RCVS Statutory Membership Examination (SME) · UK · Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersRCVS Statutory Membership Examination (SME) is a licensing and registration exam run by Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, for candidates in UK. Written (online, remotely proctored, March): 367 single-best-answer vignettes with 5 options, about 2 hours per domain paper, no negative marking, no compensation between domains. Plus an open-book Code of Professional Conduct paper: 60 MCQs, 2 h 15 min. OSCE (September, in person, 5-7 days): 15-20 minute stations with two examiners each.
Source: rcvs.org.uk.
Checked against the exam body's published information. Formats and fees change; confirm the current edition there before you book.
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 30 RCVS Statutory Membership Examination questions in this subject: 2 easy, 16 medium, 12 hard, across 13 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 RCVS Statutory Membership Examination and are not shown on any other exam's page.
A horse shows marked atrophy of the muscles on either side of the scapular spine after a blow to the shoulder. Which nerve is injured?
C. Suprascapular nerve
The suprascapular nerve winds round the cranial border of the scapula and supplies the supraspinatus and infraspinatus; atrophy makes the spine stand out (sweeney). Radial injury affects the triceps and extensors, not the scapular fossae.
A cow restrained in a crush must be bled quickly without going to its head. Which vein is most suitable?
B. Median caudal (coccygeal) vein on the ventral midline of the tail
The median caudal vein is easily reached from behind, a few centimetres from the tail base. The milk vein is avoided because it forms haematomas and bleeds, and limb veins are small and awkward in cattle.
A horse with a fungal plaque on the roof of the guttural pouch has repeated severe nosebleeds. Erosion of which vessel is the usual cause?
C. Internal carotid artery
The internal carotid artery runs in a mucosal fold in the dorsal wall of the medial compartment of the guttural pouch; fungal erosion causes haemorrhage that drains through the auditory tube to the nose. The nerves in the same fold explain the associated dysphagia and Horner's syndrome.
A calf with a middle ear infection has a head tilt and a drooping ear and upper eyelid on the same side. Why is the facial nerve involved?
B. Its course through the petrous temporal bone runs close to the middle ear
The facial nerve passes through the facial canal next to the tympanic cavity, so otitis media can inflame it and paralyse the muscles of the ear, eyelid and lip. Hearing and balance are carried by the vestibulocochlear nerve, which explains the head tilt.
When disbudding a goat kid, why is a cornual block at the bovine site alone often inadequate?
D. The goat horn bud also receives a cornual branch of the infratrochlear nerve near the dorsomedial margin of the orbit
Goats need two blocks: the cornual branch of the lacrimal (zygomaticotemporal) nerve caudal to the orbit and the cornual branch of the infratrochlear nerve dorsomedially. Kids are small, so total local anaesthetic volume must be calculated carefully to avoid toxicity.
A cow with acute frothy bloat is near collapse. Where is an emergency rumen trocar inserted?
A. Centre of the left paralumbar fossa
The dorsal sac of the rumen lies against the left flank, roughly equidistant from the last rib, the transverse processes and the tuber coxae. The right flank overlies intestine, and intercostal puncture risks lung and heart.
Which technique is widely used for anaesthesia of the bovine digit for claw surgery?
C. Intravenous regional anaesthesia below a tourniquet
Local anaesthetic injected into a superficial digital or metacarpal/metatarsal vein below a tourniquet diffuses into the tissues of the distal limb. The epidural and paravertebral blocks do not reach the digit; the cornual block is for the horn.
Why are intramuscular injections in poultry usually given into the pectoral muscles rather than the leg muscles?
C. Blood from the legs can pass through the renal portal system to the kidneys before reaching the general circulation, and the breast is a large accessible muscle
The renal portal system can carry drugs injected into the hindlimb to the kidneys first, altering their effect or toxicity; the breast muscle is large and easy to reach. The pectoral muscle does not contain air sacs.
A rabbit struggles violently while being restrained and becomes paralysed in the hindlimbs. What is the anatomical explanation?
B. Its skeleton is light relative to its powerful hindlimb muscles, so kicking can fracture the lumbar spine
The rabbit skeleton is a small proportion of body weight compared with the cat's, and a kick against unsupported hindquarters can fracture or luxate lumbar vertebrae. Support the hindquarters at all times.
In laminitis, which anatomical attachment fails, allowing the distal phalanx to rotate or sink?
D. The interdigitating dermal and epidermal laminae between the hoof wall and the distal phalanx
The lamellar interface suspends the distal phalanx within the hoof capsule; when it fails, the pull of the deep digital flexor and body weight rotate or displace the bone. The tendon remains attached.
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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