Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination Five Year First Time Taker Summary Report
Program Name: Idaho State University Physician Assistant Program
Program Number: 1134
Report Date: 03-27-2024
Definitions of the report headings are provided at the end of the report. All information is current as of the date the report was generated.
| Class Graduation Year | Number of First Time Takers | Caldwell First-Time Taker Pass Rate | Meridian First-Time Taker Pass Rate | Pocatello First-Time Taker Pass Rate |
Program First-Time Taker |
National First-Time Taker |
|
| Class of 2019 | 2019 | 70 | 100% | 94% | 87% | 93% | 93% |
| Class of 2020 | 2020 | 67 | 100% | 97% | 100% | 99% | 95% |
| Class of 2021 | 2021 | 72 | 75% | 92% | 88% | 88%* | 93% |
| Class of 2022 | 2022 | 74 | 100% | 92% | 92% | 93% | 92% |
| Class of 2023 | 2023 | 69 | 100% | 94% | 90% | 94% | 92% |
Five Year First Time Taker Average Pass Rate for Program: 93%
Five Year National First Time Taker Average: 93%
The ISU PA Program prides itself on preparing students to be exceptional PAs and assuring our students pass the PANCE on their first attempt. This has been the case for the past two decades where we have sustained a pass rate of 97%. In regards to the Class of 2021 Program pass rate, we were very surprised by the drastic change and are investigating possible causes, including the consequences of educational disruption due to COVID; admission data; curricular gaps in that which was taught but not assessed on objective exams; and the performance of didactic year courses and testing, PACKRAT 1 and 2 tests, and clinical year End of Rotation tests.
While these investigations are ongoing as part of our annual self study, we have already implemented significant changes to our PANCE preparation course. This course is designed to provide additional tools and preparation guidance to students who have been identified as potentially struggling with the PANCE. Students had been invited to this course based on didactic performance and PACKRAT 1 scores, and only in August at the start of the clinical year. Moving forward, students will also be invited based on the mean of their End of Rotation exam performance and PACKRAT 2 performance anytime during the clinical year.
We hold ourselves to a high standard and continue to assess our process. We intend for the Class of 2021's first-time pass rate to be an anomaly and have worked hard with those students to achieve an overall 99% pass rate for the class.
—Jared Papa, Program Director & Chair
Student Attrition
| Graduated Classes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Class of 2021 |
Class of 2022 |
Class of 2023 | |
|
Maximum Entering Class Size |
72 | 72 | 72 |
| Entering Class Size | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Graduates | 72 |
71 |
70 |
| *Attrition Rate | 0% | 1.4% | 2.8% |
| **Graduation Rate | 100.0% | 98.6% | 97.2% |
*Attrition rate calculation: Number of students who attrited from cohort divided by the entering class size.
**Graduation rate: Number of cohort graduates divided by the entering class size.
