BCSE (Basic & Clinical Sciences Examination) · USA / Canada · ICVA; administered through CVMA-NEB and AVMA-ECFVG
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe first hour of an emergency: triage, shock, CPR, fluids and blood, poisoning and trauma, oxygen, and humane euthanasia.
In the exams: AVMA COE clinical competency on emergencies; EAEVE Day One competences on emergencies and euthanasia; NAVLE clinical practice
NAVLE, BCSE, ECFVG/NEB and PAVE (North America)
Clinical vignettes on shock recognition, fluid plans and rate calculations, RECOVER CPR (compression rate, ventilation rate, epinephrine dose, defibrillation), blood typing in cats and crossmatching in dogs, common toxicoses (anticoagulant rodenticides, ethylene glycol, chocolate, xylitol, paracetamol in cats, permethrin in cats, lilies), uroabdomen and hyperkalaemia, oxygen supplementation and euthanasia methods under the AVMA Guidelines.
How our questions for BCSE spread across the units of Emergency & Critical Care, Fluid Therapy and Euthanasia. Difficulty: 12 easy, 18 medium, 4 hard.
| Fluid therapy | 6 | |
| Toxicological emergencies | 5 | |
| Triage | 4 | |
| Shock | 4 | |
| Cardiopulmonary resuscitation | 4 | |
| Blood transfusion | 4 | |
| Humane euthanasia | 3 | |
| Trauma | 2 | |
| Oxygen therapy | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In veterinary emergency practice, what does triage mean?
A. Sorting patients by how urgently they need treatment
Triage sorts patients by urgency, so a dyspnoeic cat that arrives last is seen first. Treating in arrival order is exactly what triage replaces, and consent or radiographs must never delay stabilisation of a life-threatening problem.
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine; BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Emergency and Critical Care
What is the standard order of the primary survey in an emergency patient?
B. Airway, breathing, circulation, then disability (neurological status)
The ABCD order addresses what kills fastest first: an obstructed airway kills before poor perfusion does. Starting with circulation is a common slip carried over from cardiac-arrest teaching in people, but the primary survey of a breathing patient begins with the airway.
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine; BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Emergency and Critical Care
A 30 kg dog in hypovolaemic shock is to receive an isotonic crystalloid bolus of 15 mL/kg, then be reassessed. What volume is given?
C. 450 mL
30 kg x 15 mL/kg = 450 mL. 2,700 mL is the old full 'shock dose' of 90 mL/kg (30 x 90), 675 mL is a quarter of that, and 45 mL is a decimal slip. Bolus figures of 10-20 mL/kg are commonly cited — confirm against the product label and your national formulary.
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine, shock chapters
Which arrest rhythms are most common in dogs and cats?
C. Asystole and pulseless electrical activity
Most dogs and cats arrest in non-shockable rhythms, asystole or PEA. Ventricular fibrillation is the classic adult human arrest rhythm, which is why students often choose it.
Further reading: RECOVER clinical guidelines on veterinary CPR (2012; 2024 update)
Using the AAHA/AAFP formula of 132 x BW(kg)^0.75 mL/day, what is the daily maintenance fluid requirement of a 20 kg dog?
B. About 1,250 mL/day
20^0.75 = 9.46; 132 x 9.46 = about 1,248 mL/day (about 52 mL/h). 2,640 mL comes from forgetting the exponent (132 x 20), 660 mL uses the resting energy constant 70 instead of 132 (70 x 9.46), and 52 is the hourly, not daily, figure.
Further reading: DiBartola, Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Small Animal Practice; 2013 AAHA/AAFP Fluid Therapy Guidelines
A litre of fluid is to run over 8 hours through a giving set delivering 20 drops/mL. What drip rate is needed?
C. About 42 drops/min
Drops/min = volume x drip factor / minutes = 1,000 x 20 / 480 = 41.7. 125 is the rate in mL/h, 2,500 is drops per hour rather than per minute, and 21 assumes a 10 drops/mL set.
Further reading: DiBartola, Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Small Animal Practice; 2013 AAHA/AAFP Fluid Therapy Guidelines
How does calcium gluconate help a cat with life-threatening hyperkalaemia?
D. It restores the gap between resting and threshold potentials, protecting the heart
Calcium raises the threshold potential and restores myocardial excitability without changing serum potassium; it buys time while insulin-dextrose or bicarbonate shift potassium into cells and fluids or relief of obstruction remove it.
Further reading: DiBartola, Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Small Animal Practice; 2013 AAHA/AAFP Fluid Therapy Guidelines
Which dog most clearly needs a crossmatch before transfusion?
B. A dog that received a transfusion two weeks ago and needs another
A previously transfused dog may have formed antibodies after its first transfusion (commonly after about four days), so a crossmatch is required. A never-transfused, type-matched dog is low risk, and a donor or autotransfusion recipient does not receive foreign red cells.
Further reading: Yagi & Holowaychuk, Manual of Veterinary Transfusion Medicine and Blood Banking
In which dog is induction of emesis contraindicated?
D. A dog that drank a caustic drain cleaner 10 minutes ago
Caustics burn the oesophagus again on the way up, so emesis is contraindicated (as it is for hydrocarbons, and in seizuring or obtunded animals). The other three are alert dogs that ingested toxins recently, in whom emesis is appropriate.
Further reading: Peterson & Talcott, Small Animal Toxicology; Gupta, Veterinary Toxicology; Merck Veterinary Manual
How should death be confirmed after euthanasia?
D. Multiple signs together: no heartbeat or breathing, no corneal reflex, fixed dilated pupils
Death is confirmed with several signs: absent heartbeat on auscultation for a sufficient time, absent breathing, absent corneal reflex, fixed dilated pupils and loss of the eye's lustre. Open eyes are normal after death, and twitching or agonal gasps may occur after death.
Further reading: AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals, 2020 Edition
Ten here, 34 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to BCSE in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
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