Practice quizzes › Anatomy quizzes › Eye Anatomy

Eye Anatomy Quiz

Twenty questions on the parts of the eye, from the easy ones to the clinical ones. The diagram is a slice through the eye from the side, front on the left. Tap an answer to see if you’re right.

  1. Question 1 of 20

    Name the highlighted clear window at the front of the eye.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Cornea
    2. Lens
    3. Iris
    4. Sclera
    Show answer

    Answer: Cornea. The cornea does about two thirds of the eye’s focusing. It has no blood vessels, which is why corneal transplants rarely reject.

  2. Question 2 of 20

    Name the highlighted coloured part of the eye.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Ciliary body
    2. Iris
    3. Cornea
    4. Choroid
    Show answer

    Answer: Iris. A ring of muscle that opens and closes the pupil to control how much light gets in.

  3. Question 3 of 20

    Name the highlighted structure that fine-tunes focus.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Iris
    2. Vitreous
    3. Cornea
    4. Lens
    Show answer

    Answer: Lens. The lens changes shape to focus up close. It stiffens with age, which is why most people need reading glasses after 45.

  4. Question 4 of 20

    Name the highlighted tough white outer coat.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Retina
    2. Cornea
    3. Sclera
    4. Choroid
    Show answer

    Answer: Sclera. The ‘white of the eye’. It protects the eye and anchors the muscles that move it.

  5. Question 5 of 20

    Name the highlighted light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Vitreous
    2. Retina
    3. Choroid
    4. Sclera
    Show answer

    Answer: Retina. The retina turns light into nerve signals, a bit like the sensor in a camera.

  6. Question 6 of 20

    Name the highlighted cable carrying signals to the brain.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Central retinal vein
    2. Ophthalmic artery
    3. Oculomotor nerve
    4. Optic nerve
    Show answer

    Answer: Optic nerve. About a million nerve fibres leave each eye in the optic nerve, cranial nerve II.

  7. Question 7 of 20

    What is the black hole in the middle of the iris called?

    1. Optic disc
    2. Fovea
    3. Pupil
    4. Macula
    Show answer

    Answer: Pupil. It isn’t a structure at all, just a gap. It looks black because light goes in and very little comes back out.

  8. Question 8 of 20

    Name the highlighted clear gel that fills most of the eyeball.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Vitreous humour
    2. Choroid
    3. Lens
    4. Aqueous humour
    Show answer

    Answer: Vitreous humour. A clear jelly, about 99% water. Clumps in it cast shadows on the retina: floaters.

  9. Question 9 of 20

    Name the highlighted ring of tissue just behind the iris.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Sclera
    2. Choroid
    3. Cornea
    4. Ciliary body
    Show answer

    Answer: Ciliary body. It holds the muscle that changes the lens shape, and it makes aqueous humour, the watery fluid at the front of the eye.

  10. Question 10 of 20

    Name the highlighted pit in the retina that gives the sharpest vision.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Fovea
    2. Ciliary body
    3. Ora serrata
    4. Optic disc
    Show answer

    Answer: Fovea. Packed with cones and nothing in the way, so you point it at whatever you want to see in detail, like these words.

  11. Question 11 of 20

    Name the highlighted blood-rich layer under the retina.

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Retina
    2. Sclera
    3. Choroid
    4. Ciliary body
    Show answer

    Answer: Choroid. It feeds the outer retina. It’s the commonest place for melanoma inside the eye in adults.

  12. Question 12 of 20

    Which cells in the retina let us see colour?

    1. Bipolar cells
    2. Cones
    3. Rods
    4. Ganglion cells
    Show answer

    Answer: Cones. Cones work in bright light and see colour and detail. Rods work in dim light, in black and white.

  13. Question 13 of 20

    Why does each eye have a blind spot where the highlighted nerve leaves?

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Blood vessels block the light
    2. The cornea is thickest there
    3. The optic disc has no light-sensing cells
    4. The lens can’t focus there
    Show answer

    Answer: The optic disc has no light-sensing cells. Nerve fibres and vessels leave through the optic disc, so there’s no room for rods or cones. Your brain fills in the gap.

  14. Question 14 of 20

    Which muscle makes the pupil smaller in bright light?

    1. Ciliary muscle
    2. Lateral rectus
    3. Dilator pupillae
    4. Sphincter pupillae
    Show answer

    Answer: Sphincter pupillae. A ring muscle in the iris, run by parasympathetic fibres in the oculomotor nerve (III). The dilator pupillae is sympathetic.

  15. Question 15 of 20

    An eye that can’t look outwards points to a problem with which cranial nerve?

    1. Abducens (VI)
    2. Trochlear (IV)
    3. Optic (II)
    4. Oculomotor (III)
    Show answer

    Answer: Abducens (VI). VI supplies the lateral rectus, which turns the eye out. Remember LR6 SO4: lateral rectus VI, superior oblique IV, the rest III.

  16. Question 16 of 20

    Clouding of the highlighted structure is called what?

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Glaucoma
    2. Cataract
    3. Keratoconus
    4. Macular degeneration
    Show answer

    Answer: Cataract. Cataracts are the world’s leading cause of blindness, and one of the most successful operations in medicine fixes them.

  17. Question 17 of 20

    Aqueous humour drains out of the eye through which structure?

    1. Lacrimal duct
    2. Trabecular meshwork
    3. Ciliary body
    4. Optic disc
    Show answer

    Answer: Trabecular meshwork. It drains through the trabecular meshwork into the canal of Schlemm, in the angle between iris and cornea. Blocked drainage raises pressure: glaucoma.

  18. Question 18 of 20

    Flashes, new floaters, then a curtain over part of the vision suggest what has happened to the highlighted layer?

    Eye, sliced across
    1. It has detached
    2. It has bled into the lens
    3. It has thickened
    4. It has calcified
    Show answer

    Answer: It has detached. Retinal detachment is an emergency: same-day eye review gives the best chance of saving sight.

  19. Question 19 of 20

    Macular degeneration damages the area around the highlighted pit. What does it take first?

    Eye, sliced across
    1. Night vision only
    2. Colour vision only
    3. Central vision
    4. Side (peripheral) vision
    Show answer

    Answer: Central vision. Reading and faces go first, while side vision is kept. Glaucoma does the opposite, nibbling away at side vision first.

  20. Question 20 of 20

    Sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye with a ‘cherry-red spot’ on the retina suggests what?

    1. Acute angle-closure glaucoma
    2. Optic neuritis
    3. Retinal detachment
    4. Central retinal artery occlusion
    Show answer

    Answer: Central retinal artery occlusion. An eye stroke. The pale, starved retina makes the fovea look cherry red. It needs emergency stroke assessment.

Want one a day? Play Anatomegaly, the daily anatomy game: five body parts, four options each, new every midnight.

Common questions

What are the main parts of the eye?

From front to back: the cornea (clear window), iris and pupil (light control), lens (focus), vitreous (clear gel), retina (light sensor) with the fovea for sharp vision, and the optic nerve to the brain. The sclera is the white outer coat and the choroid feeds the retina.

What is the difference between rods and cones?

Rods see in dim light and in black and white, and are spread across the retina. Cones see colour and fine detail in good light, and are packed into the fovea.

What is the blind spot?

The place where the optic nerve leaves the eye (the optic disc). It has no rods or cones, so it can’t sense light. You don’t notice it because the other eye and your brain fill in the gap.

More anatomy quizzes

Updated 16 November 2026. Diagrams are simplified, original sketches, not to scale. General education, not personal medical advice.