PMHNP-BC, a UWorld Equivalent?

Nursing Students NP Students Nursing Q/A

Specializes in LTACH/Stepdown ICU.

Anyone here know if there's a PMHNP-BC/ANCC module on a website like UWorld? 

I used UWorld for both past NCLEXs and it was worth every penny. Right now trying to figure out everything to study for the PMHNP this Fall. Got the purple ANCC study guide and a new DSM-V. I want to go over a lot of PMHNP/ANCC questions online like on UWorld. Haven't found any so far on Google.

EDIT: It seems like almost every PMHNP group I've joined is either a barren wasteland or is teeming with spammers trying to get you to buy their NCLEX review course when you're already past that. It's starting to feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack a group that's active with PMHNP students. Normally I wouldn't ask this here but I'm feeling slightly desperate to find peers and answers. 

6 Answers

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

There isn't a UWorld-equivalent. The ANCC board exam is nothing like the NCLEX and there isn't any good exam prep. The ANCC question bank (the one with ~100 questions) is the closest to the questioning style in the ANCC board but because there're only 100 questions, it's not a good source for review. The purple book and class notes should suffice for review.

I also used Boardvitals, which is close to UWorld in terms of difficulty and it's a great learning tool for yourself, but it's not very useful for the ANCC exam prep because the questions are nothing like those on the exam.

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.
9 hours ago, Wake88 said:

I'll be starting this Fall, and planning to buy the course books this Spring to try to gain an advantage.

You'll be starting your PMHNP program or starting to prep for ANCC board?

If you haven't started your PMHNP program, it's way too early to study for the boards. If you're going to a decent program and you study well, you probably don't need much review for the ANCC exam anyway.

When it's time to take the ANCC board exam, you should take review courses with Georgette. Felt like school was much harder than the board exam. You'll be fine! 

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.
12 hours ago, Wake88 said:

That's part of my habit, honestly, to start studying for the final exam super early. I did that with both NCLEXs and cleared them both in 30m at 85 and 75. I did over 9,000 NCLEX questions with rationales. Learned during nursing school that for whatever reason I learn best by reading rationales and understanding exactly why I got something wrong, and then drawing connections among multiple questions. For the life of me I couldn't retain knowledge reading all those med-surg pages, but with those questions the knowledge stuck to my grapefruit easier. 

Most PMHNP review courses have test banks that you can purchase or subscribe to. Board vitals provides good rationales but very expensive (~$300 for 6 months) and doesn't really match ANCC question styles. I would pre-read Stahl's psychopharm and DSM before your psych courses. For many, these texts really require several re-reads to sink in.

Good luck!

Specializes in LTACH/Stepdown ICU.
umbdude said:

There isn't a UWorld-equivalent. The ANCC board exam is nothing like the NCLEX and there isn't any good exam prep. The ANCC question bank (the one with ~100 questions) is the closest to the questioning style in the ANCC board but because there're only 100 questions, it's not a good source for review. The purple book and class notes should suffice for review.

I also used Boardvitals, which is close to UWorld in terms of difficulty and it's a great learning tool for yourself, but it's not very useful for the ANCC exam prep because the questions are nothing like those on the exam.

Thank you for offering your knowledge and advice.

Part of me, when eager and anxious, just wants to hunker down and just start studying as much as I can in 30-minute increments. Just spent 6 hours total yesterday studying the purple book, and looking up different screening systems used for diagnosing psychiatric issues. I just want to find (home in on) the best study resources for PMHNP, so I can feel confident in my knowledge base. I'll be starting this Fall, and planning to buy the course books this Spring to try to gain an advantage. There's this ANCC electronic exam bundle online but they want like $275 for it, and you don't get to keep them, so I'm considering buying them and taking screenshots of everything and all the rationales/answers, and convert to paper exam.

I guess I'm eager, and have this nervous (GOOD) energy to just want to dig into it. I miss being in school, and am tired of being kicked around on the the floor. It sounds dumb but I'm so hungry to learn asap.

Specializes in LTACH/Stepdown ICU.
16 hours ago, umbdude said:

You'll be starting your PMHNP program or starting to prep for ANCC board?

If you haven't started your PMHNP program, it's way too early to study for the boards. If you're going to a decent program and you study well, you probably don't need much review for the ANCC exam anyway.

That's part of my habit, honestly, to start studying for the final exam super early. I did that with both NCLEXs and cleared them both in 30m at 85 and 75. I did over 9,000 NCLEX questions with rationales. Learned during nursing school that for whatever reason I learn best by reading rationales and understanding exactly why I got something wrong, and then drawing connections among multiple questions. For the life of me I couldn't retain knowledge reading all those med-surg pages, but with those questions the knowledge stuck to my grapefruit easier. 

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