My Tips on Passing the AANP Exam

[SL APRN FNP-C]

So I am another one of those graduated NP students who has been trolling these boards endlessly, looking for tips & tricks on how to pass the AANP board exam. As of June 17th, I passed the exam! It was a grueling 30 seconds as I waited for the results to print out to find out whether I passed or failed, and it honestly felt like a dream when I saw the capitalized letters: PASSED. However, I had slightly different circumstances throughout my studying for the boards. I was pregnant through the last semester of my program and had a baby 2 weeks before graduation, so truth be told I had to figure out a certain schedule to study effectively! Anyway, seeing as how much I depended on this website to collect all the tips I could find, I felt it is necessary to share my own tips for success!

Getting Ready For The AANP Exam

 STEP 1  Do NOT wait too long post graduation to take the boards!

This is absolutely the most important tip us students were given by our instructor, and I completely agree. The longer you wait, the more information from school you forget. It's best to go for it when information is still fresh! I decided to take mine a little over a month from graduation after giving myself a 1 week "vacation." It's highly recommended you take the boards

 STEP 2  Do review Leik and Fitzgerald!

These were literally the only two resources I used to pass the exam. I did not attend any live or online course. If only one could be utilized, Leik by far is the best choice! I loved that her book (second edition) was so straightforward, and she gives all the information that is important to know. I would pay special attention to her exam tips with each chapter, and to spend time answering every single question in the back of the book. I was only able to get through half the questions before taking the exam, and I wish I had done them all!

Fitzgerald is a genius - however, she does tend to dive a little to deep into certain topics, such as bacterial organisms and whether they are gram pos. or gram neg. etc.

 STEP 3  Do take the PSI practice test (75 questions), APEA predictor exam (150 questions), and ExamEdge (5 tests)

It's true that practice makes perfect! Set aside 1-2 hours each day to take practice questions, and read the rationales on those you get wrong. I don't remember which question came from where, but a few were recognizable through one or multiple practice tests. As far as the ExamEdge, don't buy more than 5 tests. I did not find their questions to be similar to the actual exam, but they are good for content and for getting used to the format of the exam. I got about an 85% on the PSI practice tests, 71% on the APEA predictor exam, and a range of 70-77% on the ExamEdge tests.

 STEP 4  Do set a schedule of studying.

I printed out a calendar and wrote out which subjects I would cover on certain days, then I spent 3-5 hours during those days studying. Make sure to set aside 1-2 days for pediatrics alone, then another day just for geriatrics. My test had many, many questions on the elderly and frail elderly. This seems to be the trend for the 2017 exams! So definitely know benign and abnormal conditions of the elderly!

 STEP 5  Do relax the night before.

I got a massage the night before the test, and I have to say it was the best decision I made! After a month of studying, you just need that relaxation to help settle all the information you have packed into your poor brain by that point.

To all those who are about to take (or retake) the exam, I wish you luck and I hope that some of my tips help you as reading others helped me! Remember! Don't over analyze questions or change answers, unless you know it is correct 100% ..I know it's cliche but go with your gut! Really, it works! ?

[RM, MSN]

Congrats and thank you so much for sharing. I was in the same exact situation! I graduated with honors every year and passed every predictor exam. I can always get down to the final two answers but when it comes between those two I always pick the wrong one. Another thing that I get stumped on is words or diseases or medications I am not familiar with. So without knowing any of that information I can't include it in and answer, so I'm kind of stuck in one place there. And of course the test anxiety doesn't help. I had to call into work today because I've just been cramming because I am so scared of failing again!

Rebekkah

[TomNP]

Hi Goziem, thank you for you post. I didn't receive my score report back yet and I would like to start taking the CEs ASAP. How did you choose which CEs to take? I think AANP wants the CEs in the areas of weakness. Thanks in advance.

[jkenser]

Here is how I passed AANP the first time-

I took the Leik review. I re-read the book she sends for the review and memorized things I did not understand well. I used APEA practice questions (roughly 1000). I only studied for a total of 3 weeks. Leik is all you need!!!! The actual exam was much easier than I thought it would be, but I was also prepared. I passed my first attempt (thank you God). DO NOT SECOND GUESS YOURSELF OR OVER THINK QUESTIONS. You have made it this far, you got this!!!

[m.garcia14]

Hi Jkenser, did you just take the boards ?

[jkenser]

Yes =) I just passed on Tuesday, which was also my birthday.... It was either going to be a really great birthday or a really bad birthday depending on how that exam went. Thank God it ended up being a really great birthday!

[zerovero]

Hi taking the exam on December 22 in California. Very nervous! Just finished the Leik review! wish me luck.

[db2xs]

Thank you. I will try these

[zerovero]

i wanted to come back to let you know i took the AANP yesterday and passed. I haven't cried like that in a long time. This is what i did to pass the boards: i graduated in May but life got in the way so i had to postpone it till now. I took Leik's review vis webinar mid november, i also listened to Amelie's review for the last two weeks. I did all the questions in the Amelie's qbank and half the questions in Leik's book. On the day of the exam i marked all the questions i wasn't sure 31 of them. I had plenty of time to answer all questions. I felt the majority of my questions were pediatrics. Some were so easy and straight forward that i thought i was getting tricked. I would recommend Leik's review and the book that comes with it, know that like the back of your hand and do the questions! If i did it at 39 weeks pregnant and graduating 6 months ago and ESL you can do it too!

[Jenbuggy]

I want to comment on this thread as I have been trolling these boards for quite some time to calm my anxiety prior to taking the AANP. I took it today and passed, two weeks after graduarion. I did the Fitzgerald review, the psi predictor (86%), an apea exam (78%), and read through leiks book I borrowed from a friend. I feel like the Fitzgerald review helped the most because I understood more after the review. I am very relieved to say that if you put time into the review, you will do fine. I felt like the first questions were the most difficult. Good luck to everyone!

[FNPinNY]

Ok, I took the AANC exam November 2016 and passed. It was my first attempt at passing either exam. My plan was to take the AANC as practice to see where I stood and to take the AANP after strengthening my weak areas, and hopefully passing. Let me give you a little background and maybe it will help some of you. I graduated from my FNP pogram (SUNY Downstate) in May 2012. I was working in an area where certification was not necessary and I kept putting it off. Not the smartest thing any of us can do, but where would any of us be without a couple of really good rationalizations in our lives? I am north of 50 years old and I hope that is helpful for some of my colleagues considering this path.

The exam. I cannot tell you anything that has not already been posted on several of the exam blogs here..... It has all been covered. What I can tell you is be careful with practice questions. I looked up the correct information on peer reviewed sites like UpToDate. I found a many arbitrary or flat our wrong answers in the 600+ questions in the back of the Leik 2nd Ed (There is a New 3rd Ed now) as well as Fitzgerald's 4th. I still highly recommend both, but verify the information. Do not take any source as correct if you think it might be incorrect, look it up. I took Fitzgerald's course upon graduating because it was required in my program in 2009. She is very knowledgeable and some really good information (more geared toward practice than passing). I did not like her course because every topic and ever sentence began with "I", "In my practice", etc. There is so much wasted time on what she "picked up", "what she did". It might be ok for others, but with my ADD I found it distracting. Three years ago I was able to take Barkley as CE's paid for by my job. I believe they all are about equal and they did not really reflect the exam, at least the ANCC.

What I found valuable was questions, lots of questions and looking up the correct answers if I got them wrong. I also found Paul Bolin's CRASH videos invaluable. (crash usmle step 2 and 3 paul bolin - YouTube)

Lastly, there was a lot of leadership, management, nursing theory. My program was big on leadership and management and a lot came back enough for a good educated guess. There are very few knowledge based questions, they are mostly analysis, application and synthesis questions.

How I approached the questions. I crossed out the two distracter questions immediately (most of the time they were obvious). If I knew the answer (or was pretty sure) I selected my answer and moved on. On the questions I was queasy on I "marked" them for review. On the questions I did not know, I kept comparing the 2 answers left with the stem (past/present/future tense, etc) and finally went with my gut (first instinct). I guess what I'm saying is work the question and not the content when you do not know the answer and give your best guess.

So take a review course, use one or more of the books recommended on this blog, and search out the correct rational on our own. Paul Bolin gives a complete medical review online for free and you can access as much or as little as you need. Lastly... Lots and lots of questions. Search out allnurses for the best places for exam questions. What was most useful was what I taught my students for NCLEX preparation - THERE IS NO CORRECT ANSWER, CHOOSE THE BEST OPTION FOR THIS QUESTION. It will come down to two answers you think are the answer. You are not going to get concrete choice form class or books you've studied. There is something in the stem of the question that makes one of the two choices you've narrowed it down to that makes one of them most/more correct in this situation. Choose the BEST/MOST CORRECT answer, it is not a math exam or physics exam. The best resource I found was the FNP Exam Blogs on Allnurses. Thank all of you who have posted here for the confidence to take the exam and the excellent study advice. Good luck to all. If I can pass so can you.

[jjwenke]

HI! I took the ANCC 2x by studying the review course Barkley and cd tapes. Felt like what I studied was not even close to the questions asked. Almost like a foreign language. Now feeling like a total failure, I have read through some other students suggestions, but worried that things have changed for 2018. Has anyone taken ANCC 2018? Should I sign up and take the AANP? Any advice would be appreciated.

[minglixu]

I suggest that you take leik's webminar online and review her 3ed edition book. Make sure you practice all questions in that book and retake the AANPCB exam.