Predictors of physician assistant student success on the National Certifying Examination

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between academic performance on first attempt in specific undergraduate science courses, chemistry I (CHE 101, CHE 110), pathophysiology (BIO 305, PAS 314), and/or biochemistry (BIO 303), and first attempt student score on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) while controlling for age, gender, and admission GPA. PANCE scores were obtained from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) for five cohorts of D'Youville and Daemen College first-time PANCE takers from the years 2006-201 O. The sample population was 204. SPSS version 21 software was utilized to analyze the data using the Enter method and multiple hierarchical regression. Results showed pathophysiology (BIO 305, PAS 314), and biochemistry (BIO 303) as having a statistically significant (p< .05) association with PANCE score when controlling for age, gender, and admission GP A. Results also revealed admission GPA as having a statistically significant (p < .05) association with PANCE, while controlling for age and gender. The results indicate that higher admission GPA, higher grades in pathophysiology (BIO 305, P AS314 ), and biochemistry (BIO 303) on first attempt predict higher first attempt PANCE scores. Identifying predicting factors on the PANCE give faculty additional tools to help to identify students early in their PA education who may be at risk of failure of this licensure exam.