are ATI's rigged?

OHN19 · Feb 10, 2017

My school forces us to do ATI in order to progress. The best advice I can give you is use quizlet. There are hundreds upon hundreds of people that have made note cards for ATI. It will help in the long run.

I feel ATI tries to make you focus on the little things instead of the big things and that is what gets most people.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Feb 10, 2017

OMG - I can't believe how quickly that bizarre "rigged" concept became a thing. I am hearing it everywhere - whenever someone doesn't like results of a process or decision, it is automatically labeled as "rigged" Now, it's showing up here in reference to a nationally standardized assessment tool. Give me a break.

No - nationally standardized assessments are not "rigged". There is no conspiracy set up behind the scenes with ATI to change questions or answers to lower your score. Do you see how bizarre that is?

If only critical thinking would become a thing.

Extra Pickles · Feb 10, 2017

I just completed my nursing program (VN) and i have waited to take my ATI's until the end of the course. WORST CHOICE EVER!!! i have taken fundamentals, mental health, pharm, leadership,ob, peds, and med-surg AND i have not passed one single one. i have gathered tips from other students and tired my own study methods but now im thinking i am not cut out to be a nurse. . i have the knowledge i just cant seem to pass ati's! they seem rigged to me! is anyone else having the same trouble as i am?

Not all nursing programs are created to be equal. Some are very good at preparing students to enter nursing practice and some are lousy. Don't know if you had a great program and you're screwing up the exam for some other reason or if you had a lousy program and you aren't going to do well on the exam no matter what. What kind of program was yours? Do other students have the same issues you're having?

NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2017

What is considered "passing"? We were always required to get at least a level 2 on each ATI proctored. There were usually a small handful of people who only got a level 1 and then had to remediate, but in general, most of us were able to achieve level 2 or 3 without any problem. That said, we took them as we took the courses. So, at the end of the fundamentals semester, we took the Funds ATI, at the end of the peds semester, we took the peds ATI, etc. So it was all fresh in our minds.

So, no, they are not rigged.

umbdude, MSN, APRN · Feb 10, 2017

Not rigged. I loved ATI exams because they're usually considerably easier than my class exams. My ATI scores in each nursing course ultimately matched very closely with the HESI Exit exam that I took in the final semester (percentile rank are almost equal). I did practice tests (usually re-do at least once) and used ATI books as a reference sometimes.

NPPN9 · Feb 10, 2017

That's the same system we have on my campus . Maybe I'm just not focusing enough and worrying too much on the timer :no: now that the classes have been done with I feel like it's getting harder to remember the information í ½í¸© Shouldn't have waited this long í ½í±Ží ¼í¿¼ Don't want to blame the instructors but in my cohort it's always the same 3 students passing level 3 í ¾í´” I should've joined a study group !

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2017

OMG - I can't believe how quickly that bizarre "rigged" concept became a thing. I am hearing it everywhere - whenever someone doesn't like results of a process or decision, it is automatically labeled as "rigged" Now, it's showing up here in reference to a nationally standardized assessment tool. Give me a break.
No - nationally standardized assessments are not "rigged". There is no conspiracy set up behind the scenes with ATI to change questions or answers to lower your score. Do you see how bizarre that is?
If only critical thinking would become a thing.

This would be valid but when it comes to ATI, you can have 2 similar questions that are worded differently (i.e. a 2013 version and a 2016 version) and get completely different answers w/ conflicting rationales. It's not rigged but the quality of education is questionable. ATI is a tricky thing to master. I don't know how I was able to get level 3s on all proctored exams save for two (and those were level 2s -- ain't nobody got time for retakes!). I left each one completely stumped as to the outcome. All I did was practice questions until I had nothing left to practice. Eventually, you remember the conflicting rationales and the crazy, random ass drugs for the pharmacology portion and you get through it.

NPPN9 · Feb 10, 2017

i would like to say i am scoring in level 1 because i keep looking at the timer but the official reason i believe was instructors. they never really prepared us for ATI's. one day before the proctored, they would try to cram us and give us "study pointers." we were not even aware of the proctored exam until ONE DAY BEFORE! my cohort is very much struggling with passing the exams. however, there is always that tiny percentage (5%) in class that always passes them and leaves me wondering what i am doing wrong!

VerticalHorizon · Feb 11, 2017

I would be concerned with the program itself. For one it doesn't seem very smart to do all of the exams at the end of the program, you should be completing them near the end of their respective courses. Secondly if you and most of your class are failing every exam then that means you are not ready for the NCLEX. The purpose of the ATI tests is to show how likely you are to correctly answer those questions during the NCLEX. You shouldn't need to study anything in order to reach level 2 if you passed the course.

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2017

i would like to say i am scoring in level 1 because i keep looking at the timer but the official reason i believe was instructors. they never really prepared us for ATI's. one day before the proctored, they would try to cram us and give us "study pointers." we were not even aware of the proctored exam until ONE DAY BEFORE! my cohort is very much struggling with passing the exams. however, there is always that tiny percentage (5%) in class that always passes them and leaves me wondering what i am doing wrong!

This seems to be the typical issue with ATI. It's just a side note, an afterthought, that instructors may not know how to integrate it into their instruction. That's how it was at my school -- we were expected to do ATI pretty much on our own. We might also have a day where they review "test taking strategies" with us but it was clear that they had no idea what ATI was really offering. Many instructors thought the information from ATI was crap and we would usually spend the rest of the class looking at the poorly constructed rationales and breaking down things in the books that were incorrect, out of date, etc. I'm glad we didn't have to shell out the $2K for the top tier ATI -- ours was just shy of $700. It was a thorn in my side that I'm glad to be done with.

LunaTunaPineapple · Feb 14, 2017

Hey, I believe that having to focus on so many different ATIs at once is the killer in your situation. Throughout our program ATI was intertwined with the textbook curriculum. The end of each course had it's own corresponding ATI, this made it easier because we never focused on more than 2-3 ATIs at a time. I would suggest the ATI comprehensive practice tests, read the rationales, and focus on WHAT they're asking. Best of luck!