The North American Veterinary Licensing Exam or NAVLE is a requirement for licensure to practice veterinary medicine in all licensing jurisdictions in North America. Senior students and recent graduates of AVMA-accredited veterinary colleges must pass the NAVLE in order to gain licensure. The NAVLE is comprised of 360 clinically relevant multiple-choice questions and is administered as a computer-based examination throughout North America and at certain overseas sites during a four week testing window in November-December, and a two week window in April.
The National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (NBVME) produces and provides the NAVLE to assist the State Boards of Veterinary Medicine, the Canadian National Examining Board, and the individual Provincial Boards of Veterinary Medicine in assessing the practice competence of candidates for licensure as veterinarians. The primary objectives of the NAVLE are as follows:
- To provide a comprehensive objective examination to state or provincial boards charged with the licensing of veterinarians;
- To protect the public by ensuring that veterinarians demonstrate a specified level of knowledge and skills before entering veterinary practice;
- To assess the professional competency of veterinarians in terms of their qualifications to enter practice;
- To provide a common standard in the evaluation of candidates that will be comparable from jurisdiction to jurisdiction;
- To contribute to the veterinary profession through the development of improved definitions of the relationship between knowledge and professional practice; and
- To facilitate interstate/interprovincial licensing reciprocity for practicing veterinarians.
Senior students at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine have achieved NAVLE pass rates that have exceeded the national average for all veterinary school graduates for all years that the exam has been in existence. NAVLE pass rates for UFCVM students for the past five years are provided in this Table.