Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am hoping that this review will help others who are studying for the FNP exams. My comments are about the AANP exam. I have updated this several times, read through for all the updates. I wish that I had realized that there was an app with the question available in th rap store. I must have skipped over that part. I am reviewing the second edition of the Codina Liek book. There are still too many errors, it makes me question every single rationale that she gives. Maybe that is a good thing since I do additional research but I am almost afraid to finish her questions (I've done about 300 of them so far) because I am afraid that I will incorporate incorrect information instead of learning it right. This is her second edition so she really should have it polished up by now. I bought this because of the lower cost but it is not really a bargain if I learn incorrect information. I really do not have the time to look up every question from sources outside of the book, that's why I bought the book in the first place! If she would at least post corrected questions, answers or rationales (like Hollier does) then this book would be worthwhile. I do not mind correcting the information. But there is just so many things that I have caught that are completely incorrect, not just a typo (for example, she has a question about emancipated minors, and the answer says that a 14 year old with a child is emancipated. Not true, that parent can give permission for procedures on her child, but not for herself because she is still a minor. Also, she still has a question with the correct response as SCC as the most common skin cancer when in fact it is BCC). I know enough to know that she is wrong at least 2-3 questions out of each hundred and at least 1-2 typo typo errors (where you can tell it is a real typo not an incorrect answer). Those questions could make a big difference in your pass/fail success on the exam. If you have already prepared with other reviews and/or books, this is a supplement but do not rely upon it for your final preparation. Update (April 2015): I contacted her with an example of one of the many errors and after the second email, she finally answered and said, "The error will be corrected on the next publishing." By the time the next edition is out, I should already be a NP so this is no help to me! She has a website for her review classes where she could easily post corrections but I guess it is too much work for her to correct her flawed publication! Obviously she takes less pride in her work (and her reputation) than most NPs and nurses that I know (I have even corrected this review because my written review speaks to who I am). Based on her response and the many errors I can only give this book two to three stars. I have now completed her book in its entirety and found the error rate to be consistent through out. She has also failed to update the information and questions to the newer guidelines (those that were already out as of the publication date of 2013). For example, she still has a question about doing a pap at age 20, when the new guidelines clearly state that a pap is not necessary until age 21. The "new" guideline has been out for 3 years now, 2 years after this book was published so it is not so "new" that it should not have been corrected here and is most likely to be included in the board questions. Buy this book and question every single rationale - you will learn a lot, not from her documentation, but from your own studies, and you will integrate the correct information into your knowledge base. This is a good use for her book and you will benefit from the purchase, just don't rely on her answers or rationales. I plan to update this review after I take boards based on my impressions then. I plan to take the AANP boards in late June after finishing the Barkley review course. Update (6-6-2015): I took my AANP FNP boards today and passed, first try. I have not taken the Barkley review yet, that is next week. I will be able to use the review course as my first year's CEUs instead. I used this book (researching any answers that were questionable and correcting the book), Holliers book, and Fitgerald Review book. I also listened to the 2014 Fitzgerald tapes and the 2014 Barkley tapes. I am a visual learner so I felt that the books were more helpful than the CDS. Here are my thoughts. I found Hollier to be the best, and there were several similar questions on the boards as in her book. She covered some subjects that were not covered in the other two books. I went through every single question at least two times, marking down what I got wrong each time and which questions I guessed on. Then I made flash cards and did additional research on any question that I missed both times or had circled as a guess. I did not just memorize the question, I researched what I had thought was right and why I got it wrong so that I understood the rationale and the background for the question. And I carried these flash cards around to prep. This really helped me with some of the more unusual questions. Then I answered the questions for the third time and found that my passing rate was about 95% for the questions. The few days before the exam, I went through and answered any questions that I had guessed on or got wrong (instead of answering all 1200 of them, I focused on the ones that I had questions about). Codina-Liek: there were some similar questions on the test. Look at her "exam tips" and be sure to review them, they were helpful. Know Polymyalgia, arthritica, know pulses paradoxicus, etc. I did see these on the exam. Be sure you research and change the incorrect answers or rationales. I did the same process with her questions, reviewed them 2 times, did research on what I missed or had questions about, and made flash cards. After the third time through, I was at 95% correct, and almost 98% on the ones I did the fourth time. It did help me prep, once I corrected the answers. Fitzgerald: I think her questions were the least helpful to me. I went through them one time, got about 80-85% correct. I did not make flash cards for her book since I only went through most of then one time. I would recommend using the app Brainscape (it's free) for the flash cards. I started on paper and then moved to this app which s very helpful. You make your own questions out, then answer them. You mark them from 1-5, depending on how well you knew the answer with 5 as mastery. The lower marked questions appear more often so that you review them more. It is a great app! I felt that these three books did help me get ready for the exam. They say that you have to review about 5000 questions to adequately prepare for the exam. Well, these books provide about 3200 so it is a good start. If you know them very well (not just the answers but they rationale and paths phys behind the question), say get over 95% correct! then you are well prepared for the exam. I can vouch for this. It m not a good test taker but I did well. The books help because There are always little things that you missed in class or don't remember that they help you to recognize and research. I felt so well prepped for the exam that I took it ever before I attended the Barkley review course. Now I can use the Barkley course for CEUs instead of exam prep, better bang for my buck. I figured I had nothing to loose, if I had failed the exam I would take the review course as my remedial course before retaking the exam. Maybe that helped relieve some of my anxiety. Why did I take the AANP exam? I have several reasons. 1. I don't test well of touchy feely questions, and the AANP is more clinically related. 2. I wanted to focus on clinical components and not add the additional 23% of questions of research, ethics, etc. I wanted to focus on clinical component. 3. I want to be associated with an advanced practice nursing organization, not a nursing organization. That may sound a bit elitist but that is how I feel, I am more than a nurse, I want to associated myself with the AANP, not the ANA. 4. Both tests are hard but the pass rate is higher for the AANP exam. 5. The AANP exam clearly delineates what you to study better that the ANA exam. This helped me to focus on what was really more important. Hopefully these thoughts can help you. Good luck to all who are studying for the exams!