Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) — exam facts
United States (national certification)
Every source below was read on 2026-09-24
| Administering body | National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) — exam delivered by Pearson VUE The current PANCE content blueprint took effect in January 2025. By organ system: Cardiovascular 11%, Dermatologic 4%, Endocrine 6%, Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat 6%, Gastrointestinal/Nutrition 8%, Genitourinary 4%, Hematologic 5%, Infectious Diseases 7%, Musculoskeletal 8%, Neurologic 7%, Psychiatry/Behavioral Science 7%, Pulmonary 9%, Renal 5%, Reproductive 7%, Professional Practice 6%. NCCPA notes the exact allocations may vary slightly between exams. Source: NCCPA — Become Certified (About PANCE) (2026-09-24) |
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| Questions | 300 questions Five blocks of 60 multiple-choice questions. NCCPA includes unscored pretest items that cannot be told apart from scored ones, but does not say how many. Source: NCCPA — Become Certified (About PANCE) (2026-09-24) |
| Time limit | 300 minutes 60 minutes for each of the five blocks. The appointment lasts 6 hours: NCCPA adds a total of 45 minutes for breaks between blocks and 15 minutes for a tutorial, and candidates manage their own break time. Source: NCCPA — Become Certified (About PANCE) (2026-09-24) |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 350 on a 200–800 scale NCCPA sets the passing standard with the modified Angoff method. Because scores are scaled, the number of correct answers needed to pass varies from one examinee to another. Source: NCCPA — Exam Development & Scoring (2026-09-24) |
| Fees |
Source: NCCPA — Become Certified (About PANCE) (2026-09-24) |
| Languages offered | Not published by NCCPA None of NCCPA's PANCE pages, blueprint, policies or test-day guide states which languages the exam is offered in. What we read and found nothing in: NCCPA — Become Certified (About PANCE) (2026-09-24) · NCCPA — Exam Development & Scoring (2026-09-24) · NCCPA — Content Blueprint for the PANCE (effective beginning January 2025, PDF) (2026-09-24) · NCCPA — PANCE Policies, Procedures and Authorization (PDF) (2026-09-24) · NCCPA — What to Expect on Test Day (PDF) (2026-09-24) |
Change log
- 2026-09-24Fact sheet created from NCCPA's Become Certified and Exam Development & Scoring pages and the PANCE content blueprint effective January 2025. The passing standard is kept as NCCPA's scaled score and never restated as a number of correct answers.