{"id":14948,"date":"2019-09-01T20:52:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T01:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=14948"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:01","slug":"common-pance-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/pance\/common-pance-errors\/","title":{"rendered":"Common PANCE Errors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In order to score well on the PANCE, you must analyze your errors. Do this\u00a0<\/span>routinely throughout your preparation process. Most people look at two things after they take a test: their overall performance and which items they answered incorrectly. Looking at just these two aspects wastes a lot of potentially valuable information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Overall performance tells you how you did on a mixture of items covering various aspects of the material. If your practice test covered an entire subject, first compare this score with your initial score on the subject profile testing you used to determine strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Second, take time to sort out where you made your mistakes. Did errors load up on a particular type of question, such as items involving calculations or use of graphs and data sets? If so, you may have discovered a type of material that you tend to understudy or avoid. Continue looking for patterns among the items that you missed.<\/p>\n<p><div  style='height:20px' class='hr hr-invisible   avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_icon_box  avia-builder-el-first '><span class='hr-inner ' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<article  class=\"iconbox iconbox_left    avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_heading  \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class=\"iconbox_content\"><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><div class=\"iconbox_icon heading-color\" aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue83f' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'  ><\/div><h3 class='iconbox_content_title  '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Test Day Tip<\/h3><\/header><div class='iconbox_content_container  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p><span class=\"s1\">Negatively phrased items\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">(e.g., \u201cWhat is the least likely\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">diagnosis?\u201d) commonly cause\u00a0<\/span>confusion.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_icon_box  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Test Anxiety<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">If many of your errors occurred on items early in the exam, this may reflect the fact that dif<\/span>ficult content happened to be asked early in the test. Or, more likely, it may be an indicator of test anxiety, which is often felt most strongly during the early stages of taking an exam.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Pacing\/Fatigue Setbacks<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">If many errors occurred on the final pages of the exam and you answered the items in\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">numerical order, then <a title=\"5 Tips for PANCE Test Day\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/pance\/5-tips-for-pance-test-day\/\">pacing or mental fatigue<\/a> may be a problem for you. How much sleep\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">did you get the night before the exam? Did you run short of time near the end of the exam,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">causing you to rush through answering the final items? Was the most difficult material cov<\/span>ered mainly in the final portion of the exam?<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_hr  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Misreading<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Reading mistakes are common during exams. People feel nervous, rushed, or simply tired\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">toward the end and may easily misread a word or key phrase. They may even answer the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">question that they expected to be asked, rather than one actually asked. How can you tell if\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">an error was due to a reading mistake? Read the item and note the correct answer, as well as\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">the answer you selected. If your choice makes no sense, given what was asked, then it is highly\u00a0<\/span>likely that you misread the question at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><div  style='height:20px' class='hr hr-invisible   avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_icon_box '><span class='hr-inner ' ><span class='hr-inner-style'><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/p>\n<p><article  class=\"iconbox iconbox_left    avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_hr  el_before_av_heading  \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class=\"iconbox_content\"><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><div class=\"iconbox_icon heading-color\" aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue83f' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'  ><\/div><h3 class='iconbox_content_title  '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Test Day Tip<\/h3><\/header><div class='iconbox_content_container  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p><span class=\"s1\">Beware of misreading.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Only a few letters in a prefix\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">or suffix can change the entire\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">meaning of a question\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">(e.g.,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">hyper\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">versus\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">hypo<\/span>).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_icon_box  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Anger Management<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Were there any items on the exam that, at the time, made you very upset or frustrated?\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Students often describe such questions as tricky or picky, if not downright unfair. Test tak<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ers frequently make silly mistakes on items following the ones that made them upset. Their\u00a0<\/span>strong emotions interfered with their concentration on subsequent items.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-8  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Directionality<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">When a test question asks about information from an unexpected direction, <a title=\"Strategies for Mastering Exam Questions\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/pance\/strategies-for-mastering-exam-questions\/\">performance<\/a> on\u00a0<\/span>the item tends to decrease. For example, a physiology question might ask what effect living at high elevation might have on variables of the respiratory system. If, while studying, the test taker reviewed notes that presented such unusual conditions (e.g., high altitude, deep sea diving) followed by a discussion of the effects such environments have on the lung, then the item would not cause much trouble. However, if the test writer instead created a description of a patient with pulmonary function test results, chief complaint, and results of history and physical exam, then asked what might account for the patient\u2019s respiratory findings, then simply changing the task of the item from \u201cstate cause\u2192 ask about effects\u201d to \u201cdescribe effects\u2192 ask about cause\u201d may affect the test taker\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Another problem test takers sometimes struggle with during exams is determining what the\u00a0<\/span>item writer is actually asking when the question involves a series of steps. For example, if a certain mechanism proceeds A \u2192 B \u2192 C \u2192 D \u2192\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">E, a test question might ask what causes E\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">but list answer choices that include both A and D. Which answer is correct? With exam ques<\/span><span class=\"s1\">tions of this type, test takers should choose the response that is the most immediate cause\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">of E, not the initial cause. Thus, in this example, the correct answer to the question of what\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">causes E would be D. The best way to deal with this is to be sure you know\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">exactly\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">what the\u00a0<\/span>question is asking by reading carefully and not making quick assumptions. Be on the alert.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-9  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Delineation<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">A question may require knowing how a specific member of a group with shared features is\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">different from the other group members. These questions are commonly asked in subjects\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">such as pharmacology, microbiology, and disease groups, such as the anemias. Questions may\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ask what is unique to a member of one of these groups or may require the test taker to know\u00a0<\/span>the shared or common features in that group.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Answer-changing<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Before you insist that when you change answers you invariably change from correct to incor<\/span>rect, do the math. Make a mark (e.g., a delta\u2014\u0394\u2014in the margin) so that you will be able to spot all items where you changed your initial answer. Now tally the three possibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Column 1: Wrong to wrong<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\">Column 2: Wrong to right<\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Column 3: Right to wrong<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">You may discover that most changed answers end up in Column 1. These reflect knowledge\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">gaps. If the sum of Column 2 is greater than that of Column 3, then you are using good\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">judgment and should change answers as you see fit. Only in relatively rare cases in which the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">sum of Column 3 is greater than that of Column 2 is there evidence of an answer-changing\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">problem, and the solution is simple: Adopt a rule, based on the data you\u2019ve collected and\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">analyzed, that you will\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">never\u00a0<\/span>change an answer.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-11  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Knowledge Gaps<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Are many of the errors you make referring to a common topic or similar kind of material?\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">For example, you might notice that test after test, you tend to miss items that ask you to\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">calculate an answer. This pattern clearly signals its own solution\u2014if you want to improve,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">you must spend more time working with calculations and memorize a few formulas. Perhaps\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">you notice that you often miss items that present an image, such as a photomicrograph, and\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">require you to recognize structures within the image. This signals that you need more visual\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">review. Failing to note how rare or common diseases are, what lab tests are appropriate, and\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">how to interpret lab results all are common problems when students study material without\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">thinking about\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">how\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">they might be asked about what they\u2019re studying. The obvious solution is\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">to <a title=\"Developing A Study Plan for the PANCE\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/pance\/developing-a-study-plan-for-the-pance\/\">adjust your study efforts<\/a> accordingly, putting more time into and practicing more dynami<\/span>cally with the problematic aspects identified in your error analysis.<\/p>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h4  blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-12  el_after_av_heading  avia-builder-el-last  '><h4 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Other Obstacles<\/h4><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The potential patterns identified in error analyses can\u2019t all be described here. Some will be\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">unique to an individual, whereas others might be related to which professor taught a particular\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">topic. Not every test error will fall into a pattern. But if you have adopted active, sound study\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">strategies, you are trying to anticipate what you might be asked, and your test performance\u00a0<\/span>is still not improving, then scanning your performance for patterns is a worthwhile exercise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In order to score well on the PANCE, you must analyze your errors. Do this\u00a0routinely throughout your preparation process. Most people look at two things after they take a test: their overall performance and which items they answered incorrectly. Looking at just these two aspects wastes a lot of potentially valuable information. Overall performance tells [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[371],"tags":[372],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34531,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14948\/revisions\/34531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}