Passed ANCC FNP

Published

I just wanted to share my thoughts as many of you are taking your boards soon. I passed my ANCC FNP exam today. In January I sent my application to ANCC and pre-registered to have my transcripts sent from my school to both the ANCC and BON. I graduated on May 11 and my transcripts were sent from my school on May 20th. It took about a week and a half for my transcripts to arrive and be processed at ANCC/BON. I got my ATT from ANCC on May 31st. During this time I decided to register for the AANP exam as well (figured if I failed one I'd have the other to fall back on). AANP processed my application fairly quickly and I got the ATT one week (today) after my ANCC (except you really have to wait like another week to actually schedule exam for AANP as prometric has to give you the identification number whereas ANCC gave me the number immediately...so that was kind of weird).

Before I had scheduled my exam I started reading through Fitzgerald Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination and Practice Preparation 3rd Ed. I also have her CD's as well as Barkley's but really didn't like hearing their voices and I don't do well with auditory learning anyways. One week before my exam I started to really study - I finished the Fitzgerald book - while studying I actually made notes of things I needed to remember or what I thought they might ask me - so I have a huge notebook of notes that I intended to go review but never did. I still think this really helped instill some of the tough stuff. I also did the APEA Q Bank and I think it was helpful although a little pricey. I started to memorize the questions/answers after awhile so that wasn't helpful. 5 days before the exam I bought 5 practice exams from familynpprep.com and I did one each evening after studying - I recommend this! I studied for like 12 hours each day one week before the exam - I did this for NCLEX too and it seems to work for me. I went back through the questions and read the rationales for each one - even ones that I got right. Another thing I did was research something that I didn't know if it came up in the practice exam - terms, meds, diseases etc. I think that was very helpful. One last thing I did was I bought the ANCC book from the ANCC site - it also was pricey but contained extremely valuable information about the dreaded part of the ANCC which was the professional/legal section. At least read the first few chapters if you can as some of the questions were derived directly from there. Unfortunately I did not have time to finish the ANCC book prior to my test, but I actually plan on referring to it for practice as well - it's nice and thorough. I know a lot of people don't want to sign up for the ANCC d/t the legal questions etc. but actually it did not seem like there were THAT many and I think you could use common sense to answer quite a few of them. That being said, the questions that I really had NO CLUE were some of the legal/research ones whereas the clinical ones were pretty straight forward.

WHEW! So hopefully that helps anyone studying right now. I know I was really looking for some udpated information while I was studying and couldn't find much.

ps. my exam did not tell me I passed right away - the screen was blank for a long time then just told me thank you. I had to wait until the lady printed it out and gave me the paper saying I passed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congratulations! Thank you for your post. That is good to know that you took a concentrated week of studying and passed. I take AGPCNP AANP end of June. I will also be in Barkley's live review next week. I have been listening to him and using the same book as Fitzgerald that you mentioned. This past week I have been sick and feel behind on my studying, so I was so happy to read your post.

Thank you. Are you still taking AANP?

Lynn

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi Lynn

I decided to withdraw my application from AANP - don't really see a point in taking it anymore.

Best of luck to you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks so much for your post and suggestions . I am so burnt out from school that I really

Don't feel like studying, but this gives me some inspiration!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi -- can you

Specify which ancc book you bought -- was it the 3rd Ed

Family practice np book? (yellow one)?

Also, what is the apea q bank? Do you have a

Link? I really think I will use the 5

Practice tests

For sure .....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks so much -- this has helped me and a few of my buddies also so much -- do you think

I could skip the apea bank or do you feel it's necessary? I did the fitz review in

Person and also have their 3rd edition book, plus now the ancc book and the 5-test bundle from familynpprep ....but I'll get it if

You think it's necessary ....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You know, i thought it was helpful but not "$150 helpful." I started to memorize the questions and answers which is counterproductive and I saw a lot of the same questions multiple times while doing practice exams. If I were to do it again I would probably not get the APEA Q bank and just stick with the ANCC book (and if you are doing ANCC really study the first few chapters - know the theories and research study models), Fitz book and familynpprep exams. The clinical questions were not super specific - just know the general info about various conditions.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you for the advice! I have 10 days to go and just purchased the familynpprep 5-pack. I took the first practice exam and passed in the high 300's (still need to study the non-clinical items!). I was wondering how well the scores correlated to the actual score you received. Thanks and congrats!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I just ended up buying the paper $49 test bank from them ... I have that and the ancc book and the family np prep tests, so I feel I'm 10 x better able to prepare than before -- again, THANKS SO MUCH for these suggestions ...will keep you posted on my passing.

The ONLY problem now is getting ANCC to release a test date -- I'm SO frustrated with them right now as I have interviews and all they ask is "when are you taking your test??"

Good luck to everyone studying for ANCC ...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In regards to the test scores on familynpprep.com:

Test 1: 368

Test 2: 405

Test 3: 427

Test 4: 431

Test 5: 396

Hope that helps? My goal was to get over 350 on the test because that was the passing score I think...

Soundofmusic: what is ANCC waiting for to complete your application? transcripts? Also, they only release authorization to test every Friday so that may be what's taking a while too...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

THANK YOU for a thoughtful post. I wished everyone that took these large exams would post what you did.

AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENT...GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion