ATI material versus class material

nlitened · Feb 18, 2015

At my school our textbooks do a pretty good job at covering everything that is in our ATI books for this semester (I am in first semester). We have noticed slight differences, but they are few and far between. ATI is supposed to be our "bible". So, for example, if the ATI book uses one range and our book uses another then we go with the ATI range.

I use my ATI books to summarize what was said in the actual class textbooks.

augurey · Feb 25, 2015

Thanks for your response! It was very helpful!

We just took our first ATI. We found a lot of discrepancies in our actual lecture book and our ATI book. We found out a week before the test that there was additional resources we were supposed to be told about 6 months ago. 6 out of 22 students got the required level 2 (For those of us that passed, we have no clue how we passed. Therefore we feel like it doesn't really indicate at how well we'd do on the NCLEX (nutrition questions) based on how we did. I know you don't know every thing on the NCLEX and you use your understanding and foundation of everything you learned).

How did you guys go about learning the things that are covered in the other ATI sections? Fundamentals and Pharm start next week, but we found that (even with practice tests) that we had to know some pharm, fundamentals, and some med-surg (which doesn't start until May).

Our school requires a level 2 or higher in each nursing course to continue regardless of grades. We're trying to figure out how to succeed when we've had questions in areas we've not even had classes in. It would really mean studying and learning every ATI book asap. Which for this one, like I said, we didn't even know we had access to those until a week prior to the test. Some students voiced their concerns and were told to just guess.

I'm curious to see if this is normal, and if so, how do you learn and understand the information from all the books before having an ATI exam. I know the ATI will provide the book and chapter for areas of study, but it doesn't mean that those will what what's on the exam; therefore, you'd have to study the whole book before even taking the class.

If this is normal, how do you do this successfully? I'm just trying to get a grasp on all of this so hopefully my next two proctored in 8-9 weeks won't be as much of a guessing game.

northmississippi · Feb 25, 2015

You better try to learn your class notes word for word and record your lectures if they are only one or two hours a day long.

outside material often confuses you. Your test are geared toward your notes. As for studying for the nclex, being a good student matters more than those nclex books.

augurey · Feb 25, 2015

I would say that maybe 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the class material was on the ATI. There weren't really notes as much as there was just reading through the chapters (which we'd already done). I do record lectures when we're given permission (even if it's just so I can go back and reference something that wasn't clear). The class material was over the lecture book only (which also contradicted a lot of ATI).

The ATI book definitely had much more information (which we go by what is in ATI over what's in the lecture book), so I guess finding a way to learn that material better (as we it's really a self-study book - it's not gone over in class). I think the most difficult part is trying to learn the information from the other ATI books before we've had the classes. I think the only lab values we were provided with in the nutrition ATI was albumin levels, pre-albumin, and the ranges for cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL.

I know some of the values were in the med-surg that we had to know that weren't in our nutrition ATI book. I can't remember specifically which ones weren't in the nutrition ATI, but I know there were actually a handful that were from med surg.

I feel like I only passed my ATI by chance, and I really need to figure out how to fix this since I feel like I learned absolutely nothing, and I really don't want every ATI proctored exam to be like this as it will hurt me more in the end. My actual classes I'm actually passing just fine.

HisKids37 · Feb 25, 2015

I have done well on my ATI proctored exams, and I think the thing that helps me most is the practice exams. As I take them, I read every single rationale (so for every question, I read all of the rationales, for the right and wrong answers). This helps me to understand not only the exact material covered, but how ATI wants me to think/answer. For example, the answer "notify the MD" is hardly ever a right answer, because they want to know what you will do as the nurse. Obviously ABCs and other priority questions can be answered based on correct prioritization whether or not you know the actual material.

augurey · Feb 25, 2015

Oh we haven't even gotten to ABCs yet lol I will say that I know I didn't pass just based on guessing. I'm sure I would have failed if I just literally guessed. It felt like all I did was guess, but I did apply the knowledge I had to narrow it down for most. From everything I've read, it's patient safety first - like if risk of aspiration over giving them a sip of water or something (I know if that even makes sense).

Did you have multiple practice tests or just one? Did you have rationales for both?

We're given a practice A and B. The practice A they open up the rationales, but the practice B they don't. On the B test, we have to get an 85% or higher in order to sit the proctored. The rationales are closed. We're allowed to look up all the answers on the practice, but even with that everyone struggled to get their 85% or better. I feel like it's more difficult when we don't have the rationales (which were opened the day of the exam - and had to be opened later in the day because I re-took it the morning of and didn't have rationales). It makes it so difficult because we have absolutely no idea what we got right or wrong or why.

Back in December, we took the A&P ATI. It was just a practice to get a feel for how it is, and didn't matter what we got. That test was so easy. I scored in the 99th percentile. The way the material was taught made it so much easier to apply what I knew to the test. It gave me some confidence with the ATI. So, I felt that it would be similar for the ATIs that count for the nursing courses. That they'd teach us everything to know, and we'd apply that knowledge in order to answer the questions, which it felt so far off from that.

If that's not how it is, then I really need to find something that works for me. For the next two that I have, I'll definitely use the rationales more for understanding.

I've always been hesitant to ever choose anything that says to notify the MD. It seems like that'd be the "obvious" choice, but I've always stayed away from it for that reason. Because it'd just be too easy to always notify the physician of an issue. The way I look at it is that as a nurse, there is likely to always be an action that needs taken before notifying the MD, even if just for safety or to be sure you know what's going on. But that is very helpful to have that confirmed.