ATI Schools

[futurepsychrn]

For anyone who is planning on attending a school that uses ATI, ask if they teach using ATI material. If they don't RUN don't WALK away from that school. If they tell you its only used to help you as a supplement they ARE LYING! It is impossible to pass without them teaching from ATI material, and nearly impossible to pass even with ATI books to study. There is so much difference in what is taught and the ATI. There is not a lot of material in the ATI study guides they give you that appears on the ATI tests. In my opinion, this having to pass ATI tests to continue after you have already passed a class is very unfair and places undue stress on students. If I already worked my butt off to pass the class and maintain a 3.0, why should my whole school career depend on the test at the end of the module that has material that has not even been taught? Ugh! Beyond stressed and disgusted

[IrishgirlinUSA]

They are tough but I passed all mine at a level 3 or a high 2 only 1 question away from 3 (pharm) and 2 questions away from level 3 (maternity). By the time I got to Peds I realized use the book through class. Its what I mainly use with my recorded lecture and slides to fill in what's missing. Then 2 weeks before exam I read it again. Do all questions in the back and write notes on each chapter. The practice tests I use after I study on my own and it usually tells me where I stand then I do I focused review. The only way to do well on these tests is read the book. At least once back to front with all questions. Then read again. People I know who just for the practice tests never do well. They help but in my opinion only after you already studied. There are things on the proctor exam that test your critical thinking. They are not in the book. I know people struggle with it, but I find using them for class helps because break it down, and reading twice is a sure fire way to get a level 3 or 1 or 2 questions away from a level 3. Don't just think of it to pass the test, use it to help you pass your class. It's all I use for medical surg and pharm and I got As in both. Don't get discouraged. Just use it throughout and read the book twice. Don't just rely on the practice and you'll be fine but do them but don't think just doing them will get you a high 2 or 3. Only reading twice will do that.

[AntiATI]

My take on this topic is simple;If a school uses ATI to decide student's success in their program, I think it should be fair to state it from the beginning (registration), instead of being slicky about it. Although I'm still progressing in the program (currently about to be in my last semester), I still find it to be very unfair that our success depends so much on ATI; I know many students that maintain a critical score of 80 and up all through the term (in all the quizzes), but because of not passing the ATI most of them fail the class (bearing in mind you can only repeat a course once in most nursing schools). In that scenario, does it mean the students weren't good students? The answer is obviously no. So why make me do all the crazy assignments, study all the materials in the text, and be at a critical of 87, then just because I failed the proctor by 1 question (the proctored questions by the way were  nothing about the actual course, maybe 30%), then my critical drops to 78, and some students find their critical dropping below 76 which is scary. The proctor in my opinion should only carry about 50 points not 120, which makes it a "do or die" affair. Thumbs up to those that do good in proctor, many of us have to work and school at the same time, so we really don't have that much leisure trying to read all ATI books from fundamentals to public health in and out (while also being demanded to study the actual textbook in order to pass the class).

 

 

[londonflo]

14 hours ago, AntiATI said:

Thumbs up to those that do good in proctor, many of us have to work and school at the same time, so we really don't have that much leisure trying to read all ATI books 

In my teaching experience, it is not those who have the most 'leisure' time, it is those who make the best use of the time available to study...even if they work and have children.

Do you have a 'skills study' department at your college? Meeting with them, even if only once or twice, can really help with time management and support. You will also have someone to talk to who understands how tough and rigorous studying nursing can be.