How many questions are on the PANCE, and what’s the passing score?

The format

Inside a block, you can answer in any order, review and change your answers. Once you leave a block, or its time runs out, it’s locked. You manage your own breaks, and any extra break time is taken off your exam time.

Some questions are unscored pretest items that NCCPA is trying out. They look like all the others, so treat every question as if it counts.

How the passing score works

PANCE scores are reported on a scale of 200 to 800, and the passing standard is 350. Because different exam forms vary slightly in difficulty, scores are put on one common scale. That means the number of correct answers needed to pass isn’t the same for everyone.

The standard is set by a panel of practicing PAs using the modified Angoff method. For each question, they judge whether a PA who is just barely qualified to practice would get it right. The NCCPA Board of Directors then approves the passing score.

Our practice test uses 70% as a target. That’s our own goal to help you judge your practice, not an NCCPA rule.

PANCE pass rates

These are NCCPA’s published figures. In 2025, 13,145 people took the PANCE for the first time, and 14,669 exams were given in total. NCCPA doesn’t publish pass rates by school; PA programs usually report their own on their websites.

What the questions cover

Medical content makes up 94% of the exam, split across 14 organ-system categories. Cardiovascular is the largest at 11%, followed by pulmonary at 9%. Professional practice, such as ethics, consent and public health, makes up the other 6%.

Every medical question is also tied to a task, like taking a history, choosing a test, making the diagnosis or picking a treatment. Formulating the most likely diagnosis is the biggest task area at 18%. NCCPA also says 8% to 10% of questions involve surgical topics and 12% to 15% involve children.

When you get your result

NCCPA emails you when your result is posted to your online record, about two weeks after your test date. If you pass, you become a Board Certified PA and can use the PA-C credential while your certification stays current.