Question 1
A 29-year-old woman has 1 year of recurrent crampy lower abdominal pain with bloating and stools that alternate between hard and loose. Which of the following history findings is most consistent with irritable bowel syndrome?
The physician assistant exam pass rate
In 2025, 91.5% of the 13,145 first-time takers passed the PANCE. Counting every attempt, 88.4% of the 14,669 exams NCCPA gave were passes.
| First-time pass rate, 2025 | 91.5% |
|---|---|
| All exams passed, 2025 | 88.4% |
| PAs who passed in 2025 | 12,963 |
| Mean score, 2025 | 459 on the 200 to 800 scale |
Five years of results
| Year | First-time pass rate | First-time takers | All exams passed | Exams given | Mean score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 91.5% | 13,145 | 88.4% | 14,669 | 459 |
| 2024 | 92.4% | 12,424 | 89.5% | 13,860 | 456 |
| 2023 | 92.0% | 11,855 | 89.4% | 13,158 | 452 |
| 2022 | 91.9% | 11,260 | 89.0% | 12,460 | 454 |
| 2021 | 93.2% | 11,064 | 91.3% | 11,997 | 465 |
How NCCPA counts it
The report gives two rates. The first-time rate counts candidates on their first attempt. The overall rate divides passed exams by every exam given, so a candidate who tests twice counts twice; that is why it sits below the first-time rate.
Year by year
- 2025: 91.5% of 13,145 first-time takers passed; 88.4% of 14,669 exams passed overall
- 2024: 92.4% of 12,424 first-time takers passed; 89.5% of 13,860 exams passed overall
- 2023: 92% of 11,855 first-time takers passed; 89.4% of 13,158 exams passed overall
- 2022: 91.9% of 11,260 first-time takers passed; 89% of 12,460 exams passed overall
- 2021: 93.2% of 11,064 first-time takers passed; 91.3% of 11,997 exams passed overall
What it means for you
First-time pass rates stayed between 91.5% and 93.2% from 2021 to 2025. The surest way to be one of them is to find your weakest categories early, fix them, and sit at least one full-length timed practice exam. NCCPA counted 201,038 certified PAs at the end of 2025.
Try 3 questions
Question 2
A 70-year-old man has taken warfarin for atrial fibrillation with stable INR values near 2.4 for a year. Today he has bleeding gums and an INR of 6.1. Which of the following history findings most likely explains the change?
Question 3
A 31-year-old man with bipolar I disorder is to begin lithium. He has no other medical conditions and takes no other medications. Which of the following pairs of studies is most important to obtain before starting lithium?
Next step
Questions people ask
What is the PANCE pass rate?
91.5% for first-time takers in 2025, and 88.4% of all exams given that year, counting repeat attempts.
Has the pass rate changed?
The first-time rate was 93.2% in 2021 and between 91.5% and 93.2% in every year since.
Where do these figures come from?
From NCCPA's five-year PANCE pass-rate report on nccpa.net.