8404PA Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 I have a packrat tomorrow, anyone have any tips or advice? I’m in my final quarter of didactic and this is the first of two that we have to take Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpshoe Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Get a good night of sleep, eat a good breakfast and just relax. It’s not bad and it really does help identify areas of weakness to focus on. Don’t stress and definitely don’t study tonight, it’ll be totally useless. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 As long as your program doesn't tie a grade to it, and hopefully you haven't been specifically studying for this, it really is a good measure of what you know. There are no hard lines about what the scores mean but if you look online you can generally find a comparison of how well the PACKRAT predicts your odds of passing PANCE. It's actually a pretty nice feeling to see that you would likely pass the PANCE without spending too much time on intense, directed studying knowing that you have a whole year of clinical education to enhance your knowledge. Do what you can, try to reason through questions, and remember that test taking skills are sometimes just as important as factual knowledge. EDIT: Oops just realized you've already taken it by now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8404PA Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 i didn't study for it and my program doesn't assign a grade with it. Still waiting for the results though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8404PA Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 Got a 140, pretty disappointed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktheshark89 Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 No reason to be disappointed, you’d likely pass pance with that score and you have another year of learning ahead of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Litho101 Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Just took my first packrat too, ended up getting a 133 (no studying, just to see my baseline). Do we know national average? I've been trying to figure out, by googling, what this score means. I just have nothing to compare it too, to make any sense of it. Is there a website or does anyone here know what score of packrat means failure, close to failure, pass, etc... for the pance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHAD Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 10 hours ago, Litho101 said: Just took my first packrat too, ended up getting a 133 (no studying, just to see my baseline). Do we know national average? I've been trying to figure out, by googling, what this score means. I just have nothing to compare it too, to make any sense of it. Is there a website or does anyone here know what score of packrat means failure, close to failure, pass, etc... for the pance? I remember getting that information from my program... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clballin Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Don’t be concerned with this score. If I’m not mistaken my packrat was maybe a little higher than that and i passed the PANCE with ease. Your second year during rotations and studying for the EOREs will help sure up the areas you have weaknesses in. Also you are taking it a second time and will do a summative exam I’m assuming as well. There is plenty of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHU-CH Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Your program probably runs some regression analysis to help see how your PACKRAT score might predict your PANCE. I suspect more info will come along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecaspareview Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 This formula may not be the newest, but a 350+ is generally considered passing. I remember one of the guest PACKRAT saying this about the scores: <140, you are ok, just need to find out your weakest areas. Spend more time on the cardiac, pulmonary, and GI. >150, you are almost guaranteed to pass (something like 95%) >160, you still need to review, but also almost guaranteed (something like 99%) This is the formula I found: You can use the following formula to predict your PANCE scores PANCE = [PACKRAT x 5.74] - 287.47 The highest score attainable is an 800 *I've heard some suspect information about the equation, but here it is anyways. Hope it helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbrothers98 Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Your program can release the results to you from PACKRAT. In those results, you will find comparison to class and national mean for the form of the exam. There are 2 forms used every year, current year and preceding. Good goal is to be above national mean for your form which the results will outline. If your program is not releasing results to you but only providing a score then that is not helpful. Request the results which also include keyword feedback to highlight what a PACKRAT taker got wrong. PACKRAT is scored out of 225 questions, so obtaining a 140 = 62%. That is actually not that bad for end of didactic term. Hopefully your program administers a 2nd time partway through the clinical year. Next goal is to increase from first score. My limited experience is that for students whom can score at 70% or higher at 2nd PACKRAT close to graduation will have a high likelihood of passing PANCE. As for a formula to predict, don't bother. Both the PANCE and PACKRAT are summative exams that change content every year. Concerning preparation for PACKRAT, there is a content blueprint at packratexam.org. As pointed out, if your program is doing it right, they can do regression analysis across cohorts and place performance in context with current curriculum. Good luck. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houston2321 Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 I didn't find the first packrat to be all that helpful. Just take it with what you know. You will have plenty of time to improve score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ms.m.dineva Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 My program said whoever got 118 passed. And if under you need to work some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbrothers98 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 On 2/3/2018 at 2:35 PM, ms.m.dineva said: My program said whoever got 118 passed. And if under you need to work some more. Passed... PackRat not supposed to be used to progress a student. 118 is 52%. Borderline at best. This is a summative assessment of didactic medical knowledge. That is setting the bar pretty low considering that purpose. Again, find out the national mean for the form you took. At or above is good spot for an entire cohort or an individual to be at. Below, then look at the areas of poor performance to pay attention to during the clinical year. Heavy contributors are Cardiac, GI, Pulm, WH and Ortho along with H&P, diagnostic testing and diagnosis. Having a strong knowledge base in those areas will go a long way, in terms of performance if take PackRat again or in prepping for PANCE. Good luck. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltran15 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 On 12/5/2017 at 8:14 AM, gbrothers98 said: Your program can release the results to you from PACKRAT. In those results, you will find comparison to class and national mean for the form of the exam. There are 2 forms used every year, current year and preceding. Good goal is to be above national mean for your form which the results will outline. If your program is not releasing results to you but only providing a score then that is not helpful. Request the results which also include keyword feedback to highlight what a PACKRAT taker got wrong. PACKRAT is scored out of 225 questions, so obtaining a 140 = 62%. That is actually not that bad for end of didactic term. Hopefully your program administers a 2nd time partway through the clinical year. Next goal is to increase from first score. My limited experience is that for students whom can score at 70% or higher at 2nd PACKRAT close to graduation will have a high likelihood of passing PANCE. As for a formula to predict, don't bother. Both the PANCE and PACKRAT are summative exams that change content every year. Concerning preparation for PACKRAT, there is a content blueprint at packratexam.org. As pointed out, if your program is doing it right, they can do regression analysis across cohorts and place performance in context with current curriculum. Good luck. George I just took my PACKRAT today and scored a 159. I scored above or = national average in every section except psych/behavioral, OBGYN/women's health, and endocrinology. Unfortunately, my program only provided 1 PACKRAT exam. I am starting my rotation 5 of 10 this upcoming Monday. I have rotated through internal medicine, emergency medicine, family medicine, and dermatology. Will be starting general surgery. When you mentioned taking the PACKRAT "close to graduation," how close are you referring? I feel like I performed relatively decent only because I have had to study basically general medicine for my EOR exams thus far and the information is relatively fresh in my head. My concern is that my PACKRAT score now won't be as good of a predictor as to whether I will pass since I'm still 6 months away from graduation. Of course I will continue studying for the PANCE but I'm trying to gauge how accurate the PACKRAT is in predicting my success on the PANCE and how much time after graduation should I give myself to study the material before taking it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbrothers98 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 159 is a good score partway through the year. That is 70th percentile. I read my note again and did not mention taking the PACKRAT close to graduation. I did state partway. With 5/10 rotations to go, I would qualify that as consistent with what I stated. In fact, I don't understand providing the PACKRAT close to graduation, the horse is already out of the barn. Providing it several months prior can outline weaknesses and set a schedule for improvement. The motivation of programs when they provide the PACKRAT is varied. Some use it as a litmus test of the effectiveness for didactic curriculum to prepare for clinical education, at least the medical knowledge portion. Others use it as an indicator of PANCE preparation and there are several studies that indicate the PACKRAT, the PAEA EORE and program home grown summative exams can all serve as predictors. The caveat as you point out is will there be deterioration of medical knowledge between now and PANCE. Of course there will. This is where retrieval practice (https://www.retrievalpractice.org/) is important for success. The medical knowledge that you will require to be successful on PANCE is not something to binge and purge but to start hardwiring. Other strategies are available to encode this knowledge for the long term, http://www.learningscientists.org/downloadable-materials/. Step away from 'studying', whatever that is. Instead develop functional medical knowledge for the long term. That is what your successful career as a PA will be based upon. This is also how long term FM, IM and EM PAs can sit for the PANRE without preparation and handily pass. Good luck. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDogPA Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 I found the PACKRAT to be a fair tool in assessing ability to pass the PANCE. Definetly don't wanna do bad or you'll go into board prep mode already psyched out that your gonna fail and that's not a good place to be mentally when writing for boards. You want positivity and confidence at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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