April 2025 NAVLE advice pls

[bow4thecow]

Hey guys,

I need a bit of advice. I've just signed up for the April NAVLE, but am lacking motivation. I am having serious difficulty even starting my studying- I think because I am just overwhelmed and don't really know how to start and get into the groove of things.

I go to a vet school in Australia, and am receiving no support by the university because I have decided to take it in April instead of October. I am also the only one in my vet school who opted for April as a result. For many reasons I won't get into, April just suits me better.

I have VetPrep, but my weekly study schedule wants me to complete close to 500 CORRECT questions a week - which is absurd for me since I feel like I know nothing at all. I am trying to align my 3 months studying with my 3 months of intramural 4th year rotations - 2 weeks livestock, 3-4 weeks smallies, 1 week exotics, 4 weeks equine. We start on Monday so I keep gaslighting myself that I'll get into the thick of studying once rotations start, when in reality - I'm already mentally and physically exhausted. I have tried this week on and off to sit and focus on VetPrep, but most I've done is watch 2 PowerLectures and take notes before tapping out, or trying to go through 50 questions (I hit "IDK" instead of confirming my responses because I want to see the questions again so VetPrep doesn't even count those).

I work really well with structured guides, but how do I know what I'm studying based off of the VetPrep questions covers what I need to know for NAVLE? Did you guys study your uni notes first then use VetPrep as a "test" to solidify your knowledge? How exactly did you study/what was your plan? Is 3 months enough? I feel like I'm having to relearn everything from vet school.

If anyone has any advice on how to start and manage between heavy clinics, any free resources/guides, words of optimism, etc., it would be so appreciated. I could use anything I could get at this point!! TIA!

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[pp9]

Hey guys,

I need a bit of advice. I've just signed up for the April NAVLE, but am lacking motivation. I am having serious difficulty even starting my studying- I think because I am just overwhelmed and don't really know how to start and get into the groove of things.

I go to a vet school in Australia, and am receiving no support by the university because I have decided to take it in April instead of October. I am also the only one in my vet school who opted for April as a result. For many reasons I won't get into, April just suits me better.

I have VetPrep, but my weekly study schedule wants me to complete close to 500 CORRECT questions a week - which is absurd for me since I feel like I know nothing at all. I am trying to align my 3 months studying with my 3 months of intramural 4th year rotations - 2 weeks livestock, 3-4 weeks smallies, 1 week exotics, 4 weeks equine. We start on Monday so I keep gaslighting myself that I'll get into the thick of studying once rotations start, when in reality - I'm already mentally and physically exhausted. I have tried this week on and off to sit and focus on VetPrep, but most I've done is watch 2 PowerLectures and take notes before tapping out, or trying to go through 50 questions (I hit "IDK" instead of confirming my responses because I want to see the questions again so VetPrep doesn't even count those).

I work really well with structured guides, but how do I know what I'm studying based off of the VetPrep questions covers what I need to know for NAVLE? Did you guys study your uni notes first then use VetPrep as a "test" to solidify your knowledge? How exactly did you study/what was your plan? Is 3 months enough? I feel like I'm having to relearn everything from vet school.

If anyone has any advice on how to start and manage between heavy clinics, any free resources/guides, words of optimism, etc., it would be so appreciated. I could use anything I could get at this point!! TIA!

I used VetPrep predominantly and looked back on lectures/notes only if I was still confused about something. I think I started in August for the November test? And did roughly an hour a day or less of studying. I did complete all of the vetprep questions, and did them between cases during clinic as well. 3-4 months of studying is probably pretty typical.

I don’t think you, or anyone really, is going to have enough time to review their lecture notes in enough detail while still being efficient with time. Vet school lectures will bog you down in way too much detail. That’s why vetprep exists. Vetprep’s content is literally guaranteed to get you to pass if you do it all so don’t get caught up in wondering if vetprep is prepping you well enough.

Truth is, you’re going to have to hit the books. No way around that, unfortunately. It absolutely sucks, but I’d start with at least an hour a day on clinic days, longer on weekends. Studying for the NAVLE is a marathon.

 

[BigCats]

I took my NAVLE in November and haven't gotten results back yet, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I used the Vetprep power pages intermixed with questions. For instance, I would read the powerpage on pig diarrhea or whatever, then sort the questions so I was only looking at pig gastrointestinal questions. I feel like that helped me solidify what I had read better than just reading, and certainly better than just guessing at the questions and occasionally randomly getting them right. I didn't use any class notes, and I didn't complete all of Vetprep (or even anywhere close- I think it was 40-50%). I think the important thing is to not get bogged down in the Vetprep questions, since it's really not like you're going to get asked that exact question on the NAVLE, but I would skim the comments and see if there was anything useful, like a tip about how to differentiate between two similar diseases.

Also my biggest piece of advice for when you take the NAVLE is make sure you actually read the question!! I can't even count the number of times where the question was a giant paragraph of history and bloodwork results, but the actual question you were supposed to answer (the last sentence) didn't require any reading of the preceding paragraph at all. Like, you don't need to read an entire paragraph about a dog with a foreign body to answer a question asking what is the holding layer in the small intestine. I think efficiency is the way to go, so I'd use the resources where you get the most bang for your buck (powerpages) and answer the associated questions to solidify that learning, then when you take the NAVLE, make sure you're answering the question asked and not getting bogged down in irrelevant details.

Best of luck!!

 

[vetvetvetvet]

Hey guys,

I need a bit of advice. I've just signed up for the April NAVLE, but am lacking motivation. I am having serious difficulty even starting my studying- I think because I am just overwhelmed and don't really know how to start and get into the groove of things.

I go to a vet school in Australia, and am receiving no support by the university because I have decided to take it in April instead of October. I am also the only one in my vet school who opted for April as a result. For many reasons I won't get into, April just suits me better.

I have VetPrep, but my weekly study schedule wants me to complete close to 500 CORRECT questions a week - which is absurd for me since I feel like I know nothing at all. I am trying to align my 3 months studying with my 3 months of intramural 4th year rotations - 2 weeks livestock, 3-4 weeks smallies, 1 week exotics, 4 weeks equine. We start on Monday so I keep gaslighting myself that I'll get into the thick of studying once rotations start, when in reality - I'm already mentally and physically exhausted. I have tried this week on and off to sit and focus on VetPrep, but most I've done is watch 2 PowerLectures and take notes before tapping out, or trying to go through 50 questions (I hit "IDK" instead of confirming my responses because I want to see the questions again so VetPrep doesn't even count those).

I work really well with structured guides, but how do I know what I'm studying based off of the VetPrep questions covers what I need to know for NAVLE? Did you guys study your uni notes first then use VetPrep as a "test" to solidify your knowledge? How exactly did you study/what was your plan? Is 3 months enough? I feel like I'm having to relearn everything from vet school.

If anyone has any advice on how to start and manage between heavy clinics, any free resources/guides, words of optimism, etc., it would be so appreciated. I could use anything I could get at this point!! TIA!

I am going to write a list of things that helped me and what I believe are THE MOST IMPORTANT and key things to focus on for studying for the navle.

- First I created a To do list for every week on my Notes app on my phone and shared it with a friend of mine to help keep me accountable. When I finished something, I marked it done. This really helped me so that I didn’t fall behind.
- Do at least 1-2% of VetPrep per day. 1% of VetPrep is about 52 questions. If you do at least 1% per day, you will hit 80% of VetPrep in 80 days. You can watch the percentage go up for your day to keep track. I personally would finish 100%. I personally finished the small species first and got those questions out of the way since they’re worth less so I could focus on the main 4-5.
- Read the Species and Diagnoses list provided on the ICVA website and dissect it when you study and really know those diseases!! I did this for the main top 4 species and then skimmed over the rest of the smaller species.
- Use Zuku’s TOP 10, TOP 20 for the species and know these!!! I can’t stress this enough. COLOR CODE things, and if you are a visual learner, include photos next to things or draw things to help you remember them
- There are 3 ICVA exams 200 quesruons each on the ICVA website that are timed exams that you can take that are actual real previous NAVLE questions. These are the most similar to the actual NAVLE questions. Two of the exams do not give answers, only one exam gives the correct answers. These exams are very important to go over and know the correct answer and at least know those topics because those are going to be similar topics we will see on the NAVLE. Take one full exam about 2-3 months out and another full exam 1 month out and another full exam about 2 weeks out. Go over these exams in the meantime though.
- Make hand written flashcards on things you can’t remember and believe are important things to know
- Don’t just go over things once, the key is repetition. Have a friend quiz you. Having that recall is what will have you remember while actually sitting down and taking the exam.
- Always make sure to take time for breaks.
- Think like a doctor! The questions on the NAVLE are difficult and can be random, and all of the information you may know on one disease may not even be asked so go that extra step, and think what else could be asked about this…





This may seem excessive to some people, but I had to take it more than once, so knowing what I have been through I am trying to help!




Feel free to private message me as well. I’m happy to help!

 

[BigCats]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the ICVA exams!! My school gave us one for free, which I thought was really helpful. If you can afford to buy multiple, I would take one now and identify the areas you’re weakest in to help guide your studying. Don’t forget that dogs, cats, horses, and cows (in that order) have the most questions! So if you’re doing poorly on dog and chicken questions, I’d definitely prioritize learning the dog topics more. You can still glance at the chicken stuff, but especially as you get more busy with clinics, you’re going to want to focus on the heavy hitters in what limited time you do have. I’d then take another one 2-3 weeks out for fine-tuning. If your score range is solidly in the passing range by then, take a deep breath and ease up (especially the day before… and don’t try to cram the morning of!), and if it’s not, focus on the big four (dogs, cats, horses, cows).

 

[Sami_21]

Does anyone have any resources for studying NAVLE that include tutoring or at least an option to reach out to if there is a difficult topic you aren't getting?

 

[Sami_21]

I saw a service called Vet Finish Line; has anyone ever heard of/used it before?

 

[VetMed1]

I saw a service called Vet Finish Line; has anyone ever heard of/used it before?

No but I used a tutor. Feel free to message me.