Physician Associate National Examination (PANE) -
Changes to standard setting methodology for the written examination and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)

Candidate information

The role of the Physician Associate National Examination (PANE) is to ensure all physician associates applying for a place on the Faculty of Physician Associates Managed Voluntary Register have the level of knowledge, practical skills and professionalism expected. Ensuring the PANE continues to be robust and reliable is essential, and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) continually monitors the performance of both the written and OSCE examinations to help maintain standards.

With the above in mind, and to ensure the continued robustness of the PANE as we prepare for regulation of the profession by the GMC, we will be making changes to both the written and OSCE examinations. These changes will come into effect ahead of the application period for the September/October 2021 assessment period, which opens for applications on 28 June 2021.

This new approach does not apply to candidates who sat the written and/or OSCE examinations during the March and/or May 2021 assessment periods.

What are the changes?

Changes are being made to the way in which your results for the written and OSCE examinations will be calculated.

For the written examination the changes are as follows:

• We will continue to use the ‘Angoff’ method of standard setting, a widely used and recognised way of setting the pass mark for multiple choice, knowledge-based, examinations. However we will now also be including one ‘standard error of measurement’ (or ‘SEM’) in this total score calculation, which will provide the final pass mark for each written examination.

The addition of an SEM acts as a safeguard against measurement error, further enhances the reliability of the written examination and is in line with accepted best practice.

• To achieve a pass in the written examination you must achieve or exceed this overall pass mark.
• No changes are being made to the content or structure of the written examination, nor the duration of the examination. You will still be assessed in line with the PA National Examination SBA blueprint.

For the OSCE examination the changes are as follows:

• We will continue to use the ‘borderline regression’ standard setting methodology, a widely used and recognised way of setting the pass mark for practical clinical exams, to calculate the pass mark for each individual station.

Each of the 14 stations’ individual pass marks will still be added together to generate a total score for the OSCE, however we will now also be including one ‘standard error of measurement’ (or ‘SEM’) in this total score calculation, which will provide the final pass mark for each OSCE.
The addition of an SEM acts as a safeguard against measurement error, further enhances the reliability of the OSCE and is in line with accepted best practice.

• The number of stations needed to pass the examination will decrease from 10 to 9.
• You will still need to meet or exceed the pass mark for the OSCE (total score plus one SEM) and pass a minimum of 9 stations, to achieve an overall pass in the OSCE.

The number of stations in the examination will remain at 16 (14 ‘live’ stations plus two rest stations).
No changes are being made to the content or structure of the stations within the OSCE, nor the duration of the examination. You will still be assessed in line with the PA National Examination OSCE blueprint.

The Physician Associate National Certification Examination Regulations have been updated to reflect the above changes.

A list of frequently asked questions has also been put together to answer any further questions you may have.