Attending an in-person veterinary conference is still one of my favourite forms of continued education (and it’s not just for the free pens).
But without a strategic approach, a very real risk exists of walking away at the end of an expensive week with nothing more than a head crammed full of random facts and a bad hangover.
So, how can you make the most of your next veterinary conference?
Pick a topic…
Most conferences will have a few set themes for the week, in addition to a plethora of other topics. Pick one of the themes and make an effort to attend all of the talks on this topic.
Saturating yourself with a variety of different viewpoints and opinions on one theme will ensure you walk away with a deeper level of understanding on at least one topic.
…but be sure to mix it up
Try to attend as many non-clinical talks as possible. Learning about themes like management, leadership, communication and well-being are likely to inspire some of the biggest positive long-term changes in your career. Some of my favourite talks have been plenary sessions by people who have nothing to do with veterinary science.
Make a point of attending a few lectures on topics outside your normal sphere of interest, and even on some you dislike. It’s quite possible you’ll discover your “next big thing” in a field you had no interest in up to that point, or that a little bit of extra knowledge can make one of those things you dislike seem a bit more appealing.
Take notes, but not too many
Don’t try to rewrite the conference proceedings. Rather, listen carefully for – and note – those little gems of wisdom that are casually dropped during lectures:
“This is the way I approach this…”
“A trick I find works well here is…”
“I love this little bit of equipment…”
Make sure to note anything that is completely new to you and all the things you’ve struggled with in the past.
“Take notes” and “use technology” are two of Hubert’s hints for a successful conference.
Use technology
I take an iPad into lectures and use the Notes app that comes as standard with it.
I create a folder for that conference in “All iCloud” and make a new note in that folder for each talk I attend. You can use a combination of typed notes, photos of the lecture slides, sketches and audio to record all the information you want to refer back to.
With this technique, your notes are instantly available and easy to find on all your devices via iCloud – so, if you need to refer back to that little trick at 3am, you can simply access it from your phone.
Create an action list
I make a separate note for each conference called “Actions”. If I hear anything that makes me think “we should be doing that”, it goes on this list.
Get yourself out there
It can be tempting to just hang out with old friends at conference, or to just sneak off for an early night after a long day of lectures. This would be a huge mistake.
During a conference, you’ll be spending time mingling with a large chunk of people from your profession – many of whom are leaders in their field and all of them with something to teach you (and quite a few of them slightly drunk). Get out of your comfort zone and engage with them.
Some of the best things to happen in your career will come from interesting conversations with interesting people.
Review
All the amazing things you’ve heard at conference are useless if you don’t internalise them and apply what you’ve learned. It’s likely your lovely notes will languish on that iPad never to be looked at again if you don’t make a concerted effort to review them periodically.
I set a fortnightly reminder on my phone that says: “One thing from conference”. I’ll go through my actions list and pick one thing I’d like to work on – and I won’t tackle the next item until that thing is done.
This approach removes the risk that I’ll get back to the practice with 101 new ideas flailing around in my skull, but never actually get around to instituting a single one of them.
Client communication is an important part of being a vet, as building a rapport and gaining their confidence will allow them to trust you.
I would encourage all young vets to practice this skill whenever and wherever they can, and develop their abilities from the feedback.
Communication
My year was the first at the University of Queensland in Australia to have any formal lectures and practicals on client communications, and I cannot tell you how underrated this crucial course is.
In fact, I’d argue having good client communication skills is just as important as knowing the science behind veterinary medicine itself.
You can know every veterinary textbook off by heart, back to front, and be the top graduating student of the class. However, if you are unable to build a rapport with your clients and gain their trust within the first three minutes of a consultation, they may still decline every diagnostic investigation and treatment you recommend, and seek treatment elsewhere.
Complaints
Gerardo Poli during his graduation.
Client complaints are every vet’s worst nightmare, and what is the number one reason for a client complaint? Mis-communication. Therefore, it is vital everyone practices their own communication skills.
For some of us, this isn’t innate and second nature, and that is perfectly fine. Knowing your weaknesses means you can work on them. Communication skills are something that can be learned and enhanced over time.
I encourage every student to go into as many consults with clinicians as you can, observe what the vets do well in and watch out for things not so well received. It doesn’t have to be just learning from the vets, either – you can learn a lot from observing nurses’ and receptionists’ interactions with the clients, too.
Practice on your peers, friends, family, lecturers, vets and nurses, and get them to give you feedback.
Despite that all COVID-19 restrictions are due to be removed as early as the end of the month, the long-term impacts of this pandemic have yet to ease and will likely be sending ripples through many professions for the foreseeable future.
The virus has already left lasting changes to the landscape of the veterinary industry – not only in how it operates, but in how new professionals are taught from the ground up. Long gone are the days of packed-out waiting rooms and lecture theatres.
The more things change
Even with restrictions out of the way, it’s thought that measures put in place over the past two years to reduce viral transmission in our practices may remain the “new normal”, with clients asked to wait outside until necessary, and often with only a single owner asked to come in with their pet at any one time.
Several vet schools now operate under the banner of “blended learning”, whereby the curriculum is taught in a mixture of face-to-face content, live and online lectures, alongside pre-recorded, virtually accessible resources.
In the face of recurrent industrial action – coupled with the rising, desperate demand for new veterinary professionals – online teaching may offer a convenient, long-term solution.
Fallen behind
As with all change, there are pros and cons, although one area I think is yet to be fully addressed is the issue of EMS backlogs.
There are current backlogs in the NHS, the postal system and in many other major industries throughout the country, and I don’t believe the veterinary student training system has escaped unaffected.
For a good 12 to 18 months, many practices – especially small independents – were forced to shut their doors to both pre-clinical and clinical placements – and although EMS requirements were lowered for all year groups due to graduate by 2023, every succeeding year must complete the formerly required 26 weeks.
This has led to an overwhelmingly large number of students competing for a progressively smaller number of placement opportunities.
This makes it particularly difficult for students who lack their own transport, or the funds to travel far from their university or hometown, meaning there may be growing social inequity in the variety and quality of experience vet students are able to obtain.
Better the devil you know
Not only this, but large veterinary conglomerates may have the infrastructure to accommodate larger numbers of students, and new graduates may want to “stick with what they know” and, therefore, be less likely to consider signing contracts with smaller, independent practices.
There is also the argument that, with the rise of online teaching and decrease in student-lecturer contact, work experience has never been such a valuable tool in supplementing a student’s learning.
With the demand for placements higher than ever before, and veterinary practices sometimes two or three times busier than before the pandemic, the financial cost of EMS for some students has never been greater.
Essential experiences
Confidence, satisfaction and a balanced education behind all new graduates serves the interest of both individual professionals, and the profession as a whole.
In my opinion, there has never been a greater need for a review of the need for higher education funding for veterinary students, to allow every student access to a large variety of work experience and the opportunity to see what different avenues are available to them after graduation.
Every vet has their niche, speciality or personal interest. I think I’m slowly finding that mine may be located somewhere in the gastrointestinal (GI) system; as the daughter of an endoscopy nurse I like to think I’m following in the family footsteps.
I was really enjoying my lectures on the topic until we reached the point of hiatal hernias.
The unfortunate cognitive dissonance of veterinary medicine is that the more interesting or objectively “cooler” the case, the more likely it is often incredibly sad from the perspective of the patient.
Vet geek
In this case, I personally was finding the concept of a sliding hernia pretty “cool” (don’t judge, I’ve been out of the game for a year and I’ve missed nerding out over-vetty stuff), until I learned that the majority of brachycephalic dogs suffer from the condition.
The mechanism behind this being that, in an effort to breathe through an actively collapsing airway, a brachycephalic dog can effectively create such a negative pressure that it sucks its stomach through its diaphragm and into its thorax.
The worst part of this is that it’s suspected the majority of cases are subclinical (or, at least, subclinical to the owner), as the main clinical signs associated with nausea, such as drooling and lip smacking, are characteristic of short-nosed breeds anyway.
Less love?
I wonder if a pilot finds it impossible to enjoy a flight? Even if you stuck him in first class with a martini, the Friends box set, comfy slippers and a sirloin steak on the menu, would he be able to switch off, or would he find his mind focusing on minute turbulence? Would he keep checking the altitude, or picturing the cockpit, wondering: “What on Earth is going on up there?”
Along a similar vein, by the time I finish vet school I wonder if I will ever be able to truly enjoy a dog in the way I used to? If somebody had presented me with the fluffiest, most adorably friendly puppy in the world the day before I’d started first year, I’d have been ecstatic – I may even have passed out from happiness.
Not just a puppy
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m never NOT going to love being handed a puppy, but it’s not just a puppy anymore.
Has it been vaccinated?
Was its mother healthy?
Did the breeder socialise it effectively, or will it forever have a fear of bearded men in funny hats?
Is there a cleft palate behind those tiny teeth?
Are there worms lurking in that adorable pot belly?
It’s like my subconscious races to take a history in every animal – even if they’re not a patient!
Natural versus artificial selection
As a constant reminder of my disturbing lecture notes, while tutoring GCSE biology I regularly cover the topic of “natural versus artificial selection” with my students. This includes covering the staggering feet of man’s journey over the past 1,000 years to convert the wolf into anything from a small bear to something that fits in a handbag.
Each time I teach this topic I find myself fighting the urge to be overly pious, knowing no exam will ever ask them to list the ways the pug is destined to a snorting existence or why the dachshund can’t jump onto his owner’s lap for fear of shattering his spine.
I feel including that sort of thing in the syllabus could certainly go a long way – and perhaps the best way to promote healthy dogs is with re-education from the ground up. But is that my responsibility? More importantly, is it the responsibility of vets in general?
Flawed from birth
With some owners (especially breeders), mentioning any predispositions or hereditary conditions of their dog is akin to attacking their personal brand.
Some people are “dog people”, while some are very passionately and unequivocally only “pug people” or “sausage dog people” or “golden people” – and it’s generally a struggle not to cause offense when telling an owner their animal is slightly overweight, let alone that their pride and joy is genetically predisposed to be flawed from birth.
The frustrating thing is that if owners knew the risks to their particular pup then prophylactic management could really make a difference to these animals’ lives.
Not walking brachycephalic breeds on hot days, keeping the weight off of larger dogs to take the stress off of their joints – prevention is always better than cure, and if we can’t prevent the breeding and purchasing of puppies with a gene pool so shallow only a gnat could drown in it then at the very least we should be aiming to prevent suffering and promoting comfort.
Balancing act
The danger, as always, is that if you tell an owner what they don’t want to hear too many times, they won’t come back. So, the balancing act lies in maintaining the client-vet relationship so as to ensure animal welfare, while not being too pious or condescending.
This is equally important in day-to-day life. Being able to switch off is a must for any professional to maintain mental health, yet it’s sometimes hard to stay quiet when your friend mentions their aspiration to own 50 sausage dogs.
My question for you is, does a vet ever stop being a vet, and is a dog ever really just “a dog”?
As the new academic year begins, veterinary schools across the UK are welcoming student vets on their journey to their chosen careers. While we all hope this year will be less eventful than last year, there’s little doubt that many large lectures will continue to be recorded or put online to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
Learning with technology is fast becoming standard practice for vets. There are eye-catching new tools, like simulation models that mimic arrhythmic heartbeats and augmented reality videos to demonstrate catheterisation, but there are also more subtle technologies many students may not think about. Lecture recording – the practice of capturing audio and visual representations of the lecture – is now common in many universities across the world.
There is a temptation to think about lectures as they were in James Herriot’s day, with a lecturer standing in front of a chalkboard drawing complicated anatomy diagrams while students squint and try to capture as much as they can on paper. Now – with smart boards, PowerPoints and recordings – students can have a much more complete record of the material covered – and fewer hand cramps.
While some lecturers have been concerned that recordings will stop students learning how to take notes, research at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies has found many students use recordings very effectively in their study strategies.
In this work, some of which was funded by Echo360, a video-based teaching and learning platform, we have identified five top tips for students who want to make the most of studying with lecture recordings.
Whether your lecture is on campus in a bustling lecture hall or on a screen from the comfort of your bedroom, these tips will help you to get the most of your time at vet school (and we won’t lie, they are good for online CPD, too, for those qualified vets among you).
TIP #1: Know what the lecture is for
Most lectures will have “learning outcomes” or “instructional objectives”, either clearly detailed at the start of the lecture or highlighted as part of your course material (such as the course handbook).
Learning outcomes are a great way of making sure you have understood the purpose of the lecture and met its aims1. Learning outcomes usually begin with a statement like “at the end of this lecture, you should be able to…”. Unsurprisingly, these are the skills you should be able to do after you’ve finished the lecture!
Imagine a lecture designed to teach you how to make the perfect cup of tea. The learning outcomes might be:
Identify the sugar caddy, tea caddy and milk jug in the kitchen.
Describe how you would assess a person’s tea preference.
After the lecture, you should be able to go into your kitchen and point to the relevant equipment, and ask your guest how they like their tea to be made.
If you haven’t been able to achieve these things after the lecture, you might want to revise the topic again, review the recording, or ask the lecturer clarifying questions (“can you describe the sugar caddy again, Doctor?”). If you’re not sure what the learning outcomes are, be sure to look in your course handbook, but also don’t be afraid to ask your course organiser or lecturer.
TIP #2: Lectures as the diving board
Although it can seem as though you’ve just had an ocean’s worth of material dumped on your head in a lecture, your lecturer will be thinking you’ve barely dipped your toe in the water.
Often, the lecture is an introduction to the subject, a diving board that helps you find the right materials to study further. We’ve seen in our studies that students can use lecture recordings in all sorts of inventive and useful ways to support their learning.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels
It might be tempting to put lecture recordings on while doing the dishes, like your favourite Netflix series, but studying should be a dynamic activity. In one study2 we found vet students would watch recordings, pausing often to look up references or clarify concepts from their own notes.
We’ve also seen that students like to revisit their lectures on EMS3 – particularly to reconsider tricky topics that may have come up on placement, or just as a reminder that they do know this material really.
TIP #3: Make good notes
While it’s easy to say “make sure you study actively with recordings”, it can be a bit harder to imagine what that looks like. Here are some of our recommendations for making the best of your notes.
Remember that your notes can (and maybe should) begin before the lecture. You will most likely know the topics in advance, so outline what you think you’re going to learn, and even some potential questions before you review a lecture recording or go to class.
Leave gaps in your notes where you might want to revisit important phases or concepts. This is particularly useful in recorded sessions, because you can concentrate on listening to the lecture, knowing you can revisit the recording and look up the spelling of “blepharorrhaphy” later. We all know that’s suturing eyelids, of course, but if you weren’t sure, you could test yourself when you’re filling in your notes after class by researching the answer after you’ve made a guess.
It’s important to remember that the best notes aren’t just a transcript of the lecture. The recording is there to help make sure you don’t miss the details, but you need to return to your notes and expand on them. There should be more in your lecture notes than what was said by the lecturer.
The notes you have at the start of class won’t be the same notes you have before the exam. The notes should evolve with you and your understanding of the subject. You may find it useful to reorganise your notes as you study. It might not be logical to you to have them in the order of your lectures. Most importantly, your notes are for you and don’t need to be pretty, or make sense to anyone else.
One of the great things about recordings is that they give you the freedom to experiment.
Let’s say you wanted to try a new way of taking notes, like the Cornell system4, you can pick a recorded lecture to experiment in. If you hate it, you can use the recording to fill your notes in again. Perhaps you feel you might concentrate more if you take notes on pen and paper instead of on a laptop – why not try it out?
You may also find it useful to take and store your own notes online alongside recorded lectures or, if your institution has one, use a dedicated chat thread to discuss them with your lecturer or fellow students. It can be helpful to supplement your own understanding of the topics being covered by drawing from different perspectives.
Vet school can feel very pressured, but experimenting is a really important part of learning. Taking the step from school to university can be a great time to figure out what works for you, and what you might want to change.
This tip is also especially useful for graduated vets who are working on CPD recordings – what worked for you before you graduated might not work when you’re also running a practice and dodging children underfoot.
We’ve heard that our students like to use recordings in group study sessions. Think about sharing your notes in sessions like these, be they in person or over an e-conferencing platform. Can you get any tips on organisation from others, or help each other to get a better understanding of the topic? These kinds of group discussions are so important, both for learning the topic, but also learning how to become collegiate vets.
My final tip is to try to relax. The last 18 months have been tough on everyone, and you might be worrying about sitting formal exams again, anxious about leaving your family dog behind or simply concerned about how you’ll balance all the clubs you’re trying to join.
Everyone needs a sick day occasionally, and one of the big things we’ve heard from our students is that having recordings and virtual learning environments can help take some of the pressure off.
Ultimately, the way you study will be very personal to you. The tools and technologies are there to help, and they are worth exploring and experimenting with. Most of all, take the time to enjoy these lectures. They are the first step on the path to becoming the vet you’re going to be.
With education secretary Gavin Williamson recently coming forward to suggest that universities should reduce their fees if they choose not to return to face-to-face teaching, the question is being asked once again if online teaching can really hold its own against the real thing?
Loneliness
One of the main trials of the vet course has always been its difficulty. It’s hard, both academically and at times emotionally (and, when you’re called upon to tip a sheep, sometimes physically), there’s no getting away from that.
Online learning doesn’t reduce the course’s difficulty, but it does have the potential to exacerbate it, especially for those with attention deficit disorders who benefit from a more tangible learning environment.
The online platform is also unable to replicate that feeling of camaraderie you get from the live experience. If you can see your coursemates struggling on a particular topic you are also struggling with, then at least you’re reminded that you’re all in the same boat; but when you’re struggling to comprehend a lecture in your room by yourself – day in, day out – it can be easy to feel that maybe you’re the only one having trouble, and that you’re falling behind the rest of the herd.
The little things
All vet students and new grads will still remember the horrors of 9am lectures. Let’s be honest, nobody actively looked forward to them – especially, I’m sure, my fellow Bristol students, for whom struggling your way up one of the many formidable hills in gale force winds and torrential rain was a rite of passage.
Saying that, you always end up missing what you don’t have, and while a classroom of shivering 20-somethings with 150 coats attempting to dry on the one single lecture hall radiator may not sound like the epitome of a good time, it’s just one of the little things that builds a person’s university experience.
There will be highs and lows, good days and bad days that all make up the tapestry of academic life. While some may prefer to listen to recorded lectures in bed, I think being given the choice is inherently necessary.
Isolation
There are also an often-unheard body of students, for whom those lectures represented the only opportunity to interact with people and have space to learn. Sadly, not everyone at university has a living situation that supports their learning, whether it’s a disruptive home life, unreliable Wi-Fi, or any other number of things.
I don’t think this is something that universities fully take into account, and I feel especially sorry for international students paying incredibly high fees while entirely unable to explore their new surroundings or get the experience they were advertised. For those who study far from their homes and families, online learning has the potential to be incredibly isolating. I know my own mental health has certainly suffered as a result, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Screens, screens, screens
When I was little, my mother used to tell me that if I stared at a screen for too long my eyes would turn square, and although I’ve since dismissed it as a method to get me to tidy my room instead of watching Power Rangers, I now fear it may be true…
I know that may sound a little “six of one, half a dozen of the other” seeing that in-person lectures use projectors and laptops as well, but I truly believe online learning massively ramps up your screen time. Even in 3-hour long lecture blocks, we would still be given short breaks between lecturers, you’d turn to talk to your friends and maybe focus more on the lecturer than the words on the slides.
When your only way to learn is via your laptop, and your only way to recharge after those lectures is also your laptop (Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on), you could easily pull a nine-hour shift sharing predominantly at a screen. Excessive screentime has been linked to postural-injuries, back and neck pain, negative impacts on sleep and emotional states, eye strain and migraines.
Imperfect fit
Obviously, everyone’s experience of the past two years has been unique and, as such, I’ve found that my fellow students tend to have mixed opinions of online teaching platforms or “blended learning” (when the majority of your work is done online, but augmented with a smattering of in-person teaching, perhaps once a month).
Some of my cohort really enjoy having all of our lectures at the touch of a button, while others have struggled with the lack of contact with their peers and mustering daily motivation.
Personally, I can see both sides of the coin, but I think it needs to be accepted that while there are merits to both the new and old system, the two are simply not comparable – and like every teaching system, neither are a perfect fit for every student.
Less than a month into my master’s degree in wildlife health and rehabilitation, and it’s already become apparent that a vast array of misconceptions are held by the public concerning local wildlife.
I’m already armed with far more wildlife facts than I ever thought my brain had room for. For example, did you know that a group of hedgehogs is called a prickle? Or that bees have five eyes?
The vet course is a lengthy and arduous endurance, and even so a whole wealth of animal knowledge gets left out because, for the average vet, there’s little need to know that a kangaroo has three vaginas. Unless, of course, you’re a vet working in Australia – in which case, g’day!
The unfortunate facts
In my lectures, alongside these charming facts came the statistic that in the majority of wildlife rescue centres, more than 50% of “abandoned orphan” admissions are a mistake on the well-meaning public’s part and are, in fact, just young fledglings still getting used to their wings.
That’s in excess of 50% of “avian orphan” admissions that have to be assessed, put through the system, housed and then released back into the wild – more than 50% of resources wasted.
It’s also true that feeding hedgehogs milk and birds bread can make them ill, and that setting out food or bird feeders can provide a breeding ground for disease transmission and propagation.
And it’s a truth that is kept somewhat from the public that, for a large proportion of wildlife casualties, there is little to be done but palliative care and euthanasia.
Small acts of kindness
This topic really gets me down, because with all of the ecological, environmental and diversity destruction ongoing around the world, small acts of kindness and sympathetic good deeds seem few and far between – and as someone passionate about wildlife and conservation, the last thing I want to do is discourage them.
A lot of problems exist in this world, and humans cause 99% of them, so when someone goes out of his or her way to try to do the right thing and it ends up causing more harm than good – whether he or she knows it or not – it seems like such a waste of good intentions.
The real crux of the matter is the paradox of education. It’s understandable that the public make mistakes regarding wildlife when so much is still unknown to the professional community.
That being said, if the wide range of new data at our fingertips could be available for the layman, such mistakes might be mitigated. However, there’s only so much unrequested education people can tolerate before they just give up.
Similarly, if you let every member of the public who brings in an injured animal know the percentage of animals that have had to be euthanised that day, they might just take it on themselves not to bring it in at all, or (an even worse possibility) attempt to care for it themselves.
Sad, but true
Stories of people attempting to hand-rear everything from birds to large cats are, while superficially admirable, most often doomed to failure.
Research is constantly being conducted into nutritional requirements, behavioural norms and habitat necessities on all the species we’re still not 100% on… and that’s pretty much all of them.
If the leading minds in the field are still messing it up, there’s not much hope for the average Joe – even with all the good intentions in the world.
With first year on the horizon in the midst of a world that is far from the normal we knew, some newbie vets are bound to be feeling nervous at the prospect of a fresher’s year like no other.
Having spoken to a number of students due to begin their vet journeys later this month, I thought I would address some of their specific concerns, and offer advice and comfort to anyone out there who might need it.
Fear #1: loneliness
I think every first year is worried about making friends and fitting in, so, when socialising is legally restricted, it’s only natural for those worries to intensify.
For any students who had their heart set on midnight raves seven days a week, I’m not sure I can offer much in the way of a solution. However, I would like to say that I managed to make several good friends before even moving into halls.
Social media made it possible to connect with people from my course and accommodation far in advance of the start of term – and some of those early connections went on to form long-lasting friendships after meeting in person.
Social media allowed Eleanor to connect with people from her course before it began. Photo by bongkarn thanyakij from Pexels
Get connected
If you’ve yet to find an online group like that at your university then I encourage you to have another look. Whether you want to connect with course mates, room-mates or people who enjoy the same activities as you, I promise, your people are out there waiting for you to find them.
If you’re not the most socially inclined person, it can be easy to feel isolated at the best of times, so I implore you to take advantage of every online resource your university has to offer.
Community
First years I’ve spoken to have worried about the lack of group learning and practicals because they already know the value of teamwork in the veterinary industry. Studying with friends is an incredible tool, and a strong sense of community is one of the defining features of every vet school.
Although your social bubble will of course be no substitute for a lecture hall of 150 people, it is no lie that most students make their best friends on the first day with the person sitting next to them.
Fear #2: mental health
The veterinary course can be intense and highly demanding – both mentally and emotionally. It’s why this course and profession have higher incidences of depression, anxiety and suicide than almost any others.
The general uncertainty surrounding local lockdowns can make visits home to family and friends to recuperate and unwind challenging or impossible – especially to foreign students who may already feel isolated.
It has never been more important for the veterinary community to rally around and support one another. We are all in the same boat – from first years, to lecturers, to vets out in the field. All of us are a little uncertain, but we are strongest when we work together.
Fear #3: access to learning resources
I’ve spent many an hour studying cadavers of all sizes at length in the lead-up to an exam, or simply when I just couldn’t wrap my head around something. I know from first-hand experience that sometimes looking at something on a computer screen just isn’t the same, and when it comes to the vet course, there’s no better way to learn than hands-on, up close and personal.
I must have had tens of hours’ worth of lectures about the bovine reproductive tract and how to perform a rectal exam, but I think I learned more in 15 minutes with my hand inside a rectum than I did in all of those lectures combined.
There truly is no substitute for live instruction, so it is incredibly important for all vet students to make the most of all the face-to-face content their university can provide.
Taking the time to study the content beforehand can be extremely helpful for this. Not only do you (hopefully) know enough to understand what you are looking at (a leg versus an arm, for example), but you’re also more aware of what you really don’t understand and can perhaps prepare some questions in advance.
Just ask
Take advantage of any personnel on hand when you have them – don’t be too anxious to ask questions or raise your hand because you’ll be kicking yourself when you’re trying to discover those answers on Google and it tries giving you recipe ideas when you look up the parts of a chicken wing.
Of course, I don’t have all the answers. If you are worried, unsure or have any questions about how the vet course is evolving then, regardless of the year you are in, email or call into your vet school to help put your mind at rest.
Right now, a lot of vet students are heading towards their first mid-sessional exams – the first university level exams the majority of them will ever have experienced.
The rest of us have mid-sessionals, too, off course, and while we no longer have the luxury of ignorance and the bliss it comes with, these are no longer uncharted waters and we do have some advice.
Don’t
Panic
While, unlike other courses, the first year of veterinary medicine does technically “count”, you won’t be graded in the way the majority of students are. It’s a nice and clear-cut pass or fail system. Also, if you have the worst time with your mid-sessionals and don’t even reach that passing grade, there’s plenty of time for you to make that up with coursework and the summer exams, which will carry a lot more weight. Both the university and your faculty members understand the transition to university is a whirlwind, and these first exams while you’re still finding your feet might not reflect your best work; therefore, your mid-sessional results do not have to reflect the rest of your year.
Just talk – listen!
Nobody is going to send you into those exams blind! The uni will give you all of the information you need to know – it might be online, or in a lecture you didn’t go to because it didn’t look particularly important. A lot of the answers to your questions can be found just by paying attention.
Burn yourself out
I have been guilty of this. I can sometimes get so caught up in maximising my revision that I run out of steam with maybe a week or two still to go before the exams and realise, suddenly, I could have given myself a bit more slack. Be smart, kids; don’t be me.
Just revise the interesting stuff
It can be tempting to ignore revising the content that bores you or you can’t see the relevance of learning. Trust me when I say if you are being taught it, it is important and even if It seems like common sense, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t even give it a glance when you come to revision.
Right now, everyone around you is in the exact same boat, without a clue what’s going on. How much content in each lecture do we need to know? How are questions worded? How many questions are in a paper? What’s 2 + 2, again? Talk to each other, work with each other, make study groups and draw from each other’s strengths. Talk to your lecturers; you are allowed to ask them what kind of stuff they expect you to take away from their lectures. Talk to your personal tutors and staff members; they might be able to direct you towards some sample questions.
Start revising early on – and stay organised!
Know which notes are for which topic, and, maybe, even make a handy list of all of your most hated topics/lectures so you can maximise your study time.
Your best
I know it sounds super corny, but at the end of the day it’s all that you can do. You’ve made it into vet school so trust in yourself and your abilities. You can do this.
All students dream of having it all – straight As, buzzing social life and maybe a small part-time job to help you afford the latter…
There’s no doubt that whatever year you’re in, whatever course you’re on, you’ve probably got a lot going on.
The important thing I’ve found, however (easier said than done, mind you), is not to overload yourself in an effort to try it all right off the bat – I’m looking at you freshers.
One step at a time
When I first came to uni, I began juggling a lot: three jobs (yes, I appreciate the hypocrisy, but hear me out), making new friends, keeping in contact with friends and family at home, moving into a new city, joining societies – and occasionally sleeping, but who has the time?
And then, of course, there’s the course itself – the very reason I was there in the first place – and yet it was just one of the armada of things I had to think about.
I understand when you rock up to university as a first-year, everything around you looks equally shiny and new, and so exciting. It’s bursting with new opportunities, restaurants you never had in your corner of the country, clubs you’ve always wanted to join, sports you’ve never even heard of… it can be so easy to just run to fresher’s fair and sign yourself up for everything with the full intention of going to it all – and you may try. But, take it from me, if you actually want to enjoy each new experience, take it a step at a time.
Find your passion
Try joining a society or two in your first few weeks, and if you discover they’re not really you, there’s no harm with trying something else… and so on, and so on until you find something that sticks – something you have a real passion for.
There’s no use spending significant amounts on new trainers, gym gear and a tennis racket before you realise you’ve zero hand-eye coordination, but have a real penchant for amateur dramatics.
The average student is at uni for three years. That’s plenty of time to try everything you wanted to and more, and if you’re a medicine student – really, what’s the hurry?
Get a handle on those early starts before signing up to various clubs and activities, suggests Eleanor Goad.
Slow and steady
I would also recommend learning to adjust to your routine before adding new commitments (I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “don’t run before you can walk”).
Lectures can be daunting enough on their own, so get a handle on those 9am starts first before signing yourself up for an away match the other side of the country that gets you up at 6am!
Stress is a big problem for students, and not just for vets. It’s obviously important to extend your interests outside your course and do things that excite and drive you but, at the same time, be sensible and know that if you want to have it all, it might require a little bit of trial and error – and a lot of patience.
