Primary FRCA revision

The Primary syllabus, organised into something you can actually revise.

Question-and-answer cards, OSCE-style image stations and condition summaries in one searchable place. You rate every card, and the ones you're shaky on come back sooner.

Create an account Try a card first

3,016 revision cards 683 images & figures 36 condition summaries

A revision card showing train-of-four twitch patterns at different depths of neuromuscular block

How a session works

Pick a topic, answer out loud, be honest about it.

1
Choose where to start

Anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, physics, equipment, data, perioperative medicine. Each topic shows how many cards it holds and how confident you've been so far.
2
Recall before you reveal

Quiz Mode shows only the question. Say the answer, then reveal it. Keyboard shortcuts keep it quick: space to reveal, S to skip, F to flag.
3
Rate it, and let the order take care of itself

Score your confidence and how relevant the card feels. Low-confidence, high-relevance cards come back first. Things you know well drop back but never disappear.

Try one

A real card from the bank.

This is exactly as it appears inside, with its diagrams. Have a go at answering before you reveal it.

Dotted words are acronyms. Hover or tap for the expansion. That works on every card.

Equipment Neuromuscular Monitoring

How does TOF change with degree of NMB?

Say it out loud first.

What's inside

Built around the way the exam actually tests you.

Written notes for the SBAs, images for the OSCE, and connected summaries for the SOE.

Cards, then the one-liners that matter

Each card is a question with a concise, referenced answer. If a concept doesn't click, the source textbook or website is one click away.

As you go, jot learning points: the single facts you keep forgetting. Tag them as definitions, formulae or memory tips, flag the ones that need work, and read the whole list back in minutes before an exam.

Learning points filtered to Pharmacology, Induction Agents, flagged only

Images, the way the OSCE shows them

Image Quiz gives you an unlabelled graph, trace or diagram and asks what it shows and why it matters. Reveal the caption, related images or the questions it came from.

Image Search finds every figure for a word. Type "mapleson" and get A through F, plus the Bain, side by side.

Image search results for mapleson showing each breathing circuit

Image quiz showing an unlabelled pressure-volume loop

Summaries that connect the cards

Condition and drug summary pages pull the relevant cards together. Alfentanil's pharmacokinetics, presentation and onset compared with fentanyl sit on one page, with links onward to the cards they reference.

Acronyms are expanded on hover everywhere, so SvO₂, OER and TOF never slow you down. Search reaches everything: sudden need to recall the types of hygrometer? One search.

Summary page for alfentanil with linked cards

Yours to edit, and to measure

Add your own cards or rewrite the built-in ones. Your edits are private, sync across devices, and are included in search and revision like everything else.

A built-in session timer and productivity view show how much you've done, what you've covered, and how your confidence is moving.

Dashboard with card, image, learning point and confidence totals

Any device. Runs in the browser on a laptop, tablet or phone: theatre coffee room, ICU break, train.
Referenced. Sources are noted on the cards, so you can check anything you're unsure of.
Linked. Cards point to related cards, so one topic leads to the next.

Who made this

Started as my own notes.

I'm Ben Whitby, an anaesthetic trainee in West Yorkshire. FRCA Focus began as a way to keep on top of an unmanageable volume of notes through medical school and training, and slowly became a proper system: structured, searchable and prioritised by what I didn't yet know.

It got me through Cambridge finals, the MSRA and the Primary FRCA, where I was awarded the Nuffield Prize. I've opened it up in the hope it saves other trainees the same time it saved me.

An independent project with no institutional backing. A supplement to textbooks and teaching, not a replacement.

Questions

Before you sign up

Who is it for?

Anaesthetic trainees preparing for the Primary FRCA: the MCQ/SBA paper, the OSCE and the SOE. Plenty of the content is also useful for ICM and the Final.

Where does the content come from?

It's written and curated by an anaesthetist from standard textbooks, guidelines and journal reviews, with sources noted on the cards so you can read further.

Can I change the built-in cards?

Yes. Edit any card or add your own. Your changes are private to your account and are included in search, quizzes and summaries.

What do I need to use it?

A web browser. It works on laptops, tablets and phones, and your progress follows you between them.

Is my data shared with anyone?

No. There's no advertising or analytics tracking, and only essential cookies are used. See the privacy notice.

Support

Get in touch

Questions before signing up, trouble logging in, or spotted a mistake in a card? Send a message and I'll reply by email, usually within a couple of days.

You don't need an account to use this form.

Prior to NMBD		Normal, equal, four twitches
After intubating dose of NMBD		No response
After partial block by suxamethonium		4 twitches of equal but sub-maximal height
After partial non-depolarising NMBD		4 twitches of decreasing height (with fade)
Earliest acceptable point of reversal		Minimum 3 twitches
Following successful reversal		Four full twitches

The Primary syllabus, organised into something you can actually revise.

Pick a topic, answer out loud, be honest about it.

Choose where to start

Recall before you reveal

Rate it, and let the order take care of itself