PANCE 101
1. Start early, but not TOO early
When you are preparing for the PANCE, you will hear of a wide variety of methods. Some classmates that started months ago, some that would not consider it at this time. I recommend creating a general study plan of what you want to study and when you want to start before you actually commence that period. I would recommend creating this plan about 3-5 months prior to your PANCE start date. From there, I would start studying 1-3 months prior, depending on how rapid you want your study pace to be.
2. Areas of focus
There are two primary ways to divide out how much to study each subject. One would be based on the PANCE blueprint. This is what tells you the % of each system that questions will be allocated to on the exam. The second way would be according to what areas you are lacking in the most (ex. if you are good at a subject, it requires less time dedicated to study, and vice versa). Personally I would take both of these aspects into consideration, with a lean towards the PANCE blueprint as that will starkly influence the number of questions and amount of detail you get in the areas with larger percentages.
3. Repetition
My overall study plan was to go over everything (BROADLY – not in depth) once. During this process, create a system to flag or separate out concepts you have deemed extra important and not yet definitively understood and/or memorized. Then go back and review those high yield items. After this process of reviewing foundational knowledge, I would move onto doing practice questions with a question bank of your choosing.
4. Practice Tests
After taking practice questions and also reviewing the answers to those questions, you should start taking full practice tests that mimic the length and number of questions that are on the PANCE. Question banks vary in difficulty; some are harder while others are simpler, some reflect the PANCE while others do not. Whatever question bank you use, just be sure to mimic the number of questions, timing, and breaks, so you know what it feels like before going into the real thing. That way you can build up endurance to what it feels like to be answering that number of questions with high focus for the full length of time.
5. Preparing for test day
First, I would figure out all the details of your test. I recommend physically driving to the test center several days before your actual exam date to see where it is located and have firm knowledge of where to go. For the day prior, sure you have everything packed and ready to go. This is including snacks and anything you may need such as identification. Make sure to take the night prior to the exam off to unwind and relax a little beforehand. For the day of the exam, try to arrive early and do whatever you can so you are as minimally stressed as possible. Try to have some confidence, as you have been preparing for this day for 2.5+ years. You will do great.
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