Effective Study Strategies

for the Veterinary Technicians National Exam

(VTNE)

Steven I McLaughlin DVM, MPH, DACVPM

steve@zukureview.com www.zukureview.com
 A Story
Once upon a time, there was a world called veterinary medicine,
covered in many forests.
One forest was called Dogs; another Pigs and so on.
In the Dog forest, there were many trees. One tree might be called
Radiology and another called Anesthesia.
On that anesthesia tree might be a single leaf called isoflurane

One day, a good-hearted but near-sighted student wandered into

the Dog forest, and got so engrossed studying a leaf on a single tree
that she got lost, and a big bad wolf called VTNE came and ate her.
The End
 The need for speed

It is time to go fast, people.

The goal is not to know everything

The goal is not to get every question right
The goal is to pass

In the forests of knowledge, let this be your map

 The 3 most effective things
you can do
Do practice questions that are as much
like the real VTNE as possible (~50%)

Study notes, books with images (~50%)

Leave 2-3 weeks free before VTNE to

RE-do test-mode tests and review notes
 This presentation

VTNE Structure

Test-taking strategies

Study Strategies (hitting the books)

 VTNE Structure
170 Multiple choice questions

3 hour test
About 1 minute per question

20 questions are pilot items

Not scored
Cannot tell which questions are pilot
Being evaluated for use in future VTNE exams

The clock doesnt stop once you begin your test

Can take short breaks, but clock is still ticking

Source: VTNE Candidate Bulletin http://www.aavsb.org/VTNE/CandidateHandbook/

 VTNE Practice Domains
Domain 1. Pharmacy & Pharmacology ~18 Qs (12%)
Domain 2. Surgical Nursing ~17 Qs (11%)
Domain 3. Dentistry ~10 Qs (7%)
Domain 4. Laboratory Procedures ~18 Qs (12%)
Domain 5. Animal Care and Nursing ~33 Qs (22%)
Domain 6. Diagnostic Imaging ~10 Qs (7%)
Domain 7. Anesthesia ~24 Qs (16%)
Domain 8. Emergency Medicine/Critical Care ~10 Qs (6%)
Domain 9. Pain Management/Analgesia ~10 Qs (7%)
150 Qs* (100%)

*Remember: There are actually 170 questions total, but 20 pilot questions dont count.
You wont know which ones are the pilot questions.

Source: VTNE Candidate Bulletin http://www.aavsb.org/VTNE/CandidateHandbook/

 Worth Remembering on Test Day
Must show up 30 minutes early
Must have Authorization to Test (ATT) letter w/ unique i.d. number
Must have identification
Photo-i.d. with name (ie: drivers license, passport, military i.d.)
Name on i.d must match ATT name
i.d. must not be expired

No personal belongings allowed in test room

No calculator, cell phone or digital watch
No food or drink
No backpack, brimmed hats, purse or coat

What is allowed ?
Erasable whiteboard provided for calculations
Some people bring earplugs

Source: VTNE Candidate Bulletin http://www.aavsb.org/VTNE/CandidateHandbook/

 Study Smarter
Start with a calendar
Map out your study plan, week by week
Make test prep part of your routine

1st Pass: from now through July 5

All study-mode tests
Make or study summary notes with IMAGES!

2nd Pass: last 2-3 weeks before VTNE

RE-DO all questions in timed test-mode
Review summary notes, books
 VTNE Prep: Top 3 Useful Tools
1. Get one good book
Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians, McCurnin and Bassert 8th edition

2. Do practice questions regularly

Workbook for Clinical Textbook for Vet Techs, 8th ed., McCurnin and Basserts

Zuku Review
Question of the Day http://zukureview.com/vtne/qod
VTNE course http://zukureview.com/vtne/subscriptions/

AAVSB self assessments for VTNE http://aavsb.ucertify.com/

3. Tune up with a good review

VSPN VTNE Review
A live, online class with practice questions, notes and a forum.
Taught 3X/year by experienced and highly credentialed technicians.
Comprehensive and very well done. http://www.vin.com/CE/TECH120-0913_VSPN.htm
 Prep strategies for VTNE
The 50:50 rule

Practice testing ~50% Study ~50%

-Hit the books
-ROUTINE -Write summary notes
4-6 days a week -REVIEW those NOTES

Goal: Finish practice testing, complete notes

2-3 weeks before the test
It is not enough to be a good chess player,

you must also play well.

-Savielly Tartakower
 Practice testing for VTNE:
~50% of your time

You don't get ready for a marathon by

reading a book about it.

You put on your running shoes and run.

-Dr. Zuku
 Multiple choice tricks of the trade
The Good News
Correct answer is GUARANTEED to be among the choices

The Bad News

You WILL hit questions you dont know

Common mistake: Spending MOST of your time on

questions about which you know the LEAST.

Key to success:
Train yourself to MAKE CHOICES and then MOVE ON.
 Multiple choice tricks of the trade
READ the question first (DONT look at answers)

PREDICT the answer (protects you from distractors)

Is your answer the best of the choices ?

If Yes SELECT it and move on

Unsure of the correct answer ?

ELIMINATE wrong ones, choose from whats left,
and MOVE ON
What if I dont think this system will work for me ?

Do what works for you.

How do I know when I should I change an answer ?

Stick with your first answer unless you recognize that it

is clearly not correct - studies show that changed answers
are more frequently wrong.

I am clueless about chickens/cardiology/box turtle

halitosis, what do I do?

Read, Predict, Eliminate, Select -The correct answer is

guaranteed to be among the choices. Whittle the
choices down to as few as possible and guess.
 Sources of practice questions
1. Books

Workbook for Clinical Textbook for Vet Techs, 8th ed., McCurnin and Basserts

Mosbys Comprehensive Review for Vet Techs, 3rd ed., Tighe & Brown

Review Questions and Answers for Vet Techs, 4th ed., Colville

2. Online
VSPN VTNE review course: 8 weeks http://beta.vin.com/CE/CatalogVSPN.htm
Winter 2014 TECH120-0114 (Starts each January)
Spring 2014 TECH120-0514 (Starts each May)
Fall 2014 TECH120-0914 (Starts each September)

Zuku Review VTNE practice tests: http://zukureview.com/vtne/subscriptions/

Question of the Day (free) http://zukureview.com/vtne/qod

AAVSB self assessments for VTNE http://www.testrac.com/aavsb/

 VTNE self assessments
A good way to prepare for VTNE

Produced by same people who write the VTNE

Two tests available

$45 each, 75 questions each

After test, look up answers to ones you didnt know

Orients you to VTNE-question style, depth

Link: American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) self-assessment

https://www.aavsb.org/vtne/howtostudy
http://aavsb.ucertify.com/
To achieve great things,
two things are needed;

a plan, and not quite enough time.

- Leonard Bernstein
 Hitting the books for VTNE:
~50% of your time
Successful learning is not measured by how
many hours you study.

Successful learning means using the hours

you do have effectively.

-Dr. Zuku
(Steven I Mclaughlin DVM, MPH, DACVPM)
A study technique that doesnt work

I spent 6 hours reading pharmacology

on Saturday,..

But Monday, I didnt remember any of it !

Reading = Learning
 USE IT OR LOSE IT
MOST adults forget 50% of what they just read

And 80% within 24 hours

BUT !!

Anything you have studied well will come back

very quickly with a review

.if you make good notes

 Summary Notes (and hitting the books)

~1/3 of your time

Why review visual summary notes? (and good visual books)

Faster, more effective than wading through pages of text

Images are like mental duct tape

Information sticks to them

Visual summary notes worth their weight in gold in weeks before test
 Mental velcro: Images
A picture IS worth a thousand words:
Add pictures to your notes

Fluid-filled lungs: Pulmonary edema

Floating lungs: Pleural effusion

Images courtesy of Dr. Terri Defrancesco, DVM, DACVIM

All rights reserved, copyright 2013
 Mental velcro: Disease
Horners Syndrome:
Remember "My 3rd Sunken Toe

(Miosis, 3rd lid protrudes, Sunken

eye, Ptosis)

A syndrome, not a disease per se.

See 4 things with Horner's, ALL

associated with the eye:
1. MIOSIS (constricted pupil)
2. PROTRUSION 3rd eyelid
3. ENOPTHALMOS (sunken eye)
4. PTOSIS (drooped eyelid),

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horner
%27s_syndrome_dog.JPG
What is it?
Image courtesy,
Dr. Joel Mills, Wikimedia Commons
 Outside a dog, a book is a mans best friend.

Inside a dog, its too dark to read.

- Groucho Marx

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

- Japanese
proverb
 Good Books for VTNE
For overall review
* Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians, 8th ed, McCurnin & Bassert

If you can have only one book, this is the one. Covers everything, Great images.
Anesthesia, dentistry, surgery, nursing, imaging, calculations-its all there

* VSPN Notebook version 4.0

Practical, clinical and constantly updated online. An excellent clinic and VTNE resource.
Available online to VSPN and VIN members as part of membership.
http://www.vin.com/Members/CMS/misc/Current.aspx?id=6096&pid=49&catid=&said=2

Available to VSPN and VIN members in print form

https://store.vin.com/custom/edit.asp?p=100020

Mosbys Comprehensive Review for Veterinary Technicians, 3rd ed., Tighe & Brown
Outline format is a little dry (few pictures), but lots of multiple choice questions after each chapter, and a long
practice test at the end.

Pharmacology:
Plumbs Veterinary Drug Handbook, 7th edition, Donald C. Plumb
Also available online to VSPN and VIN members as part of membership.

For background on medicine and diseases

These may be too clinical for VTNE, but have excellent disease summaries and images

Bovine: Guide to Bovine Clinics 4th editionChris & Susan Pasquini

Equine: Guide to Equine Clinics 3rd editionChris & Susan Pasquini, Phil Woods

Dogs and Cats: Tschauner's Guide to Small Animal Clinics 2nd ed.Chris & Susan Pasquini
Veterinary Clinical Advisor, Dogs and Cats, 1st ed. Cote' ed.
*Pick of the Litter
 The final 2-3 weeks
Second Pass

Practice testing
Timed test-mode- redoing Qs you
did in last few months to reinforce
-One minute per question
-60 Qs at a time to build stamina
-Random topics
-No answers as you go
-Try to mimic the real thing
Study
-REVIEW your notes
-Skim misc. topics not in notes
-Test yourself with flashcards,
friends, game cards

Goal: Redo your practice questions of last few months

Review summary notes until solid in your mind
 The final 2-3 weeks: Keep a routine
Get regular exercise
Run, swim, square-dance, walk your dog, hamster or wombat

Get up at about same time you need to wake up on test day

Eat breakfast

Go immediately into 1-2 hours of practice tests, then notes review

Get your mind & body into a routine so the big day feels routine too

Don't give up.

Watch this video: Building confidence before a challenge- Excellent TED talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

On test day, walk in with your head held high,

and take it one question at a time
 Good luck!

No student knows his or her subject:

the most he knows is where and how to find out the

things he does not know.

Woodrow Wilson
 Selected references:
Psychology of learning and decision-making
Good summaries
To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test, New York Times, Jan 20, 2011, P. Belluck
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html

Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? New York Times, Aug 17, 2011, J. Tierney
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?hpw

Peer-reviewed
Karpicke, J. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than
elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331, 772-775.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6018/772.full.pdf?keytype=ref&siteid=sci&ijkey=mESdLR0p25r8k

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests
improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17, 249-255.
http://memory.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/2006_Roediger_Karpicke_PsychSci.pdf

Roediger, H. L. & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and
implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 181-210.
http://memory.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/2006_Roediger_Karpicke_Review.pdf

Carrier and Pashler: The Influence of Retrieval on Retention, Memory and Cognition, 1992,
20 (6) 633-642 http://laplab.ucsd.edu/articles/Carrier_Pashler_MemCog1992.pdf
 References
The summary of multiple choice strategies comes principally from:

What Smart Students Know by Adam Robinson, co-founder of The Princeton Review test
preparation company

George Washington University Academic Success Center- Strategies for Multiple Choice
Questions

Kaplan Test Prep US Medical Licensure Exam (USMLE) Strategy Sessions

VTNE Candidate Bulletin http://www.aavsb.org/VTNE/CandidateHandbook/

 Example of a page from Pasquini

From: Pasquini, Pasquini & Woods, Guide to Equine Clinics, 3 rd ed. p. 113