You should have developed a plan after your review course for studying based on your identified strengths and weaknesses. If you feel comfortable with the material, consider practicing multiple choice questions. These will get you in practice for the questions you'll see on the exam and help you continue to learn more information as the exam nears. Consider the Certification Prep Exam or APEA's online testing center.

Congratulations! Preparing for the exam is the first step to attaining certification. Since you've been out of school for a while, you're different from the new graduate who is preparing for the exam. Your approach may be different too. If you're working in general practice, you may have an easier time preparing than someone who is working in a specialty area. Consider taking APEA's review course so that you'll get a good overview of the material as well as beginning to get re-focused to take the exam. Remember, you've got to approach your exam with a new grad mentality. I find this hard to do for NPs who have been in practice for a while. Experienced NPs are able to consider many different aspects of a patient's care. Because of this, they ask themselves what I consider to be the most dangerous thing you can say while taking your exam, yeah but.

Take some time to evaluate your scores and re-assess where your weaknesses are. Passing the exam requires more than just mastering the material. You've got to be able to approach the questions and know how to answer them. If you didn't pass the exam, it's likely that your weakness is in one of these two areas. I'm always willing to help students develop a plan to approach the next exam. Email me.