Study guide

ATI Proctored Exams: What They Are and How They Work

An ATI proctored exam is a secure, supervised assessment your nursing program schedules to measure how well you have mastered a content area — Fundamentals, Pharmacology, Adult Medical-Surgical and so on. It is taken under a proctor (in a campus lab or remotely through Proctorio), it is timed, and your result is reported as a percentage plus a proficiency level of Below Level 1, Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3.

Which ATI exams are proctored?

Three families of ATI assessment show up in most nursing programs, and the secure versions of all three are proctored:

Content Mastery Series (CMS) — one secure exam per content area. On the RN side ATI lists Adult Medical Surgical, Community Health, Fundamentals, Leadership and Management, Maternal Newborn, Mental Health, Nutrition, Pharmacology and Pediatric Nursing. The PN/VN series mirrors these at the practical-nurse scope.
Comprehensive Predictor — a 180-item end-of-program exam that reports a predicted probability of passing NCLEX on the first attempt. Usually taken in the final semester.
TEAS — the entrance exam taken before nursing school, not a content mastery exam. It can be proctored on campus, at a PSI testing centre, or online with Proctorio.

Each CMS content area also has a practice assessment that is not proctored. Those are open-book by nature and exist so you can rehearse before the secure attempt.

How the exam is scored

You get an individual performance profile: your percentage correct, how you compare with national and program means, the topics you missed grouped by NCLEX client-need category, and a proficiency level. ATI defines Level 1 as just meeting minimum expectations, Level 2 as exceeding them, and Level 3 as exceeding most expectations for that content area (ATI proficiency level definitions). Your school decides which level it wants, whether the exam counts toward your course grade, and what remediation you owe.

After the exam, ATI unlocks Focused Review — the topics you missed, linked to the relevant chapters of the review modules. Many programs require you to complete it and submit proof.

What test day looks like

On campus, you sit in a lab, log in with an assessment ID your instructor gives you, and hand over phones and notes. Remotely, you install the Proctorio extension in Google Chrome, show photo ID to your webcam, pan the camera around your desk, and are recorded on video, audio and screen for the whole attempt. Either way you are usually allowed one sheet of blank paper and an on-screen calculator, nothing else.

How to prepare without wasting weeks

Find out which content area and which cut score. "Pass" means whatever your program says it means — often Level 2.
Test yourself before you review. Answering questions cold shows you where the gaps actually are; re-reading a review module rarely does.
Read the rationale for every item, including the ones you got right. ATI items are written around priority setting and clinical judgment, so the reasoning transfers even when the scenario does not.
Rehearse the formats. Select-all-that-apply, dosage calculation and NGN-style case studies punish people who have only practised four-option multiple choice.
Do the practice assessment last, close to the real thing, as a dress rehearsal.

Practise before test day

Every question on this site is written by us, with a rationale for each answer. Try a free practice quiz or browse the printable PDF study guides for the content area you are being tested on.

Frequently asked questions

Does ATI have proctored exams?

Yes. The secure Content Mastery Series exams, the Comprehensive Predictor and the TEAS are all proctored. The practice assessments that come with each content area are not.

Is an ATI proctored exam pass or fail?

ATI itself reports a percentage and a proficiency level rather than pass/fail. Your nursing program sets the benchmark — commonly Level 2 — and decides how much of your grade it is worth.

How long is an ATI proctored exam?

It varies by assessment. A Content Mastery Series exam is a single sitting of roughly an hour or two, while the RN Comprehensive Predictor is 180 items (150 scored plus 30 unscored pretest items). Your instructor confirms the exact time allowed.

Can I take an ATI proctored exam at home?

Only if your program enables remote proctoring. You need a laptop or desktop with Chrome, a webcam, a microphone and a photo ID — tablets and phones are not allowed.