Kenya Veterinary Board pre-registration exam

Kenya · Kenya Veterinary Board (VSVP Act 2011) · licensing

192practice questions written to this syllabus
15subjects

Format

Written MCQs and short-answer questions, 3 hours per paper over 2 days. Pass 50%. Maximum 3 attempts. Sittings in February and September.

Over the years

A licensing gate before the internship for graduates admitted after 11 Jun 2020. Section weights are unverified. A 1-year internship is required for 2016+ graduates; foreign veterinarians get temporary registration and may be examined.

Official source: https://kenyavetboard.or.ke/sites/default/files/2025-05/FREQUENTLY%20ASKED%20QUESTIONS%20ON%20%20THE%20KENYA%20VETERINARY%20BOARD-FINAL.pdf

Subjects this exam draws on

Livestock Production Management I: General Principles and Ruminants5 questionsLivestock Production Management III: Species of Regional Interest12 questionsLivestock Farm Practices1 questionsGeneral Veterinary Parasitology & Helminthology13 questionsVeterinary Entomology & Acarology12 questionsVeterinary Protozoology5 questionsClinical, Diagnostic & Immuno-Parasitology13 questionsGeneral Veterinary Surgery11 questionsVeterinary Anaesthesiology & Analgesia16 questionsRegional Veterinary Surgery18 questionsVeterinary Orthopaedics & Lameness20 questionsFood-Animal Production Medicine & Herd Health7 questionsEmergency & Critical Care, Fluid Therapy and Euthanasia24 questionsVeterinary Clinical Practice (Veterinary Clinical Complex)9 questionsVeterinary Pharmacy, Prescribing Law & Medicines Regulation26 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. The Dorper sheep of South Africa was developed from which parent breeds?

  1. Merino and Lincoln
  2. Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian
  3. Suffolk and Romney Marsh
  4. Awassi and Karakul
Answer and working

B. Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian

The Dorper is a hair-meat breed from Dorset Horn x Blackhead Persian. Merino x long-wool (Lincoln or Leicester) gave the Corriedale.

Livestock Production Management I: General Principles and Ruminants · Breeds and home tracts of sheep and goats

2. A herd has 20 adult she-camels, of which 60% are in milk at any time, each giving 5 litres a day. Milk sells at 50 currency units per litre. Daily milk income is:

  1. 3000 units
  2. 5000 units
  3. 60 units
  4. 600 units
Answer and working

A. 3000 units

Milking camels = 20 x 0.6 = 12; milk = 12 x 5 = 60 L; income = 60 x 50 = 3000. 5000 wrongly assumes every camel is in milk; 60 is litres, not money; 600 forgets the 5 L per camel (12 x 50).

Livestock Production Management III: Species of Regional Interest · Camel management

3. Why is milk cooled quickly after milking?

  1. Bacteria multiply fast in warm milk
  2. Cooling is needed to stop let-down
  3. Cooling raises the fat content of milk
  4. Warm milk cannot be filtered at all
Answer and working

A. Bacteria multiply fast in warm milk

Freshly drawn milk is near body temperature, ideal for bacterial growth. Rapid cooling keeps counts low; limits on temperature and time are set by national dairy hygiene law.

Livestock Farm Practices · Milking

4. The 'thorny-headed worm' of pigs, Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus, belongs to the phylum:

  1. Platyhelminthes
  2. Annelida
  3. Acanthocephala
  4. Nematoda
Answer and working

C. Acanthocephala

Acanthocephalans have a spiny retractable proboscis and no gut. They are worm-like but not nematodes; the name 'worm' tempts students to place them in Nematoda.

General Veterinary Parasitology & Helminthology · Taxonomy of parasites

5. Reproduction in tsetse flies (Glossina) is best described as:

  1. Adenotrophic viviparity: one larva at a time is nourished in the uterus and deposited mature
  2. Oviparity, with eggs cemented singly to host hair and hatching after about a week
  3. Oviparity with eggs laid in rafts on water
  4. Parthenogenesis, with each unmated female laying several hundred eggs in batches in loose, shaded soil
Answer and working

A. Adenotrophic viviparity: one larva at a time is nourished in the uterus and deposited mature

Tsetse females nourish a single larva from milk glands and deposit it fully grown, and it pupates in soil within hours. Egg rafts describe Culex, and eggs cemented to hair describe lice. Low reproductive output is why tsetse populations are vulnerable to traps and SIT.

Veterinary Entomology & Acarology · Flies

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