ACZM Zoological Medicine study plan

ACZM Zoological Medicine · Give each week a clear focus.

8 weeks · About 7 hours per week

Week 1

Zoo medicine & Aquatic medicine

Map the zoo medicine domain into subtopics (taxa, preventive medicine, anesthesia, nutrition, reproduction) and rank by personal weakness
List the core aquatic taxa groups (fish, elasmobranchs, marine mammals, reptiles/amphibians, invertebrates) and their major physiologic constraints
Build a spaced-repetition deck skeleton with one card per subtopic before adding content
Draft a written comparison of water-quality parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, pH, salinity) and their clinical relevance by taxon

A one-page domain map plus a seeded spaced-repetition deck with >=60 empty structured cards

Week 2

Summarize preventive medicine and quarantine principles for captive zoo collections by taxon
Outline anesthetic and analgesic protocols for common zoo taxa and justify drug choices
Explain nutritional husbandry problems (e.g., metabolic bone disease, obesity, rumen acidosis) and their prevention
Practice interpreting a written clinical scenario on zoo medicine and identify the reasoning step missed

A 2-page zoo medicine summary sheet covering quarantine, anesthesia, and nutrition with self-test questions

Week 3

Describe diagnostic sampling and handling constraints for fish and elasmobranchs
Compare water-quality and life-support troubleshooting pathways for aquatic systems
Explain common aquatic diseases (e.g., parasitic, bacterial, environmental) and their management
Write out a stepwise approach to a mortality event in an aquatic collection

A written aquatic mortality-event workup algorithm with at least 8 decision nodes

Week 4

Complete a timed mixed set spanning zoo and aquatic medicine and log error categories
Re-teach the three weakest subtopics from weeks 1-3 in writing without notes
Revise spaced-repetition cards flagged as consistently missed
Verify retention of water-quality and quarantine facts by self-quiz

An error log with categorized misses and a remediation list of >=10 specific items

Week 5

Outline wildlife restraint, handling, and transport principles by taxon and legal context
Summarize common wildlife diseases and zoonotic considerations relevant to field work
Describe field anesthesia and immobilization decision-making
Explain rehabilitation and release criteria and their medical rationale

A wildlife medicine field-reference sheet (restraint, immobilization, zoonoses, release criteria)

Week 6

Map zoological companion medicine subtopics (small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates) by frequency and risk
Summarize species-specific husbandry requirements that drive disease in companion exotics
Outline common presentations and first-line diagnostic plans for each companion taxa group
Compare drug and dosing cautions across companion exotic taxa

A taxa-by-taxa companion exotics quick-reference table with husbandry drivers and first-line diagnostics

Week 7

Complete a timed mixed set spanning wildlife and companion exotic medicine and log error categories
Re-teach the three weakest subtopics from weeks 5-6 in writing without notes
Integrate cross-domain overlaps (e.g., zoonoses, husbandry-driven disease, restraint) into consolidated notes
Update spaced-repetition cards with corrections from error logs

A consolidated cross-domain notes document plus an updated error log with >=10 remediation items

Week 8

Run two full-length timed mixed practice sessions across all four domains and record scores by domain
Review every missed item and classify each as knowledge gap, reasoning error, or misread
Re-quiz all flagged spaced-repetition cards and retire mastered ones
Write a final one-page high-yield summary of the 20 most-missed concepts across the plan

A final score report by domain plus a one-page high-yield summary of the 20 most-missed concepts

Week 2: Zoo medicine summary sheet complete and self-quiz scored >=80% on quarantine, anesthesia, and nutrition items

Week 4: Mixed zoo/aquatic timed set completed with error log; all week 1-3 flagged cards reviewed at least once

Week 6: Wildlife field-reference sheet and companion exotics reference table both complete; self-quiz on each scored >=80%

Week 8: Two full-length mixed sessions completed with domain-level scores recorded and a final high-yield summary of 20 concepts written