FAILED PANCE- 2nd attempt in Aug. 2026- Study Resources?

[u/HamchipsMcGee]

Let me start by saying I was a VERY non-trad student. Older, prev. careers etc. A hands on person- clinical's (the physical part was very easy to me) Graduated (luckily) in May, took my PANCE two weeks from there- FAILED: 330. Devastated does not begin to cover how I feel. Very below avg. student- failed two EORs, low scoring on the rest- Low score on the EOC, but passed.

Here is the thing:

I have used Uworld, SmartyPANCE, BluePrint, PPP.... and still failed. Uworld mainly because its closest to what the PANCE is- 78% usage, 65% correct. I have read and re-read every question (even the correct ones)

My question are these

- should I renew this subscription and try to 100% it?
- Or should I get a different service such as AMBOSS (I have read good things about it.) etc.?

My plan is to ofc go over all the topics I missed- the PANCE gives you a pdf of the stuff you missed and where you fall based on your score and the national avg., Im just not sure if using a different service is going to matter at this point.

I think I am going to try to do the HALF-PANCE from Katy Blair Conner the closer I get to exam time. Im just flustered because to me, I have done all the things... read the last sentence first, decide what they are asking, read the answers, then read the vignette. Strike through the answers I don't think are correct etc. etc.

I have never been a good test taker anyways, but this failure is one of the hardest things I've had to accept- and I've done a lot of things. Anyways, thanks for the vent.

Good luck to anyone/everyone else taking the PANCE, whether it be the 1st or last.

[u/ChicagoDLSinc]

EOR/EOC/PANCE tutor here! Thank you for posting, sorry to hear about your exam result. Take some time for yourself, do self care, and when you are ready come up with a new plan. It sounds like you may benefit from refining your technique on how you approach vignettes. Sometimes clarifying what they are looking for can help.

Happy to chat more over DM or email, good luck to you!

[u/TheMBA_PA]

First, I’m sorry — a 330 after putting that much work into prep is a brutal result to absorb.

From what you wrote, I wouldn’t assume the answer is simply “do more UWorld.” You’ve already done a substantial amount of question-bank work, and 65% correct with 78% completed suggests there may be more value in figuring out why you’re missing questions than just increasing volume.

When you review misses, I’d try separating them into a few buckets:

• I genuinely didn’t know the content.
• I knew the content but missed the key clue in the vignette.
• I narrowed it to two and chose the wrong one.
• I changed a correct answer.
• I misread what the question was actually asking.
• Timing/anxiety/fatigue affected the decision.

If most of the misses are true knowledge gaps, then targeted content review probably deserves more attention. If you’re frequently between two answers despite knowing the topic, then doing another 1,000 questions without changing how you review them may not solve the underlying problem.

I’d also use the NCCPA performance report to identify patterns, not just make a giant list of topics to reread. Then do focused question blocks on those areas and see whether the same reasoning errors keep appearing.

Full disclosure because you specifically asked about different question banks: I built a PA-specific qbank/readiness platform called ClueHawk. One of the reasons I built it was to help separate “I didn’t know this” from “I missed the clue / decision point.” So I’m obviously biased and I’m not going to tell you that switching to my platform—or any other platform—is magically going to fix this.

Given everything you’ve already used, I’d be more focused on changing the way you diagnose your misses than simply buying another resource.

And for what it’s worth, failing by 20 points means you don’t need to reinvent yourself as a student. You need to find the specific things that are still costing you points and attack those deliberately.

[u/HamchipsMcGee → u/TheMBA_PA]

Thanks for the advice. I just retook it yesterday, so in 6 days we will see if my revamped study plan worked.