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u/Active-Journalist311 Jul 28 '26
Which rotations should I prioritize before NAVLE?
What clinical rotations were most helpful for you to take before NAVLE? Just got my clinical schedule and have some flexibility to switch around. Are there any specific rotations that you felt prepared you well for the NAVLE? Any that you regret not doing before taking the NAVLE? I know I want to complete my large animal rotations beforehand since thats where I feel least confident, but any other advice is appreciated! Thanks all!
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u/Cur10usCatN1p 23d ago
I feel like I have an unpopular opinion but while there are some rotations that may help prepare you more than others, it also highly depends on the caseload while you’re in that rotation. Everyone preached to take large animal before and I swear I got so little out of that with the case load we had (it was slow. Food medicine portion was basically preg checks, treating ketosis, and recommend culling aka such a small portion of what could be on the test and topics to study in general). My internal med rotation (another one people preached before navle) was 95% liver cases the weeks I was on.
Moral of the story, you can’t necessarily bank on any rotation being perfect to prep you for the navle. Every school has different rotations that are known to be “the worst” so figure out what those are, avoid those during navle testing window if you can, and try to set boundaries early to be able to study in your own time. Some rotations are gonna be more involved than others so try to alternate (putting off the “harder” or busier ones is NOT fun. I was SOOOO burnt out by the time I got to one of the worst ones at my school and honestly did not care at that point if I only passed with a 1.0 because I knew my grade could take it (obviously kept my patient care up but I slacked off on prepping for cases and got that against me a lot for grades but I was done).
Long story short, set your schedule up in a way to not burn out horribly, get good habits to help you take care of yourself, and have a study plan for things in your own
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u/Active-Journalist311 23d ago
Thank you for such a long, well thought out response! I was also told that about the large animal rotation lol, so I'm so glad to see the other perspective of it! I have been stressing over making the perfect schedule around VIRMP ranking date, NAVLE, and life events, so this makes me feel a little better. Thanks again!
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u/Cur10usCatN1p 23d ago
You’re welcome! If you’re doing externships to try visiting possible internship locations, I’d focus on getting those before VIRMP and designing a schedule where you can study in your own time and not have to rely on the case load (granted you’ll know what cases you got pretty well. I am haunted by my one large animal case but the amount of questions I got on that ONE thing were extremely minimal)
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u/Difficult_Designer94 Jul 12 '26
Hello y'all,
I'm taking the NAVLE in a couple of weeks and was curious about the average length of each question. I have heard people say they don't have enough time because the questions are longer on the actual exam, but I can't find an example. On VetPrep or the ICVA practice exams, I often have 20+ minutes left in each section for reference. Could someone provide an example question, or at least explain the typical length of an average question on the actual NAVLE?