ISF exams and yesterday's tutorial

I said yesterday that the assessment method that my American colleagues (at the least, since I'm not too knowledgeable about Canadian education methods) may have the greatest difficulty adjusting to is the viva, or oral exam. Now, I'm excepting those who have defended a PhD or MA/MS thesis, since those often involve an extensive oral defense. However, for most undergraduates in the USA, the experience with oral assessment is limited to the speech/debate class that you *may* have taken back in high school, or else an occasional presentation given in a freshman seminar or an upper division class. This is quite different.

The name actually describes the test in total. ISF stands for Integrated Structure and Function, and as that implies, is designed to test understanding of the entire organism. However, unlike a presentation where you have time to read the paper, digest the contents, figure out the salient points, and write a presentation script; the ISF literally requries you to do all of those things in a fifteen minute window. Your examiner will start by giving you a "level 1" question, such as "Please identify the scapula." You may be looking at a live animal, a fresh dissection, and skeleton, or an image; and you may be looking at any species of animal. To begin with, you need to know what the scapula is. Assuming that you don't confuse it with the patella, you get to move on. If you can't identify the scapula, you get a backup opening gambit - but those "byes" are limited. So, if you identify the scapula correctly, you'll move on to "level 2" questions, which may ask details about the different aspects of the scapula, its structure and function, how it interacts with its environment, etc. These questions are designed to probe your depth of knowledge about the particular subject, and the follow up questions will be based on the answers you give, and the examiners' perception of your understanding. Assuming that you successfully enter into a dialogue with the examiners and pass the second level, you'll get "level 3" questions, which test your extended knowledge about the minutae of the subject.

(Note: by the time you reach level 3, you're doing quite well on the exam, and can actually relax and enjoy the experience of having a mature scientific discussion with professional colleagues.)

We get about two weeks at the end of the year (after the first four final exams are completed) to study for this ISF viva, which is important, since there are approximately 13 pages of "level 1" questions that they draw from (provided in advance), but each of those questions likely has 12-15 followup questions that might be asked, and those are NOT known until you hear them. It's a massive body of knowledge, and any/all of it is fair game for the exams. This is why I might classify the ISF exams as the hardest ones you'll sit in your time at the RVC. And I say that without ever actually having taken one. :-)

The tutorial I had yesterday focused on the gastrointestinal tract of Misty, one of the Camden Campus' two resident cows. A second year student took myself and one other first year from the front to the back, asking us questions in the ISF style (e.g., "what is this structure?"), and then asking us to elaborate. Unlike the actual exam, he did give us the correct answers when we made errors. This is one of the things about RVC that I find most gratifying, namely that the upper classes take a very active interest in the success of ther junior colleagues. This is so vital in a professional training program, since those who follow you will be the ones working with you for a long period of time. It therefore behooves (my mom's word, I hate it, but it's appropriate here) each class to actively involve themselves in the school's academic program, help refine it, and prepare future students for meeting its challenges.