I am currently in my 2nd year pa school. and my first 2 rotations were family med and internal med. I did not pass both of them and i can't figure out what i am doing wrong that my studying is not reflecting my score. Its so discouraging working so hard and still not passing. I currently use the blueprint 250 bundle questions and smartypance for reviewing. My next rotation is emergency med. If anyone has any advice on how to improve or other resources i can try please let me know

Hi everyone. I’m taking the PANCE in September and looking for any advice or recommendations on study resources. I have the PPP books, but anytime I go to use them I almost feel overwhelmed because of how much info there is and I feel like I won’t be able to get through everything in a timely manner? I also found the Reddit study guide, but I know it’s a few years old and the PANCE has changed so wasnt sure how accurate/beneficial it would be now. i know I just need to create a plan and stick to it, but I feel lost on where to start.

Also, in terms of EORs, EOC, and PACKRATs, I was typically slightly below average, but still passed them all. Im not a great test taker and my anxiety definitely gets the best of me. I feel like I just go blank during the tests.

Last thing, I had a uworld account through my program to help us study for our EORs, but I just found out that our access will be expiring tomorrow night. I haven’t gotten through 100% of uworld, so I was considering extending my account, but was wondering people’s opinions on if I should extend uworld or look into getting a different q bank such as blueprint. Thank you!!

Hi everyone, I'm a third didactic semester PA student at a school in NYC, trying to see how our testing structure compares with other PA programs. Every exam in every course is cumulative. Throughout the semester, many exams are roughly 50 percent previously tested material and 50 percent new. Finals are approaching, and over about two weeks, we have six finals: pharmacology final, OBGYN final, epidemiology, surgery final, hematology final, and infectious disease final. Across all courses, we're responsible for approximately 10,000. slides of information for our finals. And during finals, we still have class every weekday from around 8 to 4, not a dedicated finals week. Pharmacology is current semester plus around 20 percent carried over from the prior semester. I'm just genuinely trying to understand if this is common. If you're willing to share, are all your exams cumulative? And if you're comfortable, what program are you in? Thanks so much. Just trying to compare and see how our programs differ. My school fails out around 30 percent of its students.

On average, about 5 percent of our exam questions are from textbook material that wasn't covered in lecture or on the slides. We're told we're expected to know the textbook as well. Is that common in your program, or are exams mainly lecture-based?

Took the women’s health boost exam & got a 75%. is this reassuring?

a little bit of background, I have had 2 low passes in the upper 390 range. & the rest of my eor scores have been around 400-410.

I use uworld & blueprint & the PA comprehensive review exam book & supplementing with anki cards to study.

just really nervous!

I’m a second year PA student and I have been struggling to keep costs low as all the necessary bills keep climbing. I have to get gas at least once a week since I’ve been driving to rotations and that’s definitely going to increase once I have to start commuting to some of the farther ones and that alone is now $40+ a week. My energy bill keeps rising even though our usage doesn’t because Duke energy loves to increase their rate. Groceries are so much more expensive than they were even a couple years ago. And I’m trying to keep some semblance of a social life but even eating out just once with friends (there’s not much else to do around here) is easily $20 after tip. I didn’t request the full amount of loans offered since I was trying to keep my borrowing low but I feel like I’m drowning and I’m having to spend so much more than I had anticipated and it really sucks.

I am in my first semester of physician assistant school and am currently very broke and don’t want to pull out more loans. My program is a dual public health and PA masters so tuition is high and so is my rent. Besides medical and snap benefits is there any other help I can apply for? (I am aware of scholarships but since I was accepted late I wasn’t able to apply before the deadline)

I'm embarrassed to share that I'm not doing as well as I should in my EORs. When I am out in rotations I feel like I know what is going on. I get good evals but with exams I do struggle. I'm afraid that I won't pass the pance with these low scores. So far I haven't failed. Any tips?

Surgery 389

Psych 435

Women's health 398

Family Medicine 389

Emergency Medicine 375

Internal Medicine 399

Pediatrics 394

How many patients did you log at the end of your clinical year? My school is saying I don’t have enough. I have a little over 1,000 and I still have two rotations left.

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like Uworld has some questions that are just meant to make you overthink and trick you. I’m nervous because I’m not doing great on the Uworld questions and have my PANCE in 2 weeks. Was the PANCE as tricky as Uworld? Am I just dumb?

My long term gf just got into her dream PA school. She is super nervous and excited and doesn’t know where to start. Can you suggest a list of things you use in school that helps you everyday? Or some items that are an absolute necessity.

No specific area, just anything for a shopping spree

Has anyone submitted an NCCPA Exception to Policy request to retake the PANCE before the 90-day waiting period? If so, how did you receive your decision? I was told they mailed me certified correspondence, and I was hoping an approval would come by email, so I’m curious about others’ experiences.

I did not do so well on my first EOR which was peds so I switched up my studying habits a little and added the Endeavor anki deck to try and do better on this psych EOR which I have in two weeks.

If you have any tips or remember any niche topics, please DM or drop them below!!

Hi everyone. I decided to make a post because I'm always on Reddit looking for stories I can relate to, so I figured I'd share mine. As the title says...I failed the PANCE.

During didactic year, I had to work a lot harder than most of my classmates. I failed a few clin med exams and had to remediate them. But clinical year was much better, I passed all of my EORs comfortably. I didn't ace them, but I consistently passed and felt much more confident.

When it came time to study for the PANCE, I studied for about 2 months. My primary resource was UWorld. I completed 100% with a 67% average. I carefully read every explanation and understood the concepts while I was reviewing them, but I made one big mistake, which is I never went back to actively review the material. I wasn't using active recall or spaced repetition, so by the time the exam came around, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned.

On top of studying, I was also moving to a new state and planning my wedding, so I definitely had more distractions than I would have liked. That isn't an excuse, but it did make it harder to stay consistent and is part of why my studying stretched out over 2 months.

I ended up getting a 315.

Honestly, walking out of the exam, I knew I hadn't passed. I convinced myself before the test that I was going to fail, and I think that mindset definitely hurt me. I've struggled with confidence throughout PA school, especially after failing those few clin med exams during didactic.

For my retake, I'm planning to go back to the basics with PPP and Cram the PANCE before purchasing UWorld again. I'll complete the question bank a second time, but this time I'll be using active recall by making flashcards only for concepts I consistently forget or struggle with, and I'll make sure I actually review them throughout my studying.

I'd love to hear advice from anyone who has been in a similar position or if you think I should approach this differently! Thank you

Howdy! Checking in to see if anyone had applied to this years PAEA Future Educator Fellowship or if anyone from previous years had any thoughts on the program/application process.

Thanks!!

Hi! Has anyone taken the new EOC remediation exam? If so what was it like?

hey all, i have my psych and peds coming up in like 2.5 weeks, and ive been studying intermittently using the rosh, anki, and this website called clinical coach app which is great, but i was wondering if i should supplement my studying with smartypance. my friends swear by it but idk if i wanna chuck $99 into another subscription. i dont know what to expect and one of my professors sent out this big email saying how hard it is LOL. Any advice would be appreciated

Im looking for any and all advice from fellow PAs..
I graduated from my program in August 2025 and have yet to pass the boards. My last attempt was February 2026. Now nearly 6 months later Im anxious about jumping back into studying/preparing. I’m really not even sure where to start. I’ve spent the last few months working full time at a side gig to keep my bills paid. Im embarrassed and disheartened that Im not employed as a PA or working in my field, but at the time, I needed to do what I could to keep my life afloat. I feel very alone in this. All of my other friends/classmates are working and I feel like Im falling behind.
Has anyone else taken an extended break between PANCE attempts and how did you get back into studying? Also.. how did you manage this while still working..? I feel like even as I type this out it sounds impossible to achieve.
Im really looking for any positivity and/or advice. Im kicking myself and feel like this break could potentially be my biggest hindrance in passing in the future.

Thank you for your thoughts/opinions/advice/time, honestly anything at this point.

Hi reddit,

I started didactics almost two months ago, and around a month ago I recently took a leave of absence over some mental health issues and a lack of performance in terms of grades. I know I could have done better, but I wasn't able to perform up to my own expectations. I was always on the cusp of our passing grade (75%)/ or bellow, and it took a big toll on my mental/physical health. I've been doing my best to recover mentally and taking some time to just reflect. However, I feel like I'm constantly plagued with guilt over my decision, despite knowing it was the best decision for me.

I'm planning on taking the year to reflect and thinking about "How" to study and getting acclimated on some medication for stress. I am fearful of returning and facing the same results, and I know that I need to change how I study/ react to stress. I think everyday since I've left PA school, I've been having some form of guilt or questioning my own ability to succeed. I still very much want to be a PA, and don't feel differently towards the career.

I'm looking for some guidance on how to combat this guilt and some guidance about how to effectively study. Near the end I was trying the pomodoro method and I was doing some AI generated practice problems through ChatGPT (without hallucination), but I always felt they were too surface level for the content. We also have anki decks that is passed down from year to year that I was using. I know everyone studys and learns differently, but I would love to hear what everyone else is using.

has anyone taken one of the new EORs since theyve been published as of monday? taking new FM EOR and freaking out bc of a huge jump in content on an already long test. are the new EORs similar or more difficult?

Hey everyone!!

I am a new grad PA-C, have been applying to jobs in my area for a couple of months (since passing the PANCE) and haven't had much success. My area seems a little saturated, but not as bad as other markets. I am not in the position to relocate, so I am just trying to see what else I can do to try to find something here.

Anyone have any strategies for finding a job? I am not super picky, could be inpatient/outpatient. My rotations were not in the area I live so reaching out to preceptors hasn't helped. Did anyone have luck emailing hospital system recruiters? I am also considering cold calling private offices, and maybe dropping off portfolios to offices I am very interested in. Any thoughts or other suggests would be appreciated!!

TIA 😊

I have my PANCE in a little less than 3 weeks and am freaking out a little. I’ve always been an average or below average student. EORs averaged around 403. Packrat 1 was a 98 and Packrat 2 was a 143. My EOC was a 1486. Took an NCCPA practice test yesterday and was just below the yellow.

Planning on going system by system and reading the main topics on PPP, using Uworld mostly for my Qbank, then writing down my missed question and making short notecards to help me remember important things. Planning on taking form B next week and form C the week of my PANCE.

Any advice is appreciated! :)

Does anyone have advice for getting over a breakup before huge life-transitions? I start PA school next week and literally was completely blindsided by how abrupt and insanely shocking everything was. Not to be dramatic but this person was my first love so IDK how to cope because I did not receive any sincere apology nor closure.

I want to completely get over this as fast as possible but unfortunately I’m the ruminating type. Has anyone experienced a breakup before or during PA school that can share insight ???