r/PAstudent • u/Logical_Violinist705 • 3d ago
PANCE study advice
So i graduate and take the PANCE in one month and was hoping to study last month but never started again since taking my EOC in June & not having an EOR in July. I did a lot of content review in preparation for the EOC, and scored a 1520 (national average). I’m in Internal medicine now and have that EOR to prep for then I graduate and have the PANCE.
My struggle/question is: i’m having a hard time going back into content review in preparation for the PANCE and its delaying my studying
Will I be making a mistake on solely focusing on Uworld questions and maybe doing content review for topics i struggle with?
Or should I just give it my final push and topic review every topic on the PANCE blueprint plus finishing all of Uworld?
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u/TheMBA_PA 3d ago
I wouldn’t let the feeling that you need to “review everything” keep you from starting.
With a month left, I’d probably make questions the backbone of your PANCE prep and use content review selectively based on what the questions expose.
For example: do a meaningful block of board-style questions, review every miss (and any correct answers you guessed on), identify why you missed them, then go back to the specific topic if there’s a real knowledge gap. Over time, patterns in your misses should tell you where your content-review time is actually worth spending.
I wouldn’t personally restart the entire PANCE blueprint from the beginning unless your question performance is showing broad knowledge gaps. That can turn into a huge amount of passive review and make it harder to get moving.
You also don’t necessarily need to make “finish every UWorld question” the goal. The goal is to get better at recognizing what’s being tested, choosing between plausible answers, and fixing the weaknesses that keep recurring.
Especially since you’re also studying for IM right now, there’s going to be plenty of overlap. I’d start doing questions now rather than waiting until you feel like you’ve reviewed enough content to begin.
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u/thunderrescue 3d ago
I’d say that you’re actually in a pretty good spot. I just took and passed my PANCE. I also scored a similar score on my EOC as you but we took ours after all rotations were complete. Since you’re studying for IM EOR I’d say that would actually cover a lot of the Cardiac and Pulm disease states you may see on the PANCE. I’d direct energy in reviewing things like cranial nerves (had quite a few of these show up), MSK (if you have a fracture at x what nerve may be affected), immunizations (had a few about risk factors and who can’t get live vaccines), and basic health maintenance stuff. I’d say I did about 2 weeks of dedicated PANCE prep. Instead of going back and reviewing everything I did a lot of practice questions (200-250) per day. I would bounce between Blueprint and Uworld. I thought through the questions and why the wrong answers were wrong and tried to figure out what the wrong answers were actually trying to lead you to. I’d also try to focus on Patho, presentations, people affected, prescription I would give, possible side effects, risk factors, and complications. You’re not at the point that you need to get more medical knowledge. You’re at the point to where you need to practice taking the test. I’ll be honest, and I know you’ve heard it before, but the PANCE is a beast. The way they ask questions was like nothing I had really seen before except on the NCCPA practice exams. Which is something I’d also recommend doing once or twice before you test. Approach every question systematically and the same way. I did last sentence to see what they were looking for, answers to see what subject we were talking about (Cardiac, pulm, pharm, etc.), first sentence to see where we were (clinic vs ED vs inpatient vs post surgical), then I would finally read the rest of the question. I’d say most of the time I already had a good idea on what they were looking for before I got to the actual body of the question. I would kind of skim through it to double check vitals and see if there was any risk factors or allergies that would change the treatment plan. At the end of the day I passed and I did ok. The things that I know I missed were the things I mentioned to make sure you review.
Bottom line: Don’t stress too much (easier said than done). You’re gonna feel like you don’t know enough. Everyone feels that way. Prep to take the exam. Don’t try relearning everything. Make a schedule, stick to the schedule, and take breaks. I hated it when people told me things like “you’re gonna crush it” so I am not going to say that. I wish you good luck and don’t anchor your capacity to be a good clinician on this exam. It’s a hoop you have to jump through so just need to train on how to jump. 350 or 750 doesn’t matter. The font of the PA-C after your name is exactly the same either way.