Certification exams AANP vs. ANCC

I used the fitzgerald CD's and still listen to them as a resource, they are great. I took the AANC exam and got my results 4 days after taking them

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Originally Posted by occrn9

i used fitzgerald and a prep exam book that went through questions and answers by hollier that was very helpful as it has 5 questions or so on each page with answers and rationale on the back of the page. i also used the winland-brown book with the cd and it was not as helpful as it was too in depth. and i have horrible test anxiety but when i started the aanp exam lots of the stuff i had studied was on there and i calmed down and passed.

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thank you for sharing this information! i have the same books you mentioned and was wondering if i was the only one that felt the winland-brown book was way too intense and my question to you is: going thru hollier and fitzgerald, they cover "endocrine" ie. thyroid, dm mostly. winland-brown went thru cushings, pheochromocytoma, and other uncommon diseases. should i review those or not? did they ask specific drug dosages on the aanp exam? any help will be appreciated!!:coollook::lol2:

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Originally Posted by JACKMAC

From what I understand, the ANCC certifies nurses in general from RNs to NPs in certain areas, advanced practice or not. The AANP only certifies NPs (ANP or FNP only) and represents NPs only. The problem with the AANP is that they test in cycles 3 times per year so if you don't know that (like me too late) then you have to wait until the next cycle, which can be 4 months. There test cycles seem to be heavily concentrated in the summer so if you graduate in August you better have everything ready to send.

The ANCC you can test all year so there are no deadlines, which is the only reason I am taking their test. I would rather take the test and support the AANP since their interest is more toward NPs but they don't have the convieince of the ANCC.

You also sign your name differently based on the test you take too, although I rarely see this done in practice most people sign FNP or NP not APRN-BC. If you are a student, I highly, highly recommend going to www.fhea.com and look under certification information before you graduate. I also recommend, as do others, taking Fitzgeralds review course. It was better than my grad program.

I hope this helps.

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Thank you for the information!

How would you sign your name differently? Is there any reason why one certification would be better than the other?

This thread has been going for a while now. Since original postings, the ANCC has changed the way we can sign our names. I now sign ANP-BC. This information can be found on the ANCC website. Also if you are already certified by the AANP you can apply for reciprocity from the ANCC. Why you need this, I do not know but I am sure it may be helpful somewhere.
Also, since original posting, I do not know if the AANP has increased the number of times per year you can take the test. I am applying for re-certification next year from the ANCC. (Has it really been almost 5 years?)

Thanks for the updates!