ANCC EXAM REVIEW TIPS PMHNP exam

[MissMemphis05]

Hello,

I'm currently in a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program. I am looking for tips to study for state boards. I will be taking the ANCC certification. Has anyone tried the Lantern review? What has worked for you guys? Please Help. I appreciate all of the help. Thank you in advance.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I have replied to this question in a related thread concerning some who failed the ANCC exam. Here are my study interventions in order from the least expensive to the most. I have also included podcasts that can supplement your knowledge base and that all mental health professionals should consider listening to:

1. The Pocket Prep app. Around $30.00 . Note that the questions are somewhat similar to the ANCC questions and include page citations to standard texts such as Sadock, and Stahl. I suggest that you actually read the pages cited especially on questions that you miss.

2. The ANCC study questions. Around $100.00 for around 200 questions. Again read all rationales even the ones that you get correct as they are similar to the ANCC exam.

3. The Momentix study guide. Around $30.00 for about 400.00 questions and it includes rationales.

4. BoardVitals.com around $200.00 for around 1800 questions .These are generally much harder than the ANCC questions, but you will learn a great deal. The best that I could consistently score was around 73%. The best that my wife was ever able to consistently score (back in 2016) was around 65%, and both of us passed the exam.

5. The Lantern Review for around $200.00. I felt this was a useful, relatively quick review with integrated quizzes for the money.

6. The ANCC "blue book" this should be considered your study bible, and it is around $70.00 as I recall. It has two integrated tests.

6. I used (and continue to use) a tool called Lecturio.com it is designed to supplement medical school and help residents prepare for USMLE 1,2, and 3. It also has dedicated areas for anatomy, pathophysiology, and many other areas with integrated quizzes with each lecture. I pay around $200.00 per year and will continue to use this resource to enrich my education.

7. Barkleys. I did not do this expensive review, but my school required that I take the readiness assessments.

8. Fitzgerald. Again I did not use this product (which is also around $400.00 I believe.

Podcast(s)

1. Psychotherapy and psychopharmacology by Dr. David Puder. Perhaps the best podcast on all things psychiatry ever produced. This is free and on Apple podcasts.

2. The Carlat Report podcast- Again this is free (although you can pay extra for the printed and online reports and CME's).

3. Psychopharm Updates by the Psychotherapeutic Institute. Like the above they do not accept money from pharmaceutical companies.

[jean36]

I am studying for the boards, was wondering if anyone can help me with the link to buy The ANCC study questions (200 questions).

Thanks

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

On 1/14/2020 at 4:36 PM, jean36 said:

I am studying for the boards, was wondering if anyone can help me with the link to buy The ANCC study questions (200 questions).

Thanks

Here is a link to where the questions can be purchased https://www.nursingworld.org/continuing-education/online-courses/certification-practice-questions---psychiatric-mental-health-nursing-8ed8a40b/.

[jean36]

I took my boards today and passed.

I prepared for 3 weeks, read the "yellow" book from cover to cover at least 4 times, completed the 100 question at the end of the book, bought the ANCC study questions (200 questions), answered every single one with rationale. I also bought Boardvitals and only did approximately 350 questions of of the +1600( I didn't like it because a good chunk of the questions cant be found in the ANCC review book, plus I never scored more than 65 percent even on the eve of the exam), and I also bought pocket prep, studied all 600 question and their rationale.

I am not sure what helped the most, but I think the ANCC study questions (200 questions) was the most helpful.

Good luck on those studying to test.

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

32 minutes ago, jean36 said:

I prepared for 3 weeks, read the "yellow" book from cover to cover

What is the "yellow" book? Thanks.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Not sure about the "yellow" book, but I found the "purple/orange" cover book by Kathyrn Johnson and Dawn Vanderhoef very helpful especially when paired with the "Pocket Prep" application (since PocketPrep references many questions from this book along with Sadock). Thus a good study approach is to do 20 study questions from Pocketprep and then read all of the citations (the whole page including the ones that you got correct). In this way you will expand and reinforce your knowledge base with every group of questions.

[AtomicWoman]

I found the ANCC online questions to be the best prep, along with reading "Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Review and Resource Manual, 4th Edition" (the "purple book"). I know others found Pocket Prep helpful, but a lot of the questions are just plain lame and repetitive/variations on other questions. I did not find them overly relevant to the actual test questions. It's not a very expensive resource, so if you are looking for something to access during down time, I suppose it's OK.

The ANCC exam was set for a fairly dramatic change in the middle of December 2019, so I can't speak to the changes, since I passed the old version.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

What I liked about Pocket Prep is that is extensively referenced the "purple book" which is closely correlated to the exam material. Of course the questions were exponentially easier than Board Vitals, but the Board Vital questions while more difficult also were not especially relevant to the actual exam. I also feel that Lecturio is a good resource since it has review questions embedded into the lecture videos (and has many USMLE step 1, 2 and 3 review questions as well).