So excited that this chapter of my life is officially OVER and I wanted to share my resources with you all. I can honestly say that I started studying in May and passed both test in September. I did plenty of questions (approximately 100-200) a day and review rationales like crazy. Thank you everyone who posted their resources which I used to accomplish this task. My study resources included:
1) FamilyNpPrep.com: I absolutely loved this website because you can pick which question data base that you want to study from ANCC or AANP and it felt like the real thing. Most of my questions on the real exam were on this websites mock exams. They had plenty of Ethical, Theoretical foundation, NP role, Healthcare policy/delivery. So if you're taking the ANCC then this is for you. It is also a timed test so you can set the clock to help you mimic the real exam. I can honestly say that it was worth every single dime...I used a discount code that doesn't expire that a friend/classmate gave me (SAVE-SLLT) that saved me 10% on the exams you can buy them in bundles of 5, 10 or all 20. I bought both the ANCC & AANP and I tell you what, I felt totally over prepared using this site because it simulated the actual exam.
2) Fitzgerald's NP Cert Exam & Practice Prep: This book is awesome, but goes into great detail. I also did her live course and I felt like the book followed the course hand-in-hand. Lots of great questions and tips after each subject. Her audio recording is great as well, but if you have them then there's no need to go to the live course because its EXACTLY the same. Save some money and buy the cds. I played these everyday, every where...her voice is permanently engraved in my head.
3) Kellerman's Necessary NP 1000 Questions: This is another great resource. Questions that I came across in this book was not found in any other book or resource that I used. It can only be ordered on her website which is necessaryworkshops.com it is pricey (approx $80), but worth all the money. I sat and did question after question and felt that this truly assisted in my success. The questions are in random subject order and it does also include NP role & theory questions as well.
4) Hollier's Adult & FNP Cert Practice Questions: I liked this book as well only thing is I felt that the questions were repetitive, but helpful because the more you saw the same questions the more familiar you were with the answers. It has 3 Adult exams, 3 FNP exams, 1 Peds exam along with specialty exams in Geriatrics, Men's Health and Women's Health. Good resource overall and she does have live courses as well. I've heard her speak at AANP national conference and she's pretty good.
5) Leik's FNP Cert: Intensive Review: I used this book towards the end of my studying. It really is an intense review because it reviews systems and their disorders and really helped with terminology. The end of the book has 500 questions, but no rationales to the answers. Also some of the information was out dated and I did find some mistakes in the book, but the fundamentals were there and it helped greatly.
My advice is to give your self time to study the material. Although school gave the foundation for our critical thinking we have to practice the questions and understand why we're doing what we're doing. And I truly felt that these resouces helped with that. I failed the ANCC exam the first time in June because I didn't give myself enough time and I didn't utilize all the resources available to me, but after visiting this site and reading bits and pieces of everyone elses advice on how to pass the test, I went into the testing center and both exams felt like a piece of cake. I was so suprised to see questions that I have done at home on the exam...it blew my mind. But then I remembered that I spent time, energy and money preparing so it should feel easy. I also wrote my rationales for questions that I got wrong in a notebook so that I can review whereever I was. That really helped me when I'm studying on the go. And some experts say that you are more likely to remember something that you wrote vs. something that you read. Anyway I hope this helps some of you out there studying for the exams. I really hoped that this review of resources helped.
