How to Use the New PA Mock Rotation Exams to Ace Your EORs
Performing well on your end-of-rotation (EOR) exams is essential. Unsurprisingly, those who consistently perform well on their end-of-rotation exams are more likely to do well on their PANCE and ultimately feel more confident in their first year of practice (and beyond)!
To set you up for success as a new PA, we’ll talk about some things you can do to improve your EOR exam scores. We’ll go over some great resources we have for you (such as the new mock rotation exams) and how you can use them to prepare for EORs!
The Importance of Practice
As a PANCE tutor, I know one of the biggest struggles students face is taking exams. Whether they’re anxious testers, overthinking the questions, struggling with time, or it’s something else entirely, my advice to them is always the same: practice makes perfect.
For myself, I struggled with overthinking test questions, which made me second-guess myself. This not only led to occasionally picking the wrong answer, but also spending more time on questions than I should have.
As I continued to do practice exams, I noticed I was more confident on exam day and wasn’t overthinking questions as much.
If you’re having any anxiety about your EORs, we have resources that can make you more confident when taking them: the Rosh Review Rotation Exam Qbanks and the new mock rotation exams.
Let’s take a look at each.
About the PA Rotation Exam Qbanks
I highly recommend using Qbanks to identify any knowledge gaps and work through them to improve your exam performance. The Rosh Review Rotation Exam Qbanks have 250 total questions (per rotation) that follow the PAEA Rotation Exam Blueprints, so you’ll know you’re reviewing the correct content for your exam.
You can create your own practice exams, filter by category, and review the explanations and images about each question after submitting your answer. Personally, I used Rosh Review Qbanks all throughout my clinical year to prep for the PANCE. Typically, I would answer practice questions intermittently to test my knowledge and help me identify areas I needed to focus on.
I’d often find myself answering questions on the Rosh Review mobile app whenever I could, like on my lunch break, during down time, or even in bed before falling asleep. You’re always able to quiz yourself even if your down time is unexpected—for example, I remember during the winter break of my clinical year, my family took a vacation to Disney and I was doing practice questions at the park while waiting to get on the rides!
Take a closer look at the Rosh Review mobile app:
About the PA Mock Rotation Exams
As opposed to a Qbank where you can work your way through practice questions intermittently, the new Mock Rotation Exams from Rosh Review are designed to simulate your EOR as closely as possible.
Each mock exam has 120 multiple-choice questions, just like you’ll find on the actual rotation exam. When you take the exam in test mode, you’ll answer all of the questions at once in a 2-hour window, just like during the actual exam.
Learn more about the mock rotation exams and how to access them:
Understanding the Exam Content
One key point here is that the questions on the mock exams are different from those in the Rosh Review Qbanks, so all of the questions you get during your mock exam will be new to you!
The questions also follow the exam blueprint to ensure the percentage of content across each topic mimics the real exam. The idea is that you’ll complete each mock exam in full, thereby simulating test day.
My advice would be to try and take the mock exams one to two weeks prior to your actual exam. This gives you time to adequately prepare for it, but also enough time to address areas that need improvement prior to the real exam.
Simulating Test Conditions
When you take mock EORs, you should be in a quiet area with no distractions, which includes turning your cell phone off and leaving it out of reach.
Avoid using study materials or looking up answers so you can get an accurate idea of where you’re at in preparation for the real exam. Make sure anyone you live with knows you’re taking an exam, so there’s no unwanted distractions.
I’d also recommend taking the mock exam around the same time of day that you’ll take the actual exam. I remember in PA school almost all of my exams were in the morning. However, my PANCE was scheduled to start at 4pm! This really threw me off, and I remember feeling exhausted by the end of it because I wasn’t prepared to take such a long exam at that time of day.
That being said, if you know whether your end-of-rotation exam will be in the morning or the afternoon, make sure you take your mock exam at that time as well.
Interpreting Your Performance
To fully take advantage of the mock exam, I highly recommend spending dedicated time with your results.
After completing the exam, you won’t just be given a score, but also a breakdown of your performance by topic. This can help you focus on areas you need to review!
Once you know where you need help, you could go back to your Rosh Review Qbank and complete practice questions focusing on areas that were in need of improvement on your mock exam.
Further Reading
Overall, the new mock rotation exams are an excellent resource that I highly recommend taking advantage of as you prepare for your EORs. The questions are written by PA-C specialists and follow the standards and formatting used by the PAEA, so you’ll be more than prepared to rock your end-of-rotation exam!
Once you know where you need help, use the Rosh Review Qbanks to bolster your knowledge. And remember, practice makes perfect. Happy studying!
Looking for more (free!) content to help you through clinical year and the PANCE? Check out these other posts on the Rosh Review blog!
- How to Ace Your PA Clinical Rotations
- Top PANCE FAQs: Everything You Need to Know for Exam Day
- PANCE Pass Rates Are Down To 92%. Here’s How to Pass in 2024
Rosh Review is the leading Qbank provider for PA programs across the United States. Whether you’re a pre-PA student or PA-C, Rosh Review has something for you along your PA journey. Start a free trial today!
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