Faculty Toolkit
Help your students achieve success when applying for an APRN certification examination with ANCC!
Apply
Help students navigate through the steps to ensure success.
Student must:
- Create an ANCC account.
- Request school to submit official transcripts and Validation of Education (VOE) Form. The VOE must be completed by faculty.
- Be sure to fill out the GAP Analysis form, if necessary. This is needed for post-grad certificates or post-grad doctoral degrees and should be sent together with the student's VOE form.
- Complete application.
- Await their Authorization to Test letter, then schedule the exam through Prometric.
- Study for exam using the study aids available on each APRN certification webpage.
- Take exam. Results are available immediately after testing.
- Students become ANCC certified once they pass the exam.
- Renew their ANCC certification every five years.
Students may apply prior to graduation. If they decide to do so, they must:
- Create an ANCC account.
- Request school to submit unofficial transcripts showing all required courses have been completed along with Validation of Education (VOE) Form. The VOE must be completed by faculty.
- Be sure to fill out the GAP Analysis form, if necessary. This is needed for post-grad certificates or post-grad doctoral degrees and should be sent together with the student's VOE form.
- Complete application.
- Await their Authorization to Test letter, then schedule the exam through Prometric.
- Study for exam using the study aids available on each APRN certification webpage.
- Take exam. Results are available immediately after testing.
- If a student passes the exam, they will not be ANCC certified until they have submitted their official transcripts with degree conferral information to ANCC headquarters.
- Renew their ANCC certification every five years.
Recommendation for students:
- Apply for verification so it will be ready as soon as they become certified. The first one is free.
Where documents should be sent:
|
Mail |
How to Display ANCC Credentials
ANCC recommends the following order for displaying credentials:
- Degrees (list highest to lowest)
- State license
- ANCC credential
- Nurse Practitioner (NP)
- Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP → AGACNP-BC
- Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP → AGPCNP-BC
- Psychiatric-Mental Health NP → PMHNP-BC
(Across the Lifespan) - Family NP → FNP-BC
- Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
- Adult-Gerontology CNS → AGCNS-BC
- Specialty
- Nurse Executive, Advanced → NEA-BC
- Other nursing or nationally recognized credentials
- Fellowship
Getting Ready
ANCC offers the APRN nursing certifications in five nurse practitioner (NP) specialties and one clinical nurse specialist (CNS) specialty. Each certification web page delivers eligibility criteria, online application, and exam preparation resources. For more information, please visit the Our Certifications. Each certification provides a number of resources to help students achieve success! Check out the:
- Test Content Outline
- Test References
- Sample Questions
When ready, students can schedule a time and place most convenient for them to take their ANCC exam through the Prometric website.
Retesting
Students may retake a certification exam as soon as 60 days from the last testing date. All candidates who retake the exam must submit a retest application and meet eligibility requirements in effect at that time. They will be given a new 90-day window for testing.
Students have three opportunities to successfully pass an exam within a 12-month period. Here is how you can help them succeed.
Successful tips for retesting:
- Compare the areas that the student needs improvement in to the Test Content Outline in order to determine which areas need additional focus.
- Encourage your students to use ANCC study resources in areas where improvement is needed. These resources are located on the left hand side of each certification page.
Maintain
Renewing an ANCC Certification
Renewing an ANCC certification demonstrates a continuing commitment to life-long learning. ANCC certifications are renewed every five years. We make every effort to notify certified nurses of upcoming renewal dates. However, it is the responsibility of each nurse to be aware of his or her expiration date and submit renewal documents on time.
Encourage your students to store their professional development activities in their ANCC account. It will make the renewal process easier.
ANCC recommends renewal applications be submitted up to three months before the expiration date to ensure seamless certification.
Verify
Verifying Student Certifications
Exciting News! ANCC now offers the option for faculty to log in to the APRN Faculty Veriification Portal and check their students’ certifications for free.
Contact us at certificationoutreach@ana.org to register and set up an account. The following information is required to set-up the initial account:
- Full name of primary faculty contact for the school/university
(First name, Last name, Middle initial, if any) - School Business Address
- School Email Address
- Phone Number
Please Note: The school email address that you provide will be the designated User ID for the APRN Faculty Verification school account. It must not be an email address that is already associated with another ANA/ANCC account (for example a personal account).
Content Expert
Make a Difference in Your Specialty
ANCC is looking for Content Experts to help develop nursing certification exams. Gain invaluable experience and make a difference in your specialty as you earn professional development credit towards your own certification renewal.
Additional Faculty Resources
- Accreditation Status of your Academic Program
If you need more details specifically related to the CCNE or ACEN accreditation status of your current program (Master’s or Post-Graduate), we encourage you to review the CCNE and/or ACEN websites, directly: https://www.aacnnursing.org/CCNE or https://www.acenursing.org/. If you are planning to enroll students in or have students ready to graduate from a post-graduate program and your school does not have the fully aligned track of the same program, please inform ANCC via email at APRNValidation@ana.org, so we may schedule a conference call to discuss prior to your student’s graduation.
- Annual ANCC School Aggregate Data Information
The aggregate data reports are generated on an annual basis, usually at the end of the 1st quarter the next year (for example, we anticipate official 2019 aggregate data reports being available by the end of March 2020) and routinely forwarded (via hard copy) to the dean, director or program chair of each school registered with AACN (the American Association of Colleges of Nursing). ANCC has a policy, in order to protect confidentiality, to only generate reports for schools that have had a minimum of 3 or more graduates to (1) graduate and (2) test within a given year. For example, if your school had less than 3 graduates for calendar year 2019 to test in calendar year 2019, there will not be a report generated.
School requests for a copy of their specific program’s aggregate data report must be sent in writing to Certificationoutreach@ana.org
- ANCC School Code Listing -Request to be Added/Request for School Name Change
Schools/Universities requesting to be added to the school code list, or for official school name changes/updates, must complete the ANCC School Code Add_Change School Name Form. The completed form must be submitted electronically to CertificationOutreach@ana.org
The school code listing designation makes it easier for your APRN graduate students to correctly select their school name from the scroll list under “My Education” on the ANCC online application system. The school code designation is also a unique identifier for your ANCC school aggregate data report information.
- APRN Faculty Webinars
ANCC extends to APRN Faculty and graduate students complimentary webinars on topics relevant to their APRN certification journey. Please send an email request to CertificationOutreach@ana.org to schedule these complimentary webinars.
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