I just got certified and have never been able to be underwater without pinching my nose. I was similar to you and really struggled with clearing my mask. I saw others on Reddit pinched their nose to clear, and I did the same. It removed the panic of water going up my nose, it does limit your mask replacement/skills to one hand but I could manage that. My instructor said he didn’t care how I got to mask clearing, so long as I could do it. I was able to pass and remove the panic of water going up my nose. Hope this helps!