I've had my first week of "radiation vacation," more officially known as Diagnostic Imaging rotation. It's another 3 week rotation, for which I'll get a "bonus" partial week before Christmas.
And, yeah. There's not that much to say about it. Basically we sit around the radiology department, waiting for requests for radiographs to come in. Sometimes we walk over to the patient wards to retrieve a dog or cat; sometimes the animal is brought to us. Sometimes the pet is sedated or anesthetized for radiographs; sometimes they don't need to be; sometimes they aren't sedated but should be. Sometimes we take abdominal rads or extremities (quite a few stifles), but mostly we take "met checks" (3-view thoracic radiographs).
Sometimes we take radiographs pretty much non-stop for a period of several hours. And then there are days like yesterday, when we took 3 sets of rads in 5 hours. Blechh.
On the one hand, it's nice to have a chill rotation requiring arrival at 8 am and from which we usually get to leave at 4, but always by 5. However, I'm already anticipating an extreme worsening of my current level of boredom by the time another 2.5 weeks have passed. Oh, well -- should give me some time to polish up my resume and start job-hunting!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
NAVLE, shmAVLE
I took the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam, aka NAVLE, aka "boards" 2 days ago. And it went pretty well. I've spent about 3 months doing practice questions and practice exams regularly on VetPrep, and I felt like I was pretty well prepared.
NAVLE is a computerized exam and is given in the fall during a testing window of about a month in November and December. Around here, the nearest standardized testing center where NAVLE is offered is about 35-40 minutes away.
My exam was scheduled to start at 8 am, and we were supposed to get there half an hour early to check in. So I woke up at 6 am that morning, planning to leave around 6:30 to give myself some extra time to find the testing center.
However, awaking to a mini-blizzard, I headed out at 6:20 am, which was a good decision, because with all the snow (and mostly the terrible drivers) I didn't arrive at the testing center until 7:55 am.
I was started on my exam around 8:10 am, after locking all my belongings in a locker (including my Chapstick -- how am I supposed to pass NAVLE without compulsive application of my beloved Chapstick??), and turning out my pockets, pushing up my sleeves, and shaking out my hoodie in front of a camera and a proctor with a metal detector. Hard core!
NAVLE is comprised of 6 sections, each containing 60 multiple choice questions, with 65 minutes allowed per section. You're given 15 minutes at the beginning for a computer tutorial (which included such directions as what it means to "click" a mouse button), and 45 minutes that can be used for breaks in between any of the sections.
I took the first 3 sections then gave myself a 10 minute break around 10 am. There were about 15 vet students from my class taking the exam at the same time, so those who were on break nervously chatted and snacked until we decided we ought to get going again.
I then knocked out the final 3 sections, and finished around 11:45 am. And yes, I was somewhat mocked for leaving the testing center by walking through a group of my classmates on break in the lobby, who still had half the exam left. Whatever.
Overall, VetPrep was good practice for NAVLE. My distribution of questions on NAVLE was similar to what I'd seen on VetPrep, as far as distribution of species, topics, etc. I felt like most of the questions were fair, though there were a few poorly written questions where it could easily be argued that multiple answers were correct.
The testing program gives you the option to "mark" questions that you want to come back to at the end if you have time left. I used this to mark the questions where I wasn't sure or pretty sure I knew the right answer. I consistently marked 15-20 questions per 60-question section, which, based on rumors that a score of 55-65% correct is needed for a passing grade, should be entirely adequate.
It sure feels good to have NAVLE over with. No, I won't get my score for another month or two, but I'm 99.5% sure I passed. And if not, well, that's what the spring testing window is for!
NAVLE is a computerized exam and is given in the fall during a testing window of about a month in November and December. Around here, the nearest standardized testing center where NAVLE is offered is about 35-40 minutes away.
My exam was scheduled to start at 8 am, and we were supposed to get there half an hour early to check in. So I woke up at 6 am that morning, planning to leave around 6:30 to give myself some extra time to find the testing center.
However, awaking to a mini-blizzard, I headed out at 6:20 am, which was a good decision, because with all the snow (and mostly the terrible drivers) I didn't arrive at the testing center until 7:55 am.
I was started on my exam around 8:10 am, after locking all my belongings in a locker (including my Chapstick -- how am I supposed to pass NAVLE without compulsive application of my beloved Chapstick??), and turning out my pockets, pushing up my sleeves, and shaking out my hoodie in front of a camera and a proctor with a metal detector. Hard core!
NAVLE is comprised of 6 sections, each containing 60 multiple choice questions, with 65 minutes allowed per section. You're given 15 minutes at the beginning for a computer tutorial (which included such directions as what it means to "click" a mouse button), and 45 minutes that can be used for breaks in between any of the sections.
I took the first 3 sections then gave myself a 10 minute break around 10 am. There were about 15 vet students from my class taking the exam at the same time, so those who were on break nervously chatted and snacked until we decided we ought to get going again.
I then knocked out the final 3 sections, and finished around 11:45 am. And yes, I was somewhat mocked for leaving the testing center by walking through a group of my classmates on break in the lobby, who still had half the exam left. Whatever.
Overall, VetPrep was good practice for NAVLE. My distribution of questions on NAVLE was similar to what I'd seen on VetPrep, as far as distribution of species, topics, etc. I felt like most of the questions were fair, though there were a few poorly written questions where it could easily be argued that multiple answers were correct.
The testing program gives you the option to "mark" questions that you want to come back to at the end if you have time left. I used this to mark the questions where I wasn't sure or pretty sure I knew the right answer. I consistently marked 15-20 questions per 60-question section, which, based on rumors that a score of 55-65% correct is needed for a passing grade, should be entirely adequate.
It sure feels good to have NAVLE over with. No, I won't get my score for another month or two, but I'm 99.5% sure I passed. And if not, well, that's what the spring testing window is for!
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