Site updates

What is new in OrthoVellum.

Follow new topic additions and major reference updates as the reference library expands. Each entry links directly to the pages that changed.

Latest update: 13 October 2026
Topics listed: 207
Update type: Reference library

13 October 2026Platform

Self-study stations now keep your progress and completion dates

Viva Self-study now shows unique completed and remaining stations, partial attempts and stations needing review. Choose a specific station instead of relying on a random session, resume after refreshing, and review completed stations by date. The headline station count remains the available bank, not your remaining workload.

What changed

Completion is automatic
Reveal each model answer and advance past the last prompt with Next or Finish. Ready and Needs work remain optional self-ratings; unrated prompts are not treated as failed or ready.
Plan and revisit
Search station titles and filter by Remaining, Unstudied, In progress, Completed or Needs review. Completion history groups up to 1,000 recent records by date; repeats do not inflate unique completion counts.
Compact, account-owned progress
Only station identifiers, dates and progress markers are saved, not copies of model answers or conversations. Signed-in progress syncs to your account; signed-out progress stays on the device. Earlier sessions that were never saved cannot be recovered.

1 October 2026Platform

Exam Access is now OrthoVellum Pro

Many of you told us you were not sitting an exam, so a plan called Exam Access did not look meant for you. It always was: the operative procedure and surgical approach guides, clinical examination with 3D lessons, the 3D anatomy atlas, image and clinical-management cases and flashcards are the same on every plan, whichever exam you choose. The plans are now Pro, Pro + AI Mentor and All Access. Nothing about what you get or what you pay has changed; the exam you pick only decides which question bank is included, and if you are not sitting one you can pick any.

1 October 2026Platform

Back to our original prices, held for at least a year

Thank you to everyone who studies with OrthoVellum: far more of you are using it than a few months ago. After the September price rise, many of you, particularly trainees in countries where an Australian-dollar subscription is a large share of a salary, told us it had put the platform out of reach. OrthoVellum was built for trainees, so from today we are back to the original prices: Exam Access A$29 a month or A$249 a year, Exam + AI Mentor A$49 or A$429, and All Access A$89 or A$749. There will be no price increase before 1 October 2027.

What changed

Current subscribers: nothing to do
The increase announced on 6 September is cancelled. Your next renewal and every one after it bills the original price, including any renewal we had already scheduled at the higher amount.
Paid the higher price since 6 September?
The difference has been refunded to your card, so nobody pays more than the original price.
Nothing is taken away
Every feature added since the rise, including the flashcards and the 3D examination lessons, stays in the plans at the original prices. The AI Mentor add-on is A$20 a month or A$180 a year, so Exam Access plus the add-on still costs exactly the same as Exam + AI Mentor.

1 October 2026Platform

All 1,307 topics rewritten, 54,017 flashcards, and new 3D examination lessons

The topic rewrite that began with scaphoid fractures is complete: all 1,307 topic pages now teach in short structured paragraphs, with each fact stated once and the numbers worth recalling in bold. Every page was checked fact by fact against its previous version, and figure captions now describe only what the image shows. The same release adds a flashcard library and a large batch of new 3D clinical examination lessons.

What changed

Every topic page
Repeated boxes and padded mnemonics are gone, internal contradictions found during the rewrite were corrected from the page’s own evidence, and each figure sits beside the paragraph it illustrates.
Flashcards
54,017 cards across 1,914 chapters, built from the topics, surgical approaches, clinical examination and imaging signs.
3D examination lessons
Special tests animated on the 3D model across the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, hip, knee and foot, with hand placement and measurement technique shown step by step.

12 September 2026Platform

AI Mentor add-on now costs exactly the difference between Exam Access and Exam + AI Mentor

The AI Mentor add-on is now A$30 a month or A$250 a year, down from A$35 and A$279. Exam Access (A$49 / A$349) plus the add-on now comes to the same A$79 a month or A$599 a year as Exam + AI Mentor, so anyone already on an Exam plan can add Aster viva practice later without paying more than they would have by choosing the bundle at the start. Nobody was on the old add-on price, so no existing subscription changes.

What changed

Add it when you need it
Start with Exam Access, then add AI Mentor from your account when your viva run-up begins. The total is identical to the bundle.
The add-on still needs an Exam plan
Aster examines you on your own exam track, so the add-on sits on top of an active Exam Access subscription on any of the eight tracks. Exam + AI Mentor and All Access include it.

11 September 2026Clinical Topics

Every topic, rewritten to read the way you learn

The topic library is being rewritten page by page so that each section teaches rather than lists. Reasoning is written out in short paragraphs under clear headings, the facts that matter are in bold, lists are kept for the things that really are lists, nothing is said twice, and every figure sits beside the words it illustrates. Every rewritten page is checked line by line against its previous version so that no fact, figure or citation is lost and none is invented. Scaphoid fractures is the first; the rest follow in order of exam weight.

What changed

Structured, not dense
Short paragraphs under run-in headings, with the classification tables, criteria and protocols kept as tables and lists.
Said once
Repeated facts, padded mnemonics and top-of-page galleries are gone; each fact lives in the section that explains it, with the cheat sheet and practice points for recall.
Checked against the original
An independent read-through compares every number, name and citation in the old page with the new one before it is published.

Topics included in this update

Scaphoid Fractures

Reviewed / Trauma

11 September 2026Clinical Topics

Five new conditions: overgrowth syndromes, growth restriction, unilateral cerebral palsy and sarcoma principles

Five conditions that previously appeared only as passing mentions inside other pages now have full chapters, each with its own question set, written-paper case and clinical investigation case. Every clinical claim is traceable to indexed literature, and the figures are licence-checked open-access images reviewed individually before use.

What changed

Overgrowth and asymmetry, told apart properly
Proteus syndrome and Klippel-Trénaunay now sit alongside the existing hemihypertrophy material, with the mosaic mechanisms, the distinction from high-flow Parkes-Weber disease, and the thromboembolic and coagulopathy risks that change perioperative planning.
Growth restriction is not overgrowth
The Russell-Silver chapter sets out the imprinting direction explicitly, uses hemihypoplasia rather than hemiatrophy, and states what the evidence actually supports about tumour surveillance, hypoglycaemia risk and limb-length decisions.
Gait classification checked against its source
The hemiplegia chapter quotes the original four gait groups as published, and flags the widely repeated variant that misstates the third group. The existing cerebral palsy page has been corrected to match.

Reviewed / Paediatrics

8 September 2026AI Mentor

Aster: better source retrieval, MCQ teaching and attempt tracking

AI Mentor now reads supported summary cards and tables as well as article prose, selects relevant sections throughout a topic, and labels consulted references without promising that generated answers are independently verified. MCQ follow-up questions support hints before reveal and explanations afterward. Interrupted answers and unavailable assessments are explicit; provider outages no longer produce substitute marks.

What changed

Each MCQ keeps its own answer
Multi-question source files are split into separate drill cards. Source-specific identifiers prevent questions with repeated frontmatter IDs from borrowing another file’s answer or explanation.
Separate attempts, complete scores
The final mark is included before an attempt is saved. Repeating a case starts a separate attempt, while completion, end and next cannot save the same attempt twice.
Account-scoped local history
Signed-in practice history uses a separate browser cache for each account. Anonymous history is not imported into the next signed-in account.
Clearer limits and privacy information
Aster identifies missing reference material and incomplete replies. The overview explains AI-provider processing and session-summary storage, and asks learners not to enter patient-identifying information.

7 September 2026Content

The clinical examination library: 110 guides, every one checked against the source

The Clinical Examination section now holds 110 consultant-level guides covering every orthopaedic examination — how to position the patient, where your hands go, what direction the force runs, what counts as positive and what it means. Thirty of them are new, including the whole paediatric set, the trauma surveys, and a gait-pattern atlas with a figure for every gait type. Every accuracy figure in the library was re-read against its source paper, and every guide was re-checked line by line for the mechanics a trainee could get wrong at the bedside.

What changed

Every figure re-verified
Every sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratio in the library was re-read against the source abstract or full text, and roughly 250 unsourced or invented figures were removed or corrected.
Mechanics checked line by line
A separate consultant read-through caught the defects a citation audit cannot — inverted tests, reversed laterality, and tests that could not be performed as written — in every guide, including the newest ones.
Thirty new guides
The paediatric library is now complete, joined by the trauma primary and secondary surveys, compartment syndrome, the soft-tissue mass, the amputee and stump, and the GALS and hypermobility screens.
A figure-led gait atlas
Every orthopaedic gait pattern — antalgic to psychogenic — with its mechanism, its look-alikes, and a teaching figure for each type.

Topics included in this update

The gait pattern atlas

Added / special

Non-accidental injury assessment

Added / paediatric

Brachial plexus birth palsy examination

Added / paediatric

Thoracic outlet examination

Added / upper-limb

Hand infection examination

Added / upper-limb

Sacroiliac joint and pelvic girdle examination

Added / spine

Adult spinal deformity examination

Added / spine

Heel pain examination

Added / lower-limb

6 September 2026Platform

Subscription prices updated; current subscribers keep their price until renewal

From today Exam Access is A$49 a month or A$349 a year for one exam track, Exam + AI Mentor is A$79 a month or A$599 a year, the AI Mentor add-on is A$35 a month or A$279 a year, and All Access is A$129 a month or A$999 a year. The paid layer now covers far more than when the previous prices were set: the full operative procedure and surgical approach libraries with step-by-step figures, the clinical examination library, image interpretation and clinical management cases, timed mocks, viva practice with Aster, and the interactive 3D anatomy atlas that is now being built. Anyone already subscribed keeps their current price for the whole of the period they have paid for; the new price applies only from a later renewal, and every subscriber will receive an email before it does. The free topic library does not change.

What changed

Nothing changes mid-cycle
Your current price is honoured for the remainder of the month or year you have already paid for. The new price starts at a later renewal, after you have been told the date.
Annual plans keep the larger saving
Every annual plan costs at least a third less than twelve monthly payments, and the same annual price covers a full exam year of updates.
The free library stays free
Every topic, viva scenario and cheat sheet, and the exam outlines, remain open without a subscription.

6 September 2026Operative surgery

Every operation, illustrated step by step — and 74 new operative guides

The whole operative surgery library has been rebuilt around its imagery. Each of the 607 operative guides — 452 procedures and 155 surgical approaches — now carries a sequence of teaching figures placed inside the step they explain: the positioning and set-up, the incision and internervous plane, the structures at risk, the reduction or repair, the fixation construct and the postoperative film. Procedures carry between five and eight figures and approaches between four and six, more than 3,800 figures in all, every one an intra-operative photograph, radiograph, CT, MRI, arthroscopic view or anatomical illustration from a published, commercially licensed source with its citation beneath it. Alongside the imagery we have added 74 operative guides that were missing from the library — calcaneal fracture fixation, proximal row carpectomy, four-corner fusion, TFCC repair, meniscal root repair, lateral extra-articular tenodesis, preperitoneal pelvic packing, magnetic-nail limb lengthening and posterior stabilisation of the thoracolumbar burst fracture among them — and expanded 22 existing guides where a variant deserved its own steps.

What changed

Figures inside the step, not at the end
Each figure sits beside the step it illustrates — the plane you are about to develop, the nerve you are protecting, the wire you are about to place — so the operation reads as a sequence you could follow in theatre.
Approaches you can see
All 155 surgical approaches now show the skin mark, the interval being opened, the structures at risk in that layer and the exposure achieved, from the Kocher-Langenbeck to the anterior cervical corridor.
74 guides that were missing
Hand salvage (proximal row carpectomy, four-corner fusion, thumb CMC arthrodesis), knee reconstruction (meniscal root repair, lateral extra-articular tenodesis, PCL avulsion fixation), damage-control trauma (preperitoneal pelvic packing, spanning external fixation), paediatric (DDH closed reduction and spica, syndactyly release) and limb reconstruction (circular-frame correction, magnetic-nail lengthening).
Every figure cited and licensed for use
Each image comes from a published source that permits commercial reuse and carries its citation beneath the figure, so you can go back to the original series.

Teriparatide

Expanded / basic-science

Needlestick Injury

Expanded / perioperative

The Surgical Sieve

Expanded / general-ortho

Calcium Homeostasis and Metabolic Bone Disease

Expanded / basic-science

Little League Elbow

Expanded / paediatrics

4 August 2026Clinical topics

Pattern and differential: reading the film backwards

Wormian Bones

Added / pediatrics

4 August 2026Clinical topics

The per-structure anatomy atlas

3 August 2026Platform

Every topic page is now completely free — viva scenarios, cheat sheets and landmark evidence included

Until today the revision cluster at the end of each topic — the viva scenarios, the exam-day cheat sheet and the landmark-evidence panel — needed a subscription. That gate is gone. The whole reference library, every section of every topic, is now free for everyone, signed in or not. Subscriptions now cover only the practice layer that sits alongside the library: the adaptive question banks, image and clinical cases, timed mock exams, live viva practice with Aster and readiness tracking.

3 August 2026Clinical topics

Revision, reconstruction and the rare end of the list

3 August 2026Clinical topics

Three complications now taught as decisions, not just names

Some complications are easy to name and hard to answer questions about. Three of those are now covered properly. Reverse shoulder arthroplasty carries the Levy classification of acromial and scapular spine stress fractures, framed by how much deltoid origin is destabilised - which is exactly why the grades predict outcome - together with the finding that the worst type tracks with a more lateralised, less distalised construct, and the meta-analysis showing these patients lose motion and Constant score even when treated conservatively, while their pain scores look reassuringly normal. Femoroacetabular impingement now explains why a cam after a slipped epiphysis is a different lesion rather than a bigger one: the head stays spherical and moves, leaving the metaphysis to strike the rim, which is what produces the Drehmann sign and the much higher alpha angles - plus why you must not osteotomise through the old slip site, and why post-Perthes hips fail extra-articularly instead. And iliopsoas impingement, the groin pain in a hip whose radiographs, bloods and aspirate are all normal, now has the examination finding that makes the diagnosis and the numbers behind the decision that follows: tenotomy carries a 2.3 percent complication rate against 15.7 percent for revising the cup, for about five points of difference in symptom relief - and it works even when the cup overhangs.

Topics included in this update

Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Expanded / shoulder-elbow

Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI)

Expanded / sports-medicine

Aseptic Loosening in Total Hip Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

31 July 2026Clinical topics

Topics rebuilt to be the only resource you need for that condition

31 July 2026Navigation

Topics now findable under every name they are known by

31 July 2026Navigation

A full contents page — every topic on the site, on one page you can read

Until now the only way to find a topic was to search for it or scroll the subspecialty cards, which works well when you know what you are looking for and much less well when you want to see the shape of a whole subspecialty. There is now a proper contents page. It lays the entire library out the way a textbook does: ten parts, each broken into clinical chapters, with every topic listed underneath — so you can look down Trauma and see all ten regions and every fracture we cover, or read through Basic Science and spot the areas you have not touched yet. There is also an A–Z index for the other way round: one alphabetical run of every entry, with a letter jump, for when you already know the name of the condition and just want the page. A search box narrows both views as you type, and each entry is marked with its exam priority so you can see at a glance where the high-yield reading is. You will find it under Learn, or from the topic library itself.

What changed

Contents — the whole library, structured
Ten subspecialty parts divided into clinical chapters, from "Pelvis, Acetabulum & Sacrum" to "Research Method, Statistics & Evidence". Every topic appears exactly once, in the chapter where you would expect to find it.
A–Z index — look anything up
One alphabetical listing of every entry with a sticky letter jump, each showing which part of the library it belongs to.
Priority at a glance
Each entry carries its exam priority marking, so a chapter tells you not just what exists but where to start.

29 July 2026Question bank

Every question now explains itself — and Aster points you to the right page

A run through the question bank turned up a set of multi-scenario questions where only the first scenario carried a written explanation: you could answer scenarios two and three, but there was nothing to read afterwards. Those explanations are now written — option by option, saying why each statement is true or false and what the underlying principle is, to the same depth as the rest of the bank. Alongside that, forty-one topic pages have been through a line-by-line review: classification criteria checked against their original descriptions, guidance brought up to current recommendations, and the numbers that matter re-verified. Aster has also stopped being rigid about questions that wander off the current station: ask it about something else mid-viva and it will now tell you which topic page covers it and offer to start a session there, instead of simply asking you to stay on topic.

What changed

Explanations for every scenario, not just the first
Questions that present two or three linked scenarios now explain all of them. Each option gets its own reasoning rather than a bare true or false, so a question you got wrong still teaches you something.
Aster answers the question you actually asked
If you ask about a different condition partway through a viva, Aster now names the topic, tells you there is a page on it, and offers to move there — rather than repeating that you should stay on the current case.

Topics included in this update

Ankle Arthrodesis

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Total Ankle Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Atlantoaxial Instability

Expanded / pediatrics

Atlantoaxial Rotatory Subluxation

Expanded / spine

Ceramic Bearing Surfaces in Arthroplasty

Expanded / basic-science

Congenital Dislocation of the Knee

Expanded / paediatric

Decision-Making Capacity, Surrogates and End-of-Life

Expanded / professionalism

Down Syndrome Orthopaedic

Expanded / pediatrics

Ficat-Arlet Staging of Femoral Head Osteonecrosis

Expanded / hip

Adult Acquired Flatfoot Deformity

Expanded / foot-ankle

Hip Arthrodesis

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Hip Resurfacing Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Hoffa Fractures

Expanded / trauma

Imaging the Shoulder

Expanded / radiology

Knee Osteoarthritis

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Lesser MTP Joint Arthritis

Expanded / foot-ankle

Letournel-Judet Classification of Acetabular Fractures

Expanded / trauma

Metastatic Bone Disease

Expanded / tumors

Mirels Score for Impending Pathological Fracture

Expanded / oncology

Mucous Cysts (Digital Mucoid Cysts)

Expanded / hand

Multiple Myeloma

Expanded / tumors

Paprosky Classification of Acetabular and Femoral Bone Loss

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Pathologic Fracture Management

Expanded / tumors

Pathological Fractures - Femur

Expanded / trauma

Posterolateral Rotatory Instability of the Elbow (PLRI)

Expanded / upper-limb

Revision Shoulder Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Rickets

Expanded / general-ortho

Rotator Cuff Tears

Expanded / sports-medicine

Shoulder Arthroplasty Complications

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Sternoclavicular Joint Dislocation

Expanded / shoulder-elbow

Sternoclavicular Joint Injuries

Expanded / trauma

Suprascapular Nerve Entrapment

Expanded / shoulder-elbow

Total Hip Arthroplasty: Dislocation

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Dual Mobility Total Hip Arthroplasty

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Total Hip Arthroplasty Surgical Approaches

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

THA Wear and Osteolysis

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

TKA Alignment Options

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

TKA Implant Design

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Vancouver Classification of Periprosthetic Femoral Fractures

Expanded / adult-reconstruction

Wear Mechanisms in Orthopaedic Implants

Expanded / basic-science

28 July 2026Study tools

Your progress now follows you — and you choose how long a session runs

Two things you have asked for. First, every question and case you work through is now recorded against your account and gathered into one place on your dashboard: how much of the bank you have covered, your accuracy, and the subspecialties you are weakest in, drawn from MCQs, ISAWE, CIM and full mock exams together. It follows you between devices, and it keeps working offline — your device saves it and syncs when you reconnect. Second, a practice session is no longer a fixed 50 questions: choose 50, 100, 200, or take on the entire bank for that subspecialty, and pick up only the questions you have not seen before. You can also now browse the whole question bank rather than the first screenful.

What changed

One view of everything you have practised
Your dashboard now shows questions answered, overall accuracy, ISAWE marks and CIM cases in a single panel — with your weakest subspecialties surfaced once you have done enough questions there for the number to mean something.
Sessions as long as you want them
Choose 50, 100, 200 or every question in the subspecialty, and switch on unseen-only to skip what you have already answered. Useful for a quick ten minutes and for a full sitting alike.
Mock exam marking that matches the real papers
Single-best-answer papers are now marked the way FRCS, ABOS and EBOT mark them — one mark for the right answer and nothing for a blank — so your mock score reflects the exam you are actually sitting.

24 July 2026Exam preparation

New: the Exam Frequency Index — see what the exams actually test

Candidates revise from opinion; examiners ask from habit. Our new Exam Frequency Index closes the gap: a public, citable analysis of 88,936 candidate-reported FRACS and FRCS exam items, distilled into the conditions the exams return to most. See the 25 most-reported conditions (developmental dysplasia of the hip leads by a wide margin), the image-scenario top 10, and how your revision hours should weight the subspecialties — paediatrics alone is one report in five. Every condition links straight to its OrthoVellum reference, so you can revise in frequency order. The honest finding: there is no short list — the ten hottest conditions cover barely 6% of what examiners show, and the Index says so plainly.

What changed

The 25 most-reported conditions, ranked
Counted across seven question formats from real candidate recall collections — DDH, SCFE, periprosthetic joint infection, clubfoot and the supracondylar fracture lead the table, each linked to its full reference page.
A data-driven weighting for your revision hours
Subspecialty shares of all reported image scenarios show where the marks live: paediatrics 19.7%, hand 11.7%, foot & ankle 11.1% — revise in proportion, not by preference.
Open and citable
The Index is free to read, openly licensed (CC BY), and published with its methodology — useful to every candidate, trainee and teaching programme planning a syllabus.

10 July 2026Content improvement

Clearer teaching diagrams on two basic-science topics

Two teaching diagrams have been refreshed. The immunology topic now carries a clearer two-panel figure comparing MHC class I and class II antigen presentation — class I on any nucleated cell presenting to CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, and class II on antigen-presenting cells presenting to CD4+ helper T cells — in place of an older text-box graphic that repeated the on-page summary. The hip biomechanics topic has an updated single-leg-stance free-body diagram showing the abductor force, the body-weight and abductor lever arms, and the resulting hip joint reaction force.

Topics included in this update

Immunology in Orthopaedics

Expanded / basic-science

Hip Joint Biomechanics

Expanded / basic-science

4 July 2026Experience

A beautiful new look — OrthoVellum now reads like a living surgical atlas

We have given the whole platform a considered visual redesign. Every page now shares one calm, cohesive design language — a modern surgical atlas printed on soft paper. Topic and operative pages now read on a single clean sheet, with a refined display serif for headings, elegant hand-drawn anatomical engravings, and museum-style figures for the numbers that matter. Your study consoles, readiness scores and progress bars all speak the same visual language now, so the site feels like one place rather than many. We also added self-marking to the image cases (ISAWE) and the clinical CIM stations: after you reveal a model answer you can grade yourself — Got it, Partial or Missed — and your marks are remembered, so you can see how a case went last time and target what to revise. It is the same trustworthy content you know, presented far more beautifully and consistently.

What changed

One cohesive, atlas-quality look
A single design language across every page — display-serif headings, a warm paper feel, hand-drawn anatomical engravings and one clean reading sheet — so the whole site feels considered and consistent.
Grade yourself on image & clinical cases
ISAWE image cases and CIM stations now let you self-mark against the model answer (Got it / Partial / Missed) and remember your marks, so you can see how you did and focus your revision.
Clearer progress and readiness
Readiness, analytics and dashboard bars now use one consistent, colour-coded meter — your mastery, coverage and weak spots read at a glance.

3 July 2026Experience

A more polished look — and clearer signposts to what you can unlock

We have given the main section pages — Topics, Question bank, ISAWE and CIM cases, Operative procedures, Viva, Mock exams and Revise — a visual refresh. Each now opens with a calm, hand-drawn anatomical or clinical illustration behind its header (bones and joints on the reference library, radiograph plates on the image-based cases, surgical instruments on the operative guides), so the site feels more crafted without ever getting in the way of the content. We have also made it clearer, right where you land, which tools are part of a subscription and where the free preview ends — with a one-tap link to the plans — so there is no more guessing about what unlocks what. And when you choose an exam, the exam page now guides you straight to your next step: practising if you already have access, or the right plan if you do not.

What changed

A calmer, more crafted look
Section pages now open with a subtle anatomical or clinical illustration behind the header — refined, not flashy — so the site feels more considered while staying just as fast and readable.
Clearer about what you can unlock
On the practice sections you can now see at a glance which tools a subscription includes and where the free preview ends, with a direct link to the plans — or a quiet note that it is already included when you are subscribed.
Every exam points to your next step
Choosing an exam now leads somewhere useful: straight into practice and readiness tracking if you already have access, or the matching plan if you are getting started.

2 July 2026Experience

A faster, more polished study experience — on every device

We have made a round of quality-of-life improvements across the site so studying feels quicker and smoother, especially on your phone. You can now search the whole library — topics, MCQs and cases — straight from the mobile menu. In MCQ practice you can answer entirely from the keyboard (press 1–5 or a–e to choose, Enter to submit and again to move on), and the results screen now shows a review map so you can see at a glance which questions you missed and jump back into any one to re-read its explanation. The live viva examiner now runs the exact number of stations you choose, advancing you from one to the next. When you are signed in, the homepage greets you with a way to pick up where you left off and a shortcut to your dashboard. And side-by-side comparison tables now stack into tidy, readable cards on small screens instead of scrolling sideways.

What changed

Search from your phone
The search box is now in the mobile menu, so you can jump to any topic, MCQ or case from a phone in one tap — not just on desktop.
Answer MCQs from the keyboard
Press 1–5 (or a–e) to pick an option and Enter to submit, then Enter again to advance — fast, exam-realistic drilling without reaching for the mouse.
Review exactly what you missed
The quiz-complete screen now shows a colour-coded results map of every question; tap any one to jump back and re-read its explanation.
Live viva, your chosen length
The live examiner now runs the number of stations you select and moves you through them one by one, instead of stopping after a single case.
Pick up where you left off
Signed in, the homepage now surfaces your in-progress topics and a shortcut to your dashboard, so you can get back to studying immediately.

2 July 2026Exam Practice

CIM cases now unfold stage by stage, like the real exam

Clinical Investigation & Management stations now play out the way they do on exam day — as a guided walk-through rather than one long page. You start with just the clinical scenario: read the history and examination, and decide your approach before anything else is shown. When you are ready, reveal the investigations and interpret them, then work through the examiner questions and compare with the model answers, and finally the teaching points and follow-ups. A stage tracker in the study console shows where you are and lets you jump back to any stage you have already seen, and you can restart the walk-through to drill a case again. It is a much closer rehearsal of the pressure and pacing of the real CIM viva.

What changed

Staged, exam-realistic reveal
Each station is presented in order — clinical scenario, then investigations, then questions and model answers, then teaching and debrief — so you commit to a plan before the next piece of information appears.
A walk-through tracker you can navigate
The study console shows every stage, marks the ones you have completed, and lets you jump back to review, with the countdown timer alongside so you can practise to time.
Restart and drill
Once you have finished a station you can restart the walk-through in one tap to run it again from the top.

2 July 2026AI Mentor

Ask Aster anything — a grounded orthopaedic Q&A mentor

Your AI mentor, Aster, can now answer any orthopaedic question you type. Just ask — “What is the blood supply to the femoral head?”, “How do I classify tibial plateau fractures?”, “Compare cemented and uncemented hip replacement” — and Aster gives a clear, consultant-level answer drawn from OrthoVellum’s verified library, with links straight to the source topics so you can read deeper. The answer now streams in as it is written, so you never wait on a blank screen, and every reply comes with suggested follow-ups and a one-tap way to be examined on the same topic. It stays honest: where Aster adds general knowledge beyond our verified pages it says so plainly, and it always reminds you to confirm clinical decisions with your seniors.

What changed

Ask anything, grounded in verified content
Type any orthopaedic question and Aster answers from OrthoVellum’s own referenced topic library, citing the exact pages it drew on so you can jump in and read the full detail.
Answers that stream as they are written
Replies now appear progressively, word by word, so the mentor feels fast and responsive instead of leaving you waiting.
From a question to a viva in one tap
Every answer offers suggested follow-ups and a “Practise this” button, so you can move straight from understanding a topic to being examined on it.
A refreshed, more futuristic mentor
The AI Mentor overview and practice screens have a cleaner, more immersive look that leads with the new ask-anything experience alongside tutorials, vivas and MCQ drills.

27 June 2026Platform

Cleaner, easier-to-scan topic pages

Dense reference sections across every topic — anatomy, clinical assessment, investigations, management, complications and more — now lay out as clean, colour-coded cards instead of long single-column lists, so they are far quicker to scan and revise from. Where a section follows a natural order, like a clinical examination or post-operative care over time, it now reads as a clear step-by-step timeline.

What changed

Scannable section cards
Long lists of clinical points are grouped into tidy, colour-coded cards that use the full width of the page, so the structure of each section is obvious at a glance.
Step-by-step timelines
Genuine sequences — the look, feel, move clinical examination and immediate-to-long-term post-operative care — now display as a connected timeline that mirrors the order you would actually follow.
Clear, readable labels
Every section is titled with a colour-coded label that stays crisp and easy to read in both light and dark mode.

20 June 2026FRCS exam prep

Every viva now flows like a real oral — branching examiner questions, not a single model answer

We have rebuilt the entire viva and orals bank so each case plays out like a real examiner table. Instead of one long model answer, every scenario now opens with the diagnosis and then escalates the way a real examiner does — through the anatomy and classification, interpreting the investigations, defending your management, talking through the operative steps, and then the curveballs: an intra-operative complication thrown at you mid-procedure, and the patient who comes back at three months with a problem. Across the whole bank that is roughly 850 cases, each with seven to nine progressive examiner prompts, and every prompt carries its own model answer, the key points to hit, and a one-line insight on what the examiner is actually rewarding. The questions probe operative and technical depth — distinct from the clinical-judgement vivas — so FRACS, FRCS, ABOS and EBOT candidates can rehearse the back-and-forth of the oral, not just read a textbook answer. Every fact has been checked against the source content.

What changed

It pushes you, like a real examiner
Each case starts broad and gets harder — name the classification, read the film, defend the plan, then handle the complication. You practise thinking on your feet, not reciting.
Intra-operative curveballs
Cases throw the kind of thing that actually happens in theatre — brisk bleeding, a fracture during implant removal, a screw that has gone too far — and ask what you do next.
The examiner’s insight, every step
Every prompt reveals not just the model answer and key points, but a short note on what earns the mark at that exact moment.

20 June 2026Subscriptions

Subscribe to the US Boards (ABOS) or European Board (EBOT) on their own

You can now take out a single-exam subscription for the US Boards (ABOS / OITE) or the European Board (EBOT / FEBOT) on its own — exactly like FRACS and FRCS — instead of needing All Access. Each track is a complete preparation package: its own single-best-answer question bank, image interpretation, clinical investigation & management cases, timed mocks, readiness tracking and viva practice, with the live AI Mentor available as well. Pick your exam and pay only for the one you are sitting (Exam Access from A$29/month, or Exam + AI Mentor from A$49/month), or choose All Access if you want every track together. The pricing page now lets you choose any of the four exams directly.

20 June 2026ABOS exam prep

New image-based "best management" questions for the US Boards (ABOS)

The real ABOS Part I and the AAOS OITE are heavily image-based and love to show you a film and ask what you would do next, so we have added a large set of new image-stem single-best-answer questions in exactly that style. Each one presents a realistic radiograph, MRI, CT or clinical photo and asks for the most appropriate management, spanning trauma, adult hip and knee reconstruction, spine, sports medicine, hand, paediatrics and orthopaedic oncology — from a displaced hip fracture, open tibia, cauda equina and an unstable ankle to a pilon fracture, periprosthetic fracture, rotator cuff tear, scaphoid and Achilles injuries, a paediatric supracondylar fracture, and the safe work-up of a suspected bone tumour. Every image is checked by hand and every answer is referenced to current evidence. We have also tuned the ABOS question bank so these image questions appear more often, making your practice feel much more like the real exam.

20 June 2026Exam essays

New Generic Surgical Competency questions for the FRACS written paper

The FRACS written paper includes short-answer questions on the generic, non-clinical competencies every surgeon needs, and we have added a dedicated set to the Essays library to cover them. There are seven new short-answer questions, each with a worked first-person model answer, mapped to the RACS competencies: communicating with an angry family after a complication, providing culturally safe care for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient, safe clinical handover and a near-miss, leading the theatre team through an intraoperative crisis, advocating for a patient facing access and equity barriers, supervising a trainee who will operate, and professionalism online and in public. You will find them under the new "Generic Competency" filter in Essays.

20 June 2026Operative surgery

Four new upper-limb surgical approaches, in full

We have added four detailed surgical-approach guides that candidates ask for again and again: the anterolateral (anterior, brachialis-splitting) approach to the humerus, the anterolateral approach to the distal humerus, the direct approach to the ulnar shaft along its subcutaneous border, and the volar (Russe) approach to the scaphoid. Each one walks through positioning and landmarks, the internervous plane, the step-by-step dissection, the structures genuinely at risk and how to protect them, a clear comparison with the alternative approaches, model viva answers and an exam cheat-sheet — with verified anatomy and radiograph images and the supporting evidence gathered at the end. They round out the operative surgery library so the upper-limb approaches you are most likely to be examined on are all covered. Operative Surgery is now split into two clearly separate sections — Operative Procedures and Operative Approaches — so you can browse exposures on their own; find the new guides under Operative Approaches.

What changed

The radial nerve, handled carefully
The humeral approaches make the brachialis split and the radial nerve crossing from the spiral groove to the front explicit — exactly the points examiners probe.
Approaches, compared
Each guide sets its approach side by side with the alternatives (for example anterolateral versus posterior for the distal humerus, and volar versus dorsal for the scaphoid) so you can justify your choice.
Viva-ready
Every approach ends with model viva answers, the classic traps, and a focused cheat-sheet for last-minute revision.
A dedicated Approaches section
Operative Surgery is now two clearly separate sections — Operative Procedures and Operative Approaches — each with its own page, so you can browse surgical exposures on their own.

20 June 2026Operative surgery

The operative surgery library — redesigned, and now fully illustrated

Our whole operative surgery library has been rebuilt to be cleaner and faster to learn from, and every single one of its 459 procedures and approaches now carries a relevant clinical image. Each page now follows one simple, consistent flow — a snapshot, the imaging, indications, the operation (or the approach) step by step, complications, aftercare, and a focused viva-and-exam section — with all the supporting evidence and references gathered neatly at the end rather than scattered through the page. We have also reorganised the library so procedures sit under the right region: knee, shoulder, hand, foot and ankle and the rest are now grouped correctly, so browsing by area gets you where you expect. And to make every technique easier to picture, we have added a verified image to each one — post-operative radiographs, intra-operative exposures, arthroscopic views and clear anatomy — every image checked structure by structure for accuracy before it went live and labelled as an educational illustration. Browse it all from the Operative Surgery section.

What changed

One clean, consistent flow
Every procedure and approach now reads the same simple way — snapshot, imaging, indications, the operation step by step, complications, aftercare and a focused viva section — with references gathered at the end.
Illustrated end to end
All 459 operative topics now carry a relevant radiograph, intra-operative photo, arthroscopic view or anatomy image, each verified in detail before going live.
Grouped by the right region
Procedures and approaches now sit under the correct subspecialty — knee, shoulder, hand, foot & ankle and more — so browsing by area lands where you expect.

19 June 2026Exam preparation

Pick your exam once — the whole site follows

Choosing which exam you are sitting is now front and centre. The homepage leads with a "Choose your exam" picker, and each of the four exams — FRCS (Tr & Orth), FRACS, ABOS / US Boards and EBOT / FEBOT — is a single click into its own tailored hub: a blueprint-weighted question bank, coverage map, readiness score and oral practice. Your choice is remembered and shown in the top bar, so the regional guidelines, registries and terminology on topic pages line up with the exam you are preparing for. EBOT / FEBOT now sits alongside the others in that selector, pointing European candidates to EFORT and the national European joint registries.

What changed

Choose your exam, front and centre
The homepage hero and a dedicated picker let you jump straight into FRCS, FRACS, ABOS or EBOT / FEBOT preparation — no more hunting through menus.
Your exam is remembered
The exam you pick is saved and shown in the top bar, and topic pages tailor their regional guidelines, registries and drug terminology to it.
EBOT / FEBOT included
European candidates can now set their context too, with pointers to EFORT and the national European arthroplasty registers.

19 June 2026EBOT / FEBOT exam prep

A new EBOT / FEBOT exam track for the European Board

OrthoVellum now has a dedicated track for the European Board of Orthopaedics & Traumatology (EBOT / FEBOT), sitting alongside FRACS, FRCS and the US Boards. It is mapped to the real exam: Section 1 is a best-of-five single-best-answer paper across the five European sections — Upper Limb, Lower Limb, Spine, Paediatrics and Basic Science — and Section 2 is five structured 30-minute orals. The new track home gives you a blueprint-weighted adaptive question bank that draws on our best-of-five question pool (so you can sit a full 100-question mock shaped exactly like the real written paper), a coverage map of every subspecialty, a live readiness score, and a Section 2 orals hub that lets you rehearse each of the five oral sessions on clinical and imaging cases with model answers. Open it from the Exam Tracks page and pick EBOT / FEBOT.

What changed

Mapped to the real European exam
Section 1 best-of-five written across Upper Limb, Lower Limb, Spine, Paediatrics and Basic Science, plus the five Section 2 orals — structured the way the EBOT / FEBOT actually runs.
A true-to-format written mock
A blueprint-weighted adaptive question bank that builds a full 100-question best-of-five mock in the real section proportions, surfacing your weakest areas first.
Section 2 orals you can rehearse
Five oral sessions — Upper Limb, Lower Limb, Spine, Paediatrics and Basic Sciences — each rehearsable on clinical and imaging cases with model answers, traps and follow-ups.

19 June 2026ABOS / US Boards prep

Image-based ABOS / OITE questions — real-looking films on the high-yield diagnoses

The ABOS and OITE question bank now looks far more like the real thing. The in-training and board exams are heavily image-based, so we have added a clean, exam-style film to more than fifty of the high-yield image-diagnosis questions — the kind where you interpret the picture and then choose your answer. You will now see the actual radiograph, MRI or clinical photograph at the top of these questions: fracture films (tibial plateau, femoral and tibial shaft, distal humerus, bimalleolar ankle, pelvic and acetabular injuries, scaphoid waist, paediatric femur), classic deformities and arthroplasty films (adult and early-onset scoliosis, hip and knee replacements and their revisions, megaprosthesis, dislocations and loosening), tumour and metabolic films (osteosarcoma, Ewing, giant-cell tumour, chondrosarcoma, metastasis, vertebra plana, healing callus), paediatric hips (DDH, Perthes, SCFE, cerebral-palsy hip surveillance, clubfoot), and soft-tissue MRI and clinical photos (ACL, PCL, meniscus, multi-ligament knee, lumbar disc herniation and stenosis, cervical disc, Achilles rupture, soft-tissue sarcoma, Dupuytren, trigger finger, distal-biceps rupture, diabetic foot, hallux rigidus, Lisfranc). Every single image was checked, structure by structure, against what it is meant to show before it went live, and each is labelled as an educational illustration. Practise them from the ABOS question bank and the full-length OITE-style mock.

What changed

See the film, then answer
More than fifty high-yield ABOS/OITE diagnosis questions now open with the radiograph, MRI or clinical photo you interpret — matching the image-heavy real exam.
Across every domain
Trauma, adult reconstruction, sports, spine, hand, foot & ankle, paediatrics, oncology and basic science all gained exam-style images on their classic visual diagnoses.
Checked image by image
Each picture was verified in detail against the finding it is meant to show before going live, and is clearly labelled as an educational illustration.

19 June 2026FRCS exam prep

Deeper, harder FRCS (Tr&Orth) oral cases across every station

The FRCS Section 2 oral practice bank has grown again — now over 700 examiner-style cases — with a wave of the more advanced, frequently-tested viva topics that separate a pass from a strong pass. New cases include the applied basic-science questions examiners love (perioperative anticoagulation and reversal, nerve conduction studies and DEXA, statistics and critical appraisal, nuclear bone imaging, orthobiologics and graft substitutes, and implant-wear science), spinal cord injury physiology and metastatic-spine decision-making, deeper trauma principles, adult reconstruction and revision arthroplasty, small-joint hand arthritis and the vascular hand, knee reconstruction technique, sports-medicine special topics, musculoskeletal-oncology adjuncts, and shoulder arthroscopy with the rarer instability patterns. Every case is balanced across the four orals and the operative viva, and each one was checked individually for accuracy before it went live. Practise them from the Section 2 orals hub, by station, or inside the full timed Section 2 mock.

17 June 2026Study dashboard

A rebuilt study dashboard that shows your progress and what to do next

Your dashboard has been rebuilt from the ground up into a single study cockpit. It now opens with a personalised greeting and a clear strip of your key numbers — your day streak, topics studied, MCQs answered, accuracy and hours logged — followed by a "Jump back in" row that takes you straight back to the topics you have in progress (or, if you are just starting, a few good first steps). A new "Your library at a glance" section shows everything available to you across every format — topics, MCQs, image-and-short-answer scenarios, viva practice, operative surgery, clinical investigation and management, clinical exams and essays — each one a single click away. Below that you will find your daily challenge, exam readiness and focus areas, your performance trends, recent activity and viva history, and all your study tools (schedule, exam countdown, focus timer and progress export) in one tidy place. The whole page has been redesigned to be cleaner and easier to read, with consistent cards and a layout that adapts neatly to phone, tablet and desktop, and everything you do is saved automatically so it is there when you come back.

What changed

Your numbers at a glance
A live snapshot of your streak, topics studied, MCQs answered, accuracy and study hours the moment you arrive.
Jump back in
Resume the topics you have in progress in one click — or get clear first steps if you are just getting started.
Your whole library, one click away
Every study format — topics, MCQs, ISAWE, viva, operative surgery, CIM, clinical exams and essays — surfaced with live counts and direct links.
Cleaner, consistent design
A redesigned, easier-to-read layout with tidy cards that adapts smoothly across phone, tablet and desktop.

Topics included in this update

Congenital Knee Dislocation

Expanded / paediatric

17 June 2026Exam essays

Every essay rewritten as a model viva-style answer you can actually use

We have rewritten the entire Essays library so each one reads the way you would actually answer in the exam. The question is now broken into clear numbered parts, just as an examiner would ask it, and the model answer is written in the first person and in plain, straightforward language — the way a candidate would talk through a case. For a clinical scenario it walks through it in order: an opening line on what the problem is and the plan, then the history I would take, how I would examine the patient, the investigations I would request and what I am looking for with each, the differential, and finally the management options with the reasons for the choice, ending in a short summary. Ethics and basic-science essays follow the same first-person style with a structure that suits them. All 183 essays across every subspecialty have been updated, with the clinical facts, classifications and references kept intact.

17 June 2026Flashcards

A rebuilt flashcard experience on a curated, exam-reviewed deck

Flashcards have been rebuilt from the ground up. You now open to a study hub that shows your overall mastery, how many cards you have studied, and what is due today, with a clear progress bar for every subspecialty. Choose how to study — work through cards that are due, start fresh with new cards, drill your weak spots, or browse the whole deck — and filter by type (Topics, Approaches, Operative) and level (Core, Intermediate, Advanced). Each card flips to reveal a concise, exam-pitched answer with a pearl, and you rate how well you recalled it; spaced repetition then schedules each card for the ideal moment, showing you the next review interval as you rate. Your progress is saved automatically, so if you stop part-way the hub greets you with a "Resume — X of Y done" so you can carry straight on. The deck itself is fully curated and individually reviewed for the FRCS, FRACS and ABOS exams and has grown to over 2,900 cards. It now includes a complete operative-surgery library — indications, key steps and complications for the full range of procedures — alongside a comprehensive surgical-approach atlas covering the internervous plane, landmarks and structures-at-risk for every classic approach across the limbs, spine and pelvis. The same deck powers the mobile app, so your revision is consistent wherever you study.

16 June 2026Exam essays

Fifty-seven new model essays across every subspecialty

We have substantially expanded the Essays library with fifty-seven new long-answer model essays covering many of the most frequently examined topics in the written fellowship papers, now including a full set of musculoskeletal oncology essays (Ewing sarcoma, metastatic bone disease from an unknown primary, osteochondroma and hereditary multiple exostoses, aneurysmal bone cyst, fibrous dysplasia, plasmacytoma and myeloma bone disease, and simple bone cyst). Each is a full, structured answer — introduction, classification, assessment, management and a synthesising conclusion — with a marking scheme, key references, common pitfalls and examiner tips, so you can see exactly how a top-scoring response is built. The new essays span trauma (Monteggia, pilon, tibial plateau, acetabular, femoral and tibial shaft, subtrochanteric and intertrochanteric hip, Galeazzi, olecranon and patella fractures), foot and ankle (talar neck, ankle and syndesmosis, tarsal coalition, fifth-metatarsal/Jones, Morton’s neuroma, navicular stress fracture, subtalar dislocation, turf toe, Freiberg and lesser-toe deformities), upper limb (clavicle, scaphoid, Kienböck, radial head, capitellum, Dupuytren and rotator cuff disease), the cervical spine (odontoid, Jefferson, facet dislocation, os odontoideum, atlantoaxial instability, craniocervical dissociation and cervical radiculopathy), paediatrics (lateral condyle and radial neck fractures, Blount disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, cerebral palsy, limb deficiencies, juvenile osteochondritis dissecans, discoid meniscus and tibial eminence fractures) and basic science (osteoporosis, Paget disease, heterotopic ossification and the spectrum of spondylolisthesis). Find them all under Essays, filterable by subspecialty.

16 June 2026Topic images

More real radiographs and clinical photos on the topic pages

Neurofibroma

Expanded / oncology

Marjolin's Ulcer

Expanded / oncology

16 June 2026Study tools

Landmark trials now appear right on the topic page

When you open a topic, you will now see the landmark trials that matter for that condition — the result and the one-line exam take-home — right at the bottom of the page, each linked to PubMed. So on the distal radius page you get DRAFFT and the elderly-wrist evidence; on the ACL page you get KANON, MOON, STABILITY and MARS; on the ankle fracture page you get AIM. It is drawn from our growing library of verified landmark trials and shows only where a trial genuinely applies.

What changed

The evidence, where you study the condition
No need to leave the topic — the trials that examiners expect you to cite are summarised in place, with a link to browse the full library by domain.

16 June 2026ABOS exam prep

ABOS / US Boards: a landmark-trial evidence library, a full-length timed mock and a Part II oral hub

A big upgrade to the ABOS / US Boards (and OITE) lane. There is a new High-Yield Evidence library — the landmark trials the boards love to test, what each actually showed and the one-line exam take-home, organised by blueprint domain and linked straight to PubMed. There is a full-length (~275-question) mock that mirrors a real OITE / Part I sitting across all ten domains, with a live timer and a per-domain score at the end. And there is now a dedicated Part II Oral hub to rehearse case-defence orals domain by domain, including the “safe surgeon” ethics station. The evidence library and oral hub are free to browse.

What changed

High-yield evidence, by domain
Fifty landmark trials and scoring systems across all eleven blueprint domains — SPRINT, FLOW, CRASH-2, PREVENT CLOT, HIP ATTACK, HEALTH, FAITH, TOPKAT, WHiTE 5, KANON, MOON, STABILITY, MARS, DRAFFT, SWIFFT, carpal tunnel, PROFHER, UKUFF, CSAW, shoulder-instability, Achilles, AIM, TARVA, Lisfranc, CRISTAL, the WHO checklist, Mirels, OVIVA, INFORM, the cervical-myelopathy, vertebroplasty, meniscectomy, cartilage-repair and spondylolisthesis evidence and more — each with its design, result and exam take-home, grouped by blueprint domain with a jump-to-domain nav and linked to PubMed. Free to browse.
A full-length, exam-realistic mock
Sit a ~275-question paper drawn across all ten domains in blueprint proportions — the closest thing to the real all-day OITE / Part I sitting — alongside the quicker 75-question blueprint mock.
A live timer on every set
Practice sets and mocks now show a running clock while you work and report your total time and seconds-per-question at the end, so you can pace yourself for the real exam.
A dedicated Part II oral hub
Rehearse the Part II Oral Certifying exam domain by domain — Trauma, Adult Reconstruction, Sports, Spine, Hand, Foot & Ankle, Shoulder & Elbow, Paediatrics, Oncology — plus a “safe surgeon” professionalism and ethics station, each opening a focused case-defence session with model answers.

16 June 2026ABOS exam prep

ABOS / US Boards: a new Ethics & Professionalism domain, and every domain now drillable

The ABOS / US Boards lane just got a big upgrade. There is a brand-new Professionalism & Ethics domain — the part of the boards that tests informed consent, disclosing complications, patient safety, conflicts of interest and the “safe surgeon” judgement — covered both as single-best-answer questions and as Part II oral scenarios with model answers. You can now drill any ABOS blueprint domain on its own, sit a full blueprint-weighted mock, and get a per-domain score at the end so you know exactly where to focus.

What changed

A whole new Ethics & Professionalism domain
Informed consent, disclosing complications, patient safety and wrong-site prevention, impaired colleagues, conflicts of interest, decision-making capacity and end-of-life, research ethics and more — as practice questions plus Part II “safe surgeon” oral scenarios with model answers and examiner tips.
Every ABOS domain is now drillable
Pick any single blueprint domain — Trauma, Adult Spine, Adult Reconstruction, Sports, Hand, Foot & Ankle, Shoulder & Elbow, Paediatrics, Oncology, General Principles or Professionalism — and practise just that area.
A full-length mock with a per-domain score
Sit a timed paper drawn across all domains in blueprint proportions, then see how you scored in each domain at the end — a clear, focused study to-do list.

16 June 2026FRCS exam prep

Sit a full, timed FRCS Section 2 mock

You can now run the whole FRCS (Tr&Orth) Section 2 oral exam end to end in one sitting. The new mock walks you through all four oral stations plus the operative viva in exam order, each timed as on the day, and finishes with a per-station readiness breakdown so you know exactly where you stand. Start it from the Section 2 orals hub.

What changed

The whole exam in one sitting
Adult & Spine, Trauma, Children’s & Hand, Applied Basic Sciences and the operative viva, presented in exam order with a live countdown for each station — a realistic exam-day rehearsal rather than isolated questions.
Answer aloud, then check yourself
Read each stem, commit to your answer out loud, reveal the model answer and examiner tips, and mark each question ready or needing work.
Know where you stand
At the end you get a per-station breakdown of how many questions you felt ready on and which to revisit — a clear study to-do list. A fresh set of cases is drawn each time you run it.

16 June 2026FRCS exam prep

A much deeper FRCS (Tr&Orth) oral practice bank

The FRCS Section 2 oral practice has more than doubled — from around 200 to 450 examiner-style cases — and is now balanced across all five stations, with every case checked individually for accuracy. Trauma, Applied Basic Sciences and the operative viva saw the biggest growth, and the four orals plus the operative viva are evenly resourced so no station feels thin.

What changed

Trauma orals, end to end
The trauma oral now spans the whole syllabus — pelvic and acetabular patterns, hip and femoral fractures, knee and tibial injuries, foot and ankle trauma, upper-limb fractures, spinal trauma and the trauma principles (open fractures, compartment syndrome, fat embolism, non-union and the mangled limb).
Applied Basic Sciences, properly covered
The UK exam’s most demanding oral now reaches across imaging physics, biomaterials and biomechanics, bone pharmacology, tissue and cell biology, skeletal genetics and embryology, and statistics — the breadth examiners actually probe.
Operative viva for real procedures
The operative viva now walks through reconstruction and complex cases — revision hip and knee replacement, periacetabular osteotomy, complex spine, shoulder and elbow reconstruction, and tumour and limb reconstruction — with the approach, steps and structures at risk laid out.
Checked individually, and tidied
Every new case was reviewed one by one for accuracy, and older duplicate cases were merged so each topic appears once, in its best home.

15 June 2026Quality & trust

Every reference checked — real citations you can trust

We verified every citation across the topic library against PubMed and CrossRef — more than five thousand unique references, each confirmed to be a real, findable paper. Where a citation pointed to the wrong record it has been corrected. When you follow a reference from OrthoVellum to read the source, it will be there.

What changed

No invented references
Every PubMed ID attached to the evidence cards across the library was checked against PubMed itself, and the few citations without a PubMed ID (clinical guidelines and classic papers) were confirmed in CrossRef. Every reference resolves to a genuine source.
Mismatches corrected
A handful of citations that named the right paper but linked to the wrong record — or carried an incomplete author line — have been fixed so the title, authors, year and identifier all agree.
An ongoing standard
This verification is now part of how the library is maintained, so the references stay trustworthy as content continues to grow.

15 June 2026FRCS exam prep

A structured home for the FRCS (Tr&Orth) Section 2 orals

The FRCS oral practice is now organised exactly as the real exam: a dedicated Section 2 hub presents the four oral stations — Adult & Spine, Trauma, Children’s & Hand, and Applied Basic Sciences — plus the operative vivas, each opening a focused examiner table drawn only from that station’s cases. The Applied Basic Sciences oral, the one UK candidates most often under-prepare, is highlighted with its own set so you can drill it on its own.

What changed

Each oral as its own examiner table
Pick a single oral and you get a focused rehearsal set of just that station’s cases — read the stem like a candidate, answer aloud, then reveal the model answer, the examiner’s traps and the follow-ups, and mark each as ready or needing more work.
The Applied Basic Sciences oral, front and centre
Oral 4 — biomechanics, biomaterials, tissue healing, microbiology and critical appraisal — now has its own clearly-signposted station, so the most demanding UK viva is no longer buried among the others.
Mapped to the real Section 2 structure
The four 30-minute orals and the operative vivas are laid out in exam order from the FRCS track page, so it is obvious what to practise and where you stand across the whole oral exam.

15 June 2026Image library upgrade

A library-wide image quality and licensing upgrade

Every image across the topic library has been reviewed one by one for quality, accuracy and licensing — third-party watermarks and any patient-identifying photographs have been removed, and the whole image library tidied so pages stay clean, load quickly, and sit firmly within copyright.

What changed

Every image reviewed, one by one
Every radiograph, scan, clinical photograph and diagram across the topic library has been checked individually for quality, accuracy and proper licensing. Anything that did not meet the standard was replaced or removed, so you can trust what you see on every page.
Cleanly licensed and watermark-free
Every clinical image now comes from an openly-licensed source appropriate for a subscription resource and is free of third-party watermarks, so the pages read cleanly and the reference library stays comfortably within copyright.
Patient privacy protected
Any image that could identify a patient has been retired in favour of clearer, consent-safe alternatives.
Leaner and faster
Several hundred unused image files were pruned behind the scenes, keeping the site light and quick to load.

15 June 2026Exam practice

A bigger, sharper image-based short-answer (ISAWE) library

The image-based short-answer practice library has grown to close to a thousand timed scenarios across every subspecialty, and its images have been carefully upgraded: many are now genuine, openly-licensed radiographs, each one reviewed so the questions and model answers describe exactly what is on the film.

What changed

Close to a thousand image-based scenarios
The ISAWE library now spans almost a thousand timed, single-image cases across trauma, paediatrics, hand, foot and ankle, hip, knee, shoulder, spine, oncology, infection and basic science — so there is a relevant scenario to practise for almost any radiograph you might meet on the day.
Real, properly-attributed radiographs
Many scenario images have been upgraded to genuine, openly-licensed radiographs from recognised teaching collections, each carrying clear source attribution — so what you study looks like what you will be shown in the exam.
Every image matched to its questions
Each scenario image has been reviewed individually so the questions and model answers describe exactly what is on the film — the projection, the side, and the findings. Where an image and its answers did not line up, the case was corrected so your practice is never misleading.
Clearer case previews
Every ISAWE card now shows its clinical stem at a glance, so you can choose the scenario you want to drill without opening each one first.

ACL Injuries

Expanded / Sports Medicine

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Expanded / Hand

5 June 2026Content improvement

Topic rendering and imaging updates

Scurvy - Orthopaedic Manifestations

Expanded / Paediatrics

3 June 2026Content improvement

Five topic visual refreshes added

The Achilles tendon rupture, achondroplasia, ACL injuries, adamantinoma and adjacent segment disease chapters have been refreshed with section-level visual summaries and updated image-attribution records to make assessment, imaging, management and complications easier to review.

Topics included in this update

Achilles Tendon Rupture

Expanded / Foot and Ankle

Achondroplasia

Expanded / Paediatrics and Genetics

ACL Injuries

Expanded / Sports Medicine

New advanced approach guides cover cervical, thoracic, thoracolumbar and lumbar spine corridors plus anterior ankle, posterolateral ankle, medial ankle, sinus tarsi, extensile lateral calcaneus, dorsal midfoot and first-ray exposures. The pages emphasise approach choice, safe intervals, danger structures, wound planning, closure and practical operative steps.

Topics included in this update

Surgical Approaches to the Cervical and Thoracolumbar Spine

Added / Surgical Approaches and Spine

Surgical Approaches to the Ankle, Hindfoot and Foot

Added / Surgical Approaches and Foot and Ankle

2 June 2026Content expansion

15 advanced orthopaedic topics added and expanded

Evidence-Based Orthopaedics and Critical Appraisal

Added / Research and Statistics

30 May 2026Content expansion

17 paediatric orthopaedic topics added

What is new in OrthoVellum.

Self-study stations now keep your progress and completion dates

Completion is automatic

Plan and revisit

Compact, account-owned progress

Exam Access is now OrthoVellum Pro

Back to our original prices, held for at least a year

Current subscribers: nothing to do

Paid the higher price since 6 September?

Nothing is taken away

All 1,307 topics rewritten, 54,017 flashcards, and new 3D examination lessons

Every topic page

Flashcards

3D examination lessons

AI Mentor add-on now costs exactly the difference between Exam Access and Exam + AI Mentor

Add it when you need it

The add-on still needs an Exam plan

Every topic, rewritten to read the way you learn

Structured, not dense

Said once

Checked against the original

Scaphoid Fractures

Five new conditions: overgrowth syndromes, growth restriction, unilateral cerebral palsy and sarcoma principles

Overgrowth and asymmetry, told apart properly

Growth restriction is not overgrowth

Gait classification checked against its source

Proteus Syndrome

Klippel-Trénaunay Syndrome

Russell-Silver Syndrome

Spastic Hemiplegia of Cerebral Palsy

Malignant Musculoskeletal Tumours - Principles

Cerebral Palsy

Aster: better source retrieval, MCQ teaching and attempt tracking

Each MCQ keeps its own answer

Separate attempts, complete scores

Account-scoped local history

Clearer limits and privacy information

The clinical examination library: 110 guides, every one checked against the source

Every figure re-verified

Mechanics checked line by line

Thirty new guides

A figure-led gait atlas

The gait pattern atlas

Non-accidental injury assessment

Brachial plexus birth palsy examination

Thoracic outlet examination

Hand infection examination

Sacroiliac joint and pelvic girdle examination

Adult spinal deformity examination

Heel pain examination

Subscription prices updated; current subscribers keep their price until renewal

Nothing changes mid-cycle

Annual plans keep the larger saving

The free library stays free

Every operation, illustrated step by step — and 74 new operative guides

Figures inside the step, not at the end

Approaches you can see

74 guides that were missing

Every figure cited and licensed for use

Heterotopic ossification: the recurrence series is back on the page

Heterotopic Ossification

Diabetic foot: classify the wound, restore perfusion, remove pressure

Diabetic Foot Management

Vertical shear pelvis: identify translation, restore the ring, prove the corridor

Vertical Shear (VS) Pelvic Injuries

Tibial stress injury: identify the side, grade the signal, protect the high-risk cortex

Tibial Stress Fractures

Pulmonary risk: screen the substrate, measure the diaphragm, diagnose the postoperative pattern

Pulmonary Risk Assessment

HIV musculoskeletal disease: protect bone, recognise infection, image beyond the normal film

HIV and the Musculoskeletal System

Adult distal humerus fractures: classify the level, rebuild both columns, mobilise early

Supracondylar Fractures (Adult)

Multiple fractures in a child: map every injury, inspect the background bone, escalate safely

Multiple Fractures in a Child

Erlenmeyer flask deformity: confirm the contour, read the density, interrogate the marrow

Erlenmeyer Flask Deformity

Chronic lateral ankle pain: localise the tenderness, separate instability from pain, choose the scan

Chronic Lateral Ankle Pain

Arthritis radiographs: read the distribution, classify the erosion, follow the bone response