The time to take the PANCE is quickly approaching and you may be asking yourself, “What’s on the exam? What should I be doing for PANCE prep? And what aren’t they telling me?” If these questions have been running through your mind a lot lately, trust me, you’re not the only one! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the endless number of things that could be on the test.
Well friends, I am here to help! I’d like to share my PANCE prep experience with you, even the stuff nobody seems to talk about. To make sure you’re ready, let’s begin by talking a bit about how to prepare and what to expect on exam day.
What’s on the PANCE?
It can feel difficult to predict what exactly is going to be on your PANCE when you sit for the exam. We know the content has to be pulled from the PANCE content blueprint, but what are you actually going to see on test day?
There are some PANCE topics that are HIGHLY likely to be on the exam. These include:
- Cranial nerve functions/palsies
- Heart murmurs
- Pediatric exanthems
- Vaccine schedules
- Important OB appointments
- MI/tele lead/coronary artery relationships
- Ortho fractures/splints
- Pneumoconiosis
- DKA
- Different types of pneumonia and their treatment
- Otitis media/externa treatment
- Intracranial hemorrhage differentiation
When I was in school, these topics would stick out as very unique and clinically significant, so I knew there was a chance they’d show up on the exam. And they did!
It’s also important to take into account concepts tested during PA school. For example, the PAKRAT and EOR exams are filled with topics you’ll need to know for the PANCE. To make sure I was ready for them, I made a list of the topics I missed on PACKRAT, and then studied those when preparing for PANCE to make sure I didn’t miss them again!
Review courses can also help you focus on relevant content.
If you truly feel unsure about which topics are high-yield, I recommend taking a PANCE review course. My school provided us with a three-day review course that I think was good, but not great. Having worked with Blueprint on their four-day PANCE Live Review Course, I’d definitely recommend theirs over the one I took and any others I’ve seen! It’s very encompassing and keeps you engaged, which is key when you’re in that last stretch of school before the PANCE.
What PANCE prep strategies actually worked for me?
By now you’ve probably seen tons of recommendations on how to study, but what actually works? Repetition, high-yield questions, and finding meaningful ways to remember things are a great place to start!
Let’s take a look at each.
1. Repetition
Practice makes perfect! We all say it, but how many of us really do it? Personally, things stick better in my brain when I write them out. So if I couldn’t get something to stick, I’d write out (or draw out) the idea to help make it stick. Do this again and again, and then have someone quiz you on it. My husband quizzed me on pharmacology all the time, sometimes I think he knew it better than me!
2. High–Yield Questions
There are a lot of question banks out there—and they’re NOT all the same! When you finish with PA school and are preparing for PANCE, you shouldn’t focus only on level 1 questions (i.e., ones that test simple foundational facts and don’t require clinical reasoning). You should also focus on the thought-provoking second- and third-order questions that really solidify what you know. While there are a lot of simple recall questions on the PANCE, a lot of times you’ll need that basic information to then understand the question they’re actually asking.
The knowledge you gain through studying is rarely wasted, as you never know when or how it can come in handy. During the PANCE, there were several questions I simply didn’t remember the answer to. But using what I did remember, I was able to rationalize the most likely answer and increase my chances of getting it right, which is obviously better than blindly guessing. I attribute this to practicing complicated questions, not just the easy ones.
3. Being Creative
Some things just won’t stick, so create a story or an acronym that’s relevant to you somehow. This will help you remember it! Practice telling other people about the story and why it makes sense and let that solidify it in your brain, so that on exam day you can recall those connections if you need to.
Struggling to remember key topics during your PANCE prep? Download our FREE study sheet with mnemonics that our PA instructors use during our Live PANCE Review Course!
What Nobody Talks About When it Comes to PANCE Prep
Let’s be honest here. As you reach the end of PA school, you get burnt out and tired. It’s been more than two years since you’ve had a break from constant studying. You’ve had to be “on” this entire time, and haven’t really had a chance to recover from grueling exams and rotations.
If you’re sitting there thinking how can I possibly do any more PANCE prep, you aren’t alone. I felt this way my entire final rotation. But now that you’re reaching the finish line, it’s more important than ever to stay focused.
Here’s how.
Switch things up a bit.
What I did was find a way to make studying more exciting. It sounds silly, but changing the location and material made a difference. I started watching YouTube reviews and listening to podcasts, studying with friends from school, checking out new coffee shops and libraries, etc. Anything that made daily studying more enjoyable and gave me strict times to study (and to relax) until the exam.
Choose your test date wisely.
I knew sooner or later, no matter what I did, I’d eventually burn out. For this reason I decided to take the PANCE one week after graduation because I truly felt I wouldn’t keep studying as hard as I had been and I didn’t want to lose all the information I’d gained.
For me, that turned out to be the right decision. I’d encourage you to schedule your PANCE exam date in a way that allows you to maximize the impact of all the studying you’ve been doing.
My Experience Taking the PANCE
Going into the PANCE I felt how everyone probably feels: scared out of my mind! I had butterflies in my stomach and nervous sweats. Even though I’d excelled and passed every test and rotation in school. I’d received an 80% or higher on every anatomy exam, psychology exam, OSCE, EOR, and PACKRAT. I still felt scared going into the PANCE because we put so much emphasis on this one test.
Fortunately, it seemed to go well and afterwards I was cautiously optimistic. The exam content felt pretty familiar. There were things on it that I expected to be asked and had studied frequently.
I still missed a few things I should’ve known. There were a couple of cranial nerve questions that tripped me up. Thankfully, I don’t practice in neurology! Some things just never stick, and I’m living proof that it’s okay to take a loss on those couple of concepts. Because in the end, I passed!
What’s my overall take on the PANCE?
Truthfully, I think the PANCE is a completely fair exam. It more or less tested my knowledge of the things my PA program tested me on. It’s completely normal to be nervous, but remind yourself that you’ve succeeded at every step and you will excel at this too!
What to Do if You Get Stuck on a Question
Before wrapping up, I’d like to give you a few pointers on what to do if you don’t know the answer to a question. This will happen, so having a game plan about what to do is important.
If you read the question and you have no idea on an answer, pick something, flag it, and MOVE ON! There’s no benefit to spending more time on it until after you answer all the questions you know the answer to.
I’m not ashamed to admit there were sections where I flagged half the questions. Then—after answering all the ones I knew the answer to—I went back and gave the ones I flagged more time.
If you truly don’t know the answer, take an educated guess based on what you know. Maybe you can eliminate a few you know it’s not, and the guess from there. But don’t spend too much time on it until after you’ve answered all the questions you know the answer to.
⭐ For more tips on how to answer PANCE questions, check out this other post: How to Answer PANCE Practice Questions: A Step-by-Step Breakdown
What They Don’t Tell You About the PANCE: Some Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the PANCE passing score is 350/800 (~44%). Meaning, the PANCE is hard, but you don’t have to get every question right to pass. It may be a shock for you to hear this—but if you survived PA school and passed your tests—you’re likely ready to pass the PANCE!
That said, you shouldn’t underestimate the exam! Having to retake it after all the work you’ve put in is obviously not ideal. Follow the tips here, take your PANCE prep seriously, and you should be fine. Good luck, and be sure to reach out if you have any questions!
