4 Tips For PA Students to Follow When Studying For the PANCE

When I was nearing the end of physician assistant (PA) school all I could think about was what if I fail the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE)? I knew I was a good test taker and that the pass rate was high. Even so, I still found myself thinking, what if? Can you imagine spending 2.5 years of your life studying nonstop just to fail one exam? And then not be able to start your career?

Sure, you could always retake it. But everyone has heard the horror stories of the one student who took an exam the maximum amount of times and still couldn’t pass. My brain was of course hyper-focused on the worst-case scenario. I decided that the key to shaking that fear was to study as if my life depended on it. After graduating from PA school and passing the PANCE a few weeks later, I came up with 4 essential tips for future PA students. My hope is that these tips will help them feel better prepared when it comes to studying for the PANCE.

Create a study plan and stick with it

One way to ensure your anxiety is at an all-time high when you sit for the PANCE is to not be prepared. You want to create a study plan several months (yes months) ahead of your test date. If you can stick with the study plan, then that simple knowledge of knowing you have been studying for months will help calm your nerves. I promise. I kept to my study plan and while it evolved slightly as I got closer to my exam date, it gave me a sense of control knowing I was doing all I could do and not procrastinating.

My timeline looked a little like this:

Graduation date: August 15th

Exam date: September 15th (I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible!)

Started studying for the PANCE: June 15th

This gave me approximately 13 weeks of studying. I did calculate a few days of a break around the time of graduation. A break from studying was necessary because I moved out of my apartment near my PA program and temporarily back in with my parents. I stayed at their house for a few weeks so I could focus on studying before going to live with my then boyfriend now husband. Download my exact 12 week PANCE study at the link below.

Make sure you focus on the top 5

As you can see by my study timeline example, I made sure to focus my concentration on the subjects that carried the most weight on the exam. At the time I took the exam (2020) cardio, pulm, GI, ortho, and EENT made up 47% of all of the questions on the PANCE. 5 out of 14 subjects made up nearly half of all of the questions. Mathematically, it made more sense to focus my time and energy on those 5 important subjects. I mostly studied for the PANCE using a combination of the PANCE Prep Pearls book and RoshReview for practice questions.

At the end of each week starting at week 7, I took an entire day to answer questions focused on the subject I had studied that week. I also added questions from subjects I had already studied. For example, during week 3 where I focused mainly on GI and ortho, at the end of the week in addition to GI and ortho questions I also answered questions regarding cardio and pulm. Continuing to build on your knowledge week to week is vital so you don’t forget something on exam day that you studied a few months ago.

Take timed practice tests at different intervals

When you are answering questions, anytime you get something wrong make sure you stop to understand why. I did take 5 practice exams. Two of which you can purchase through the NCCPA’s website. These practice exams allowed me to track my progress. The day of each practice exam I tried to stimulate what the actual exam would be like. I went to a quiet room with no distractions and pretended like it was an actual exam.

My first practice test was at the end of week 7. At that point, I had gone through all of my study material in my PANCE Prep Pearls book and had already restudied cardio and pulm. After each week going forward I took another practice test. This allowed me to track my progress. It also left me with an entire week to focus on the subjects I had scored poorly on.

Don’t focus on getting a perfect score

One thing that helped alleviate my anxiety was the fact that I knew I didn’t need a perfect score. Unlike in school where you want to get an A, on the PANCE you just need enough correct answers to pass. The reason I am bringing this up is that if you are getting close to the day of the exam and there are one or two concepts that aren’t clicking for you, it will likely be a waste of your time to focus on them. The likelihood of there being more than one or two questions on one single concept is low. It’ll be okay if you get those two wrong, I promise.

I remember coming across a question on the PANCE that was a renal-related concept I had decided I wasn’t going to bother trying to memorize. I realized within seconds what the question was asking for. I quickly picked a random answer and then I moved on to the next question. This honestly saved me time and gave me more time to think through a different question that I knew I was able to answer.

Final thoughts on studying for the PANCE

Studying for any significant exam can be stressful. Make sure you are also taking care of yourself and not overdoing it. After graduation, I probably studied 6 or 7 hours per day but I didn’t do more than that. I also made sure to exercise, sleep well, and eat healthy. Your brain and body also need to be prepared for the day of the exam. Answering 300 questions in one sitting is not an easy feat. You need to be able to remain focused to do well.

In addition to living a healthy lifestyle make sure to also remember you have been studying this material for 2.5 years not just 12 weeks. You know this information. As long as you put the work in you will be okay. The worst-case scenario is you fail once. But if you are the type of person to be reading an article like this so you are the MOST prepared, then I know you won’t fail a second time.

Good luck and let me know how you do in the comments below!!