Best Ophthalmology Question Banks
Choosing the right question bank can make or break your exam preparation. Here is how the main platforms compare — and where each of them is genuinely the better buy.
There is no single best ophthalmology question bank, because the four platforms residents actually shortlist were built for four different exams. A bank written to the American board blueprint will drill you on topics an ICO examiner never asks about, and a bank written for DNB theory will not rehearse the single-best-answer style FRCOphth Part 1 uses. Feature counts do not resolve that; the exam you are sitting does.
So the useful question is not "which bank is biggest" but "which bank was written against my blueprint, and does it cover the components I am weakest on". This page compares the shortlist on the things that change your score — question style, whether explanations teach or merely confirm, whether past papers are included, and whether you can revise on a phone between clinics — then says plainly who each one suits.
We publish one of these banks, so read the fit guide below with that in mind. Where a rival is the better choice for your exam, it says so.
Feature comparison
Every row below is a feature either published by the vendor or verifiable from a free account. We have deliberately not scored "question quality" out of ten, because that number would be ours to invent and yours to trust blindly.
What we do compare is structural: the exam blueprint the bank is written against, whether explanations carry reasoning or only an answer key, whether real past papers are part of the package, what the free tier actually unlocks, and whether the thing runs on a phone.
| Platform | Price | Notes | Past Papers | Mobile | Free Trial | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OphthaMCQ | ₹249–₹1,799 | ✅ Handwritten | ✅ ICO/FICO | ✅ iOS + Android | 200+ free MCQs | Indian + international exams |
| OphthoQuestions | $314.99/6mo | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ Web only | Limited demo | US board exams |
| EyeDocs / eyeQ | £79–99 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Limited | UK FRCOphth |
| PrepGuidance | ₹999–₹8,995 | ❌ | ✅ DNB solved | ✅ Android | ❌ | DNB / NEET-SS |
Prices and feature sets change without notice, and several of these platforms price in different currencies. Treat the table as a starting point and confirm the current figure on each vendor’s own checkout page before you buy.
When each one is the right choice
We publish one of these products. Where a rival is the better buy for your exam, it says so below.
Choose OphthoQuestions when…
You are sitting OKAP or an American board examination, or you are a resident in a US programme whose in-service assessment follows the same blueprint. It is the deepest bank written directly against that curriculum, and the volume of questions is its real advantage.
The trade-off: The blueprint is the problem for everyone else. Topic weighting, drug availability and management conventions follow US practice, it is priced in dollars at a level that is punishing from India, and it is a web product rather than something you revise on during a ward round.
Choose EyeDocs / eyeQ when…
Your target is FRCOphth and you want questions written inside the UK training culture, by people who sat the same papers. For Part 1 in particular, that shared context shows in how the stems are framed.
The trade-off: Coverage is narrow by design — it is an FRCOphth product, not a general ophthalmology bank — there are no handwritten revision notes bundled in, and there is no mobile app, which matters more than it sounds when your study time is fifteen-minute gaps.
Choose PrepGuidance when…
You want taught video content and faculty contact alongside questions, and you are preparing for DNB or NEET-SS. If your gap is conceptual rather than practice volume, a mentored course does something a question bank cannot.
The trade-off: You pay course prices rather than question-bank prices, the top of the range is several times what a bank costs, there is no free tier to test the fit first, and the value is in the teaching rather than in the bank itself.
Choose OphthaMCQ when…
You are sitting an Indian or international exam — ICO/FICO, FAICO, DNB, MS, DO, PDCET or FRCOphth — and you want questions, handwritten revision notes and real past papers in one place, on a phone, at Indian pricing.
The trade-off: We are not the right answer for American board preparation, and our FRCOphth coverage is newer than a UK-native product’s. If OKAP is your exam, buy OphthoQuestions.
Pick by the exam you are sitting
The blueprint decides this more than any feature does.
| Your exam | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ICO / FICO | OphthaMCQ | Complete past papers with worked explanations, which no other platform on this list publishes. |
| FAICO | OphthaMCQ | Questions mapped topic-by-topic to the AIOS fellowship syllabus rather than to a general bank. |
| DNB / MS / DO | OphthaMCQ or PrepGuidance | Take the bank if you need practice volume and notes; take the course if your gap is conceptual and you want faculty contact. |
| FRCOphth Part 1 | OphthaMCQ or eyeQ | eyeQ is UK-native; OphthaMCQ adds notes, past papers and mobile revision at a lower price. |
| OKAP / US boards | OphthoQuestions | It is written against that blueprint. Nothing else on this list is. |
| PDCET | OphthaMCQ | A dedicated PDCET bank in the entrance-test pattern; the others do not cover it at all. |
Questions residents ask before buying
Is one question bank enough to pass?
For the written paper, usually yes, provided the bank is written against your blueprint and you review explanations rather than chasing a score. What a bank cannot do is rehearse practicals, so pair it with case presentation and viva material if your exam has a clinical component.
How many MCQs should I actually do?
Volume matters far less than reviewing what you got wrong. Two thousand questions worked through properly, with the discriminator logged each time, beats ten thousand skimmed. Most residents overshoot on volume and undershoot on review.
Are past papers better than a question bank?
They answer different questions. Past papers tell you what the examiners actually ask and how they phrase it; a bank gives you the repetition to make that automatic. If you can only have one, take past papers closer to the exam and the bank earlier.
Do free question banks get you far enough?
A free tier is good for testing whether a bank suits how you think, and for early revision. It typically runs out on explanation depth and on past-paper access — which is where the marks are decided.
Does the mobile app really matter?
For most residents it is the single biggest determinant of how many questions get done, because the study time that exists is fifteen minutes between clinics rather than a clear evening. A web-only bank quietly loses you hours a week.
Read the long version
An exam-first buying framework
The long version of this page: how to pick a bank by the exam you are sitting rather than by feature count.
Free vs paid banks: where free runs out
How far a free question bank actually gets you, and the point at which paying starts to buy something real.
Best ophthalmology apps for residents
Chosen by the study job each app does well, not by star rating.
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