Passed AANP first try!

[sgtrnff]

As a recent graduate I undertook the challenge of taking the boards. I did it insanely.Began studying 2 mos before at about 4 hours a day. One month before test was up to 5-6, two weeks before 8-10. I had taken the Barclay and Fitzpatrick review. In addition I purchased the Leik cert book . I also went and purchased the APEA Q BANK online after a month of studying.

The night before I purchased the AANP practice test. Went in the next day, after drinking coffee (4 shots of expresso) and sat for the exam. The first 40 questions are there to throw you off, I found them to be the most challenging. My advice, answer, mark them and move on. Don't sit and contemplate A or D. Listening to Dr Barclay kind of replayed in my head on his advice on taking the test. And some great advice for that matter.As you proceed through the test you will see the questions are (I found) more straight forward. I finished the test, went back with some clarity and negotiated all those that were marked for review. My goal was to score above a 90 and I did. You can as well. I found that the test had components from all four studies I utilized. Of course the subject matter is the same, but the little stressors in those reviews were what popped out at me and allowed me to reason through. What I find was an added benefit was the great broad refresher I had which helped me prepare for practice feeling a little more confident than I did coming out of school. You CAN do it and WILL do it! Just read the material verbatim over and over. Eventually it becomes embedded. I did the Barclays review and Fitz review both every day and did questions for two hours at the end of the night. The questions were there to challenge and move on, don't linger and "research". You will find the next day or so during your review those questions you got wrong will now have an answer to them because while you are studying, the rationale becomes clearer. Good Luck you will do it! And yes, I think they do utilize a large question bank with questions and topics varied. I heard of people having less challenging exams with only one pharm question on it. My test had EVERYTHING with lots of pharm on it. So be prepared and good luck

[sarah923m]

Thank you for sharing your experience. As a first year Adult-Gero NP student, I enjoy any information/advice on how to study for the boards...I want to be prepared.

Would you recommend stating using those materials (Fitz, Barclay) sooner than later? As I am only in my first year I am not sure if it would be too early for me to start.

Thank you.

[kwright8706]

Congrats! Can't wait until I can make this same post