Studying for AANP, PSI vs. APEA?

[kokofnp]

Hello everyone,

I am currently studying for the AANP FNP exam. I graduated late May, took a little vacation and have been studying since June. I originally planned to take my exam at the end of July but after taking the leik exams, which I was scoring 50-60% on almost all, I decided to reschedule and study some more. I didn't feel nearly as prepared. (I wasn't consistently studying during this time either due to getting sick and some life events). I have been consistently studying since mid-August and I plan to take my exam in a few weeks now (end of Sept). I definitely feel more prepared and have been doing well on most practice exams and questions. I have read Leik's book twice, done almost all of her questions twice, used Hollier review, and using FNP mastery for question practice. Doing much better on majority of exams and questions (70-80%).

My concern today is...how similar is PSI to APEA vs. the actual exam?? I recently took my first PSI and APEA exam and scored so differently. Took PSI exam I yesterday and scored 73% (not as high as I'd like but yeah). Took APEA practice test (not a predicator but a practice test with 100 questions) today and scored 50%? The PSI exam seemed to have a lot of material that I've come across constantly in Leik, FNP mastery, and Hollier. However, APEA seemed to be a mix of what I've seen plus a lot of random topics I haven't seen...I was feeling confident until I took this exam today and now I'm concerned.

Is PSI a better predictor or APEA?  

[HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN]

I passed my AGNP (AANP) boards 6 weeks ago, bought neither the PSI nor the APEA exams. So I apologize for the irrelevant response!! 

What I did:

For pure exam-style questions, I bought a 5-test package on Examedge. It was fairly cheap and my AANP passing score was similar to my first attempts on these tests. Examedge probably has ANCC content as well, but the style is AANP. The actual questions on the boards were also short, no more than 3-5 sentences long.

I studied the Leik flashcards for content. Fitzgerald has great content for learning and for practice AFTER licensure, but quite tedious for board-prep.

Don't be disappointed with those scores, they were not true predictor exams. PSI is 75 Qs and APEA is 100 Qs, both random.  The exit exam before graduation is a very good indicator of success on the boards. Good luck!!

[kokofnp]

47 minutes ago, HemOnc said:

I passed my AGNP (AANP) boards 6 weeks ago, bought neither the PSI nor the APEA exams. So I apologize for the irrelevant response!! 

What I did:

For pure exam-style questions, I bought a 5-test package on Examedge. It was fairly cheap and my AANP passing score was similar to my first attempts on these tests. Examedge probably has ANCC content as well, but the style is AANP. The actual questions on the boards were also short, no more than 3-5 sentences long.

I studied the Leik flashcards for content. Fitzgerald has great content for learning and for practice AFTER licensure, but quite tedious for board-prep.

Don't be disappointed with those scores, they were not true predictor exams. PSI is 75 Qs and APEA is 100 Qs, both random.  The exit exam before graduation is a very good indicator of success on the boards. Good luck!!

Thank you so much for sharing what worked for you! I have heard of people who have passed on AANP even while not scoring as consistently on these type of exams… I suppose it’s just nerve racking and gets to me. I’ll keep what you said in mind!