I got a level 1 on ATI, feeling bummed....

[shoegalRN, RN]

I got a Level 1 on my ATI for med-surg. I am feeling bummed out. Although I passed the class, I feel like I should have atleast scored a Level 2 since it predicts how you pass NCLEX. I am not a good test taker. I can study for hours and won't get no higher than an 85 on my tests. I just can't see myself passing nursing school and then getting to the NCLEX and FAILING. I just CAN'T see this. Does anyone have any test taking pointers for ATI? I studied for hours for that test, walked in feeling confident, only to come out with a 63.3%. I knew the material like the back of my hand, studied the areas they said I should focus on, and for the life of me, can't pick the right answer to save my life....

I plan on taking Kaplan to help me with my test taking skills. Does anyone else have this problem?

[NFB2008]

We take ATIs at our school too, and if it makes you feel better, many graduates who have since taken and passed NCLEX say that ATI is way harder than NCLEX. They also say it isn't really anything like NCLEX.

[b43tands]

I am the same way. I know my information and I am a great nurse in clinicals. Have you heard about the Virtual ATI. They work with you and have a personal instructor to help you. I personally bought 4 NCLEX books and I'm just going to keep my head in it until my test (June 30th). Goodluck to you! Do that self talk thing and tell yourself you can do it!!

[PennyNickelDime_RN]

We are required to do ATI's at my school also. I agree that from what I have heard, ATI's are much more difficult than NCLEX. Don't feel too bummed about scoring a Level I. Just make a point of studying for NCLEX with Saunders or Kaplan or other resources. I have heard Kaplan's questions are the closest to NCLEX questions from my friends that graduated in December. All but 2 students passed the first time with 75 questions.

Good luck!!

[RheatherN, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

i did enuf to pass on the ATI's, but never put much heart into them. the predictor that i took at the end, i did really well, but i actually tried. i didnt study, just went in on my knowledge raw. we have also been told that the ATI's and Kaplan review are much harder than the NCLEX. i am taking kaplan next week, i have been doing online stuff from the QBank, holy heck almighty, these questions are harder than i have ever ever done!! but i have an instructor that told us they are much harder than ever, but not to worry.

talk to an instructor, see what a few of them say.

[deleern]

for what it is worth. take the information that is generated from that test. It will tell you where your weakest points are and focus on that.

Last year I got passing scores in the class room but scored in the mid 70's for the ATI predictor that put me at a 99% chance of passing the NCLEX this first time

as you can see I did pass with a Big Issue on my mind. (the Birth of my grandaughter!!!!)

[mzjones6]

No one and I mean no one, except for a few crazy people (and I"m not calling you crazy by any means) in my class, takes the ATI seriously. My school is still taking the HESI, but they're switching to the ATI and decided to test the ATI exams on us, the accelerated class. Half of the content on the ATI is stuff we never covered in class, or it wasn't emphasized so we didn't really know it. The ATI books they gave us in the beginning are worthless. They set the benchmarks very low because they're not sure if they even want to keep the ATI. I've heard all of the above, the ATI is not necessarily indicative of how you'll do on the NCLEX. I personally see the exam as busy work for us.

[LovingNurse, BSN, RN]

I didn't feel crazy when I took my ATI predictor seriously. I did very, very well on my predictor & what that did was give me confidence that I was quite ready for NCLEX. Also, I had two really weird questions on the NCLEX that I knew the answers to, only because I saw them in the ATI material.