Guidelines for submission of questions to the ECVAA
(Updated 25 May 2010)

1. General remarks

The ECVAA examination committee needs help from all Diplomates in generating questions for the board examination. The need is particularly great for the multiple choice questions (MCQ), but new essay questions (EQ), short answer questions (SAQ) and possibly questions for the spot-on session of the oral examination are welcome.

Submitting questions is compulsory for ALL active Diplomates according to the Bylaws of the Constitution, article 4, 4.2, last paragraph. Moreover, for re-registration of ALL active Diplomates a point-collection system has been introduced (according to EBVS requirements); one way of collecting points is the submission of questions to the College. Each active Diplomate MUST submit five questions which are accepted as suitable by the exam committee for each 5 year re-evaluation period (1 question/year). It may be necessary to revoke Diplomate status from College members not meeting this obligation.

We are grateful to those Diplomates who contributed to the non-existent question pool at the College’s inception, and to those others who have been frequent contributors ever since. Some of these have contributed almost every year; many thanks to them all.

2. Questions for ECVAA

a) Multiple Choice Questions

The questions are intended to give candidates the chance to demonstrate a wide range of knowledge. We are not looking for the obscure or unusual, but for an answer which an ECVAA Diplomate may reasonably be expected to know.

Please provide questions with the following (classical) construction:

STEM+5 choices featuring ONE CORRECT answer and FOUR DETRACTORS

1)Indicate the correct answer (using bold type or another colour) and add the reference! This can be well-recognized textbooks of veterinary anaesthesia e.g. Hall, Clarke and Trim, Lumb and Jones, but ideally a specific citation to an article is required, i.e. authors, title, year, journal. Avoid questions that are based on a single paper on material that is still subject to much debate or controversy; review papers or state-of-the-art papers are appropriate.

2)The question should also be categorized as clinical or basic science.

There is a need for questions that cover all aspects of veterinary anaesthesia but also consider questions on biophysics, statistics, general medicine and surgery when relevant to anaesthetic management, exotic and lab animals, history, etc.

b) Essay Questions

These questions cover mainly basic science, equipment, monitoring, pharmacology and physiology related to clinical anaesthesia. Each answer is expected to be around 3 sides of A4 paper with normal handwriting (1200-1800 words).

In addition to an “essay question” that suits a 1200 – 1800 word response, we also require that you provide in telegram style or with extended key-wording the essence of a correct answer, possibly (when appropriate) with relevant reference(s).

c) Short Answer Questions

The short questions should be answered in the form of "Essay-notes". Answers should be concise, with facts rather than discussion (unless requested). As a guide to length of answer, they are expected to be half a page of A4 with normal handwriting - with a maximum of one such page (we estimate this as between 200-300 words). Diagrams may be in addition to this.

As with the essay questions, please provide in telegram style or with extended key-wording the essence of a correct answer, possibly when appropriate an important reference.

3. General information about MCQ

3.1 Construction of MCQ

The basic construction featuring a correct answer as well as incorrect answers is as follows:

The stem is a very straightforward question, but the different answers are all possibly correct, as they are all Swiss cities. In other words, the detractors should not be immediately recognized as the wrong answer. The candidate should be able by using his/her knowledge and/or reasoning abilities to see that 4 of 5 choices are incorrect.

3.2 How to produce good MCQs

General rules

• The question should be relevant for the general knowledge of a future diplomate or relevant for clinical anaesthesia.
• It should be possible to answer the question on the basis of knowledge only.

A good formulated stem (the “question”) should:

• contain enough information to allow answering the question
• not contain unnecessary information
• be precise, compact and grammatically correct
• not be formulated as a double negative

Good formulated possible choices (“the answers”) should:

• be all plausible
• be sufficiently different between them
• be of similar length
• avoid using detractors excluding each other
• avoid using "never" or "always" in the sentences

Hints for creating good multiple choice questions:

1. Avoid negatively stated stems that require the examinee to choose an incorrect rather than a correct response.
2. Make the stem as clear and unambiguous as possible.
3. All responses should be grammatically consistent with the stem.
4. All detractors must be plausible.
5. Responses should not overlap in meaning such that more than one correct answer may be selected.
6. Do not use "all of the above", "none of the above", "two of the above" e.g. "a and d can be used".
7. Do not use questions that might ask "what would you do?".
8. Questions should be written so as to assess knowledge of meaningful facts and concepts, and not trivia.
9. Stems should ask questions succinctly. Do not include unessential information in the stem.
10. Avoid providing clues within the stem that will facilitate answering the question.
11. Avoid using answers that are mutually exclusive. For example, if answer a and b are opposites, it will often narrow the answer down to one of those answers.

3.3 Some examples used in the ECVAA-Diploma examination

Short Answer Ouestions:

• Define MIR and MAC.
• How do you calculate the "body surface area" (m²)?
• What are the pathophysiologic changes associated with a patent ductus arteriosus?

Essay Questions:

• Describe the function of the liver and discuss the significance of this with respect to general anaesthesia.
• Discuss the advances made in the last 15 years with regard to injectable anaesthetic agents.

For more information please contact Prof. Eddie Clutton, Chairman of the Exam Committee at e.clutton@ed.ac.uk.