You're beginning an exciting and rewarding career; and NCCPA certification is an important step as you begin this journey.

Updates to PANCE Blueprint in 2025 

NCCPA periodically conducts practice analysis studies to ensure that our examinations include the content most appropriate for the certification of physician assistants. Board Certified PAs are involved in every step of that process: providing input into the development of the survey instrument, completing the survey that is disseminated to the entire profession, and reviewing the response data to help develop recommendations for the exam blueprint. 

Based on the information gleaned from our most recent practice analysis, minor revisions have been made to the PANCE blueprint that will become effective in 2025.  

See our Exam Development & Scoring webpage for more information.

The Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination® (PANCE) assesses the clinical knowledge, clinical reasoning and other medical skills and professional behaviors that have been deemed important for entry-level practice as a PA. The exam specifications are based on the results of a profession-wide practice analysis, and exam questions are allocated to different medical content and task categories relevant to entry-level PA practice. Individuals who graduate from an entry-level PA program accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) are eligible to apply to take the PANCE, which is administered throughout the year at over 300 Pearson VUE testing centers.

PANCE consists of five blocks of 60 questions with 60 minutes to complete each block. There is a total of 45 minutes allotted for breaks between blocks and 15 minutes to view a tutorial. Candidates are responsible for managing their break time. The testing time is six hours, and the total exam is five hours.

To view an exam tutorial of PANCE, visit Pearson VUE’s website and navigate to “Tutorials.” 

To learn about PANCE exam development and scoring, click here.

Exam security is a critical component of all NCCPA exams. More information about why and what measures NCCPA uses to ensure its exams are fair and valid can be found on our Exam Security webpage.

After passing PANCE, PAs are issued NCCPA board certification and can use the legally protected marks, PA-C® or Physician Assistant-Certified® as long as they maintain a current certification status. These designations are a mark of professional accomplishment, indicating the achievement and maintenance of established levels of knowledge and clinical skills. Both designations are widely recognized within the medical professions and beyond. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territories, the U.S. military, and many employers have decided to rely on NCCPA certification as one of the criteria for employment, licensure or regulation of PAs.

NCCPA’s Code of Conduct for Board Certified and Certifying PAs and PAs with the PA-C Emeritus Designation explains the ethics and professionalism expected of all PAs seeking or holding NCCPA certification.

To be eligible for PANCE, you must graduate from an entry-level PA program accredited by ARC-PA. PA program graduates will be deemed to have graduated from an accredited program if their PA educational program was accredited at the time of their matriculation.

LIMITATIONS ON ELIGIBILITY: THE SIX-YEARS-SIX-ATTEMPTS RULE 

Individuals who have never been certified and who graduated from an ARC-PA accredited PA program on or after January 1, 2003, will be eligible to take PANCE for up to six years after completing the requirements for graduation from that program. 

During that six-year period, PANCE may be taken a total of six times. When either the six attempts or six years are exhausted, whichever occurs sooner, the individual loses eligibility to take PANCE. The only way to establish new eligibility is to complete an unabridged ARC-PA accredited PA educational program again. 

After your PA Program notifies NCCPA of your expected graduation date, you’ll receive an email from NCCPA that will provide information you need to set up your secure, personalized online NCCPA account. Just follow those instructions to set up your account. Be sure to act quickly. The link you receive expires after 3 days, and you’ll have to contact NCCPA for a new link if your link expires. After this step is completed, you may log into your account to apply for PANCE, update your contact information, purchase and access practice exams, etc.

You must submit an application and $550 payment when applying for PANCE. Within 3 days of submitting your application, you will receive an exam acknowledgement notice that provides information on scheduling your exam. You will be provided with a 180-day window for taking your exam that is based on your graduation date and the date you successfully submitted all required application materials to NCCPA. You may schedule your exam anytime (depending on testing center availability) within that 180–day timeframe.

Before registering for PANCE, be sure to review the policies and procedures. 

• NCCPA does not accept applications until 180 days prior to your expected program completion date (as provided by your program director). In this context, “program completion date” is the date all requirements for graduation are completed as deemed by your program. 
• The earliest date you’ll be able to test is seven days after your program completion (provided your program director has confirmed your program completion date). This date will be reflected in your exam application acknowledgement e-mail. 
• You have 180 days from the beginning of your exam timeframe to take the exam. These dates will be reflected in your exam application acknowledgement e-mail. 
• You may only take PANCE once in any 90-day period or three times in a calendar year. 
• Visit our Key Dates webpage for exam administration windows.