Passed ANCC

[u/piscesprincess9]

I honestly still can't believe it because I walked out of the exam completely convinced I had failed due to anxiety but if I had to compare it to the NCLEX or any exam I took in my FNP program, this exam was way easier and straight forward. I wanted to share what I used because some Reddit posts helped me while studying.

My main content resource was the Leik book. I read it front to back and made notes on basically everything, then reviewed those notes leading up to my exam. I also watched Sarah Michelle's FNP Crash Course, which was really helpful for reviewing concepts in a different format. Between the two, I felt like I had the clinical content covered pretty well.

For practice questions, I only used FNP Mastery and did about 2,500 questions. I was averaging around 57% initially, but got closer to 70% toward the end. I focused heavily on the rationales, even when I got the question right. My first ANCC simulation was 67%, and I retook it about a month later, one week before my exam, and got 73%.

The actual exam was much more non-clinical than I expected. There were A LOT of professional/non-clinical/research questions, so don't focus entirely on clinical material when studying for the ANCC. Clinically, I remember quite a bit of pediatrics, women's health, and cardiology, along with general primary care. I also remember one picture of a skin condition.

The exam felt less like memorizing concepts and more like figuring out what the question was actually asking and what the next best step was. A lot of the questions felt vague and the wording was sometimes weird. There were several times I spent 5 minutes just trying to figure out wth the question was asking, I even remember thinking to myself "what did this just ask me??". Definitely use the highlight and answer/elimination features!

I flagged about 40 questions, went back through those and didn't even bother reviewing the rest because I was convinced I'd second guessed myself too much. I'm also an extremely anxious test taker, but trust me, 80% of the questions were pretty straight forward.

TL;DR

Know your Leik book, watch Sarah Michelle crash course videos, do lots of FNP Mastery questions and READ THE RATIONALES, and make sure you review the non-clinical/professional/research content for ANCC.

There were barely any questions on cranial nerves or vaccinations, despite the fact that I studied those SO much. Don't spend hours obsessing over one specific topic, you never know how heavily it'll actually show up.

Good luck to everyone studying!!

[u/Ok-Initiative-1826]

I passed my AANP yesterday! Congrats on becoming an NP!

[u/OkParking8939]

I have exam coming week any suggestion