PANRE Emotions

[3801Paseo]

Just out of curiosity, how many people who felt like they failed the PANRE actually failed?

Just like the PANCE, I have heard many people describe that failing feeling to only pleasantly discover that they have passed. I hope to be one of those people! But I can't help but feel like I may not be. I recently took the exam and missed at least 20 questions that I know of, 10 of which were straightforward/easy, due to anxiety. I'm wondering if that is an indicator of failing as I probably missed a lot more than that. I am quite upset with myself for missing questions I should not have.

[gbrothers98]

Take my comments as roundabout reassurance that despite your concerns, you likely will find yourself in the large group of 95%+ whom pass the PANRE. Bottom line, the odds are in your favor.

The PANRE (and the PANCE) are not scored like exams you may have had in the past. Dig through the NCCPA site to get an idea of how your final score is determined. To summarize, your performance is compared to your peers to determine your percentile. Also, a cutoff for success has already been determined, a point that the significant majority will surpass, as they have over the several decades that the exam has been administered. While there may be anecdotal examples of failure, those are in the minority. The NCCPA has a lot of skin in the game in keeping as many PAs certified as possible. While they make the several hundred $s off the individual exam every 10 years, they take in $150 every 2 years for maintenance fees ($750 over an individual 10 year cycle) times 100k PAs= $75 million. 

While no judgement on the OP, after 4 hours of testing, 240 questions, unlikely to recall too many specifics. Even if there is a concern about 10 questions, that is less than 5% of the total questions. 20 questions is about 8% of the exam. 

One thing I have not seen the NCCPA do is to do a regression analysis of all those decades of PANRE scores and correlate with initial PANCE scores. Correlate those with specialty and also effort/preparation for PANRE. My hypothesis is that those whom score above the 75% on PANCE, work in general medicine (FM, IM, EM, UC), get 100 Cat 1 CME credits every 2 years, likely continue to score above the 75%. Those whom work in surgery and specialties, would be interesting to see how PANRE scores hold up against original PANCE. 

I am going out on a limb here. If you did not get your results at the end of last week, it likely is that you will get them tomorrow or Tuesday. Congrats on passing.

George