Passed AANP exam September 2022 and I want to help others!!

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I recently passed the AANP exam for AGNP on my first try, and I wanted to share my experience with others who are preparing to take this exam. The resources I used to prepare were: Leik, Latrina Walden crash course (2wks before exam), certification exam questions book by Hollier, and 2 PSI practice exams (retired questions from AANP). 

In total I spent roughly 3 months preparing for the exam (I started studying during my last clinical rotation, so that I could take the exam as soon as I was done school). I found that this helped me pace myself and not feel overwhelmed. On this schedule I did about 4hrs a day (2hrs in the am, and 2hrs before bed). I took Saturdays and Sunday's off, and I made sure to do at least 100 practice questions per day (even on my "off" days). 

Firstly, I would like to emphasize that the exam is not "easy" as some people may suggest. I would say it's a mixture of straight forward, purely memorized questions, and then there are quite a few questions that required intense analytical thinking (enough of them to fail you if you get them wrong). I definitely would not say it was a piece of cake. 

I highly recommend the resources that I used as I found the questions to be very similar. However, if you decide to use other reviews just stick with one main source! Don't be all over the place because that is not only confusing, but it's also expensive. Do lots of practice questions and read the rationals, and when you get to the point that you can't retain anymore, just pray and go for it. In all honesty, you'll never feel ready. Please let me know if anyone has questions because I'd love to help out my fellow future NPs! ...you got this!

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Specializes in Nursing/FNP.

Hello. Thank you for your tips. I’ve taken it twice now and failed. I have done the same as you almost but dude use Hollier as much as I should’ve. I do want more practice questions bc I think that may be my main area of issue. I already know the content at 80%…. I’ve studied for months and didn’t feel the exam was super super hard the second time Around ? but still failed… 

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I'm sorry to hear about you not passing. I definitely think doing practice questions is key. The Hollier practice questions book was very helpful, and I think the difficulty and style of questions in the text is very similar to the exam. The entire book has over 700 questions and I did all of them at least twice (some topics I did three times). Repetition helps, and I learned some things while doing this. 

If you've read through the leik book already, and know the content pretty well, I would focus on practice questions. If you get something wrong, go back and read that topic to make sure you understand it. Another thing I did to prepare that I forgot to mention above, is that on a few sheets of scrap paper I wrote down common disease processes and their treatment. I reviewed that every day as well. On test day, I couldn't believe how many treatment questions I had that I had written down in my scrap paper. Also, when you take the exam again, make sure to read through ALL of your answer choices. Sometimes we're inclined to just hit the first one that comes to mind, but there is often a better option available. I hope this helps, and best of luck to you the next time you take the exam. You got through school, so you WILL get through this. Don't be discouraged!

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Specializes in Nursing/FNP.
jdinvil1 said:

I'm sorry to hear about you not passing. I definitely think doing practice questions is key. The Hollier practice questions book was very helpful, and I think the difficulty and style of questions in the text is very similar to the exam. The entire book has over 700 questions and I did all of them at least twice (some topics I did three times). Repetition helps, and I learned some things while doing this. 

if you've read through the leik book already, and know the content pretty well, I would focus on practice questions. If you get something wrong, go back and read that topic to make sure you understand it. Another thing I did to prepare that I forgot to mention above, is that on a few sheets of scrap paper I wrote down common disease processes and their treatment. I reviewed that every day as well. On test day, I couldn't believe how many treatment questions I had that I had written down in my scrap paper. Also, when you take the exam again, make sure to read through ALL of your answer choices. Sometimes we're inclined to just hit the first one that comes to mind, but there is often a better option available. I hope this helps, and best of luck to you the next time you take the exam. You got through school, so you WILL get through this. Don't be discouraged!

Thank you for your kind words and tips. I think practice questions maybe the big issue here, along with test taking anxiety. I haven't experimented enough with questions (at least not even close to 700 as you've mentioned). I'm going to look into Hollier questions and start taking notes on everything I miss to review... I hope you are right. I am so so defeated ? 

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Your welcome. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. Like I said in my original post, I didn’t find the test to be easy. At the end I believe I marked at least 15-20 questions to go back to, and even still I didn't feel ? confident in my answer. I choose what I thought was best…In regards to practice questions, if you didn’t even do close to 700, then you didn’t do enough. In total between the Hollier book, leik practice questions, and my AGNP app, I easily did over 2k questions (many of them more than once). So I agree with you, I think practicing might be what’s holding you back. Try the leik app (the one that comes with her text book). You have access to them anytime you have a free moment; It adds up quickly. I think if you incorporate more questions, you’ll be good to go next time. Are you planning on trying the ANCC next?

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Specializes in Nursing/FNP.
1 hour ago, jdinvil1 said:

Your welcome. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. Like I said in my original post, I didn’t find the test to be easy. At the end I believe I marked at least 15-20 questions to go back to, and even still I didn't feel ? confident in my answer. I choose what I thought was best…In regards to practice questions, if you didn’t even do close to 700, then you didn’t do enough. In total between the Hollier book, leik practice questions, and my AGNP app, I easily did over 2k questions (many of them more than once). So I agree with you, I think practicing might be what’s holding you back. Try the leik app (the one that comes with her text book). You have access to them anytime you have a free moment; It adds up quickly. I think if you incorporate more questions, you’ll be good to go next time. Are you planning on trying the ANCC next?

Thank you… It’s definitely a very depressing and crappy feeling, especially when you’ve come so far… already making a schedule to incorporate more practice questions into my studying and just focus on that now. I’ve gone through the content too many times, I can recite it. But I’ll brush up on everything I miss and reread my cheat sheets along with taking more notes as needed. 
 

I debated trying the ANCC next but I feel like the pictures, ekg strips, SATA, and extra questions won’t play in my favor… so I’m going to stick to AANP, especially since I’m already familiar with the exam (having taken it twice now sigh). It just sucks that I won’t retest until next year now and the anxiety of failing is already so much higher.  

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I just took the AANP today and failed too ?. The exam has changed and I don’t know where to start or what to do in order to pass this exam. This is my third attempt and I’ve literally tried everything. Please send help. Anyone?

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I’m sorry to hear this. What did you do to prepare?

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I did hollier and read the whole leik book plus all the 726 questions 

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What topics on the exam did you find most difficult? I would zero in on those. Also, I found Latrina Walden’s crash course to be very helpful as well. I don’t remember if I mentioned using it above, but I did do the crash course roughly two weeks before my exam and took notes. I studied those notes daily along with my other notes. For the Leik book, I got a notebook and wrote down the treatments for many of the “common” diagnoses such as COPD, asthma, heart disease etc. once I was done reviewing the book, I reviewed all those notes, and did questions for each topic daily. Maybe change your approach to studying?

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Hi, I just saw your post and I do have a couple of questions regarding preparation for the AANP.. 

Is the APEA Qbank the same as the hollier book that you mentioned ? I tried to purchase the APEA Q Bank but it gave me an option ( assessment, diagnosis, etc..) didn't know what to choose , also, I'm not sure if I should do the APEA Qbank or Sarah Michelle . 

So basically I did read the leik book entirely and I did the questions in the back of the book twice before my first attempt but I failed unfortunately. I also did the FNP mastery about 1400 questions, I thought I was ready but unfortunately I was not.. 

Basically I am looking for a good Q Bank to practice more and more questions.. what would you suggest 

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