PNP acute care exam-passed!

[tryingtohaveitall]

Yay! I took my acute care pediatric nurse practitioner exam last week and passed it! I have never been so nervous about an exam in my life. NCLEX and the CCRN were a piece of cake compared to this. Whew. :cheers:

I saw a recent thread asking about how to study. Yes, it was tough to know how to prepare since there is a dearth of acute care PNP materials. Honestly, I wasted way too much time with primary care PNP books. The test was very focused on acute care with very little primary care. I had a few materials from courses that friends took from HLA years ago. I did pay for the PNCB practice test and felt like that was worth the money. Though it did shake my confidence since that was VERY hard. Many PNP friends recommended using the Harriet Lane to study, and I did think that was helpful. GL!

[elise08]

I took the PNCB practice test. I am so glad you told me not to be discouraged because I only got 48/75! Despite your advice, I am still freaked out by this and wondering if I should postpone my exam. I am usually a good test taker but this exam is giving me so much anxiety..especially because I have a job offer that pends on me passing the first time.

[tryingtohaveitall]

ITU. I am a good test taker as well and this test stressed me out like no other. However, I just did a little better than you on the practice exam and I did much better on the real test. I thought the PNCB practice test was a bit ambiguous with some answers whereas the actual exam was pretty straightforward.

What is your nursing background?

[elise08]

I am glad to hear that the real test is more straightforward. Someone in my class who just passed said it was pretty straightforwar also. I have 4 years general pediatric floor experience (with specialties in nephrology, ortho, trauma). you? and are you working as an NP yet?

[elise08]

Just wanted to let you know that I took the exam a couple days ago and passed! I really appreciated your advice to stop focusing on primary care stuff so much. It was definitely acute-care focused. I don't know yet (not sure if they do tell you?) how well I actually did as far as how close I was to the pass/fail mark...but at least it was good enough! phew!

[tryingtohaveitall]

Yay!! Congratulations! I am so happy for you! I'm glad my advice was helpful and saved someone else from wasting too much time on the PC info.

[zarahabu]

I bought the review manual for pediatric primary care off of napnap website. Is this what you're talking about? It's called pnp certification review. There is a 30 question pre test at the start. ?? Thanks

[Rushgrad2017]

Hi

I know this is an older thread but I am hoping someone will respond to it anyway. I just took my board test today and unfortunately did not pass. I am still in shock and not sure where i went wrong exactly. I will say there were a lot of questions I definitely knew But then there were questions on topics where some I had not even really looked at or some that I definitely had studied but the way the question was written I couldn't figure out the answer . Meaning which one was the best or first priority choice. I am not so sure of course what I missed however these were the ones I struggled with. I am not sure how to get more practice questions as I took both the pncb ones online and failed those as well hoping that was not a predictor of the real exam. I am looking for help and support on where to start from here

Thank you

[anders51]

Hey Rushgrad2017,

Sorry to hear you didn't pass. There is so much information and it is hard to figure out what study and focus on. Also, I guess they changed the test last year to make it harder, since AC-PNPs scope of practice has expanded, so don't be discouraged!

I have not taken the test yet, but the director of our school suggested we use the NAPNAP guide and supplement with the Lippincott Certification Review: Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner book. I take the test in two weeks and then I will let you know how it goes. I also am studying using this website - ac-pnp. It provides some more test questions with rationale. I will keep in touch and let you know if what I used to study worked and if it was similar to the test.

[RWHctr2001]

Did you pass? I have failed twice and I am devistated. The odd thing is I have always been a good test taker. I've never failed a test much less failed it twice. I don't know that I am doing wrong.

[anders51]

I did pass. Sorry to hear your having trouble with this test - some of my classmates are too. I did the acpnp.com questions and supplemented with the NAPNAP book and the Lippincott Certification Review: Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner book. I also went to the NAPNAP review course (where you get the NAPNAP book, but I think you can buy it online as well). Hope that helps! What have you been using to study?

[RWHctr2001]

I've been using all of those things. I went to the NAPNAP review as well, have been using acpnp.com, using all the books, etc. I felt so good about the test this time. I was shocked when it said fail. I'm meeting with my instructors Soon and creating a plan of attack. I will not let this test beat me.

[Goodvibes_pnp]

Hey! I am in the same boat as you :-( very frustrating! have you found any new study tips or resources? I really an agency besides NAPNAP offered an online or in person review course for the exam.