About the PANCE / PANRE Exams

PANCE

Upon graduating from an accredited physician assistant program, you may take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE), which assess basic medical and surgical knowledge.

PANRE

Depending on your recertification cycle, by the end of the sixth (or tenth) year, PA-C designees must have passed the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE), which is also designed to assess basic medical and surgical knowledge.

Pass Rates

The 2018 Overall PANCE Pass Rate was 97%.

The 2018 Overall PANRE Pass Rate was 99%.

What topics are covered on the PANRE exam blueprint?

According to the NCCPA Content Blueprint for the PANRE, the following topics are covered:

• Cardiovascular System 13%
• Dermatologic System 6%
• Endocrine System 6%
• Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat 8%
• Gastrointestinal System/Nutrition 11%
• Genitourinary System 5%
• Hematologic System 4%
• Infectious Diseases 6%
• Musculoskeletal System 9%
• Neurologic System 7%
• Psychiatry/Behavioral Science 5%
• Pulmonary System 10%
• Renal System 3%
• Reproductive System 7%

Please note: In addition to these categories, up to 2% of the exam questions may cover professional practice (legal and ethical) issues. The percent allocation may vary slightly with each exam.

PANCE & PANRE Questions & Answers, PANCE Tips & Tricks

Question Format

Our PANCE question bank attempts to follow the format of five options per question, though you will find a few that only have four choices, specifically where we found it appropriate to limit the options and provide explanations for why each one is incorrect.

Pharma Questions

"Be careful on the pharma questions…" we hear from students over and over to know which drugs not to give, in which situations, and what the potential side effects and complications are. PANCE has a very high emphasis on patient safety and anyone preparing for this exam should keep this in mind. Our question bank has several blocks of questions that cover this content area specifically. Specifically, focus on CV drugs, neuro/psych drugs, and antimicrobials. Also, spend time on EKGS (our question bank has several good EKG questions to focus on). Don’t try to memorize the information – try to gain understanding instead.

What to Focus On

Also, make sure to focus on the systems with the higher percentages of exam content. (For example, we’ve heard that the Hematologic questions can be really tough, but it’s only a small percentage of the exam, so focus more on areas like Cardiovascular, GI, and Musculoskeletal)

Relax

Finally, remember to RELAX. After you’ve drilled thousands of questions, and studied the topics, you really are ready. The vast majority of our students pass, so take comfort in knowing that you’ll be well prepared. Our average score in the question bank is below 60%, but nearly everyone passes, so that should help give you a benchmark. Also, use our flagging system to track questions that are particularly difficult so that you have a good review session 1.5 - 2 weeks before the exam.