AANP FNP

Published

I told myself that if I passed the exam, then I would write a post on here discussing my experience. I passed and so here I am as a first-time poster! :)

First of all, I spent the last month or two looking through this discussion board for any and all information of what other people have said in the past about the exam and how to spend my time efficiently in studying. Thank you to all of those people before me who have posted insightful comments and information as I used those to my benefit.

I wanted to agree with what most people had mentioned: the Liek book is your GUIDE. Know the information in that book from COVER to COVER for content review. I would also recommend using the 700+ questions in the back of the book and answer them over and over. On top of that, I was able to listen to Hollier videos, which further helped with content review. During the exam, Amelie's voice would randomly pop into my head as I was reading a topic and that helped to narrow down choices for certain questions.

I have test anxiety and so I definitely needed to practice questions and how to answer questions. Luckily, my school offered Board Vitals as part of the program so I made it a point to at least do 100 questions (in review mode) a day so that I had some exposure every single day even if I didn't spend the day studying (i.e. if I was at work or had a busy day). I thought that some of the Board Vitals questions were very difficult (and sometimes not really relevant to what I wanted to review) so some days I scored pretty low in the 60s. I also purchased the PSI practice test through their website and purchased the APEA practice exam as well. I thought that the APEA practice exam was difficult and scored borderline (this was 3 weeks ago). I took the PSI practice exam 1 week after that and scored in the high 80s, which gave me a boost of confidence. I would not use those scores as reference as they are just "predictors," but I thought it was helpful in being exposed to more questions and reading through rationales.

As Amelie would say.. "Take a big deep breath!" You are almost there... Hope this helped!

3
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Medicine.

Thanks so much for sharing! I've been hanging out with the Leik book. Will be taking the exam soon. Just waiting on my transcripts.

Congrats!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nurse Practitioner.

Congrats on passing the AANP! And thanks for sharing your experience. I'm doing the AANP next week and I feel very nervous about it. I feel that the PSI questions are a lot harder than the Leik questions, and a classmate of mine who already passed the exam told me that the exam questions are more similar to the PSI and alot harder than Leik...I score about 70-80 on Leik and low 60s with PSI....should I reschedule my exam??? I don't feel ready at all!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

@noyesno - Thank you! I wish the best of luck to you on your exam. I would definitely go over Leik, do the questions in the back, and make sure you go over the "exam tips" from each chapter on top of whatever else you are doing to prepare.

@Kissunshine - Thank you so much. I think that feeling nervous is a normal response especially to an exam in which we pay so much money for (along with application fee, etc.). I was also very nervous before my own exam. However, I think it's also important to keep telling yourself that you have been a RN for "x" many years and you went to graduate school to be a NP. You have worked so hard throughout these years! As far as how the questions were worded and level of difficulty, I believe it was similar to PSI and APEA. The Liek questions were "easier" when compared, but I definitely it's important to go over these questions especially for content review. I would not take the score # into account of whether you are ready or not for the exam. How do you feel when going over the material? Do you understand it? Do you think you are able to teach another person the material? I would use the predictor exams as reference to what content you are weak in and not concentrate so much on the # itself.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Orthopedics.

Hey!! This is a great post! and congratulations by the way. I am just starting school and had to submit my first assignment for patho. A little background: I have been out of school for 10 years and have been in orthopedics for 10 yrs, so to jump back into school and FNP is WAY out of my comfort zone. How was the program for you all? I can not lie, I have had second thoughts...yes I know its late in the game! ?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.

I am glad you share it.

I am more than half of the school and very nervous about it.

thank you for sharing

Jassu

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion