Pass Psych NP Boards the 1st Time!

Boards. As a nurse, you will take plenty! How do you ensure all the effort, sweat, tears, and T-I-M-E you have invested into your nursing education pays off? How can you take boards the least number of times possible? How do you Pass your Psych NP Boards the 1st time? I’m glad you asked! Read on for my top 3 favorite resources to help you do just that!

You don’t have to take boards, but you can’t practice without them!

How to Pass Psychiatric and Mental Health Care Nurse Practitioner (Psych NP) Boards… The 1st Time!

There is an entire industry wrapped around study materials for nurses at every level. And while there are some free or low cost options, there are some that come with a heavy price tag. Just because you spend big bucks on a resource does not mean it will be successful for you. You have to do a bit of research and some trial and error.

• How do you know what is best?
• How do you know what you can use to help you the most?
• What if you already have some of those resources right now?
• What if some of the top resources could even be used IN YOUR PROGRAM?

Not going to lie – Psych NP Boards were the hardest boards I have taken yet.

There. That’s out.

But I passed… the 1st time. And you can too!

Top 3 Resources to Help you Successfully Pass your Psych NP Boards the 1st time

1. Class resources

• These are PowerPoint presentations from your online modules, handouts, slides, anything your instructor felt important enough to put in print

• If these exist, they are a great clue for what you should focus on and the general topics you should be an expert in (not just familiar with, but know all about)

• Use these in your study group (the good one – the one you selected to be part of) to help discuss the topics more in depth, teach the topics to each other, review with each other, unpack the material. These groups can be powerful in preparing you for boards. For more information on study groups, and how nursing school prepared you for NP school, click here.

• Develop your own Test Guide – if you have multiple handouts or multiple modules in a section, use these modules as a guide to making your Study Guide for your upcoming test. Refine and make notes on them after the test to see how you could have focused better, what information was highlighted or important to remember, etc. Use each of these as your master study guide for your finals. Refine again. Use these final study guides as a tool to guide your study as you review all the materials for the boards.

Following these steps will help you test your understanding of the material through the program, help you build on that understanding, knit all the pieces together, and be a great memory jogger as you prep for your boards.

Many people will tell you to schedule your boards as soon as you can. That is great advice! Don’t get discouraged, anxious, or fearful if you cannot. These resources still help you prep for Psych NP boards & can help you pass them the 1st time!

2. The Purple Book

Known officially as the “Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Nursing Certification Review Manual, Continuing Education Resource, Clinical Practice Resource” from the American Nurse Association (Johnson & Vanderhoef). The “Purple Book”, as it was known by students, was used EXTENSIVELY in school.

What I love about this resource:

• Chapters broken down for the different topics, disease processes and diagnoses
• Chapter One: a simple recap of how to study, and how to use this book best
• Bulleted lists with paragraphs for easy reading and visualization of the materials
• Great re-cap of the information you have previously studied (not a stand alone, learn everything from this one book book). This resource is like a massive study guide that just highlights the important stuff
• Questions, Answers, and most importantly: RATIONALES
• Use during school to help guide further with class materials and test reviews
• Use for boards as a great subject refresher
• Easily integrated with the study guides above and with the next resource below

3. Mometrix Test Preparation: Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Exam Practice Questions

This resource I found by chance shopping online. And it became my most used and highlighted resource!

• Literally a book of practice questions
• The rationales are gold! Some are a paragraph long!
• Read the rationales for one set of test questions (there are two tests in here with over 300 questions combined), Take the other test, repeat the process with the other set of rationales and questions.
• There is no index so highlight and tab away for ease of re-finding specific topics!

These are my Top 3 Resources for studying to Pass Psych NP Boards the 1st time!

How will you incorporate these tools into your study plan?