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 papersBCSE (Basic & Clinical Sciences Examination) is a licensing and registration exam run by ICVA; administered through CVMA-NEB and AVMA-ECFVG, for candidates in USA / Canada. 225 items (200 scored, 25 pretest), 220 minutes, computer-based at Prometric. MCQ plus matching, drag-and-drop and hot-spot items. Pass 580 scaled. No penalty for wrong answers.
Source: canadianveterinarians.net.
Checked against the exam body's published information. Formats and fees change; confirm the current edition there before you book.
Applied anatomy that underpins clinical decisions: nerve and muscle deficits from nerve injuries, equine limb blocks and the stay apparatus, laryngeal hemiplegia, guttural pouch contents, abdominal topography of cow and horse, rectal findings, and surgical approaches.
Structure of the domestic animal body, with the ox as the type species compared across horse, sheep, goat, pig, dog, fowl and laboratory animals. Applied anatomy (injection sites, nerve blocks, surgical approaches) links it directly to the clinic.
Our 41 BCSE questions in this subject: 7 easy, 17 medium, 17 hard, across 12 units.
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
These 10 were written to BCSE and are not shown on any other exam's page.
A horse has a chronic foul-smelling nasal discharge from one nostril only. Disease of which teeth most often explains this through spread to a sinus?
A. The caudal upper cheek teeth, whose roots lie in the maxillary sinus
In the horse the reserve crowns and roots of the caudal upper cheek teeth project into the maxillary sinus, so apical infection causes secondary sinusitis and a one-sided discharge. Lower cheek teeth drain ventrally through the mandible, not into a sinus.
A standing 500 kg horse carries about 60 percent of its weight on the forelimbs. About how much weight does each forelimb bear?
A. 150 kg
Forelimb total = 500 x 0.60 = 300 kg; per forelimb = 300 / 2 = 150 kg. 300 kg is the total for both forelimbs; 100 kg is each hindlimb (500 x 0.40 / 2 = 100); 200 kg is the hindlimb total. The 60 percent figure is an approximation that varies with conformation and head position.
In a medium-sized dog, at about which vertebral level does the spinal cord end?
D. Sixth to seventh lumbar vertebra
In the dog the cord ends at about L6-L7 (further caudally in small dogs and cats), so a lumbosacral epidural lies near its end. In the horse and ox the cord extends into the sacrum.
A calf knuckles over at the fetlock of the hindlimb while the hock is overextended. Which nerve is affected?
D. Common fibular (peroneal) nerve
The common fibular nerve supplies the hock flexors and digital extensors; loss makes the digit knuckle and the hock extend. Tibial paralysis does the opposite: the hock drops (hyperflexes) because its extensors are paralysed.
Which teeth are the carnassial (sectorial) teeth of the dog?
B. Upper fourth premolar and lower first molar
The upper P4 shears against the lower M1. Reversing them (upper M1, lower P4) is the common mistake. An abscess of the upper P4 root may drain on the face below the eye.
In the equine large colon, which flexure narrows abruptly and is a common site of impaction?
C. Pelvic flexure
The pelvic flexure joins left ventral and left dorsal colon, and its diameter decreases suddenly, so ingesta lodge there; it can often be felt per rectum. The sternal and diaphragmatic flexures are wide and cranial.
Which accessory sex gland does the male dog possess?
D. Prostate only
The dog has a large prostate and small ampullae but no vesicular or bulbourethral glands. The tomcat has prostate and bulbourethral glands; the bull and stallion have all.
A needle is advanced through the lower part of the last intercostal spaces of a cow to sample pleural fluid, and fluid resembling ascites is obtained. What is the anatomical explanation?
D. The dome of the diaphragm reaches far forward, so the lower caudal intercostal spaces overlie the abdominal cavity, not the pleural cavity
The pleural reflection curves steeply from dorsal to ventral, and below it the diaphragm separates the ribs from the abdominal viscera. Thoracocentesis must be done in a lower but more cranial intercostal space, above the costochondral junction, along the cranial border of a rib.
What does an auriculopalpebral nerve block achieve?
C. Paralysis of orbicularis oculi (no blinking) without anaesthesia of the eye
The auriculopalpebral nerve is a motor branch of the facial nerve; blocking it prevents blepharospasm during examination but the cornea still needs topical anaesthetic. Globe akinesia and analgesia require a retrobulbar or Peterson block.
In which laboratory species do all the teeth, including the cheek teeth, grow continuously throughout life?
A. Guinea pig
Guinea pigs (like rabbits) have open-rooted incisors and cheek teeth. Rats, mice and hamsters have continuously growing incisors but rooted molars.
This plan follows where our questions actually fall, so the time goes where the marks are likely to be. It is our reading of the syllabus, not the exam body's weighting.
Read the manual chapters for these first and do every worked question you can find on them.
Aim for one sitting per unit, then mixed questions across them.
Learn the definitions, classifications and standard numbers; these units are more often recalled than worked.
Come back to these after a first pass, untimed, and read every explanation, including for the options you rejected.
Do these early in revision so they are fast on the day.
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