spanish, business and biomedical science majors.
Of these students, the majority have at some point worked as a rehabilitation aide at one of the surrounding hospitals or in their home town. Despite the extensiveness of ones work or intern background, everyone in the program is required to meet a minimal requirement for PT observations in order to be admitted.
Now I will admit that those who have worked as rehab aides or had an undergraduate degree in AT, have had more experience with therapeutic agents, therapeutic exercise, patient contact, etc., than those who have not, but there is so much more depth in the things that we do and learn in class that the playing field eventually levels itself out. Although it might not seem like it to those who came from other background majors, we struggle too. Many things that we learned have been taught in such a different way that it is almost like learning it all over again, and sometimes it's even harder to grasp new forms of concepts once we have become "stuck" in our own way of understanding.
There is no doubt that PT school is hard and it's an adjustment to the typical undergraduate curriculum, but I feel as though the information is typically presented to allow an almost standardized form of understanding (at least most of the time).
Though fellow classmates may have more experience and in some cases a more extensive science related background, don't ever feel intimidated by it. Know that you deserve to be there as much as everyone else in class. Though it may seem too hard, DON'T GIVE UP. If you feel as though you are still confused about a topic or can't quite figure out how to appropriately transfer a patient with five lines attached to them, don't be afraid to ask fellow classmates or professors for help.
I know that sometimes it's hard to ask others for help because I struggled with it like no other, but I quickly realized that asking for help was better than not asking at all. I found that it's really great to get fellow classmates together to study and practice a lot of the one-on-one stuff together, especially before practical exams. If it's possible, see if your professors will allow you to practice extra in the labs. Or go to a student lounge or someone's house and use whatever is lying around the house and pretend that it's whatever you need it to be.
I know it sounds silly, but I found that just getting used to the contact that you need to have during a practical can significantly lower your anxiety prior to and improve your performance during the actual test.