I’ve noticed over the past semester my change in testing habits and strategies. I’ve learned through my Individual Performance Profiles for each ATI Assessment along with my thought process through exam reviews how I’ve improved in my testing. While looking at my individual performance profiles I paid close attention to the content areas with a narrow focus on the NCLEX category. With this narrow focus, I am more attentive and concerned about the NCLEX categories because these categories show which areas I am doing well in and the ones I need to pay closer attention to. For each Individual Performance Profile outcome, overtime my change in testing habits include taking my time on each question, but trying to answer each question in the allotted time the NCLEX gives us. Since I’m taking more time to read each question, I’m understanding the questions better and trying to come up with the answer in my head before I look at the answers. I also credit my improvement in performance on my mindset around the testing environment. I’ve learned that I do best when I’m away from noise and distraction. In the classroom this means I’m away from the door and in the front of the classroom not surrounded by people. I like my own space where I don’t hear or see people getting up around me. I’ve credited this change to my improvement in test taking.

The content gaps through the various ATI assessments were areas that needed improvement. To improve and gain content mastery as well as prepare for safe practice I focused a lot of my time and effort on my ATI remediations. My remediations were detailed and time consuming because I put in the time to understand where my thought process went wrong and understand why the correct answer for the question was right. I believe that the time I took during my remediations helped master more content in areas that I needed improvement. As the semester progressed, I noticed the content areas I would previously be getting many questions wrong in started to become less and less. I appoint this change again, to my focused remediations and time I spent to master the content areas.

Throughout the last few semesters of nursing school, most importantly in this last semester, I found better ways to prepare myself for licensure and practice and this included self-care strategies. Self-care is highly important in this profession and leading up to practice due to the high demand of hours but also the profession in itself. Throughout the semester, I was adopting new self-care strategies such as better time management for assignments and studying. I wasn’t packing in as much on my to do list as I previously was. This change gave me more time to shut my brain off at the end of the night and not put so much stress on my plate after a long day in the classroom. I’m also better at carving out time to not look at content or schoolwork during the day and go for a walk or do a hobby I enjoy. This carved out time allows me to gain back my focus, relax, and then prepare myself to get back to work after. I’ve learned how important school/life balance is in nursing school, and mainly this transitional semester. The importance of preparing a schedule that is manageable and flexible to allow myself to enjoy my day and be present with friends is so important. Balance is crucial to self-care. Due to these changes in this transitional semester, I noticed my stress level decreased, I was finding my groove, doing better on exams, and getting assignments done in a timely manner. I was also planning my to do list, so things weren’t piled on top of each other. I will take these adaptations and new learned strategies into practice because they can all be beneficial in a successful career as a nurse.

There was so much I learned and gained this semester. I applaud myself for not giving up, working hard until the end, and trusting myself and my skill. I know that my growing confidence and skill will help me continue my preparation for licensure and transition to professional practice following graduation. There is so much more to learning and skills to be successful following graduation. To be successful, I also need confidence, trust in myself, hard work ethic, balance, self-care, and patience. All these traits and the skills and content I’ve gained this semester will boost me to my goals in my nursing career. They will aide in my preparation for licensure because I need all these skills to prepare and accomplish what needs to be done to attain my license. Then I will continue to use these skills as I transition to professional practice following graduation, because these skills and traits are important assets to my profession as well as change. This transitional time is a big change. I know with all that I’ve learned and accomplished I’ve grown so much and will do so much with all that I now know and carry with me. For these reasons, I will be successful in my future practice following graduation.