CMU rank 1st and 4th place in 2018 VetMed Board exam

CMU’s excellent performance especially in the Veterinarians Licensure examination re-affirms that the university has always been one of the top performing schools in the country.

This year, two of the College of Veterinary Medicine graduates, Dr. Philip John S. Sajol and Dr. Juniel Christian S. Aleman placed 1^st and 4^th of the Top 10 in the recently concluded 2018 Veterinarian Licensure examination.

Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and Professional Regulatory Board of Veterinary Medicine administered the August 2018 Veterinarians Board Exam last August 15, 16 & 17, 2018 and reported that only 455 takers passed the three-day Veterinarian Licensure Examination out of 950 examinees.

Dr. Alan Dargantes, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, congratulates all the passers especially the top notchers for bringing another honor to the university especially to the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Dargantes revealed the challenges of this year’s board exam. He said: “It’s quite difficult because we change our [academic] calendar, we started our class this August and our graduation moved to June so we have only one-month preparation before the examination.”

He said that the college is usually conducting academic enhancement which serves as review for the graduating students but had a minor problem because of AACCUP preparation which affect the schedule of the enhancement.

“Usually [on their] 5^th year we start orienting our student about the exam then the preparations but it depends on the students who listens,” Dr. Dargantes added.

The academic enhancement activity was designed to help the graduating students prepare for the Veterinary Licensure Examination. This endeavor has a significant impact on the performances of the graduates during their board examination.

On the other hand, Dr. Philip John S. Sajol, who ranked 1^st in the board exam shared his preparations before the board examination.

“I enrolled at a review center and had my intensive review which lasted for two months. On the remaining three weeks before the exam I decided to return to my previous boarding house here at CMU to do myself review,” Dr. Sajol shared.

He added: “I always spend my time in reading. I read from 10am to 3am the following day with rest gaps in between—which, I have to admit, “makabuang” at some point.”

Another top notcher Dr. Juniel Christian S. Aleman, who placed on the top 4 spots, also shared how he prepared for his board examination. He said that he looked back on his old notes which he organized during his undergraduate years.

“I practice good study routine in the morning and effective sleeping pattern during the night. And most of all, I always pray to the Lord for His guidance and gift of wisdom,” he shared.

According to Dr. Dargantes that this recent achievement of the college and of the University is an inspiration to their students and aspiring future veterinarians.

“We have top caliber faculty members…we teach and guide our students but it also depends on the students if they will follow—it’s a big student factor. All we do is guide them, inspire them and encourage them,” Dr. Dargantes added.

In 2017, the CVM was awarded as the top performing veterinary school in the country having two of the CVM graduates placed 2^nd and 8^th in this licensure examination. Among the 24 veterinary schools in the country today, CMU-CVM is one of the only 3 Centers of Excellence (COE) as awarded by the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) and its programs are recently AACCUP Level IV accredited. (IADalipe-Neri with reports from WBorja)