Graduation from a nurse practitioner program brings well-deserved excitement — and for most people, some anxiety. You stand at the threshold of your new role as an advanced practice nurse, yet successfully crossing it may feel as formidable as scaling a mountain.

This article serves as your climbing harness, providing details on your best single strategy for certification exam success. Students who have earned board certification overwhelmingly report that a review course was essential to their preparation and confidence. The right review course provides completeness and comprehension over crash-course shortcuts. Let’s get started.

Essential Features of a Certification Review Course

Certification review courses help prepare new graduates of nurse practitioner programs to pass the national board certification exam for their specialty. To effectively and accurately prepare an NP candidate for success on the certification exam, a review course should include the following 4 features:

1. Comprehensive content: The content is substantive, ties together the important elements of an NP program, and encompasses all body systems.
2. Structured learning: Instructors teach the content using an organized approach that students can follow, understand, and later translate to their study period.
3. Expert guidance: Instructors incorporate their clinical experience into the lectures to provide practical insights and strategies for NP practice.
4. Practice and feedback: Case scenarios, practice questions, Q&A sessions and other reflection activities are woven throughout the course content to build knowledge and confidence.

“A good review course sums up the most important information learned in an NP program and presents that information in a concise and well-organized format,” said Jennifer Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, ENP-C, a nurse practitioner whose clinical experience includes family and emergency care settings. Smith is a nurse practitioner education specialist for Advanced Practice Education Associates (APEA), and she teaches the APEA Live Review Course & Clinical Update for FNPs and AGPCNPs.

Students who don’t take a quality review course can feel overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge necessary to pass a certification exam, Smith said. “Often, they do not know where to begin. The right review course takes students step by step through what is needed.”

In addition to providing thorough information in a structured way, a review course should merge knowledge, critical thinking and clinical judgment, said Kathy Baldridge, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, the lead nurse practitioner education specialist for APEA.

“As a student progresses through an NP curriculum, they build knowledge and scale upward in their understanding,” said Dr. Baldridge, who also teaches the APEA Live Review Course & Clinical Update for FNPs and AGPCNPs. “Then they apply that knowledge in the clinical setting with their preceptors. A comprehensive review course puts a ‘bow’ on these essential skills — it brings knowledge, critical thinking and clinical judgment together.”

How to Select the Right NP Review Course for You

When choosing a review course, Dr. Baldridge and Smith recommend that students thoroughly evaluate each company and select one that meets 5 essential criteria:

1. Experience plus demonstrated effectiveness in helping students pass
2. Comprehensive content that reflects current evidence and current exams
3. Test-taking strategies that teach students how to apply critical thinking
4. Interactive learning and teaching, including Q&A sessions with faculty
5. Additional resources to support your study after the course

“First and foremost, experience matters,” Dr. Baldridge emphasized. “Who will you be learning from? Do they have clinical experience in nurse practitioner practice? Most instructors have taken the certification exam and passed, but do they have the experiential knowledge needed to help you get the most out of your course?”

The depth of the course material is another essential characteristic. The faculty should thoroughly cover the most common diagnoses seen in your specialty and focus on building understanding, not recommending rote memorization.

“Students should choose a review course that is comprehensive and focuses on guidelines and critical thinking,” Dr. Baldridge said. “It is not enough to just ‘remember mnemonics’ — you need to understand the ‘why’ behind what you are doing. A review course that doesn’t answer the ‘why’ will not help you critically think.”

An indicator of the comprehensiveness of a course is the number of contact hours it is accredited to provide. Although students aren’t required to obtain CEs before they earn certification, they should consider contact hours when selecting a review course.

“If the course only provides 17 contact hours, that means that it only reviews 17 hours of information,” Dr. Baldridge said. “Compare that to a course that provides 33 contact hours. That’s about twice the amount of information, and it’s a much better choice.”

Why an APEA Review Course is Your Best Choice for Exam Prep

Now that we’ve reviewed the most valuable elements of a review course and potential red flags to avoid, let’s dig deeper to provide a recommendation. Based on 28 years of experience, the quality, currency and depth of course content, and the skilled faculty who teach, mentor and personally cheer students on, APEA review courses stand out in a crowded field.

Every APEA review course, regardless of specialty focus (FNP, PMHNP, AGPCNP or AGACNP) or delivery method (live, video or audio), provides:

• Established expertise: APEA has been developing review courses since 1997 and has prepared thousands of new NPs to pass on their first attempt.
• Experienced faculty: APEA courses are taught by nurse practitioners who are skilled educators and clinicians. (Meet the APEA faculty here.)
• Comprehensive and current content: APEA releases a new review course each January to reflect the most current evidence-based guidelines and certification exam blueprints.
• Development of study skills and confidence: APEA courses provide detailed study strategies, practice questions and Q&A sessions with faculty.
• Concern for your budget: APEA has maintained steady pricing since 2021 and offers payment plans, early bird rates and group discounts.

Throughout their years of teaching new NPs at review courses, APEA faculty members have heard students express common themes that reflect the impact of the review course on their success.

“Students tell us that the review course brings the entirety of their NP education into perspective so that they can enter the exam with confidence,” Dr. Baldridge said. “They say it ties everything together for them. It’s exhilarating to see the ‘light bulb’ moments they experience.”

Another essential course component students remark on is the APEA faculty’s focus on evidenced-based guidelines and standards of practice.

“Everything you are tested on for board certification falls into one of these areas,” Dr. Baldridge said. “We explain to students that what they saw done in practice during clinicals may not be evidence-based or supported by a clinical guideline. A good review course teaches all of the content in correlation with guidelines, to help students incorporate them into clinical decision making. Our course helps students critically think through questions on the certification exam.”

A third feature that students praise is the extensive resources the APEA course and faculty provide to help students with study plans, test anxiety, and question-answering strategies.

“In addition to guiding students through the material they must know for the exam, the APEA course teaches test-taking and study strategies to increase confidence, reduce anxiety, and ensure they are successful on the certification exam,” Smith said. “We believe we have mastered this recipe. We are passionate about education and board preparation.”

What’s New in the 2025 Review Courses From APEA: More Specialties, More Cities

In keeping with the innovations APEA has made throughout its history as a review course provider and a partner to academic programs, certification review options are expanding for 2025.

In addition to primary care-focused courses for FNP and AGPCNP candidates, APEA has developed a new course for psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners that is available live and on demand. And, APEA continues to provide one of the only on-demand review courses for adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner candidates.

APEA’s 2025 live course calendar includes new specialties, cities, and learning opportunities:

• New specialties: Live webinar courses for PMHNPs and on-demand courses for AGACNPs
• New cities: Onsite course locations include new sites in Atlanta, Miami, Omaha, Neb., Orlando, Saint Paul, Minn., and Oklahoma City, as well as a return to Columbus, Ohio, and Syracuse, N.Y. Popular established destinations such as Houston, Memphis and Nashville are also on the schedule.
• Unique events: With its continuing education partner, Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education (NPACE), APEA is planning a comprehensive primary care and pharmacology event in November in Orlando.

Dr. Baldridge, Smith and the additional 20+ APEA faculty members have carefully planned the course content for 2025 to meet the exam preparation needs of students seeking success in certification and in practice.

“The 2025 APEA review courses are comprehensive without being overwhelming,” Dr. Baldridge said. “For each specialty, the course covers the most common diagnoses that students are likely to see in practice.”

Practice questions are embedded throughout each course, Dr. Baldridge emphasized, and “the faculty helps students pick out key words and characteristics that help determine why the correct answer is correct and why the others are incorrect.”

Students who attend a live APEA Review Course & Clinical Update or purchase on-demand delivery also receive a comprehensive full-color course manual and 200 multiple-choice questions with rationales that reinforce the course content.

“The 2025 course covers the most up-to-date and comprehensive information expected on the certification exam, along with some new features,” Smith said. “Throughout each learning module, students see board-style questions that are categorized into one of the four domains tested on the certification exam. This approach helps them identify and get clarity in areas that may benefit from additional study time.”

What Do Students Say About APEA Courses?

Since the first APEA Live Review Course & Clinical Update in 1997, NP students have consistently praised the course quality, confidence-building teaching methods, and on-point content delivered in live and on-demand courses.

APEA’s live and on-demand review courses consistently receive 5-star ratings. Here are a few recent comments posted on the APEA testimonials page:

• “The material in this course was everything I needed to study and pass.”
• “Great for studying and reviewing for the exam.”
• “Teaching style was very effective and took me beyond what I learned in my classes, yet was not overwhelming.”
• “The whole prep program and the live webinar course were incredibly helpful! The faculty was AMAZING!!!”
• “I feel like I could take boards tomorrow because of this course. Not only did the faculty wrap up what we’ve learned in 2 years of NP school in such a sensible way, they give you lots of tips and tricks to tackle board exam questions.”
• “Thank you for all you do to support students' successes. I appreciate each of the instructors and their willingness to share their knowledge and expertise!”

A review course is a powerful foundation for success on the NP certification exams. When selecting a course, consider factors such as experience, content quality, and interactive learning opportunities. APEA courses stand out for their comprehensive, current content, experienced educators, and proven success rates, making them an excellent choice for aspiring nurse practitioners.

• See your options for 2025 live review courses here.
• Get information about 2025 on-demand courses delivered on video or audio here.
• Interested in pairing your review course with study questions and an exam that predicts your likelihood of passing the certification exam? Read about our exam prep bundles here.

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