Exams in Vet school?

[AniSci]

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I tried searching for this topic already, but couldn't seem to find it.

So I'm wondering what exams are like in vet school. My sister went to dental school about ten years ago, and she said dental school exams are horrible--but she also thought organic chemistry was the worst thing she's ever gone through (except for dental school of course 😉 ), and although I thought organic was hard and a pain to deal with, I enjoyed it and found as long as I knew my stuff, I would do reasonably well compared to everyone else. But that was dental school, not veterinary school.

Anyway. What are exams like in vet school? Does it depend on the class/professor/material you're covering? Are the finals always cumulative? What is the formatting like? And the wording/trickiness of them? I've taken a few classes as an undergrad animal science major that are taught by veterinarians, and their exams (while geared toward a different audience and different material) can be surprisingly tricky if you don't read the question right or don't know all the details of what it's asking about.

 

[SocialStigma]

They are harder than anything I've ever taken, including the NAVLE. I'd much rather rewrite the NAVLE than go through 3rd year finals again.

OVC operates on a term rather than semester schedule, which means you have midterms throughout the year and then final, cumulative exams for 8-11 courses in April. We end up having 10-12 cumulative exams in a 2-3 week period, covering material from September-April - pretty much my definition of hell on earth. I'd imagine it's better for schools that are semestered. The exams at OVC are always cumulative and are a mix of short answer and multiple choice, depending on the prof. Most of the questions are formatted to be based on clinical scenarios (ie. here is your signalment and presenting complaint, what diagnostic tests would you run? what is your primary differential? now here is the CBC/biochem, what is your interpretation of that? etc). I don't think any of the questions are written to be intentionally tricky but if you don't know your stuff then you'll have no idea what the answer is. And you need to memorize literally everything, it's not enough to know the "big picture" when you need to give the pathogenesis of a bacteria/virus.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

I tried searching for this topic already, but couldn't seem to find it.

So I'm wondering what exams are like in vet school. My sister went to dental school about ten years ago, and she said dental school exams are horrible--but she also thought organic chemistry was the worst thing she's ever gone through (except for dental school of course 😉 ), and although I thought organic was hard and a pain to deal with, I enjoyed it and found as long as I knew my stuff, I would do reasonably well compared to everyone else. But that was dental school, not veterinary school.

Anyway. What are exams like in vet school? Does it depend on the class/professor/material you're covering? Are the finals always cumulative? What is the formatting like? And the wording/trickiness of them? I've taken a few classes as an undergrad animal science major that are taught by veterinarians, and their exams (while geared toward a different audience and different material) can be surprisingly tricky if you don't read the question right or don't know all the details of what it's asking about.

It will depend so much on the individual school, and the individual class. Even within my experience in one school, or even one year in one school, the difficulty of the testing varied greatly. I had one exam that looked like the questions were taken word for word from lectures, but I had another exam that was so conceptual, it made me wonder if I'd actually ever taken that course.

Yes, you always have to read the question correctly, but that doesn't make the question "tricky", it makes it detailed. Learning to read the question is as important as learning the answers. In life, not just in vet school.

 

[AniSci]

It will depend so much on the individual school, and the individual class. Even within my experience in one school, or even one year in one school, the difficulty of the testing varied greatly. I had one exam that looked like the questions were taken word for word from lectures, but I had another exam that was so conceptual, it made me wonder if I'd actually ever taken that course.

Yes, you always have to read the question correctly, but that doesn't make the question "tricky", it makes it detailed. Learning to read the question is as important as learning the answers. In life, not just in vet school.

I've always been a paranoid test-taker, so I always read the question twice before answering, then again after I select an answer and before I double-check my answer haha! I guess vet school exams vary about as much as normal undergrad exams--I know some universities where some classes that are considered "impossible" at mine are considered really easy.

 

[lei325]

I went to a UK school, so my experience with exams was similar to OVC's way of doing things. Cumulative exams are killer. I'm just glad I don't have to go through vet school exams again.

 

[twelvetigers]

Every class is so different. Multiple choice, fill in the blank, whatever. Stuff that was covered or emphasized. Stuff that was barely mentioned. Stuff that they specifically said wouldn't be on the test. Yanno.

It will be hard. But everyone does it. May as well not fret about it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Every class is so different. Multiple choice, fill in the blank, whatever. Stuff that was covered or emphasized. Stuff that was barely mentioned. Stuff that they specifically said wouldn't be on the test. Yanno.

It will be hard. But everyone does it. May as well not fret about it.

I am gonna have so much fun writing exams!!!

 

[twelvetigers]

You are evil.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

 

[Minnerbelle]

I am gonna have so much fun writing exams!!!

Path exams I found easiest to predict what questions were going to be on the exam because it tended to be the stuff the quirky pathologists teaching the material got most excited about.

If it was a picture that the pathologist seemed to be super proud of, it was for sure going to be on the exam.

 

[DVMDream]

I am gonna have so much fun writing exams!!!

 

[DVMDream]

 

[WildZoo]

 

[Coquette22]

I haven't noticed a huge diference between vet school exams and undergrad exams. Some are multiplce choice, some are short answer, some are super nitpicky, some are out of left field, some are cumulative, some aren`t, etc. They vary by prof and class, just like they did in undergrad. The only really difference is in sheer number (5 midterms and 5 finals in undergrad, versus 8-10 midterms and 8-10 finals in vet school) and in what's at stake (fail in undergrad - retake the class, fail in vet school - retake the year or expulsion from the program). I don't think you can draw broad based conclusions. Other schools might be more uniform.

 

[hedgehogcatcher]

In general our exams have always had a big number of very detailed questions. It's frustrating because you are expected to know a great deal of small details and how they fit into the big picture as well as clinical relevance, but the exams are so short that if you didn't study enough you have to cross your fingers what few things you may have missed won't be on the exam. It's way harder to make educated guesses here.
In every other regard it's pretty much same old same old. Just more material per test. Have good multiple choice test taking strategies, pay attention when it's bolded in the notes, double check all the key words in the questions so you don't make reading errors.

So basically, nothing especially or uniquely evil. The evil part is the quantity of material per test and averaging almost 2 exams per week plus quizzes, etc.