Board Exam in Holistic Nutrition

[Stephanie]

Hello,

Has anyone recently taken the Board Exam in Holistic Nutrition?  I'm part of a study group looking for some guidance.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fleaf]

Hi, Stephanie:

Although 2008 is apparently not "recent", I also participated some on the committee that reviewed key exam questions and discussed the exam competencies after the Beta testing and Analysis were completed.  Much attention was put on improving the revised Study Guide that is available from the HNCB for the purpose of supporting the success of prospective Exam takers.  

I assume that you and your group have acquired the available Study Guide.  If not, then that is the best next thing to do for yourselves.  

Relative to my personal studies, I went over every quiz and exam I had ever taken during my nutrition studies.  I drilled myself on the basics and reviewed the key concepts as outlined in the study guide.  Study groups I have heard about would have each participant take responsibility for one or more key competencies and/or physiological concepts.  That person would do extensive study and prepare detailed review materials for the group.  This might take the form of Q&A flash cards, visual aids (eg: illustration/graphs of Krebs Cycle etc.) and other ways to both drill one another and share the heavy lifting so that the review process is less overwhelming and more fun.  

I hope this helps you and your group.  Happy studying.

Fern

[Stephanie]

Fern,

We do have the study guide and are going through the key concepts from each domain.  We started with Domain 2 "Fundamentals of Anatomy, Physiology & Biochemistry", a little overwhelming to say the least.  Thank you for your response! Back to my studies.

[RamyaR]

Hi Stephanie,

I am currently preparing for the board exam with a few other NC friends of mine. We just started the process, so I cannot offer much guidance but I would suggest that you start out by choosing topics that you already know. Like Fern suggested, the quizzes and our study material have loads of information. Perhaps you can shelve new topics for later.
I have decided not to get intimidated by the sheer size of some of the recommended books. There is no way that I will be able to read all of them!! The key concepts are the ones we need to focus on and honestly, the Bauman textbooks and slides are so comprehensive that I will be mostly referring to them.
Last but not the least, see how much weight is given to each topic and dedicate time accordingly. Perhaps one of you can initially spend time organizing and making study timetables.
I think it's going to be fun preparing for this exam. Good luck to you. I hope you feel less overwhelmed as time goes by.

Ramya Ramakrishnan M.A., N.C
Holistic Nutrition Consultant

[Ali (Aiello) Lemaitre]

Hi All,
I just wanted to share my experience with the board exam in hopes that it will help you.
I took the exam in April of 2012....and...I passed!

I finished the NC program in Dec 2011.  I studied on my own, at least 2 times a week from Feb - April  (and btw, was 8 month pregnant during the test, so you can have other things going on in your life & still make it work   I created a weekly study schedule based on the NANP study guide booklet - that helped to keep me on track & made sure I covered most topics.

Going into the test I can't say I was overly confident...more so I was just neutral.  I really had no idea if I was prepared enough for the test - the NANP study guide is so broad that it was hard to know if my studies & Bauman skills were going to be enough.   And in truth, I found the exam to be quite challenging.  Despite having done quite well with my Bauman studies,  I walked away from the board exam truly questioning if I had passed.

For my studies I reviewed all Bauman quizes (FON & TN/NC). 
I mostly used the Bauman powerpoint slides to review the information that came up in the quizzes, occasionally used the Bauman handbooks, and frequently used the Elson Haas book recommended by the NANP, "Staying Healthy with Nutrition"  (I loved this book...and wish had been part of the Bauman curriculum).

And of course I used the NANP study guide.  The study guide itself was a little disappointing...I felt like I had to pay $$$ to get NOT a lot of info or guidance about the test  (there were only 25?? sample questions & a huge list of topics to study).  That said, I probably could've paid more attention to the study guide and focused more time on the Nutrition in Practice topics - yes they are huge topics.... but on the test I found questions regarding, for example, rosacea... I don't recall having studied that at Bauman, but it was definitely on my exam.  Other conditions that I hadn't recalled studying at Bauman were also on the exam...but they WERE listed in the study guide... so I guess it's best to follow that study guide, daunting as it may seem. I don't think you have to know deep details about each condition in the study guide... but more so a general overview.

The test was a mixed bag...some of the questions I felt like I would've known without my Bauman training, some I definitely needed the Bauman training, and some I just didn't know at all (I'm not sure if I missed those topics @ Bauman...or if they were just topics included in the NANP recommended reading... which I definitely didn't complete.... they recommend a lot of books!)

The good news is that the combination of what I did know beforehand, learned at Bauman, and learned in my studying for the board exam,  all added up to be enough!!  Even in light of the questions that I just didn't know the answers to, what I did know was enough! 

Challenging for me, yes... but I'm proof that you can do it!

I actually enjoyed the structured studying & it helped me to review all the good stuff covered at Bauman.   It was good to have the motivation to review & pull it all together. 

I'd say do your best to study the topics in the NANP guide, and review Bauman materials.... you're probably not going to know it all, but from my experience, you'll know enough.  Good Luck - you can do it!



 

[Marlina E]

CONGRATULATIONS ALI!!!

And thank you for sharing your test experience with the Bauman community!  I know this will be valuable and helpful information to others!