Board certification (or recertification) test prep for NPs and PAs

Did you pass the boards the first time you took them?

The Nurse Practitioner Podcast recently featured Margaret Fitzgerald, DNP, for a discussion about “lessons learned” from NPs who fail their board exams.  Dr. Fitzgerald founded Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, a company that offers NP certification preparation programs.

According to Dr. Fitzgerald, approximately 15% of NPs fail their board exams at the first attempt [1].  Similarly, the NCCPA reports that 8% of PAs fail the certification boards the first time they take them [2].

Some great test prep pearls from Dr. Fitzgerald:

• When approaching a test question, almost every question has a “gotcha” answer (i.e. an answer that seems too obviously correct).  She recommends examining the details of the question and considering all of the information carefully before selecting your answer and moving on.  These tests are assessing one’s clinical decision making abilities and how they analyze/synthesize information.  After all, the purpose of the exam is to see if you will be a safe entry-level APP.
• Do not rely on taking practice questions as your primary method of study.  Practice questions are often written at too low level of complexity.  Focus your studying on expanding your overall knowledge base.  
• Expect there to be more than one correct answer for each question.  Look at all of the information presented in the question in order to choose the BEST answer.   
• Don’t label yourself as being a poor test taker or having “test anxiety” – you would not have successfully completed your undergraduate and graduate education if this were true.  One should feel anxiety about taking their professional board exam.  

Dr. Fitzgerald states, “Remember what the anxiety does –  it boosts up your norepinephrine levels, which are all about focus… let the elevated levels of norepinephrine make you feel jittery, make you feel like your heart rate is up a little bit, or you could say to yourself, ‘my norepinephrine levels are up, this is good, this is going to give me focus,’ and use it in that way [1].” 

Remind me to reference this post when I’m up for recertification in a few years!  😉

Nikki Rataj Casady, DMSc, PA-C

email@appcolleague.org