veterinary students handbook the first two years - Downing College

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The complementary roles of the University and the Colleges Cambridge is a collegiate University and responsibility for your education is shared between the University and your College. You were admitted by a College and you will, I hope, soon make friends with other students in your College. Your College Director of Studies will get to know you as an individual, as will those that are appointed by your Director of Studies to act as your Supervisors in the main subjects that make up your course. Supervisors, Director of Studies and Tutors provide a pastoral network designed to support your studies. The University body with responsibility for organising your teaching for the first three years is the Faculty of Biology. The Faculty delegates responsibility for delivery of this formal teaching to Departments, or to course management committees: the majority of your timetabled teaching (lectures and practicals) is delivered by staff from seven departments (Biochemistry; Genetics; Pathology; Pharmacology; Physiology, Development and Neuroscience; Psychology; and Veterinary Medicine). This teaching will be augmented and enhanced by small-group teaching, (supervisions), organised by your College. The supervision system can help with academic work, but also helps you to develop communication and writing skills Departments will provide course handbooks for each of the courses you take which will include details of the arrangements for lectures and practical classes in that subject, and detailed guidance about the form and conduct of examinations. Much more information, especially about timetables, is available on the MVST pages of the Faculty of Biology web site and you should become accustomed to consulting this: http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/sbs/facbiol/mvst Study Skills - how to survive the term University is not like school. There are significant differences between the way you were taught at school and the way you will learn at University, and sometimes you may feel bewildered by the transition. In place of relatively small school classes, information at University is delivered by means of lectures, (essentially a 50-minute monologue) to groups of over 300 students. Lecturers will issue hand-outs, but you will also need to develop your listening, concentration and note-taking skills to get the best out of this. The material will be delivered quickly, and it is then up to you to understand and assimilate it. The information you are provided with in lectures will be developed and set in context in practical classes. Although classes may be large you will work in small groups with demonstrators on hand to help and answer questions. These sessions are vital to your education and attendance is mandatory. The supervision system is there to complement the formal teaching and the onus is very much on you to make use of it, and to develop study and time management skills to help you cope with and master the material. College supervisions will play a very important part in your education. Make them interactive and take full advantage of them to ask questions about any parts of the course you need help with. You will need to use the internet to consult library catalogues, past examination papers, databases of scientific literature - and much, much more. The departments that provide your teaching are providing increasing amount of supplementary information on their web sites, and the Faculty of Biology website (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/sbs/facbiol/mvst/) also provides a lot of basic information. You need to be aware that the University takes plagiarism very seriously. You can read more about this on the Faculty website (http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/sbs/facbiol/plagiarism.html). 10
Assessment and Exams Courses have been designed to allow students, wherever possible, to learn for themselves rather than being passive recipients of instruction, and you will get far more out of your course and are more likely to do well in your exams if you regard university as an opportunity to study what interests you, rather than just learning a syllabus to pass an exam. You will encounter two kinds of assessment. Formative assessment is designed to indicate to you how you are progressing, on a weekly or termly basis. Your College supervisor is the person mainly responsible for providing this kind of feedback. Formative assessment, more or less informal, may also form part of some University-based teaching. Summative assessment (end of year exams) determines your ability to proceed with the rest of the course. The main science courses in your first and second year will be examined for two qualifications: • Second Vet MB, which determines whether you are able to proceed to the clinical part of your veterinary course; • Tripos, on the basis of which you are classed and will receive your BA degree. In addition to the main science courses, there are other courses which are assessed only for the Second Vet MB. Each of the main summer exams in June is divided into three sections, and Sections I and II count for the Second Vet MB. The general format is a 1-hour theory exam (Section I), which covers the lecture material and consists of MCQs or short notes, and a 1 or 2 hour practical exam (Section II) covering the practical material. Because these Second Vet MB exams constitute a professional qualification, you will be expected to pass these at a qualifying level, and to demonstrate a basic knowledge and understanding of the whole of the subject material in the courses. The marks obtained in these two sections will then be added to those of Section III, to give a final Tripos mark. Students often ask, “How much do I need to know to pass the exams?” The bottom line is that to pass your professional qualification (Second Vet MB) you will be expected to show a good working knowledge of the subject material in all your courses. Furthermore, you will be expected not merely to know this material but, more importantly, to understand it and apply that understanding to the solving of problems. Courses will provide you with the scientific knowledge which veterinary surgeons need to have in order to cope with today’s clinical practice, but we are also trying to show you that learning is a continuous process and that practitioners will have to continue to develop their knowledge and skills throughout their working careers. To do well in the Tripos, you will need to show a deeper understanding of the material, and to be able to marshal facts into coherent arguments. If you do not pass the Second Vet MB in June you will have one further attempt at a separate Second Vet MB examination in September, unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as illness or other good cause. If you require a third attempt, your College has to apply for this on your behalf to the Faculty Board of Veterinary Medicine. Section III consists of a 2-hour exam, during which you will be asked to write essays from a wide choice of topics; this section does not figure in your professional qualification, and the marks obtained count only towards your Tripos class. 11
Page 1 and 2: Faculty Board of Biology VETERINARY
Page 3 and 4: Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge: T
Page 5 and 6: Veterinary Student Code of Conduct
Page 7 and 8: Inform the Director of Teaching in
Page 9 and 10: Monitoring and mentoring student pr
Page 11: Section B. Course and assessment in
Page 15 and 16: First Year Courses These courses ar
Page 17 and 18: Your Director of Studies will be ab
Page 19 and 20: Transferable Skills • the capacit
Page 21 and 22: Course Organisers - MVST Part 1A (2
Page 23 and 24: Second Year Courses and Assessment-
Page 25: VETERINARY STUDENT REGISTER AGREEME

veterinary students handbook the first two years - Downing College

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