Veterinary General Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry

There are 8 exam session, taking place in: January, February, April, June, July, September, October, November / December. Two extra exam sessions only for students enrolled in supplementary years take place on request in March and May.
To take the exam it is compulsory to register trough the SIFA online service (N.B.: registration closes 3 days before the date of the exam) and the propaedeutic exams must have been passed.

The examination takes place in a single session for the three modules of the integrated course and consists of a written exam of a maximum duration of 120 minutes.
The student who scores ≥ 18 points in all three modules passes the written test. A student who scores < 16 points in two or more modules is rejected. A student who scores 16 or 17 points in one module and ≥ 18 in the other two is required to take an oral test of the insufficient module in order to pass the integrated examination. The oral test consists of at least 3 questions per module of the integrated course being taken. Students who scored ≥ 18 in the three modules and wish to increase their written score may request the oral of one or more modules on a voluntary basis. The optional oral interview is devoted to critical discussion of the written score, evaluation of possible errors in evaluation, and questions on specific topics of the program. During the oral examination, it will be assessed as well whether the knowledge and ability to understand and apply the knowledge, the ability to criticise and make judgements, the ability to present the acquired notions with appropriate language consistent with the course subjects are better than what emerged from the evaluation of the written examination.

The final mark is calculated as a weighted average of the marks obtained in the sections of the three modules. The marks for the individual modules are calculated as follows:

MODULES OF GENERAL VETERINARY PATHOLOGY (32 points)
The written test consists of two sections. (A) Four multiple-choice questions and/or unequivocal open-ended answers on general etiology or on pathogenesis of cell damage (question 1), on adaptive mechanisms, intra- and extracellular degeneration (question 2), on inflammation (question 3) and on tumors (question 4) in this part 2 points will be assigned for each correct answer; 1 point for each partially correct answer; 0 points for each incorrect or not given answer. The maximum total score for this section of the exam is therefore 8 points (B) Four questions requiring 3 short open-ended answers on general etiology or on pathogenesis of cell damage (question 1), on adaptive mechanisms, intra- and extracellular degeneration (question 2), on inflammation (question 3) and on tumors (question 4) in this part 2 points will be assigned for each correct answer; 1 point for each partially correct answer; 0 points for each incorrect or not given answer. The maximum total score for this section of the exam is therefore 24 points

MODULE OF PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND IMMUNOPATHOLOGY (32 points)
The written test consists of two sections. (A) Four multiple-choice questions and/or unequivocal open-ended answers on diseases of blood or plasma proteins (question 1), endocrine diseases (question 2), on circulatory diseases, organ function tests or fever, (question 3) and on immunopathology (question 4) in this part 2 points will be assigned for each correct answer; 1 point for each partially correct answer; 0 points for each incorrect or not given answer. The maximum total score for this section of the exam is therefore 8 points (B) Four questions requiring 3 short open-ended answers on diseases of blood or plasma proteins (question 1), endocrine diseases (question 2), on circulatory diseases, organ function tests or fever, (question 3) and on immunopathology (question 4) in this part 2 points will be assigned for each correct answer; 1 point for each partially correct answer; 0 points for each incorrect or not given answer. The maximum total score for this section of the exam is therefore 24 points


MODULE OF CLINICAL BIOCHEMISTRY (32 points)
The written test consists of three sections. (A) Sixteen multiple-choice and/or univocal open-answer questions in which the student must demonstrate knowledge and ability to understand the theoretical principles and practical aspects of the main biochemistry and molecular biology analysis methods used in veterinary diagnostic laboratories (16 points): 0.75 points for each correct answer; 0.4 points for each partially correct answer; 0.0 points for each incorrect answer. (B) Two open-ended questions in which the student must demonstrate knowledge of the theoretical principles and practical aspects of the main methods of biochemistry and molecular biology analysis used in veterinary diagnostic laboratories. The ability to convert an instrumental result into a biochemical diagnostic parameter will also be assessed (14 points): 10 points for the first question (general) and 4 points for the second question (specific). (C) Five calculation exercises on transformations between concentration units, preparation of solutions, calculation of enzyme activity, simple questions on the transformation of the instrumental reading of an analysis into the analyte concentration (6 points): 1.2 points for each correct answer, 0.6 points for each partially correct answer, 0.0 points for each incorrect answer.