ANCC board exam tips

Specialties Advanced

Published

You are reading page 2 of ANCC board exam tips

graduateFNP

22 Posts

I recently tested through AANP. It is all clinically based. I think I had one question related to research and one related to culture.

shaunbar

3 Posts

PASSED ANCC FNP Today

I just did the Barkley Review which I thought was an excellent overview. He is a great lecturer and has some keen insights into the exam. I took his course and then redid the course with the CDs while following along in the book and made notes.

I glanced at some of the Fitzgerald materials that a friend had and her review book was much more detailed and I found the layout overbearing and difficult to follow. So I stuck with Barkley. I also used the Leik book which I think is a great complementary source. It is slightly outdated, but I understand that they are releasing a new edition soon. That book gives you key data in nuts and bolts.

Lastly I purchased 15 exams from familynpprep.com. I did a 100 question exam every day just to test my retention. They give excellent ANCC style questions on theory, research, ethic and therapeutic communication which is not covered in the review books. That stimulated my knowledge and guided me on what to further review.

I did the APEA exams while in school. I found them challenging and good practice, but I put it aside for my prep not to be overwhelmed.

While studying I kept a notebook and just jotted down weird or odd stuff I could not find myself recalling. The day before the exam, I only allowed myself to review that notebook for 1/2 the day and then rested. I found this strategy to really work for me.

My exam today was roughly 20% Peds, 20% women's health, 30% clinical and 30% research/theory/ethic/communication/Hippa/insurance/etc.

I agreed with what Barkley said the first day. It really is a mastery exam. If you have the foundations under your belt, you should be able to make good clinical judgments and choose the correct answer.

A piece of advice to other students: Don't schedule the exam for 8 am unless you really are not the type of person who gets antsy the night before. I had adrenaline rushing through my blood the whole night so I did not sleep a wink. I plowed through the exam on that same adrenaline rush this morning and did the exam in about 1 hour 40 mins. I decided for better or worse not to review my marked answers and just submitted it out of test fatigue.

Lastly, Barkley review: 2 thumbs up!

They just changed the format for the Adult Gero-Primary Care Nurse Practitioner test (they said they were going to do it in AUGUST!) and I still PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

psychodelia

6 Posts

Has anyone taken the new (as of August 2013) psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner exam? Any thoughts for preparation? I'm taking it in October. Thanks so much.

blue47

1 Post

I just took both the Adult-Gero AANP and the ANCC exams and passed 1st time. Of course I spent 5 months studying mostly everyday. I felt they were fairly easy as the correct answer was somewhat obvious if you know your stuff. I was worried about not passing so I studied EVERYTHING I could get my hands on and overstudied.

Here are some tips I wanted to share to save you time and money.

1. Don't waste your money on the familynpprep website questions. Someone recommeded them and I found them to be a complete waste of time and money. They are nothing like the actual exam in fact they are more bedside nursing than anything.

2. The exam tests general knowledge and does not really get into a whole lot of details like the Fitzgerald review course gives you. Good information but not needed for the actual exam. But you really need to know the information as you don't know what you will actually be asked on the exam.

3. The ANCC was about 20% theory, etc. and the rest clinical related.

4. I liked Barkley CD's and workbook the best as Fitzgerald has NO sense of humor and is very dry and her voice doesn't help either as it grates on your nerves after awhile. She is knowledgable but enough said about her. I must have went over the CD"s from both of them at least 2 or 3 times. Fitzgerald only twice though!

Good luck to those of you still studying as I graduated in May and finally looking forward to moving on!

eddie6271

1 Post

Is there any other book/resource to help with ethics, role, hippa, etc. besides the Zerwech review book?

+ Add a Comment