Passed Adult AANP Certification Exam

[casias12]

I am not sure how many people are taking AANP compared to ANCC. I passed it, and thought I would take a few minutes to share some thoughts.

1) The exam was much better than the books. I used Fitzgerald and Leik. Both were older editions, so many of the questions regarding guidelines were outdated.

I didn't really like Fitzgerald book very much. She tries really hard to be obscure, and often her answers added more to the confusion. It was valuable spending 20 minutes looking for the source of some of her answers. Leik is much more to the point.

2) I initially went through the 500 questions in Leik, and scored about 60% - cold. When I moved on to Fitzgerald, I took the questions first, scoring about 50-60%, then read the rationale that followed. I think a lot of her rationale was goofy, so I used Epocrates and emedicine to cross reference, and went directly to the guidelines from AHA, JNC7, etc, when it was appropriate.

3) Then I went to APEA. I took the first predictor exam - 57%. Now I am thinking I am a loser. Studied hard on the weakest subjects, and took another one. 76%. Now we are onto something. Studied again, another one, 81%. The questions were almost all unique, except for a few repeats.

4) Learned cranial nerves, antibiotics for all of the major disorders (CAP, UTI, Diverticulitis, AOM, Strep A pneumonia, lady partsl infections, STD's, etc. Studied anemias and thryroid disorders. Maneuvers and signs, red flags.

5) When I started out in the exam room, I used the scratch paper to write down all of the antibiotics I had memorized with their corresponding disorder, and wrote down the anemias and their corresponding lab values. It woke up my brain and gave me a cheat sheet to speed up my decisions.

Summary. My test was heavy on female disorders, thyroid, and dermatology. All subjects I think should be removed or lessened on an initial certifying board. It was very light on cardiology, had some respiratory with spirometry, and a few cancer questions.

Very little on governing, licensing, ethics, or health promotion. Almost no neuro. Too bad, I like neuro.

So that's my take on it. 5 years work for a 150 question exam.

[l'infermiere]

I really appreciate all the posts on here regarding the exam and wanted to give my feedback as well.

Just took my AANP exam and passed it. I had both Fitzpatrick and Hollier (APEA) CDs. I listened to both in their entirety but found myself going back and using APEA more. I preferred her style and the accompanying handbook. I also found the Leik book to be excellent as well as the Fitzgerald Cert Exam book.

I took two practice test with AANP first time 69, second time 74 about three weeks apart. They seemed similar. I also took two APEA test and scored in the low 70s. It was suggested to me by a classmate who had recently passed the AANP as well to use AANP-FNP(dot)com website for practice tests. I found them to be really good and similar to the test. They give an explanation as well unlike the AANP ones. It is also cheaper, $50 for 5 tests (100 questions) vs $50 for one (75 questions). I scored 67, 69, 71, 71 and 74 on these.

I was nervous that I was not scoring higher but really felt burnt out and just wanted to take the test and give it a shot. One thing to point out, not that anyone wants to fail but you can only take the AANP exam twice in a CALENDAR year (Jan 1 to Dec 31) according to their website so I figured if I did fail I could take it again before December.

All the topics that have been pointed out above are the same ones I had on my exam.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[colbymama]

So I just took my APRN ANCC boards yesterday and was unsuccessful at passing. In order to prepare for them I did take and use Fitzgerald which I felt did not help me at all on this test. The questions were very different and the "common things" were not even on them. It was very heavy in management, ethics, and drugs I had never even seen before in my 17 years as an RN. Not at all what I had thought in an entry level exam. I also used about 4 other books including LEIK and a website Familynpprep.com which i thought the questions were better. I think by reading these I might sit for the AANP exam instead. It was my original choice and then switched. Although I am devastated now, I will pick myself up and give it another go!

[GXavier]

I just passed the AANP Adult Gerontology cert exam. I would rank it a 8/10 on difficulty. I found about 15% of the questions to not accurately test an individuals knowledge of the particular subject because of the situation presented and answer choices. My advice is to go into the exam realizing that some questions you really can't prepare for and do not let them unnerve you. The majority of the questions will seem familiar, but the answers can be ambiguous. Some were down right easy and straight forward. With adequate preparation, it is doable! However, I can also sympathize with those that didn't pass because some of the questions were obscure scenarios and seeing those questions could easily shake your confidence. I suspect that anxiety is the reason some of us have trouble passing. Stay strong and believe in yourself!

[KimWangen]

I found this site when I was studying for my FNP certification and found it helpful, so wanted to give back. I passed the AANP certification exam on November 12th first time around. There was 150 questions and none of them were on leadership, policy, or theory. They were all practiced based with many questions on medications and derm. I graduated from my program in May 2013, but bought the Fitzgerald review book in January 2013 and started reviewing every night before bed-did maybe 10-20 questions a night with rationale; I took the Fitzgerald review class in April of 2013, purchased the Fitzgerald CD's and started listening in earnest at the end of summer (I took the summer off to regroup and get my sanity back after 5 years of grad school). I also bought the Winland review book at the review course and went through all the questions with rationale, then purchased the Leik review book and went over that completely (very good book, concise and to the point). I also reviewed current guidelines on HTN, diabetes, COPD, asthma, hyperlipidemia; went over women's health and the bethesda system for cell classification;mens health with emphasis on BPH and STD's; reviewed psych conditions and drug treatment; reviewed my derm book and treatment for common derm conditions; reviewed drug classes and treatment/side effects. The test was more difficult than I expected but I did OK, passed with a 692 out of 800. I would say maybe 35 of the 150 questions were straight forward fact based questions with the rest needing time to reason out the answer based on all the information given in the question. My advice would be to get to a review class early while in school and start going over review questions, a few every day, and concentrate on your weak areas. Get more than one review book as they all approach practice a little differently. I probably reviewed around 4500-5000 questions over a 10 month period and can honestly say, if I wouldn't have studied as much as I did I know I wouldn't have passed. I just want to thank everybody who contributed to this blog because it gave me the study advice I needed. Hope this helps someone out there-Good Luck!!

[wlaa]

Congratulations on passing.

[Coops mom]

Sorry

[Coops mom]

Getting ready to take Adult in one week any helpful hints for last week of studying. Any thing to focus on. Huge test anxiety here.

[acuamay]

I promised I would leave some useful pearls on the ANCC ANP exam that I just took this afternoon - and PASSED. I read some of these posts and some blogs to get an idea of where I was standing in regards to test taking strategies and though the ideas vary, there was always a common thread.

1) I took the Margaret Fitzgerald course in June of 2013 and didn't study once I graduated in late August. I started looking over some old notes from classes, but they were too diffuse. I then signed up for the exam in early December and gave myself a few weeks.

2) Because of kids, work and drama, I couldn't really start studying till about a week before and it became my one priority (ok, after the kids, family and work).

3) I spent at least 4-6 hours a day re-reading the Fitzgerald book and test exams, but I was getting overwhelmed. So I went to the Liek book, even though I heard that it favored FNP exams more so than ANP. That info was wrong. The Liek book was fantastic, as well as the Fitzgerald info.

4) I managed to do 200 test questions a day for 5 days. Only from three sources: The Fitz exam book, the Liek book and the apea.com site (I only bought the 5 pack practice exams for the ANP exam).

5) I am a horrible test taker and had great anxiety. I tried to relax but couldn't, so had some water and crackers 15 minutes before before and took some hard candy in with me (in my mouth, they don't let you carry in anything). It was a bit noisy so I used the headphones to block out and that was the BEST thing I could have done. I read and re-read the questions at least twice. I marked those that I thought were hard, but I ended up NOT CHANGING answers!

6) I thought the questions were hard, but not insanely hard. I have to be honest and say if your schooling was decent, you will say that this Board Cert exam was better than your class exams for your NP! Some of them were so isnaenly easy that I thought there was something wrong with me.

7) Topics? EVERYTHING: from 16 year old with STD to the 93 y.o. with arcus senilis. Ethics, research, beneficence (and all that), health promotion, QI and CQI, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, justice, malpractice, everything here felt like at least 30% of the exam. Not one area was spared. BUT, the perception is from one of an outpatient setting in clinical practice, not acute inpatient or otherwise. Think like you are the only NP in that practice and what would you diagnose and how would you treat?! What would you say to the Chinese man? The African American teen, the Hispanic middle aged man...Cultural emphasis certainly!

I hope this helps. Nothing helped me except being VERY positive (Leik does that whole chapter on staying positive and being in charge of yourself and saying I WILL PASS. That saved me, I have to be honest). And so I Passed. And I hope all of you reading this will too. I know you can do it, too! Good Luck!

[phillycpnp-pc, MSN, RN, NP]

congrats on passing

[Chris_Tea]

I just wanted to share my exam experience with those colleagues stressing out there! It is possible, I passed! After failing both the ANCC and AANP exams I truly thought I was a looser...my 3.9 GPA was not helping and I could not figure out why I couldn't pass this exams...Reflecting upon my failures, I realized that my program curriculum wasn't as strong as it should have been (forget about the 45K it charges on tuition fee) and that the review I took (Barkley) was only bits and pieces...the books were ok (Filzgerald and Leik) but I needed the structure and the actual test environment simulation. After searching the web, asking around and reading blogs, I came across national healthcare institute review for FNP, I called them and the actual program faculty called me back (Surprised because I called Barkley when I failed and never heard from him...so much for money back guarantee) He explained how the program works and truly convinced me that with a full self-paced online review and over 1000 sample questions with rationales I could do this...I when to their website and registered www.nhinstitute.com let me tell you...the best money spent in my entire nursing career...no only the review was amazingly complete but the questions were SO similar to the actual exam that I found the board exam very easy this time around...I just wanted to share this with you because, just like you, I spent hours looking for hope online until I found it...message me if you have any question...good luck

[CrystalTomesHeady]

I just failed and fell like a failure. So you think that site helped you? I will definitely check it out. I did the area review but also thinking about the Fitzgerald. I'm speechless right now.

[lhflanurseNP, APRN]

Chris_Tea, thank you for sharing this information with us. I will definitely save this information for when it becomes my time. Thanks again!