AANPCP or the ANCC Exam

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What is the difference between AANPCP (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners) or the ANCC (American Nurse Credentializing Center) in terms of the test, titles, and usability?

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What is the difference between AANPCP (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners) or the ANCC (American Nurse Credentializing Center) in terms of the test, titles, and usability?

Test: I can't really comment because I only took the AANPCP. However, the AANPCP exam was difficult. I don't think I will pass if I didn't study. I was well-prepared so some questions were easy. But there were a few questions that left me wondering until now. I CHOSE to take AANP exam because I want to validate my clinical knowledge (ANCC has nonclinical questions). I am also better at answering clinical questions.

Title: NP-C for AANP and FNP-BC for ANCC.

Usability: Both are acceptable and nationally recognized.

There are a lot of articles, posts, and blogs regarding the differences between the 2 certifying bodies. You will learn more by searching them. On google itself, there's tons of information! Good luck :)

Sent from my iPhone

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

There are tons of threads about it but it kind of boils down to:

ANCC: part clinical, part non clinical (research, billing, nursing theory, etc.)

AANP: all clinical

These are the main differences. Both have similar number of questions but are scored on different scales. As PP said in about 95% of cases either are accepted by employers. There have only been a small handful of people who have said their employer truly preferred one over the other.

You should also review the recertification requirements for each. Recert requirements for AANP are changing in a couple of years!

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I chose AANP because it is a nurse practitioner organization. In real world, it makes no difference at all.

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