I've always been a C student and borderline passed many of my classes. I must say I was nervous about taking the VTNE. I'm pretty sure that's what dinged my friend at the end there. Basically she stopped focusing on studying because she came home too tired to even try, so I guess my advice would be try your best not to rely just on what you do at work to help you pass. She worked herself to death thinking it'd help more than studying, so studying wasn't a priority. I don't know how accurate her insight is, as she could've just been angry at failing, but I think one of the biggest reasons she failed was because she took a full time job and tried to still work at the shelter on weekends. She said that hardly none of what she does on a daily basis at work actually helped her with the questions, because the kinds of questions asked are generally not how you deal with or come across things in the real world. She was very upset, understandably, that I passed while having way less experience than her when she was already working as a tech. So my friend sat with my for the VTNE, and having a full year of clinic work under her belt she still failed. She also grew up on a farm, and had the bonus of her mother being an avid bird fan and owner when she was younger. She worked at the shelter I worked at when we started classes, but she ended up getting a job at a mixed practice clinic in the middle of our schooling. We figured going together would help keep us from panicking (it didn't, but it's always nicer to panic with a friend instead of alone I guess). On the other hand, a close friend I made in the program (we started together and happened to find out she lived 5 minutes from me, so we started car pooling and became very close) took it on the same day, time, and place as me. I busted hump studying and managed to pass. I got hardly no experience in with exotics, and almost all of my large animal experience comes from growing up on a farm, not from my classes or work. I have no work experience in a clinic either, as all my extern sites were also at shelters. My first job was at an animal shelter, where I worked all through college. Well, I can't say for sure what's a better choice, but I will say that I honestly don't think actually working in the field helps with the test questions all that much. Good luck, snuggle your pet(s), and keep you chin up! A vet would be best to work with, but even a shelter or a riding barn would help a little. They won't think you are dumb, they will think you are not giving up, and working hard to learn your stuff right. Having the hands on experience to picture and draw from, I could link the mountain of information to hands on memories, which is really how I get a lot of it to stick.Įquine is your weakness? Find a equine/large animal vet that will let you volunteer with them a day a week or every other week. So for my preceptorship I specifically sought out an exotics clinic (because I really like exotics, but also) to round out my hands on experience. I worked in a small animal (cat/dog) clinic before and throughout my program. I was lucky enough to grow up on a livestock farm, and exchange riding lessons for mucking stalls and caring for horses at another farm. Honestly though, I am not a very good academic student. Sometimes I grouped my study topics by semi-similarity, like pharmacology and anesthesia, to better connect the whole picture. Some questions I had no idea, but I learned, and went to those chapters to review. So some of my questions I got right away (ones I knew well) which helped keep my spirits and moral up, and also meant I wasn't forgetting that stuff while I studied stuff I didn't know as well. You can pick and choose topics, which I used to study like this I'd pick 1 topic I knew really well, 1 I knew kinda or pretty well, and 1 I really didn't know. It has questions and practices quizzes/exams, and can really highlight where your knowledge deficits are. I got the online version through evolve/Elsevier. I found the test prep "Review questions and answers for veterinary technicians" by pendergast very helpful. It is an enormous pool of information they can draw from to ask questions, it's a REALLY hard test! The questions are a bit randomized, so there is a tiny bit of luck of the draw.
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