Archive for tag: exam

Today, one of my best friends from undergrad and vet school, a fourth year named Melanie, takes the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam (NAVLE), arguably the most important test in a veterinarian's career.  This is the test that, if you pass, allows you to actually practice veterinary medicine.  Spread out over about a month in November and December, the fourth year students are divided and assigned a date to take this day-long test.  Now, to be honest, I don't know the details of the test-how long it is, how many sections, etc.  I just know that it covers everything I have been learning these past three years and that I will be taking it in about one year from now.  It is the one part of fourth year I am not looking forward to. Otherwise, I can't wait until I start my fourth year.  For those of you who don't know, the fourth year of veterinary school takes place in the clinics.  For the most part, there i... (Read More)

I hope you all are enjoying this nice cool weather! I know I definitely enjoyed it this past weekend while I was at Wiener Fest. I had so much fun watching the races and seeing all of the dogs dressed in their Halloween costumes. I also had the pleasure of volunteering to represent the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the booth that they had there. My job was to educate the public about our upcoming event, Paws to the Pavement. For those of you who don't know what that is, let me tell you. Paws to the Pavement is a 3k/5k pet walk/run in which all of the proceeds from the event goes to helping the College of Veterinary Medicine's Diagnostic Imaging and Cancer Treatment Center. This year will be our second annual Paws to the Pavement event and it will be held on November 10th at 9 a.m. The walk/run will begin and end in the Diagnostic Imaging and Cancer Treatment Center parking lot (Lot 75). Participants may also dress ... (Read More)

With finals less than a week away, diligently studying (aka "cramming") is pretty much on all of the third year students' minds.  It gets to a point where you attend lecture, but may end up studying material for another class at the same time.  With several semesters of finals behind us, a study strategy has become very important.  Every hour counts. Whether the hour is for studying, napping, working out, or a late night run to Dairy Queen, we are quite aware of how this time is spent. I am sure pre-finals week can be just as frustrating for professors, many of whom will stop just short of standing on their heads to get our attention.  I realized today that as much as students rely on strategy, so do our professors.  Today we got to bring our own dogs to school for our last Small Animal Medicine Lab.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Although years have passed since our instructors had vet school finals week, t... (Read More)

The semester's finally drawing to a close, but there's a few pesky exams standing in between us and a long-awaited break.  Tonight's objective: the final review (ok, let's be honest - last minute cramming) for tomorrow's large animal medicine final. We've spent the past semester covering topics ranging from neurology, to lameness, respiratory disease, dentistry, gastrointestinal disease, ophthalmology, dermatology, and more… all neatly summarized into the four-inch-thick stack of notes in front of me.   You know the 'Twas the night before Christmas' poem, where the children fell asleep dreaming of sugarplums and St. Nick?  Last night's dreams involved Ortolani signs and the pros and cons of various fracture repair options.  Not that I'm complaining - I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.  Some of the best memories I'll take from vet school will be the late-night caffeine-fueled study sessions and crazy mnemonic... (Read More)

It's hard to believe that we've been in school for a month already! We third years are currently finishing up our first set of exams. Over the summer, I forgot how much sleep you lose and how much caffeine you drink when you're preparing for vet school tests. We finished our Radiology and Large Animal Internal Medicine exams, and now we have Small Animal Internal Medicine looming at the start of this week. In fact, I'm typing this during a much needed study break! Even though our exams are actually well-spaced this time around, planning study time has been a challenge. There have been so many extra assignments that have needed attention: surgery reports, nutrition homework, clinical correlates cases. Juggling these numerous things while studying for multiple large, complex exams would put a little stress on anyone. At least I have 130 other people in my class that are feeling the exact same way! I feel like the only way to keep sanity with su... (Read More)