AANP PASS 2017

Published Jul 9, 2017

1 Post

Hi! I've mostly been a lurker on here, but after weeks of trolling these boards for tips on the AANP certification exam, I feel obligated to post my tips for taking the exam!

As a background, I've been an RN for 8 years and worked in a two skilled nursing facilities and most recently in a Family Practice Primary Care office for the last 4 1/2 years.

I attended Fitzgerald Live Review with Margaret herself 5/4-5/6 and found it REALLY helpful. Particularly I found it most helpful to highlight my weaknesses.

I graduated 5/18/2017 and started seriously studying 6/3/2017. I committed two hours a day for the first ten days, and then from 6/12/17- my test date 7/8/17 I studied 4-5 hours a day. On days I was not working, I studied for 8 hours.

I mostly used Leik second edition. My strategy was to start in the beginning of the book and read and then write down things I did not understand. I have difficulty remembering things I just read- I need to write things down. I also recommended looking at the 'exam tips' at the end of the chapters.

I took the APEA predictor exam three times- once a week after I really started studying, once 6/28/17 and then again 7/5/17. I scored 71, 71 and 77. For me, I realized that I test better earlier in the morning.

From there, I used the results to identify my weak areas and went back to Leik and used the Fitzgerald book and workbook to go more in depth. I identified my weakness by looking at the 'reveiw results' from APEA which tells you the percentage score by topic (i.e. derm, peds, cariology, etc). Anything less than 65% I went back and reviewed more in depth. I also reviewed each question I got wrong, and wrote down the rationale.

I also took the PSI exam, and scored an 80 I believe. I don't remember anything specific, but I do think it helped me get used to answering the questions, but not necessary learning more if that makes sense.

Four days before my exam I took an Exam Edge test, mostly because the APEA test was down for maintenance and I wanted to get a sense of how I was doing because my exam was in four days. I scored a 71. Seriously, I couldn't stop getting 71s! Again, same technique as APEA as I wrote down answers and reviewed rationals.

Lastly, I bought the Like app about a month before my exam. These questions were very familiar to the ones in the book (some were the exact same) but I liked how I could use it on the go and I could pick and chose which topics to quiz myself on as well as 'assessment' type questions vs 'diagnostic' etc.

I hope this helps!