How to pass the FNP boards

[OkieNP]

This is my 2 cents on what did and didn't work for me when studying for the FNP boards. I thought I would share since before going to NP school I was an undergraduate nursing professor and I have spent a lot of time trying to "figure out" the systems of academic nursing success for students who struggle and for myself.

1.) Study a lot during your NP program, don't do the bare minimum, just study deeply the subjects as you go along through the program. If you do this your studying for boards shouldn't be a big deal. My NP program was only average at best and I still think they covered most of what you need to know as a basic foundation for the boards.

2.) Don't buy the Fitzgerald review, its such waste of $400. I bought the CDs with online component a year before taking the test so I could start "studying" for the boards or so I thought.... I realized almost immediately when I got the program in the mail that this was a mistake and a total waste of money. I should have spent every minute I spent listening to her, relistening to my class lectures (which were WAY more in depth) or reading my textbooks or notes etc. I kept listening to them of course because damn I just spent $400!! They were a bit helpful don't get me wrong, but I would only recommend them if they had been maybe $75.

3.) After you're classes are done and you want to start prepping for boards take the APEA predictor test for your specialty this test is $35ish and will tell you what your weaknesses are. For example you are told a breakdown of your competency in any particular subject some of my scores for example were Obstetrics: 90% Pediatrics: 73% Psychiatry: 85% etc for the rest but Orthopedics: 30%, Hematology: 30% so I knew mostly I needed to just focus on these two subjects. There is also a comp practice test available at the AANP website if you're choosing this exam. My APEA predictor predicted that I would pass the boards before I even started studying to get ready for them (which may have encouraged me to be a little more lazy in my prep work!) but I think if the predictor had said I might not pass or I definitely wouldn't pass I would have delayed taking the exam to really hardcore study the subjects I did poorly on, and would have retaken the predictor after studying a while.

4.) Study your weak content areas, if you got a 90% on some area, don't waste time studying it because it feels more fun to study because duh, you already get it! There are some really great FREE FREE FREE resources to review your weak areas (like for me... hematology/ortho) that are just as good as $400 programs like www.physicianassistantexamreview.com which you can search through and find just the hematology material to study or just non-diabetic endocrine disorders or whatever. On that website you can listen to a goofy guy explain concepts then take practice quizzes on a specific area of content.

5.) Read over a test prep book like Fitzgerald at your local bookstore one afternoon or buy it used or buy and return it 3 days later . This is way cheaper than a full review course. The point of this is to learn the little "tricks" for making educated guesses at the right answer when you come to a question you have no idea what the answer is. She will teach you how to look at a question stem and options to more closely guess the right answer. Everything else other than this she teaches in her reviews is available for free online.

I spent about $550 total in test prep. In hindsight I should have spent $35-90.

Hope this helped someone, good luck!

OkieNP