A Parliamentary Owl Consulting projectBrowse the identification list
Every specimen on the national list, with its official number. The colored edge on each card shows how you are doing with it: green is learned, amber is shaky, red means you have missed it more than you have gotten it.
Flashcards
Pick your sections and how you want to be asked, then work the deck. Grade yourself honestly — every card you mark missed comes back sooner and shows up in your weak-area drill.
Practice test
Contest format: specimens come at you one at a time on a clock, and you fill in an answer sheet you can go back and change. The real event draws 45 specimens from this list.
My progress
Your work is saved on this device and, once you have an ID, backed up under that number. No name is ever attached to it.
Team leaderboard
A team is a class or chapter studying together. Everyone appears by their 6-character ID and nothing else — no names are collected anywhere in this app.
Study tips & ID strategies
Fast, reliable habits for the Veterinary Science ID station. Sort every specimen into its section first, then reach for the one or two features that decide it.
Sort by section first
Every specimen belongs to one of five buckets. Naming the bucket narrows 302 specimens to a handful before you look at details.
- Instruments & Equipment — made of metal/plastic, has a job
- Parasites & Microorganisms — organism or egg on a slide/photo
- Organs & Anatomy — a body structure
- Dog Breeds & Breeds & Species — a whole animal
Instruments — name the use
- Cutting/surgery: scalpel, Metzenbaum vs Mayo scissors, needle holders, hemostats
- Grasping/clamping: towel clamps, forceps, Allis, Carmalt
- Dosing/restraint: balling gun, drench, dose syringe, twitch, hog snare
- Sterilization: autoclave, tape indicator, pack wrap
Ratchets, tips (pointed vs blunt), and jaw serrations separate look-alikes.
Parasites — host + stage
- Learn the host and where it lives (GI, heart, skin).
- Separate direct vs indirect life cycles (intermediate host?).
- Egg shape is the give-away: operculated, larvated, double-walled, or with polar plugs.
- Ticks vs mites vs lice: legs, size, and whether it burrows.
Breeds — three-second read
- Size & build (toy/working/draft), then ears (erect, drop, rose).
- Coat pattern/length/color, tail set, and head shape.
- Tie each breed to its purpose (herding, scent hound, retriever, dairy vs beef).
Anatomy — group by system
Cluster organs by system (digestive, urinary, reproductive, respiratory) and learn ruminant vs monogastric differences (four-compartment stomach, etc.). Know the structure's function, not just its name.
Test-day routine
- First pass: answer every specimen you know cold; flag the rest.
- Commit to the section, then the deciding feature — don't free-associate.
- Never leave a blank; a guess scores the same as an unanswered miss.
- Watch the clock and your station order.
Program administration
Usage at the county level, and a register of every team by team ID and state. Teams are never shown with county data.