How to pass FNP boards on the first try
Ok so another major life event--- Miranda and I passed FNP certification boards!!!!!
Alright, I know most people won't read this one, because I'll be the first to admit- its pretty boring. But I figured that I would do blog posts about things I did a lot of research on to share my knowledge so here it goes. Maybe one day someone will use this random information.
Also disclaimer- I don't make any money from this nor do I have stock in any of the companies. This is purely my personal opinions from experience and word of mouth from others. If something else worked for you great! This is just my personal experience.
Registered Nurse Boards vs Nurse Practitioner Boards
First of all lets start off with saying that the NP board exams are NOT the same set up as the NCLEX (the RN licensure exam). The main differences are:
- You have to take all the questions regardless of how well you are doing
-The questions are randomized, they do not get easier or harder depending on how you are doing
-Typically the questions are more straightforward- either you know it or you don't. There's typically not a right answer that's different from the "most correct" answer
- You should spend your time reviewing the content, rather than reviewing how to answer the questions.
- You get your results immediately after you complete the tests- thankfully you don't have to wait a few days for it.
AANP vs ANCC?
Ok now that we've got that out of the way there are two major licensing boards for nurse practitioners- the ANCC and the AANP. You really can't go wrong with either- I've never heard of a company preferring one or the other.
Main differences between the two:
- The ANCC is 200 questions and the AANP is 150
- The AANP does not have any pictures or select all that apply questions
- ANCC has more questions regarding the professional role of a nurse practitioner
When should I start preparing to take the exam?
There's no official start time but I would recommend at least starting by your last semester of school. I know that's a heavy semester and there's a lot going on so it's easier said that done. This test has a lot of information so the longer you can expose yourself to the information the more time it can stick in your brain for you to use at a later date.
When should I plan to take the exam?
This is a loaded question. Some schools allow you to take the exam early before you graduate- as long as you have completed all of your clinical hours. Ask your school if they allow this or not. I would've liked to take it in April but I didn't realize that my school does not allow you to take it early. Sadface.
Otherwise I would say depending on the availability of time slots and how fast your school sends your graduation requirements to the boards, plan on taking it about 3-4 weeks after you graduate. I would caution people on waiting much longer- you are going to want to be done with this whole thing. I would not recommend waiting a long time after graduating- its easier to keep on the studying roll and keep it all in your brain rather than start studying again after you have been out of the habit.
Should I study with a friend?
Yes- if you study well together. My friend in the program and I made a study schedule at the beginning of the spring semester. Each week we would meet and go over a specific body system for that week and focused on our weakness in that particular area. Did we sometimes fall behind? Yes. But we had a schedule and we tried to stick to it as much as possible and hold ourselves accountable.
How much does it cost?
The AANC costs $395 and the AANP costs $315- you do get discounts if you are a AANP/ANCC member. Also you have to send a transcript at the time that you apply and with your official degree. Keep in mind they will not release your test scores to the boards of nursing until they get your official graduation transcript. (So you might take the test in April but the board of nursing might not find out that you passed until June depending on how slow the school is to release final transcripts). Keep these receipts for taxes- these tests are tax deductible.
What should I use to study?
This is a loaded question and I got a variety of responses. Like any other certification exam there are a variety of books/lectures that people recommend. Here are the ones that I heard of or had recommended to me.
Fitzgerald- Many people recommended this to me. Fitzgerald goes section by section, read the material, answer the question. I did complete all the questions but I found the questions to be very in depth and very overwhelming. I would get frustrated because some of the questions would be like "What year did this happen?" and to me that's a waste of a question.
Leik- (pronounced "leak" or at least that's how we pronounced it.)- This was the best book for me by far. Many people recommended this to me. It was the only book I bought new (the fitzgerald I got used from a friend). I liked how it broke stuff up and had exam tips. Be warned though they desperately need an editor- there's a lot of duplicate stuff and contradictory stuff between some of the text and the exam tips. It also comes with online access and 725 questions in the back of the book. Just so you know the online questions are the same questions as the back of the book. The back of the book is randomized questions where as the online questions are grouped by section.
Leik review- I did not do this personally but I had a classmate that paid for the review. She wasn't a huge fan because it was pretty monotonous lecture and there wasn't anything that wasn't already in the book.
Hollier- APEA created a review with Dr Hollier. They do a physical review (pre-covid not sure what they are doing now) which is like a 2-3 day conference in a hotel in a few cities in the US and then there are videos of the review. I was able to get access to the videos from a friend and they were great! I would highly recommend them. Dr Hollier is great at explaining things and getting down to brass tacks about what you need to know and how you should answer. The videos are broken up into about 20 min a piece. Usually on my day off I would clean my kitchen or fold my laundry and listen to one or two of her videos. They are also great for driving in the car if you have a long commute to clinical. It's a great way to study but still be productive in other ways in your life- because it's not like you have a bunch of free time in graduate school.
Walden- I got access to this from another friend (Make friends in graduate school people- it will serve you well). I agree that most of what she said appeared on the exam, but I found her videos hard to follow along with because she would jump from topic to topic. I prefer Hollier, but it was helpful for reviewing things that would for sure appear on the exam.
Barkley- I did have access to his recordings- he does a similar thing to Hollier- a recorded in person review. One of my colleagues recommended his videos and said he really helped her- but I found him hard to listen to. He also is very detailed like Fitzgerald.
AANP practice exam- I meant to do this but my life got crazy and I ran out of time. They are $50 a piece from AANP. I had a friend do two of them and she said they were helpful.
Make flash cards with characteristics only associated with that disease- such as koplik spots for measles, sand paper rash, christmas tree pattern, currant jelly stools etc. That way it quickly associates the characteristic in your head with the disease.
In the end none of these are wrong- it just appeals to different aspects of people's studying. I would recommend going to a book store and comparing the different books and picking one that fits your personality best. I would also recommend doing either hollier, walden or barkley recordings. That way you are reading and listening to the information and the more likely it will stick in your brain.
Other General advice:
Make a schedule and try to stick to it as much as possible. This is your future career make it a priority. Even if it's only a half hour to an hour a week.
It's better to expose yourself to the information a little bit every day/every other day rather than just studying for 2-3 hours on one day. Save the major studying blocks for the end. In the beginning just start exposing yourself to the information.
Learn your weaker areas and review them as much as possible. For me it's skin ughhh.
Take the material and pretend you were in charge of asking the questions and come up with some. You'd be surprised how many questions that you may have predicted that appear on the exam.
Come up with ways to differentiate between diseases- they love questions on atypical pneumonia vs bacterial pneumonia. Or I would always get confused with nephro vs neuro blastoma.
Go with guidelines over practice- there are things you might see done in practice that aren't technically what the guidelines recommend.
Take the exam tips or things you struggle with and make it into a separate document. My study buddy and I made a giant google doc and then printed it out at the end and studied off our problem areas. It made it easer to just study that document rather than hauling the book around.
Low hanging fruit to just memorize that there is a good chance you will see on the exam- cranial nerves (or at least the major ones), Rinne vs Weber test, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tanner stages,
DON'T memorize vaccine schedules- they change too frequently. Instead focus more on age criteria or health criteria for specific vaccines (such as don't give MMR to someone pregnant or less than 1 year old). If you want a great vaccine resource the CDC has a great app!
Remember in the end you only need 62%. Don't get me wrong I love getting A's but this is not the test that you will get an A on. That's ok. Just accept it and move on.
Timeline
Transcript Count: (3)
-1/2021- To apply for the exam
- 5/2021- In order for them to publish my certification- verifying my graduation
-6/2021- To send to the state board of nursing (because apparently the certification isn't enough) for them to process my license application
Hopefully this helps someone in the future!
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