ANCC FNP exam: My experience

[GoodNP]

Today I took and passed the ANCC FNP exam and wanted to share my experience while it is still fresh:

First, although the process of submitting the online application was quite simple, it took 7 weeks to receive confirmation that I could schedule the exam. The reason - the Validation of Education form. My SON sent it electronically in mid-December, and by early February the ANCC told me they still hadn't received it. As it turns out, the SON uses a secure server that (I presume) the ANCC can't log in to. So my Validation Form was just sitting out in cyberspace for all that time waiting for someone to open it. I finally had the SON send it to me, logged on to the secure server myself, downloaded the form, and sent it to the ANCC. Less than an hour later I received authorization to schedule! Very frustrating and disappointing to have waited so long for that.

Needless to say, I had lots of time to study, using the following sources:

School notes & texts. I studied one system at a time and made powerpoint flash cards of things like "signs" (e.g. Markle's sign), reflexes, etc.

Fitzgerald CDs & book

Leik review book - there are over 600 practice questions in the back, highly recommend (despite a few errors scattered throughout)

FamilyNP prep - purchased 15 practice tests. These practice tests did help a little regarding clinical topics. However, there are a LOT of non-clinical questions such as theory, famous psychologists, NP entrepreneurship, etc. which were simply not reflective of the types of non-clinical questions that were actually on the exam. This led me down the path of studying nursing theories (Leininger, family stress, family dynamic, transcultural, blah blah blah) plus psych stuff like Erikson, Freud, Piaget....none of this stuff was relevant. Additionally, there were supposed to be all unique questions, but I had LOTS of repeats. Overall, the time (& money) I spent on these practice tests would have been better spent studying other sources.

Test day:

I don't know about anyone else, but I have taken two certification tests at my local testing center and both times there was one person in the room clickety-clacking away typing up War and Peace or something. It is beyond irritating and distracting! The testing centers should really separate the "typers" from the "clickers".

I had about 10 or so photos. The photo questions were application, such as "which of the following would you biopsy" and such.

There were 7-10 multiple answer questions, such as "pick 3" of the following. Some of them were a little challenging in that I knew 2 of the choices easily, but struggled with the third. Unfortunately, you either get the whole question right or the whole question wrong. There were also matching questions and a few "place in the correct order" questions.

There were lots of questions on research. Fitzgerald has a link on her website that is very helpful for this:

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and there is an additional handout for those who purchased the review course. These two Fitzgerald sources alone probably earned me 5 questions on the exam.

Lots of professional/legal questions. I recommend Carolyn Bippert's book and reading the recommended resources on the ANCC website regarding leadership.

There were also lots of cultural questions. I don't know how to study for those. Some of them I knew just from life experience, some I straight up guessed.

After the test, I received a print-out stating that I had passed. No raw score was given, which is probably for the best. After passing the exam, it is still required to go to the ANCC website and request a validation form to be sent to the BON (for ~$300, one would think the ANCC could manage that step automatically).

Last thing:

The exam itself was WAY less clinically-oriented than I expected. They say it's 25% non-clinical, but I bet it's more like 50/50. Of those, the clinical questions were the most straightforward with no rare or unusual conditions or disease states I'd never heard of. Fitzgerald says "common conditions occur commonly" and that is absolutely reflected on the exam. There was very little by way of meds either, with the exception of the very common meds for the very common chronic conditions. On the other hand, in my opinion, many of the non-clinical questions seemed ambiguous and from out of left field.

[GizaGora]

I am having trouble to locate the yellow book even after downloading the Amazon Kindle application onto my android. Please someone guide me on how to get access to the first 3 chapters of that book.

Thanks in advance.

[veryhopeful1]

I recently passed the ANCC AGPCNP exam, and also wanted to share my experience. Thank you to everyone who had posted before - I felt that it helped me focus my studies and gave me some great tips.

I used the following resources to study:

-Fitzgerald Review Online: I felt the online version was better than my classmates who took the live version, as I was able to listen to her lectures 4 times each, and they were divided into 30-45 minute segments. Her review questions on each chapter and the exam at the end were VERY helpful.

-Leik book: MUST HAVE, in my opinion. So easy to read, just the basic need to know for the exam. No extra information, and 600+ questions in the back. Great resource!

-Fitzgerald Book: This is the extra review book with tons more questions (not the one that you get with the online/live review course) While this is a good clinical resource, I did NOT find this helpful in preparing for the test, EXCEPT the Medicare/Medicaid information which I thought was well written. Overall, it's just too much information that you don't need for this exam.

-Exam Edge Questions: I purchased 15 tests. Not necessary. I ended up doing about half of them. Lots of typos, and not reflective of ANCC exam type questions, like they led you to believe. I passed all of them too, with scores around 375 to 425.

I also tried to look up the yellow book by ANCC, to get a kindle version sample or whatever people have been saying on here. They must have caught on, because doing that is no longer possible. I also didn't find it necessary. Leik and Fitzgerald both covered professional issues, research, and all of the other nonclinical issues well enough to help me pass the exam. I dedicated approximately 3 weeks of studying, about 2 hours a day... some days more, some days not at all.

I felt the test was at least 50% nonclinical.

Good luck to all!

[FNPinNY]

Nursing Research Help....

We need to post and share our resources.... This is not perfect but it is a review....

Good Luck All

FNPinNY

[FNPinNY]

Wrong Location Ignore... Sorry

https://allnurses.com/student-nurse-practitioner/passed-ancc-fnp-993437-page6.html

[FNPinNY]

I am told this can pop up as a question on both exams... We need to post tips to support each other.....

Calendar Method Of Birth Control

Don't use the calendar method if all your cycles are shorter than 27 days.

Chart Your Calendar Pattern

To predict the first fertile day in your current cycle:

• Find the shortest cycle in your record.
  
• Subtract 18 from the total number of days.
  
• Count that number of days from day one of your current cycle, and mark that day with an X. Include day one when you count.
  
• The day marked X is your first fertile day.
  

To predict the last fertile day in your current cycle:

• Find the longest cycle in your record.
  
• Subtract 11 days from the total number of days.
  
• Count that number of days from day one of your current cycle, and mark that day with an X. Include day one when you count.
  
• The day marked X is the last fertile day.
  

Here is an example:

Predicting your first fertile day. If your shortest cycle is 26 days long, subtract 18 from 26. That leaves 8. If day one was the fourth day of the month, the day you will mark X will be the 11th. That's the first day you're likely to be fertile. So on that day, you should start abstaining from sex or start using a cervical cap, condom, diaphragm, or female condom.

Predicting your last fertile day. If your longest cycle is 30 days, subtract 11 from 30. That leaves 19. If day one was the fourth day of the month, the day you will mark X will be the 22nd. That's the last day you're likely to be fertile during your current cycle. So you may start to have unprotected lady partsl intercourse after that day.

In this example, the 11th through the 22nd are unsafe days. All the others are safe days.

The Role of the Calendar Method

The calendar method can only predict what are most likely to be safe days. It is especially risky if your cycles are not always the same length. That's why it should always be used with other methods. Do not have unprotected intercourse on any day that the calendar method says is unsafe.

This information is not meant as a substitute for professional advice.

Fertility Awareness-Based Methods | (FAMs) Natural Birth Control

[dwalker20]

I just took my ANCC for the second time and passed!!!!

I used the Fitzgerald review CDs, Leik's, and CDC website for my main study materials. I did the Kellerman review before the first Exam.

The test was grueling the first time, and yet the second time I felt more confident and prepared.

I thought about obtaining the AANP exam as well, but want this one first and for most.

Good Luck to All.

[rninme]

Congratulations!!!

[FNPinNY]

National Treatment Guidelines*

Asthma: Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma. Expert Panel

Report 3. National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (2007). http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/guidelines/asthgdln.pdf

Diabetes: American Diabetes Association (ADA). Clinical Practice Recommendations

(2012). ANP exam (March 2010): ADA Clinical Practice Recommendations (2009). Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2

[Jazzy3317]

Congratulations !

[FNPinNY]

Ok, so I took the AANC exam this week and passed. It was my first attempt at passing either exam. My plan was to take the AANC as practice to see where I stood and to take the AANP after strengthening my weak areas, and hopefully passing. Let me give you a little background and maybe it will help some of you. I graduated from my FNP program in May 2012. I was working in an area where certification was not necessary and I kept putting it off. Not the smartest thing any of us can do, but where would any of us be without a couple of really good rationalizations in our lives? I am north of 50 years old and I hope that is helpful for some of my colleagues considering this path.

The exam. I cannot tell you anything that has not already been posted on several of the exam blogs here….. It has all been covered. What I can tell you is be careful with practice questions. I looked up the correct information on peer reviewed sites like UpToDate. I found a many arbitrary or flat our wrong answers in the 600+ questions in the back of the Leik 2^nd Ed as well as Fitzgerald's 4^th. I still highly recommend both, but verify the information. Do not take any source as correct if you think it might be incorrect, look it up. I took Fitzgerald's course upon graduating because it was required in my program in 2009. She is very knowledgeable and some really good information (more geared toward practice than passing). I did not like her course because every topic and ever sentence began with I”, In my practice”, etc. There is so much wasted time on what she picked up”, what she did”. It might be ok for others, but with my ADD I found it distracting. Three years ago I was able to take Barkley as CE's paid for by my job. I believe they all are about equal and they did not really reflect the exam, at least the ANCC.

What I found valuable was questions, lots of questions and looking up the correct answers if I got them wrong. I also found Paul Bolin's CRASH videos invaluable. (crash usmle step 2 and 3 paul bolin - YouTube)

Lastly, there was a lot of leadership, management, nursing theory. My program was big on leadership and management and a lot came back enough for a good educated guess. There are very few knowledge based questions, they are mostly analysis, application and synthesis questions.

How I approached the questions. I crossed out the two distracters immediately (most of the time they were obvious). If I knew the answer (or was pretty sure) I selected my answer and moved on. On the questions I was queasy on I marked” them for review. On the questions I did not know, I kept comparing the 2 answers left with the stem (past/present/future tense, etc) and finally went with my gut (first instinct). I guess what I'm saying is work the question and not the content when you do not know the answer and give your best guess.

So take a review course, use one or more of the books recommended on this blog, and search out the correct rational on our own. Paul Bolin gives a complete medical review online for free and you can access as much or as little as you need. Lastly… Lots and lots of questions. Search out allnurses for the best places for exam questions. The best resource I found was the FNP Exam Blogs on Allnurses. Thank all of you who have posted here for the confidence to take the exam and the excellent study advice. Good luck to all. If I can pass so can you.

[mayen555]

I just passed my AANP yesterday and I also thought the exam was easy. I did the Hollier review in July live and it was awesome. It was worth every penny. The 2.5days went so fast and I was not bored even for a minute. I bought her Qbank for 2 months and a couple of her predictor tests. I took 3 of her predictor tests....2 of which was required in my last semester of school and 1 a day before I took my exam to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses. I had issues with urology which I revised but did not have any question on that in my exam. But it helped my do my revision point on the day before my exam

I also bought the FitzGerald book as a requirement for last semester of NP school but it was boring. Never liked it. I just could not read the FitzGerald book continuously for an hour. Too much information that you really don't need and can't keep up at this time. maybe I will use it for my practice as a new grad but for the exams, it was not helpful to me.

I also bought the Leik book and that was the BOOMMMBBBB. I recommend this book to anybody taking the FNP exam. I actually had a a couple of similar questions----the same concept but just different wording. The only draw back with Leik is that she needs to update her book. She still has the JNC 7 for HTN. Otherwise, read her exam tips if you don't have time to read everything. She has all the information you need. I also got her apple app FNP Q&A and that has same questions as the book, just that it is in an app.

Lastly I bought 10 test on examedge at http://www.familynprep.com and did do 8 of them and I thought it was helpful to review but all in all LEIK IS THE KEY, Hollier NP review was also great

[natball]

Taking the ANCC FNP in 2 days. I just scored 80% on Fitz practice exam and scored 368 on the FamilyNPprep test. Am I READY/OK to take the test??

I also did pretty well in Leik's question, liked her book a lot.