Mr.Bar-be-SubQ

Thanks and as for what I used and feel was the most helpful was the Leik book questions, Fitzgerald questions, and the Hollier questions were helpful. Those combined for over 1400 questions with rationals. And they help you with the wording of the questions on boards which is very helpful as most questions are not straight forward. I covered the Fitzgerald review then went system by system in each book like Neuro in fitz, then leik, then Hollier. etc etc....its mind numbing but thats what worked for me. Honestly what helped me the most with the ANCC was taking the AANP first. I'd say they are both equally challenging for different reasons. The clinical questions on ANCC were more straight forward (less tricky) than the AANP but the non clinical questions were surprisingly ambiguous IMHO. Good Luck!

Update! Just sat for the ANCC and passed it. It was great to go into the test without any stress if I passed or failed. I think that helped alot because I might have been thrown off otherwise. I can see why I've seen people complain about it. That exam was no joke, completely different than the AANP. You have to agree at the start of the test to not disclose any details of the exam. But I can stress what they disclose already on the ANCC website and it is very correct. If you add the cultural questions which is considered part of the clinical questions it is about 50% to 50% clinical/non-clinical so look at theory/research/leadership/policy/legal. Having both sounds good on paper at the very least I will have see if the "strong preference" of the ANCC in a certain group of hospitals around here is true

Sounds like you've gone through content enough...you need need to put the rubber to the road. You know what helped me the most after studying a ton and doubting myself? I was not doing well in the few practice tests I managed to squeeze in and then having my friend, a newly graduated(but very bright) physician say after he went through about 40 questions from a practice test..."these questions suck, I probably wouldn't pass your boards". He said those "chose the least likely result...except" "which is NOT a false statement about..." he said that stuff is not allowed in his med school board exams. All that does is second guess and keep your mind off content in a way that makes sense in a normal persons brain, he said the questions themselves are more important than the content when you have round-about questions like that..so play that game and do a ton of questions. That is what I did. (I think doing many questions early in board study doesn't really let you practice pulling content out of your head if it...isn't there yet. So after many weeks of content, content, content. I completed about 1,200 questions with rationals (reviewed the ones right and wrong) the last week before boards and nothing else. Timed myself in stretches of 100 to 150 questions and keeping log of scores, visualized being in the test center etc. Good Luck! p.s. in dealing with test anxiety, my dad is a natural holistic healer...well paid hippy...and gave some actual good advice over a Skype call i used in the exam. He said keep a "totem" by you at all times when you study, something small you can look at when you want to freak out, get tired, get all negative Nancy etc. (mine was a fridge magnet souvenir from a really great trip) you end up glacing at your totem so much, even if you cant take it with you in the test center, you can still visualize it fully when you need to calm your nerves, which i needed to do half a dozen times in the test. I even drew a picture of my totem on my scratch pad next to my cardiac murmur mnemonic.

Thank you for the reply and answering the question. I will hopefully be able to schedule a time this week then and knock it out. Another selling point is that the nerves will be non existent which will be a first for anything having to do with boards.

First, I apologize if this question has been asked before but I tried to do my due diligence to search before asking this question, hopefully someone can help or clarify. I am a recent graduate and passed the AANP(yay) and was wondering if there is any penalty if you take the ANCC & for some reason do not pass AFTER passing the AANP?. Does that somehow negate the passing of the AANP? I really hope this is a dumb question as I'm pretty sure it doesn't but I obviously don't want to risk even it unless Im completely sure. In case you're wondering why I am attempting this...before you ask...I already paid for both boards and went through the entire application process (just in case I didn't pass the first time) but I would still like to be double certified as I'm finding there are a few places in my area that prefer the ANCC. So if i pass, great, if i dont, thats ok too, im ok with losing out of the smaller amount refunded money. Just wanted to make 100% sure I didnt get in some circumstance that, for lack of a better term, screws me. Thanks for any help.

I'd like to edit: i meant like Truman a hardcore icu, not like Truman a "for profit" without the missing comma it reads differently

to answer your questions as best i can 1. ku...didnt call back... yeah pretty normal, they hire from within and this city like the many others is on an unofficial freeze. 2. research ICU is the flagship of HCA a pretty hard core ICU like truman its "for profit" up side is great facility and equipment but from what I've gathered they dont like "transition" nurses, like to get you right out of school. But if your young and persistant that helps. 3. sure you could but like anything just saying days only could cut your chances in half since CC likes to start new peeps on night. 4. pay is varied. i do know that HCA(research, overland park ect.) is the only area hospitals that actually gave raises to staff during this ression. Sign-on bonuses are hard to come by but i did see some for 8k ones for med surg as recent as last fall. low to mid 20's to start with differentials possibly taking it to close $30 for HCA. VA has amazing benefits after 3 years you basically get benefits as if you yourself served. heard mixed things about pay from KU and St lukes. p.s. dont look at their websites just call and ask, try to get to the directors if possible alot of times by the time it gets to the website the job is already filled and just doing it for protical to say they advertized it.

check the unit out before you apply...some units are night and day even on the same floor. but I agree it is taking a turn for the better. whats being lost is that HCA-midwest in this metro area is and has been attemping to get not-for-profit status. and will likely achieve it soon in the coming years.

ndaewg- and myself just graduated from the AO!!!! yay and i wonder who is nursetobe09?? your 35 so i might know ya too;). it has its share of ups and downs like you's expect a 12 month BSN to go.

My GF just got me a Murse t-shirt (with a man holding a specimen cup saying"I'm gonna need a sample of that",which i thought was funny as heck with many lol's. So thats how I feel about it, its a word.

I was from an Accelerated BSN RN this past year. This was a second degree to all of us. And it was 65 total= 8 men about 12.5% all made it to the end:)

I wanted Pediatric Oncology as my goal...chose peds in the poll. I'm currently in Oncology and not complaining