Preparing for NP certification exams can be tough. You don't know what to expect. You don't know what to do. Since so many in the allnurses community have shared their experiences with the NP certification exam (and I think I've read every single one of them) I felt obligated to do the same....
Nursing StudentsNP StudentsArticle
Jul 1 - apply to AANP, transcript + RN license Dec 10 - get AANP letter stating eligible to test Dec 12 - last day of semester Dec 13 - graduation Dec 15 - get ATT, schedule exam for Dec 30 Dec 30 - PASSED AANP EXAM!
I studied throughout my clinical courses but really got down to the nitty gritty my last semester and ESPECIALLY after I finished my clinical hours in early November.
When it came to the actual test I am not gonna say it was easy because it wasn't. There were a few questions I really wasn't sure about. Some I had a faint thought about. Many that I got down to 2 answers. And several that I knew I nailed.
STUDY MATERIALS
Leik - Intensive Review
Very to the point. Easy to get a lot of good information quickly. Some typos and inconsistencies (since when does vitamin K prolong bleeding time on a Coumadin patient??) as others have stated but overall a good $30-40 to spend. 600+ test questions in back also. I scored around 80% on those AFTER I finished my program (read book throughout semester and after)
Hollier/APEA 2014 Review CD's
LOVED these. She made information so easy to remember and I finally mastered the murmurs. I listened to them 3-4 times through (depending on that particular CD's content). Sometimes I used the syllabus too. Often times I just listened in the car. I hated to spend the $420 on these but man...I think they are worth it. Plus you can always sell them to a classmate afterwards and make a bit of the money back.
ANCC Book
I bought this a year or so before graduation. It is pretty good but I liked and used other materials more. This one has some wasted space as some of the information is repeated (symptoms and findings often just repeated each other). If you're taking ANCC this may be of more use but I didn't really use it and wish I hadn't spent the money (I didn't realize AANP existed when I bought this).
Familynpexams.com
I bought a 20 test bundle. They were OK and helped me realize the subjects I was weaker in but some of the questions had typos, weren't clear, repeated, had blatantly obvious wrong answers ("airway" is NOT something that may happen after a lung injury), etc. So these are cheaper than any other practice exams and again they do help you in some ways. But they could use improvement. I scored 60-low 70's in the beginning but by the end was scoring mid 70's consistently. Also even though I chose AANP I still got several non clinical questions each exam I took. It also asked several questions about nursing diagnoses which we never even discussed in my MSN program...
Lastly an issue I found with these is that they may only give you a brand name of a med. I'm sorry I don't know the several brands of lisinopril but I do know LISINOPRIL. Everything I have read about the exams is that they give you a brand name and generic so sometimes I'd totally look up the brand name to give myself a dang chance with the question. My exam did have brand AND generic thank goodness.
APEA Practice Exam
I used the Black Friday code so took the practice exam for about $27. I did like the variety of questions and the breakdown at the end. I scored 79% at the end of my last semester.
Physician Assistant Exam Review podcast
This guy gives fairly short podcasts (15-30 minutes) giving brief reviews of topics on the PA exam. He doesn't go into a lot of detail but does go over symptoms, brief etiology at times, diagnostics, and some treatment options. It is meant to be brief as he reminds listeners but I really enjoyed it. It helped me better understand some topics by getting to the point. Sometimes his intros are kind of long on older episodes so I just fast forward through those.
Dunphy and Brown practice questions book THIRD edition
I went with an older edition to save money. I could tell by some of the "correct" answers. Some of these questions were very small details of knowledge also so didn't seem exactly "entry level" in some ways. Wasn't bad. Just wasn't great. On these questions I scored low to mid 60's.
IF I COULD REWIND:
I would get practice CD's my last semester and listen to them repeatedly. All of the CD sets out there have their fans and I'm sure much of the material overlaps. Personally I would not hesitate to recommend Hollier. Even though I listened to the CD's 4 times through I didn't get bored enough to want to dig out my eardrums....not gonna miss them though LOL.
I would also get Leik again despite some of the issues her book has. Overall it's an awesome value and had some topics I didn't even remember from my program but I DID see on exam.
I would listen to the PA Review podcast because it is absolutely free and did help me differentiate some processes.
The last couple of months before my exam I'd get Q Bank. I liked the APEA practice test and considering the Q Bank has thousands of questions that's a pretty dang good deal. A couple of months of that = $60. Not bad. Then counting the 600+ questions in Leik you're doing pretty well.
I'd also maybe get another good practice question book when I start clinical courses because it is nice to practice questions as you go through each body system in class.
I'd be happy to answer questions the best I can and good luck to all future test takers! We will survive!!
