Exotic certificate exam

Re: Exotic certificate exam

jojofruits — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:35:16 GMT

The questions for some of the practicals and some of the picturew were ridiculous.

We complained both to Sity and Guilds and to the college ( with the full support of my bosses) and didnt get anywhere really, although my bosses have asked for copies of the pictures.. I have passed it but I was furious after all that work and money spent that we couldnt even have pictures that were in focus!!

Won't be using that college again I tell you that!

Re: Exotic certificate exam

cheepcheep — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:23:19 GMT

I completely agree with the comment about the quality of the photographs and questions. I noticed the spelling mistakes which meant I had to read and re read the question before answering. The poor quality pictures in particular the sexing of an iguana made looking for the femoral spores on a very pixulated picture nearly impossible. If this is the exam material they want to submit then they should reduce the exam entrance fee or make the 50% pass rate lower to make up for it.

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Mujician — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:29:15 GMT

I think thats a bit silly saying that as many exotics keepers will call thier animals by their latin names as the common names are often misleading. Also, if a new Vet/ or VN saw a yuccatan banded gecko in their practice for the first time, they may be mistaken that it was a leopard gecko as the markings and colours are very similar.

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Selena Carnell — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:01:15 GMT

when i did the course about 5 years ago, telford just ran the course and simon girling did all the marking and assessment. if found t better to email him direct if i had any problems. took about 7 months before i got the badge!

the college its self were pretty useless.

Re: Exotic certificate exam

The Pikachu_Collector — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:16:22 GMT

I didn't enjoy the exotics exam at all! Thought that some of the questions had more than one possible answer and the quality of the photographs, xray and hand drawn pictures were just dreadful.

There were spelling mistakes and some of the questions were so badly written that they didnt make sense - as in bad grammar.

Just got to wait and see noe for the results - i'm going for a big fail :(

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:58:56 GMT

Ok so l am tired just ended night shift l come on here and read Erotic Certificate Exam

Re: Exotic certificate exam

nets — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:37:59 GMT

i dont want to go off topic but just out of intrest how often do people find exotics come in to practice? and on the course do they teach you to deal with "hot's" it just suprises me that although herpatology is one of the fastest growing hobbies i dont think people take their herps to the vets as often as they should

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Ashley Suleyman — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:00:04 GMT

Hi Lindsey I had the same trouble last year when I took it! The practical of which there are 20stations of either photos or equipment that u need to identify its not like the VN practical's in fact the practical's are the easy bit its the papers u need to worry about especially paper2 but if u have studied u will be fine! Let me know how u got on but u may not know for a while if last year is anything to go by! They said results will be sent within 2-4weeks I got mine after 10weeks! Good luck

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Lindsey Raven — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:22:07 GMT

Well I think it went resonably well!

Heres a break down. We all arrived just before 10- I recognised a few nurses (small world) The first paper was all about reptiles and avian- the first few questions were tricky so I left all the ones I really had to think about and just answered the ones I knew straight off! I then went back and concentrated on the hard ones! We had 45 minutes per paper. the varies were really varied- bits on anatomy, a couple of fluid therapy calculations and husbandry.

I found the 2nd paper easier Small mammals and British Wildlife. There were a few refreshing questions like what substrate to keep gerbils on etc!

The practicals were in the afternoon. We had one hour and 20 tasks to do. it wasnt anythingthing nursing practicals. We were all in one room (19 of us) and there were 20 taks set up on each desk- We had 3 mins for each task and then moved on to the next desk. Most of the task were base a round a photo- like identify the sex of the iguana, name 2 carnivorous british wild mammals- it is just short written answers. There were some tasks with ET tubes and you had to right down what ET tube you would use for a Harris Hawk.

I found the whole exam not too bad. So fingers crossed- The results are not given at any specific time so I will let you all know. I really hope I have passed as I dont think I can afford to get upto Edinburgh, B&B and exam fee again!

Lindsxxx

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Nicola Smith — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:19:07 GMT

Anyone know if you get any post nominals from this?

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Rachel Jayne — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:52:46 GMT

Any news..?

I've always been really interested in doing this coures, but it all sounds a bit daunting now! Plus there's absolutely no way I can afford it now with family addition on the way..

Maybe in the future...

Re: Exotic certificate exam

claire Speight — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:57:52 GMT

Good luck with the exam - let us know how it goes

Claire

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Lindsey Raven — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:33:29 GMT

Thanks so much Claire- I am really motivated bring on next Friday.

Altough I have to say Telford college will be getting a stern letter as I think the whole course has been really badly managed and very unsupportive. Especially since it has cost me so much money! Just hope I pass as I dont think i can afford a resist!

Thanks again.

linds

Re: Exotic certificate exam

claire Speight — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:01:45 GMT

Hi,

Yes, they were wholy unhelpful last year with when results would be out and we were never told. I just kept emailing them every couple of weeks and eventually I got a phone call in Nov (towards the end I think) with my results, which was a pass! And then certificate and badge followed in the post a week or so later. I think it is however long it takes Simon to mark the papers and they don't seem to be able to comit to a rough estimate on that, which I was very dissapointed with.

I can't really remember any more of my practicals except the seal family one, rabbit dentation, blood sample site of a rat, ET tube size of a bird. There were questions on a fox but can't remember. Also had a question on how you would sex an iguana and a tortoise.....

Claire

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Lindsey Raven — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:13:34 GMT

Thank you so much you dont know how helpfull that is, altough perhaps a little dauting. I am getting on with revison- exam is next friday! Do you have any tips on what to actually revise for the practicals I have been going over all the anaesthesia sections and picking up on practical stuff from that???

Also do you remember how long it was before you got your results?

They dont seem to tell you anything- really not helpful- considering the money i have spent!

Thank you so much for your help,

linds

Re: Exotic certificate exam

claire Speight — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:03:41 GMT

Hi,

I did the exams last year. There was 2 MCQ papers, one on reptiles and avian and one on BW and small mammals (I think it was spilt that way) and you had 40 questions in each paper; 20 on each of the different species. From what I remember there were a few classifications, bits about blood sampling sites, feeding, body temperatures etc...

The practicals were 20 stations where you were given a written task and had to use the items you were given to answer the question on a piece of paper and then you would move onto the next desk - so all people in the room do the practicals together. Each task is 2 mins long I think, with 1 minute to move tables, so they take an hour or so. They were pretty straightforward - identifying correct ET tube for an african grey parrot, dental formula for a rabbit, blood sampling site for a rat, family of a seal etc.....

Don't know if that is any help what-so-ever though! But good luck.

Claire

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Lindsey Raven — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:26:48 GMT

Thanx Caro that is really helpful. What about drugs and stuff? I cant possibly remember all the set drugs for set animals?

Not long now my exam in 3rd Sept - best get on and revise!

Linds

Re: Exotic certificate exam

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:17:34 GMT

Dont bother learning complicated long latin names and not usually worried about non prractice animals they want to test you on the type of things we will see in practice . Thats what we were told by one of simons nurses on the first course that was held. A lot is just in there for infomation