- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to the use of pharmacological, chemical, and biological agents.
- Prepare medications in compliance with veterinarian's orders.
- Calculate medications, fluid therapy rate, and continuous rate infusions based on the appropriate dosage in compliance with veterinarian's orders.
- Dispense medications in compliance with veterinary orders.
- Maintain controlled drug inventory, related logbooks, and medical records.
- Recognize classifications of drugs, their mechanisms, and clinically relevant side effects.
- Store, handle, and safely dispose of pharmacological, chemical, and biological agents.
What the exam actually covers
150 scored items across 10 domains. Every weight, item count and skill below is transcribed from the AAVSB’s published content outline rather than summarised.
AAVSB 2023 Veterinary Technician National Examination Content Outline, approved by the AAVSB Board of Directors, March 2023. Retrieved 2026-08-15.
How the items are split up
| Domain | Items scored on the exam | Weight | Ready to drill on this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmacy and Pharmacology | 20 | 13% | 133 |
| Surgical Nursing | 20 | 13% | 133 |
| Dentistry | 10 | 7% | 67 |
| Laboratory Procedures | 14 | 9% | 93 |
| Animal Care and Nursing | 30 | 20% | 200 |
| Diagnostic Imaging | 9 | 6% | 60 |
| Anesthesia | 20 | 13% | 133 |
| Emergency Medicine/Critical Care | 10 | 7% | 67 |
| Pain Management/Analgesia | 10 | 7% | 67 |
| Communication and Veterinary Professional Support Services | 7 | 5% | 47 |
| Total | 150 | 100% | 1000 |
Why ten domains, not nine?
The AAVSB’s sample-question handout is from 2014 and still lists nine domains. The newer content outline, approved by the AAVSB Board of Directors in March 2023, lists ten. The tenth is Communication and Veterinary Professional Support Services, worth 7 scored items. This site follows the 2023 outline.
Source: AAVSB 2023 Veterinary Technician National Examination Content Outline, approved by the AAVSB Board of Directors, March 2023. Retrieved 2026-08-15.
Skills the exam tests
Each line is something a credentialed technician has to be able to do, and every question on this site is written against one of them. The AAVSB calls them task statements.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to surgical nursing.
- Prepare the surgical environment, equipment, instruments, and supplies to meet the needs of the surgical team and patient.
- Prepare patient for surgical procedure.
- Function as a sterile surgical technician to ensure patient safety and procedural efficiency.
- Function as a circulating (non-sterile) surgical technician to ensure patient safety and procedural efficiency.
- Clean instruments by the appropriate method (including but not limited to manual, soak, or ultrasonic).
- Maintain aseptic conditions in surgical suite and during surgical procedures.
- Maintain the surgical environment, equipment, instruments, and supplies to meet the needs of the surgical team and patient.
- Sterilize equipment and supplies by the appropriate method (including but not limited to steam, gas).
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to dentistry.
- Prepare and maintain the environment, equipment, instruments, and supplies to meet the needs of the dental team and patient.
- Perform Comprehensive Oral Health Assessment and Treatment (COHAT) (including but not limited to scaling and polishing; manual and machine).
- Produce diagnostic dental radiographs.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to laboratory procedures.
- Prepare and maintain specimens and documentation for in-house or outside laboratory evaluation.
- Perform laboratory tests and procedures (including but not limited to microbiology, serology, cytology, hematology, urinalysis, and parasitology).
- Maintain laboratory equipment and related supplies to ensure safety and quality of results.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to patient care and nursing.
- Document and manage initial and ongoing evaluations of patient to provide optimal care (including but not limited to physical, behavioral, nutritional, clinical procedures, and mentation status).
- Perform nursing procedures and maintenance of prescribed treatments (including but not limited to catheterization, wound management, and bandaging).
- Perform clinical procedures to aid in diagnosis and prognosis (including but not limited to blood pressure measurement, electrocardiography, and tonometry).
- Provide a safe, sanitary, and comfortable environment for patient to ensure optimal healthcare and client/personnel safety.
- Maintain diagnostic equipment and related supplies to ensure safety and quality of results.
- Administer medications via the appropriate routes (including but not limited to topical, intravenous, subcutaneous).
- Collect specimens for in-house or outside laboratory evaluation.
- Recognize and respond to behavioral characteristics of patient.
- Restrain patient with or without equipment for treatment following safety protocols.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to diagnostic images.
- Produce and document diagnostic images and/or radiographs (excluding dental) following protocols for safety and quality of results.
- Maintain imaging/radiograph equipment and related materials to ensure safety and quality of results.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to anesthesia.
- Assist in the development and implementation of an anesthetic plan to ensure patient safety and procedural efficacy.
- Prepare anesthetic equipment and related supplies to ensure operator and patient safety.
- Maintain anesthetic equipment and related materials to ensure reliable operation.
- Establish and maintain a patent airway using endotracheal intubation.
- Monitor and respond to patient status during all stages of anesthesia (pre-, peri-, and post-).
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to emergency medicine and critical care.
- Perform triage of a patient presenting with emergency/critical conditions (including but not limited to shock, acute illness, acute trauma, and toxicity).
- Perform emergency nursing procedures (including but not limited to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), control acute blood loss, and fracture stabilization).
- Perform critical care nursing procedures (including but not limited to blood component therapy, fluid resuscitation, and ongoing oxygen therapy).
- Perform ongoing evaluations of physical, behavioral, nutritional, and mentation status of patient in emergency and critical conditions.
- Utilize knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology as it applies to pain management and analgesia.
- Recognize need for analgesia in patient.
- Assist in the development and implementation of the pain management plan to optimize patient comfort and/or healing.
- Educate the client about animal care, risks, and side effects to promote and maintain the health of animals and the safety of client/public (including but not limited to behavior, nutrition, pharmacological/biological/chemical agents, dental health, anesthetic procedures, pain assessment/management, pre- and post-operative care, preventative care, zoonosis).
- Maintain professional communication in all client and veterinary team interactions.
- Collect patient information (including but not limited to signalment, medical history, primary complaint).
- Provide assistance with the euthanasia process (including but not limited to consent, aftercare, grief management).
Knowledge the skills draw on
The 50 areas of knowledge those skills draw on. Useful as a gap checklist when you are deciding what to revise next.
- Anatomy
- Normal physiology
- Pathophysiology
- Common animal diseases
- Medical terminology
- Toxicology
- Applied mathematics (including but not limited to metric system/weights, measures/percentage solutions, dosage calculations)
- Drug classification
- Routes of administration of pharmacological, chemical, and biological agents
- Legal requirements and procedures for acquiring, preparing, storing, dispensing, documenting and disposing of pharmacological, chemical, and biological agents
- Safe handling practices for pharmacological, chemical, and biological agents
- Pharmacokinetics (drug absorption, metabolism, excretion), normal and abnormal drug reactions, indications, contraindications, side effects, and interactions
- Fluid balance and therapy, including calculation
- Aseptic techniques
- Patient preparation and positioning techniques (including but not limited to diagnostic imaging, surgery, medical procedures)
- Surgical procedures
- Surgical equipment, instruments, and supplies
- Sterilization techniques and quality assurance for equipment, instruments, and supplies
- Safety considerations related to surgical equipment, instruments, and supplies
- Wound closure (including but not limited to suture materials and patterns, staples, and tissue adhesives)
- Dental procedures (including but not limited to cleaning, floating, charting, preventive procedures, dental imaging)
- Dental equipment, instruments, and supplies
- Safety considerations related to dental procedures
- Sample collection, preparation, analysis, storing, and shipping techniques
- Laboratory diagnostic principles, procedures, and methodologies (including but not limited to microbiology, serology, cytology, hematology, urinalysis, and parasitology)
- Quality assurance in the laboratory (including but not limited to maintenance of equipment, verification of test results, calibration, and controls)
- Normal and abnormal laboratory and diagnostic test results
- Animal assessment and monitoring techniques, excluding anesthetic monitoring
- Principles of animal behavior
- Clinical diagnostic procedures
- Nutrition
- Safe animal handling and restraint techniques
- Animal husbandry
- Animal nursing procedures and rehabilitation therapies
- Animal first aid, triage, and emergency/critical care techniques
- Public health (including but not limited to infection control, zoonosis and epidemiology)
- Environmental health and safety procedures (including but not limited to handling and disposing of hazardous material, personal safety, evacuation procedures, safety plans, equipment, and instrumentation)
- Disease control and prevention techniques (including but not limited to quarantine, isolation, vaccination, wellness care, and herd health)
- Diagnostic imaging equipment and procedures (including but not limited to radiography, ultrasonography, and contrast studies)
- Quality assurance and safety for diagnostic imaging
- Pre- and post-anesthetic assessment and care
- Anesthetic induction, maintenance, monitoring, and recovery including stages of anesthesia and troubleshooting
- Pre-anesthetic and anesthetic medications reactions, indications, contraindications, side effects, and interactions
- Pain assessment and analgesic administration techniques
- Procedures for care, maintenance, and use of diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, dental, monitoring, and anesthetic equipment and supplies
- Professional ethics (including but not limited to the Veterinary Technician Code of Ethics)
- Techniques for communicating with the veterinary medical team and client
- Record keeping
- Signs of suspected animal abuse (including but not limited to physical and emotional trauma)
- Crisis intervention skills