ANCC OR AANP

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I'm trying to decide which certification to take. I would like to know if one certification is better than the other. I have heard pro's and con's about both, any feedback would be appreciated

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Adult Internal Medicine.

Well, I've applied for both certification exams (AANP and ANCC).

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

There are many threads on this so there are tons of answers out there! In my reading it seems that it usually doesn't matter. A job may say ANCC certification but it may just be that whoever wrote the job description didn't realize there was another certifying body.

I have seen only a couple of posts that say their employer prefers one over the other....and I've stalked this forum for a while now.

I'm going with AANP as they are an organization that represents NPs and pushes for better conditions for them. (Plus their exam is straight clinical questions basically)

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

The credentials awarded are different, other than that, there is little difference. I took both exams and have maintained both, but most NPs take one or the other and never have any problems.

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Like others have posted I've not had a problem with an employer only accepting one versus another. I prefer clinically based questions thus went with AANP. It was also nice to have 25 fewer questions :)

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Thank all of you for your comments. I have applied for the AANP but plan to take both

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AANP is strictly clinically based and any score over 500 is passing. Good Luck!

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I recently graduated in December and am planning to take AANPCP. I decided AANPCP because it is strictly clinical based questions and has an association with the actual AANP organization. I have classmates taking both, but from the live review I attended, the majority of recent graduates tend to be leaning toward AANPCP.

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The credentials awarded are different, other than that, there is little difference. I took both exams and have maintained both, but most NPs take one or the other and never have any problems.

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What is the advantage of taking both exams and maintaining both? Thx

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Specializes in Internal Medicine.
What is the advantage of taking both exams and maintaining both? Thx

Initially? You get a little insurance in having a fallback exam should you be unsuccessful the first time around. The drawback is this is expensive. I've known 3 people that did this and when it was time to renew their license ended up only holding onto one cert.

Long term? Not much. Both exams are recognized in every state and you would be hard pressed to hear anyone tell you they were discriminated against because of which certification you have. Maintaining both costs twice as much, and both have slightly different requirements for renewal, although AANP is bringing theres to be more similar to ANCC's in a couple of years.

The main benefit of keeping both long term likely boils down to a point of personal pride as there is no real practical reason for doing so. Although I toyed with applying for both when was freaking out about taking my boards, I ended up going with the AANP because it was purely clinical, and I wanted to support the largest full service organization dedicated specifically to NP's of all disciplines.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

There is another long-term benefit in that if either organization retired your credential you would have some protection if your certification for one happened to lapse.

And cost (for many) isn't a huge issue as employer will pay for it or its tax deductible.

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Specializes in Internal Medicine.

For family I can't imagine the credential getting retired anytime soon from either body since it still remains the most common certification for NPs in the nation. The only realistic change I could see is one day everyone realizing two different certifying bodies is silly, confusing, and unnecessary, causing them to merge. In that situation regardless of organization you'd be grandfathered in.

Either way, keeping a second certification on board on the off chance that it gets retired AND you get lazy and forget to renew hardly seems worthy to justify keeping both certs.

You're right about costs being covered by many employers, so long as they don't realize they're paying for an extra certification that literally adds nothing to your ability to legally practice.

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