Some states lump together the nurse practitioner in the RN license, some states don’t. And also some places you like California, for example, you have to apply for an additional registration number to be able to prescribe. So this credentialing step happens at the state level and refers to your license.
In this article, we’ll review what the AANP and ANCC exams entail, compare the two certification processes, and offer advice on which certification is best for you. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners is abbreviated as AANP. It is the largest and only full-service national professional membership organisation for all species of nurse practitioners.
Also check out our ANCC FNP Exam Question Bank & Practice Questions. Allnurses is a Nursing Career & Support site for Nurses and Students. Our mission is to Empower, Unite, and Advance every nurse, student, and educator.

Facial nerve palsy can occur for various reasons, the most common being Bell’s palsy. Some other common causes include stroke, Lymes disease, trauma, or even diabetes. This nerve is often the first nerve compressed when there is any increased intracranial pressure (ICP). However, more common causes include vascular disease (diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis) or trauma. To test the trigeminal nerve, you are testing their facial sensation.
Our mission is to provide the support and resources that NP students/new NPs need to follow their passion. This informative monthly newsletter features news you can use for the exam and once you are in practice. Every issue includes a Certification Q&A to help you prepare for the exam. Dr. Fitzgerald practices at a federally qualified health center in Lawrence, MA, where for more than 3 decades she has provided family, primary, and urgent care.
If anxiety is high, then thinking is not clear and you will not be as effective when problem solving. Uncontrolled anxiety can disrupt your ability to focus and stay calm. While you may not be able to completely eliminate feelings of anxiety, you can reduce their intensity as well as their impact on your test performance. After completing each set of questions, whether it be a practice set at the end of a chapter or a Mini Prep Test, stop and reflect before you move on.

Practice, practice, and more practice!

The content of the questions is also a major difference between the AANP vs ANCC. AANP is 100% clinical, so it is going to focus on assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation. As stated above, the ENP test is a bit different and does have some non-clinical questions. The cranial nerve assessment is an important part of the neurologic exam, as cranial nerves can often correlate with serious neurologic pathology. This is important for nurses, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals to know how to test cranial nerves and what cranial nerve assessment abnormalities may indicate. This becomes especially important when evaluating potential new strokes.
Please note that there are various alternative methods of obtaining your NP including direct-entry programs and RN-MSN bridge programs, but I will not be going over these within this article. Additionally, this article compares master’s prepared NPs vs master’s prepared PAs. Of course, there are many NPs who obtain their Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP), but that will not be talked about in this article. Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) are an integral part of the healthcare team. They both perform very similar jobs, oftentimes the same one!

Understanding what these two exams are and what the certifications cover may assist you in selecting the program that best fits your career objectives. Kaplan’s review approach starts out with a didactic overview of tested areas; each chapter is then followed by a set of practice questions. If, after reviewing a chapter, the information sounds familiar and you answer the practice questions readily, the topic is likely an area of strength and you can get by with a cursory review. If, after reviewing a particular section, the content is not clear or you struggle with the questions, you likely need further study. Pull out your textbooks and review that specific content area.
Overstimulation of the vagal nerve can drop the heart rate and cause syncope, termed vasovagal syncope. Activities that stimulate the vagal nerve include bearing down, holding breath, carotid massage, or extreme fear or stress. To test the facial nerve, you must assess the patient’s facial expressions.
When a patient has diplopia (double vision), it is often due to a unilateral lesion on this cranial nerve. In most cases, third nerve palsy resolves over weeks to months. The optic nerve is the second of the cranial nerves and is responsible for vision. This nerve transmits signals perceived in the retina and cones of the retina to the occipital lobe. This is commonly tested within the clinical setting and for a variety of presentations. This dosage calculation step by step course will help all new and experienced nurses specially nursing students.

NCLEX Study Guide

They focus on the management of patients and reflect the blueprint for each specialty’s certification exam. While the exam is difficult, using the Fitzgerald textbook in tandem with the BoardVitals question banks is an excellent way to prepare. Given the cost and time involved in having to re-take the exam, it is worth the time and effort to study upfront. While the AANP exam generally sticks to mainstream topics, there are a few esoteric concepts that you likely haven’t reviewed over the past couple of years. Two weeks before my exam, I took Holliers predictor exam.

There was also the pressure from the fact that most of the FNPs in my area were ANCC certified and it was prestige issue. We capture data about every interaction you have with our platform. Our analytics and AI help us diagnose why you got questions wrong and help you improve faster. Everyone on our team has a top score plus incredible teaching ability.

Billing and Coding for Nurse Practitioners: 2021 Updates

The online material included new information and two practice exams, which I took after completing and reviewing all the material again. I choose the Fitzgerald live review course because, as I already stated, I like to be prepared. This course has a reputation as being “more than is needed for the certification exam.” But I don’t see it that way. The Blueprint platform captures data on every interaction you have with the course. We analyze your performance across dozens of metrics, and we also learn about your own study preferences. We don’t just know what questions you got wrong – we know why you got them wrong.
So I decided to just use it as a guide to review the systems that I score low on (50-60%). I actually took the last one just because I paid for it two days before the exam and scored a 79% so I felt a little better. Really do not know if I recommend this at all but like I said, it made me review systems I scored low on. I took Amelie Hollier Review course right after I graduated (end of February, 2017) and found it very helpful. I went over her book (the one provided for the review course) once more (closer to the exam date, which was around the beginning of May).
This allows you to plan a timetable for different areas of the ANCC FNP Exam or the AANP FNP Exam and schedule time for areas that require additional review. Don’t worry if your exam is in less than six months; keep reading for helpful hints, and we’ll get you there! The important thing is to take whatever time you have and plan your studies carefully and realistically. The exam’s content varies depending on the specialisation you’re pursuing, but it generally assesses your ability to evaluate patients, diagnose conditions, and develop treatment plans. Some specialisations may also address patient communication, ethical decision-making, and legal compliance concerns.
Please note that the examples in parentheses are not all-inclusive and do not indicate importance. For family nurse practitioners, it’s not quite so simple. Many nurse practitioner students know exactly which board exam they’ll be taking because there is only one NP board certification that corresponds to their specialty. One thing I would strongly recommend is taking the two practice exams, the Family as well as the Adult-gero exams offered by AANP on their website. It actually redirects you to the PSI website (who is the ones that schedules and administers the official board exam). They are suppose to be retired questions but I swear I had similar if not verbatim questions seen on there.

I also don’t like alternative question formats, so a normal multiple-choice exam sounded perfect to me. I didn’t foresee any problems with having my AANP nurse practitioner certification vs an ANCC certification, and I haven’t experienced any drawbacks. There is one local hospital system that prefers ANCCs, and they explicitly state so on their job applications. Nursing students are known to use plenty of flashcards to learn and retain information.
Total raw scores are converted to a scaled score ranging from 200–800 points; a minimum score of 500 is sufficient to pass the examination. If you haven’t heard of UpToDate – I don’t know how you made it through NP school! This medical reference database is the GOLD STANDARD of medical information for Providers. While I’m working, I often use this to quickly reference drug dosing information and renal dosing considerations. You can just scroll down to the bottom, check out the algorithm section, and viola – suddenly you know just what to do for your patient with hyponatremia of unknown etiology. If you have a bit more time on your hands – you can read through articles more in-depth related to literally whatever medical topic that is relevant to your clinical practice.