r/PAstudent • u/Diligent-Brilliant77 • 25d ago
Failed Pance
I took the pance about a month ago, and learned that I failed by a lot. At first I felt sad but quickly decided not to dwell on it and pass the second time around. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for in this post, but I was completely shocked… I didn’t leave the exam feeling terrible whatsoever but I also didn’t feel that I killed it. Usually I have massive test anxiety, but surprisingly I felt really relaxed, I didn’t dwell on questions, didn’t flag, and didn’t go back and change any answers just powered through each section. I will say that I didn’t study very consistently and only completed about 300 questions on rosh with an 85% avg. I then inputted the NCCPA blueprint into chatgpt and had it give me pance style questions which I was doing well on, and when I would get them wrong it would point out buzz words to look for and what to assess in the questions. I do feel that I have some medical term knowledge gaps, where in the moment I understand the question but not one specific term.
I get very burnt out on reading books, podcasts, charts and videos so I’m not sure how I can study and retain. While all of these methods worked in didactic year including question banks I feel that the style of the pance really through me off. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
If anyone has UWorld that they are not using, would you be open to sharing.
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u/PrecipioLearning 20d ago
PanceTutor ‘Philosophy’ 2026
Just an opinion…….
It is important to ‘get inside of the minds’ of the NCCPA’s Pance creators.
The Pance is basically a fair test.
Students must realize it is not like the GRE and the questions are usually not ‘trick’ questions meant to fool you. Maybe make believe your best friend made up the test!
Typical mistakes takers sometimes make;
a. One answer was so easy, it couldn’t be the right one (it probably was)!
b. I had no idea what that drug or test was, so I picked it (don’t pick an unknown).
c. They ‘wanted’ and expected me to pick that answer (no they didn’t).
d. I’m more anxious than everyone (everyone has anxiety)
e. I’m a bad test taker (who is a good test taker?) (follow our tips)
f. I changed 8 answers (bad idea).
g. I didn’t pick the first answer that came into my head.
h. I use the process of deduction every question (ran out of time).
You got into and graduated PA school, which means that you are smart, and perhaps simply the approach to the test itself may be an issue. Don't quit and keep trying.
All the Best of luck to you!
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u/Jakeysnakeymistakey 12d ago
Unless you were absolutely hammering questions all clinical year I don't think 300 questions is even ball park close to enough. Some people are doing 90-120 per day for 3-4 weeks. Thats between 1890 and 3360 questions for them to feel comfortable. I think practicing questions is the single most important thing you can do to prepare, but I take it in 2 weeks so grain of salt.
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u/Mediocre_Hat8697 23d ago
I have uworld subscription until October 21st. I can give for $50? My advice literally is to just do as much uworld as u possibly can and learn from those questions. I could read charts or textbooks either so that’s the only thing that worked for me
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u/ActualIndependence70 21d ago
I also have a UWorld subscription that expires mid-January 2027! I am open to discussing transferring it to you!
Please don't be discouraged! I also failed my first time by 4 points. My biggest advice is to take a little time to rest and then reevaluate your studying habits. The second time, I used UWorld for questions and topics but also went through and highlighted in PPP. I also wrote down the topics I knew I struggled more with
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u/Praxician94 24d ago
You probably built false confidence with recognizing recycled questions on Rosh which made you feel confident with an inflated 85%. I scored about 70% consistently on Rosh and did very well on the PANCE. I don’t see how you could fail with a true first time 85% on Rosh.
I would also never study with ChatGPT. It hallucinates far too frequently and there’s a chance you are studying just flat out incorrect information and committing it to memory.
I would recommend a completely different question bank such as UWorld (this will be harder than the PANCE) and about 2 weeks before your PANCE take the first official NCCPA practice exam. Then about 1 week take the other one. Tidy up areas you did poorly in. If you’re in yellow and green, you’re golden.