Has anyone used ATI to study?

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I was just wondering if anyone has used ATI to study for the NCLEX, and if so did it help you at all or was it a waste of time.

Thanks for you input!

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Hello. I go to a "new" college in Northern Kentucky where they rely heavily on ATI for testing, but won't teach/lecture it. We are expected to pass ATI on the "self-study" program.

I am seeing a difference in the ATI questions versus the Stern NCLEX-RN review. The NCLEX questions I have seen seem "easy," which makes me even more nervous. (I hope to take NCLEX-RN in April/May/June 2008).

I will check back - I'm curious as to what the more experienced people will say. Thank you for asking the question.

P.S. Do we go to the same school near a racetrack?

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Thanks for your reply! I go to a nursing school in Idaho. I too will be taking the NCLEX-RN in may/june of 2008 and we are using the self-study ATI. I personally do not like it but if we do not meet the proficicency score we can't graduate until we do, even if we pass our regular classes. I wish boards didn't have to be so stressful!!!

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

My school used ATI and before graduation we had to take an ATI predictor that I found very helpful as it showed me the areas of content that I was weak in, and I used that as a guide to prepare for Nclex.

I swear by ATI.

FYI I passed boards with 75 questions.

I didnt get too into the ATI self study during school, I took the ATI tests at the end of each semester, but didnt really pay attention to the printouts. BUt after taking that predictor test, I used ATI mods to study for boards and wished I would have taken better advantage of ATI during school.

Good luck,.

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Specializes in ICU, SDU, OR, RR, Ortho, Hospice RN.

Hubby does practice online ATI tests and he says that they are most beneficial. :)

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QUESTION!!! We use the ATI small handout books and get like demo CD's. Also we have to take the end of semester ATI test's and pass them to move on. Okay, here's my question, is there like a review tests that we can take online without messing up our school test? I really like to review areas before a test in med surg and just wondering am I missing something that could really help me? It would be nice, thanks for any input.

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At the new school in Northern Kentucky near a racetrack, the Director of Nursing receives a few practice codes and tests from ATI for each particular class. The first code is a practice test with a practice password. The second one is the actual test. The third one is used for remediation. I am 8th term, and over Christmas break, we were "finally" given a list of tests to take over break. It was necessary, because 4th or 5th week into the term, we had our first ATI exam - if we did better than 70%, we did not have to the second ATI week 9 (or we could take it for funsies). *I believe for a fee* you can purchase practice tests from ATI. Some of the discs with the book are too generalized, I feel, and I feel a pharmacology disc would have been useful.

The gripe we have at our college is 1) if you don't pass ATI with 50%, you flunk the term, no matter what your attendance, clinical grade, test grades, papers, & presentation grades were like. You have to sit out and go through hoops to get back in class in 6 months. A few have already had that experience. 2) Other colleges have Hessi, and you don't flunk the term if you flunk Hessi, you just take the test over again. 3) The college decided to do this midway through the program, without grandfathering anybody. Our credits don't transfer anywhere else. (Adding to the stress of the already unhappy campers!)

I've noticed that the ATI questions will ask things that you *KNOW* you haven't read in their book or heard on the disc; they wish you to think it through clinically. The days of multiple choice with one obvious answer are over.

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Well at my school according to the book we use we can go onto www.prenhall.com/burke and review content on all chapters in the book and do review questions that you can print out and it will score you and give you a rationale according to the answer you chose. Hope this helps. I am in Med/Surg II also.

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TO: Racing-Mom4

I swear at the ATI!

And I called Borders Books today and ordered the Saunders Comprehensive NCLEX-RN 4th ed, as suggested in another post. I'm picking it up Tuesday.

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Hi,

The school i attended for my ADN relied heavily on ATI as a preperation tool for NCLEX, I felt as though it was not a great tool as the information in the books was geared for the ATI tests only and the tests were not really like the NCLEX. Also the ATI exams and predictor were a false sense of security as they all had the token answer to select to be correct about 80% of the time, very unlike the NCLEX exam. So all in all I would avoid it unless you have no other materials available to you.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.
TO: Racing-Mom4

I swear at the ATI!

And I called Borders Books today and ordered the Saunders Comprehensive NCLEX-RN 4th ed, as suggested in another post. I'm picking it up Tuesday.

WOW...I also used Saunders and Davis ( my favorite) as well as Mosbys to prepare for boards and tests in school. What I liked about the ATI was it outlined exactly the areas you were weak in, and then you could concentrate your studies in those areas. ATI only gave us extra points at end of semester if we scored in a certain bracket. Our school didnt use it as a tool to hold us back. So we didnt have that stress to deal with. ATI was very content oriented, so it did help me in that arena.

I would start with ATI, see where I was then use the other disks to study, then I would take the ATI again and see if I scored higher.

FYI our school bought ( with our tuition fees I am sure) all the codes , so we had about 30 or more practice tests to use some ranging from 30 questions up to 265 questions. Some of the practice tests would give us the correct answer immediately while some of the other test never gave us the correct answers, it would just grade it and tell you 78% but not what you got wrong.

I think every one needs to find what works for them. I just liked having ATI in my bag of study material.

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At my school we used ATI, took the predictors and the whole thing, but I did not think it would be enough to prepare for NCLEX, so I took Hurst review and passed it at 75 questions.

ATI is good to use as an extra tool, but not enough to prepare for "the beast"

Best of luck!!!!!

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