Creating a study schedule for your big exam (VTNE edition)
I was standing at the counter, defeated as I told the examiner I was finished. Luckily I only had to wait a few moments before my results would be printed, a privilege I’m reminded about often by my elder technicians- who had to wait an entire season for their results to be mailed to them. I would have almost preferred that knowing what results were to come to me. I was standing at the counter, mentally and emotionally exhausted, when a smile ran across the face of my examiner, she handed me my paper, and I read, “Congratulations, you’ve passed the VTNE.”
The veterinary technician national exam is a HUGE test you must take to become a Registered Veterinary Technician. There are several requirements to be eligible to even take the exam. A GIGANTIC recommendation is to graduate from an AVMA accredited school. I graduated from Maple Woods campus of Metropolitan Community College with my associates in Veterinary Technology.
Everything stopped- I looked at the paper again, and looked up at my examiner who then said calmy and as if nothing had happened, “congratulations!” I asked her, beyond confused, “is this real? I passed? WHAT?” she nodded and sent me on my way.
THIS WAS THE BIGGEST RELIEF OF MY LIFE- not only because 2 years of schooling for this dang exam changed the entirety of who I am because of the difficulty and stress. BUT ALSO I literallllllyyyyyy- did not study. I am still baffled, but I did do alright in school, so I must know some things! The advice given to me the week before my exam from my veterinarian at the time echoed through my mind, “If you know it, you know it- if you don’t… you don’t.” This phrase eased my anxiety going into the exam, only slightly, but enough to give me the confidence I needed to even approach the examiner in the first place.
Studying for the VTNE is an overwhelming task to say the least, its one of the most important exams of your career covering a myriad of topics that you’ve learned about the past 2 years… topics that you struggled with, owned, or even skipped over and didn’t do that well on the exam for that particular topic but promised yourself you’d nail it next time because that’s what my entire school career was. Surprisingly I graduated with decent grades.
Though I didn’t study much, I did organize an entire schedule to set myself up for the most success!
I plan on sharing that schedule with anyone else who may be incredibly overwhelmed by even the thought of the VTNE. Which, I know most Veterinary Technician Students are… even if you don’t find my schedule the best fit for you- or maybe you don’t have the VTNE looming over you in the near future. I’m hoping the layout and process behind making this schedule is enough to help someone else who may be overwhelmed by a large amount of studying they have in front of them.
The process:
Basically the process I took in order to attempt to prepare myself for this exam, was taking the amount of time I had until my test date- you have to schedule like months in advance, giving you a good amount of time to review your stuff- took off 2 weeks (will explain later) and matched the percentage of time I was planning on dedicating towards studying with the percentage of each topic on the exam.
Luckily, I was very well prepped for the VTNE- though school was incredibly hard, and I was told multiple times by MY OWN PROFESSORS that I absolutely would not pass…
(something that was totally un cool and unsupportive, if you are in a place of teaching others, PLEASE encourage them, tearing them down does nothing.)
School was harder than the VTNE, which is a method to Maple Woods madness. With this knowledge I knew I had been well prepared for the exam in front of me. It made the statement, “if ya know it ya know it” ring true because, I knew it at one point in time, so It’s going to be in my brain somewhere. The weeks preceeding the exam I mostly wanted to use as a review. Luckily, as I was saying before- there is a ton of information, and practice exams, and books specifically made for the VTNE, so on top of my schooling, I was well prepared by the amount of material out there!
VTNE has 9 domains:
The AAVSB does an excellent job breaking down the exam, and prepping you for the knowledge they expect.
Each domain has a number of items on the exam, making up a percentage of the examination, along with some aspects of learning you may want to feel super confident in to go into this thing and NAIL IT!
Let this ease your anxiety because if you struggled with surgery- that’s only 11% of the exam… if you’re super confident in your emergency and critical care, then 8% is going to be a breeze!
Thinking of the exam this way allowed me to manage my time, and my anxiety when it came to each topic.
9 domains of the VTNE
Pharmacy & pharmacology
With a total of 18 items, making up 12% of the VTNE examination
how drugs effect the body
following veterinarian orders for drug prep
educating clients about effects they’ll see from drugs
calculations: fluid rates, dosages, CRI’s
dispensing medication
controlled drug recording
storage and handling for safety
Surgery
17 items - 11% of exam
anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology (which I then termed ANPPATH because that was a lot of writing.)
surgical prep; environment, equipment, supplies, etc.
surgical prep; patient
sterility
role as circulating tech
instrument cleaning
aseptic technique
equipment sterilization
Dentistry
12 items - 8% of exam
ANPPATH of dentistry
oral exam & documentation
prophylaxis
client education
prep
dental rads
Lab procedures
17 items - 12%
ANPPATH for lab procedures
specimen prep/documentation for lab evaluation
perform lab tests (microbiology, serology, cytology, hematology, UA & parasitology)
Lab equipment
maintain specimens
Animal care and nursing
30 items - 20%
ANPPATH
proper history
client education
environment for patients
medication route of administration
specimen collection for labs
triage info
disposal of hazardous material
therapeutic treatment
hospitalized patients
physical rehab
euthanasia process
patient body behavior
restraint devices for large animal
restraint for small animal
Diagnostic imaging
11 items - 7%
ANPPATH for radiology
produce diagnostic rads- quality and safety
maintain equipment
Anesthesia
22 items - 15%
ANPPATH for anesthesia
anesthetic plans- planning and implementation
prep/maintain equipment
client education
ET Tube
Monitoring
Patient info for anesthesia
plan for necessary changes during anesthesia
Emergency/ critical care
12 items - 8%
ANPPATH for emergency care
triage
emergency nursing procedures/ critical care nursing procedures
ongoing evaluation of patient and response
Pain management/ analgesia
11 items - 7%
ANPPATH for pain management/ analgesia
assess need for analgesia in patient
client education
analgesia plan/implementation/development
Using all of this information- I devised a plan:
I think my exam was scheduled 12/14/19 or something exact like that, but I wanted to be more than prepared by the time 12/1/19 rolled around- so I basically figured out from the date I had started (can’t remember exactly) but I had 9 weeks of preparation ahead of me.
I planned on using the last 2 weeks or so before my actual exam to really review and test myself (rather than re-learn, letsbhonest) and go over the topics I really struggled with- by that point I would have a firm grasp on what I knew/ didn’t know leading me to spend 2 weeks on the weaknesses instead of wasting time on my strengths!
I was realistic in my planning, and figured I would study 5 days a week. Again- I had really big plans, did I follow through? not quite, did it work out anyway? yes!
Considering I had 9 weeks of prep, studying 5 days a week, covering 3 topics a day = 63 days to cover everything I would need to know for the VTNE.
12% - 8 days on Pharmacy and pharmacology
11% - 7 days on surgical nursing
8% - 5 days on dentistry
12% - 8 days on laboratory procedures
20% - 13 days on animal care and nursing
7% - 5 days on diagnostic imaging
15% - 10 days on anesthesia
8% - 5 days on emergency/ critical care
7% - 5 days on pain management/ analgesia
I spaced out my practice exams for every few weeks, and assigned myself a few coordinating things to cover for each of the 3 topics I would be reviewing each day. This schedule ensured each knowledge statement that the AAVSB provided to prepare would be covered, and if done correctly, known by myself! Leading me to totally own the VTNE with complete confidence!
If you’d like a copy of my exact study plan- join my email list! Because I cannot figure out how exactly to get the layout that I want on this blog post! Woo rookies!
I hope this post helps ease your anxiety about the VTNE and gives you at least a place to start. Maybe, even inspires you to create your own study plan focusing on your strengths and weaknesses. By creating this I felt better knowing I had a plan to conquer the 2 years of information I had acquired in a way that would review and remind me of each important topic included in the VTNE!
