Throughout the course of this semester, I took a countless number of ATIs in both Transitions to Practice and in my other courses as well. While the ATIs were not my favorite, I do think they were very beneficial. After taking each ATI I received and Individual Performance Report (IPR) which allowed me to look at a breakdown of the exam and view all the content area that I needed to improve on. The IPR also told me information like my overall score, how long I took on the exam, as well as my average response time to each question. This allowed me to include different testing strategies into my exam taking for future exams such as where and when I should take my exams to perform my best, when I needed to take breaks, and helped me to ensure. I allowed myself enough time to complete the exam thoroughly. While I feel that each exam, I took had individual circumstances and each week varied I think that being able to identify what test taking strategies worked best for me allowed me to improve my exams and feel more comfortable while taking my exams as well. 

Following each ATI exam, I was required to remediate the content that I got wrong, which helped me to identify content areas that I needed to review. I found this to be extremely helpful especially when taking the ATI proctored exams. I found that by using the ATI resources and going back and reviewing the content I missed as well as some of my other nusing resources, helped me to improve my overall scores over the course of the semester.

Prior to taking the ATI exams this semester, I had never taken exams that were so long and included so many questions. Trying to find what strategies, including self-care strategies, worked best for me was a learning curve for sure. Through the ATI exams I learned that I must take my exams in a completely silent environment not surrounded by other people. I also learned that I need to take short breaks throughout my exams to use the bathroom, take a few deep breaths, or event take a sip of water to refresh my mind. I also found that allowing myself the time to complete these exams and making time in my schedule was extremely important. I think a lot of this learning cure for me was telling myself that it was okay to take a short break and breath or stretch and practicing some positive self-talk also helped me a lot as well. I believe that by applying these strategies to my test talking it helped me to feel more focused and less burnt out while taking my exams and overall feel a little bit more confident while test taking. 

I feel that the ATI exams were extremely valuable and helped me to learn a lot about myself as a test taker and helped me to identify areas that I need to focus my studying on going forward. I hope to be able to takes these skills forward as I prepare for licensure and my transition into practice. I hope to apply my skills to a NCLEX review course that I am taking this summer as well as the NCLEX itself.