Study Plans · 6 min read · April 27, 2026
If you could make one change to your study strategy that would have the largest impact on your board exam performance, it would be this: stop massing your review into single sessions and start spacing it out over time. The research on spaced repetition — the practice of reviewing material at increasing intervals rather than in a single massed session — is among the most robust in all of cognitive psychology, and its implications for board preparation are profound.
The core finding is simple: information reviewed at spaced intervals is retained far better than information reviewed in a single massed session, even when the total study time is identical. A student who reviews a content area for 30 minutes today, 30 minutes next week, and 30 minutes the week after will retain that content far better than a student who reviews it for 90 minutes in a single session.
Cramming — massing all review of a content area into a single intensive session immediately before an exam — is the most common study strategy among students, and one of the least effective for long-term retention. Cramming works for the immediate exam: the information is in short-term memory, accessible for the next 24 to 48 hours. But it produces poor long-term retention, which is why students who crammed for their pharmacology exam often cannot recall the content when it appears on their comprehensive exam or their boards.
"Spaced practice is one of the most robust findings in cognitive psychology. Distributed practice — spreading study sessions over time — consistently outperforms massed practice for long-term retention." — Cepeda et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2006
The most practical way to apply spaced repetition to FNP board preparation is to build a study schedule that returns to previously learned content at regular intervals, rather than moving linearly through the curriculum and never revisiting earlier material. A simple approach: after completing a content area, schedule a review of that content one week later, then two weeks later, then one month later. Each review should be active — practice questions, self-testing — not passive re-reading.
Flashcard systems like Anki are designed specifically for spaced repetition, and they can be valuable tools for FNP students who want to build durable memory for high-yield facts. The algorithm surfaces cards at the intervals that maximize retention, automating the spacing decision.