computer science phd viva questions

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PhD Viva Voces – A Complete Guide
Doing a PhD
A PhD viva involves defending your thesis in an oral examination with at least two examiners.
The aim of a PhD viva is to confirm that the work is your own , that you have a deep understanding of your project and, overall, that you are a competent researcher .
There are no standard durations, but they usually range from one to three hours, with most lasting approximately two hours .
There are six outcomes of a PhD viva: (1) pass without corrections (2) pass subject to minor corrections, (3) pass subject to major corrections, (4) downgrade to MPhil with no amendments, (5) downgrade to MPhil subject to amendments, (6) immediate fail.
Almost all students who sit their viva pass it, with the most common outcome being ‘(2) – pass subject to minor corrections’.

What Is a PhD Viva?

A viva voce , more commonly referred to as ‘viva’, is an oral examination conducted at the end of your PhD and is essentially the final hurdle on the path to a doctorate. It is the period in which a student’s knowledge and work are evaluated by independent examiners.

In order to assess the student and their work around their research question, a viva sets out to determine:

you understand the ideas and theories that you have put forward,
you can answer questions about elements of your work that the examiners have questions about,
you understand the broader research in your field and how your work contributes to this,
you are aware of the limitations of your work and understand how it can be developed further,
your work makes an original contribution, is your own and has not been plagiarised.

Note: A viva is a compulsory procedure for all PhD students, with the only exception being when a PhD is obtained through publication as opposed to the conventional route of study.

Who Will Attend a Viva?

In the UK, at least two examiners must take part in all vivas. Although you could have more than two examiners, most will not in an attempt to facilitate a smoother questioning process.

One of the two examiners will be internal, i.e. from your university, and the other will be external, i.e. from another university. Regardless, both will be knowledgeable in your research field and have read your thesis beforehand.

In addition to your two examiners, two other people may be present. The first is a chairperson. This is an individual who will be responsible for monitoring the interview and for ensuring proper conduct is followed at all times. The need for an external chairperson will vary between universities, as one of the examiners can also take on this role. The second is your supervisor, whose attendance is decided upon by you in agreement with your examiners. If your supervisor attends, they are prohibited from asking questions or from influencing the outcome of the viva.

To avoid any misunderstandings, we have summarised the above in a table:


Examiners	Mandatory and minimum of 2	Your supervisor	Yes
Chairperson	Optional	Your university	No
Your Supervisor	Optional	You, in agreement of both examiners	No

Note: In some countries, such as in the United States, a viva is known as a ‘PhD defense’ and is performed publicly in front of a panel or board of examiners and an open audience. In these situations, the student presents their work in the form of a lecture and then faces questions from the examiners and audience which almost acts as a critical appraisal.

How Long Does a Viva Last?

Since all universities have different guidelines , and since all PhDs are unique, there are no standard durations. Typically, however, the duration ranges from one to three hours, with most lasting approximately two hours.

Your examiners will also influence the duration of your viva as some will favour a lengthy discussion, while others may not. Usually, your university will consult your examiners in advance and notify you of the likely duration closer to the day of your viva.

What Happens During a Viva?

Regardless of the subject area, all PhD vivas follow the same examination process format as below.

Introductions

You will introduce yourselves to each other, with the internal examiner normally introducing the external examiner. If an external chairperson is present, they too are introduced; otherwise, this role will be assumed by one of the examiners.

Procedure Explained

After the introductions, the appointed chair will explain the viva process. Although it should already be known to everyone, it will be repeated to ensure the viva remains on track during the forthcoming discussion.

Warm-Up Questions

The examiners will then begin the questioning process. This usually starts with a few simple opening questions, such as asking you to summarise your PhD thesis and what motivated you to carry out the research project.

In-Depth Questions

The viva questions will then naturally increase in difficulty as the examiners go further into the details of your thesis. These may include questions such as “What was the most critical decision you made when determining your research methodology ?”, “Do your findings agree with the current published work?” and “How do your findings impact existing theories or literature? ”. In addition to asking open-ended questions, they will also ask specific questions about the methodology, results and analysis on which your thesis is based.

Closing the Viva

Once the examiners are satisfied that they have thoroughly evaluated your knowledge and thesis, they will invite you to ask any questions you may have, and then bring the oral examination to a close.

What Happens After the Viva?

Once your viva has officially ended, your examiners will ask you to leave the room so that they can discuss your performance. Once a mutual agreement has been reached, which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, you will be invited back inside and informed of your outcome.

PhD Viva Outcomes

There are six possible outcomes to a viva:

Immediate award of degree: A rare recommendation – congratulations, you are one of the few people who completely satisfied your examiners the first time around. You do not have to do anything further at this point.
Minor amendments required: The most common recommendation – you obtain a pass on the condition that you make a number of minor amendments to your thesis, such as clarifying certain points and correcting grammatical errors. The time you have to make these changes depends on the number of them, but is usually one to six months.
Major amendments required: A somewhat uncommon recommendation – you are requested to make major amendments to your thesis, ranging from further research to collecting more data or rewriting entire sections. Again, the time you have to complete this will depend on the number of changes required, but will usually be six months to one year. You will be awarded your degree once your amended thesis has been reviewed and accepted.
Immediate award of MPhil: An uncommon recommendation – your examiners believe your thesis does not meet the standard for a doctoral degree but meets the standard for an MPhil (Master of Philosophy), a lower Master’s degree.
Amendments required for MPhil: A rare recommendation – your examiners believe your thesis does not meet the standard for a doctoral degree, but with several amendments will meet the standard for an MPhil.
Immediate fail: A very rare recommendation – you are given an immediate fail without the ability to resubmit and without entitlement to an MPhil.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

What Is the Pass Rate for Vivas?

Based on an analysis of 26,076 PhD students who took their viva exam between 2006 and 2017, the PhD viva pass rate in the UK is 96%; of those who passed, about 80% were required to make minor amendments to their thesis. The reason for this high pass rate is that supervisors will only put their students forward for a viva once they confidently believe they are ready for it. As a result, most candidates who sit a viva are already well-versed in their PhD topic before they even start preparing for the exam.

How Do I Arrange a Viva?

Your viva will be arranged either by the examiners or by the chairperson. The viva will be arranged at least one to two months after you have submitted your thesis and will arrange a viva date and venue that is suitable for all participants.

Can I Choose My Examiners?

At most universities, you and your supervisor will choose the internal and external examiners yourselves. This is because the examiners must have extensive knowledge of the thesis topic in order to be able to examine you and, as the author of the thesis in question, who else could better determine who they might be than you and your supervisor. The internal examiner is usually quite easy to find given they will be from your institution, but the external examiner may end up being your second or third preference depending on availability.

Can I Take Notes Into a Viva?

A viva is about testing your competence, not your memory. As such, you are allowed to take notes and other supporting material in with you. However, keep in mind that your examiners will not be overly impressed if you constantly have to refer to your notes to answer each question. Because of this, many students prefer to take an annotated copy of their thesis, with important points already highlighted and key chapters marked with post-it notes.

In addition to an annotated copy of a thesis, some students also take:

a list of questions they would like to ask the examiners,
notes that were created during their preparation,
a list of minor corrections they have already identified from their viva prep work.

How Do I Prepare for a PhD Viva?

There are several ways to prepare for a PhD viva, one of the most effective being a mock viva voce examination . This allows you to familiarise yourself with the type of viva questions you will be asked and identify any weak areas you need to improve. They also give you the opportunity to practise without the pressure, giving you more time to think about your answers which will help to make sure that you know your thesis inside out. However, a mock viva exam is just one of many methods available to you – some of the other viva preparation methods can be found on our “ How to Prepare for a PhD Viva ” page.

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The Doctoral Viva: Questions for, with and to Candidates (or supervisors)

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Most Asked PhD Viva-Voce Questions and Answers

Check this Mosted Asked 50 PhD Viva-Voce Questions with Answers

Defending a doctoral thesis and facing viva questions is a very critical part of every research scholar. After the submission of your thesis, you will be asked to defend your research work in the “ final viva voce “.

Defending your master’s thesis in front of domain experts, co-scholars, and students is quite an interesting experience. The difficult part of the viva for every researcher is facing unexpected questions.

In this article, ilovephd provides 50 possible PhD viva questions frequently asked during the thesis Viva voce.

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Mosed Asked PhD Thesis Defense Viva-Voce Questions and Answers

These are all the 50 Common Dissertation PhD Viva Questions and Sample Answers you can prepare to answer during the defense.

Thesis Title: “Understanding the Impact of Social Media Engagement on Consumer Behavior: A Mixed-Methods Approach”

1. Main Contribution:

What is the main contribution of your work.

My work offers a novel framework for analyzing social media data, enhancing understanding of online user behavior. For instance, by integrating machine learning algorithms with network analysis, we identified influential users in online communities.

2. Key Research Questions:

What are the key research questions you addressed in your dissertation.

In my dissertation , I addressed several key research questions, including how online interactions influence consumer purchasing decisions and whether social media campaigns effectively engage target audiences.

3. Study Design:

How did you design your study.

The study was designed employing a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys to gather qualitative insights with the analysis of social media data using advanced statistical techniques.

4. Data and Methods:

What data and methods did you use.

I utilized Twitter data collected through the Twitter API and analyzed public sentiment toward specific brands or products.

5. Main Findings:

What were your main findings and how do they relate to your hypothesis.

Our analysis revealed a strong correlation between user engagement with social media content and subsequent purchase behavior, supporting our hypothesis that social media plays a significant role in shaping consumer decisions.

6. Implications:

What implications does your work have for other researchers or practitioners in the field.

These findings have practical implications for marketers, suggesting the need for targeted social media strategies to effectively reach and engage potential customers.

7. Suggestions for Further Research:

What suggestions do you have for further research.

Sample Answer: Future research could explore the effectiveness of different types of social media content in driving consumer engagement and purchasing behavior.

8. Motivation:

Why did you choose this particular topic.

I chose this topic due to its relevance in today’s digital age and its potential to inform marketing strategies in a rapidly evolving online landscape.

9. Overcoming Challenges:

What motivated you during the project.

My motivation stemmed from the opportunity to contribute to an area with significant real-world implications and to advance understanding in the field of marketing research.

10. New Insights:

How did you overcome any challenges that emerged throughout the project.

Challenges were overcome through perseverance, collaboration with peers and mentors, and leveraging available resources effectively.

11. Adding Value:

What new knowledge, insights, or understanding has your research provided.

My research has provided new insights into the nuanced relationship between online engagement and consumer behavior, offering actionable insights for marketers.

12. Limitations:

How do you think your work adds value to the field.

By bridging the gap between social media data analysis and consumer psychology, my work adds significant value to the marketing field.

Also Read: How to Identify Research Gap ?

13. Fit with Existing Research:

What are the limitations of your work.

Limitations include the generalizability of findings due to sample biases inherent in social media data.

14. Utilization of Resources:

How do your results fit into the current body of research on the subject.

My results contribute to the current body of research by corroborating existing evidence and offering new perspectives.

15. Method Selection:

If you had more resources, what would you have done differently.

With more resources, I would have expanded the scope of data collection and employed more sophisticated analysis techniques to enhance the depth of insights generated.

Learn how to select a Research Method and how to Frame a Research Design: Check the following video.

16. Accuracy and Validity:

Why did you choose the particular methods you used.

The chosen methods were selected based on their appropriateness for capturing and analyzing large-scale social media data sets efficiently.

17. Applicability in Other Contexts:

How did you ensure accuracy and validity in your research.

Accuracy and validity were ensured through rigorous validation procedures, including cross-validation techniques and expert validation of sentiment analysis results.

18. Starting the Project Again:

Could your research be applied in other contexts.

Yes, my research could be applied in various contexts beyond the retail sector, such as hospitality, healthcare, or political campaigns, with potential implications for understanding online user behavior in different domains.

19. Ethical Considerations:

What would you do differently if you had to start the project again.

If starting the project again, I would prioritize establishing clearer ethical guidelines and procedures for data collection and analysis to ensure the responsible conduct of research.

20. Dissemination:

What ethical considerations did you take into account when designing your study.

Ethical considerations included ensuring user privacy, obtaining informed consent for data usage, and protecting participant confidentiality throughout the research process.

21. Unexpected Results:

How have your results been disseminated.

Results have been disseminated through academic conferences, peer-reviewed journals, and industry reports to reach diverse audiences.

22. Extension of Research:

Are there any unexpected results from your analysis, and why do you think they occurred.

Surprisingly, we found that user engagement on social media positively correlates with both online and offline purchase behavior, which may be attributed to the increasing integration of digital and traditional marketing channels in consumer decision-making processes.

23. Data Analysis Techniques:

Do you have any plans to extend or replicate your research.

Yes, plans include replicating the study across different demographic groups and geographical regions to validate the robustness and generalizability of the findings.

24. Reliability and Validity:

What techniques did you use to analyze your data.

Data analysis techniques included regression analysis, social network analysis, and sentiment analysis, chosen for their appropriateness to the nature of the data and research questions.

25. Lessons Learned:

How did you ensure the reliability and validity of your findings.

Reliability and validity were ensured through rigorous data validation procedures, including reliability checks, sensitivity analyses, and triangulation of multiple data sources.

26. Addressing Methodological Weaknesses:

What lessons can be drawn from your research.

Lessons drawn from my research include the importance of integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches to capture the complexity of online consumer behavior accurately.

27. Possibility of Contradiction:

How did you address any methodological weaknesses in your study.

Methodological weaknesses were addressed by iteratively refining the research design, improving data collection procedures, and conducting sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the findings.

28. Transferability of Findings:

Is there a possibility that future research may contradict your findings.

While possible, future research may challenge the findings, particularly if different data sources or analytical approaches are employed.

29. Implications for Policymakers:

How transferable are your findings.

Findings are transferable to similar contexts but should be interpreted with caution in different cultural or market settings due to potential variations in consumer behavior and social media usage patterns.

30. Recommendations:

What implications do your results have for policymakers.

Results have implications for policymakers in terms of informing regulations regarding online advertising practices, consumer protection measures, and data privacy laws.

31. Rigor and Integrity:

What recommendations would you make based on your research.

Based on my research, I recommend that policymakers consider implementing guidelines for transparent disclosure of sponsored content on social media platforms to enhance consumer trust and confidence in online advertising practices.

32. Unexplored Areas:

How did you maintain the rigor and integrity of your project.

Rigor and integrity were maintained through adherence to ethical guidelines, transparency in data collection and analysis procedures, and regular peer review of research findings.

33. Need for Further Research:

What areas remain unexplored in your field.

Unexplored areas in the field include the long-term effects of social media engagement on brand loyalty, customer retention, and the role of emotional content in driving user engagement and purchase behavior.

34. Validity of Results:

Do you think further research is needed in your area of study.

Yes, further research is needed to validate the findings across diverse populations, cultural contexts, and industry sectors to ensure the robustness and generalizability of the conclusions.

35. Time Constraints:

How valid do you think your results are.

I believe the results are valid, supported by rigorous data analysis procedures, triangulation of multiple data sources, and alignment with existing theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence.

36. Accurate Data Representation:

Would you have done anything differently if you had more time.

With more time, I might have conducted additional validation studies to strengthen the reliability and validity of the findings further, as well as explored alternative analytical approaches to corroborate the results.

37. Answering Research Questions:

How did you make sure you accurately represented the data collected.

Accurate data representation was ensured through careful data cleaning, validation procedures, and transparency in reporting the research findings to minimize biases and errors.

38. Applicability in Other Contexts:

How did you ensure the research question was answered.

The research question was answered through systematic data collection, rigorous analysis, and interpretation of the findings about the research objectives and hypotheses.

39. Possibility of Unendorsed Implications:

Are there any possible implications of your research that you don’t endorse.

While unlikely, possible implications that I don’t endorse include deterministic interpretations of causality between social media engagement and consumer behavior, as other factors may also influence purchase decisions.

40. Strengths and Weaknesses:

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your research.

The strengths of my research include innovative methodology, robust data analysis techniques, and practical implications for marketers. Weaknesses include potential sample biases inherent in social media data and limitations in generalizability to offline consumer behavior.

41. Wider Community Implications:

What implications do your findings have for the wider community.

Findings offer valuable insights for marketers, policymakers, and researchers seeking to understand and leverage online consumer behavior effectively in various industries and societal contexts.

42. Useful Learnings:

What have you learned from your research that could be useful for others.

From my research, others can learn the importance of integrating user-generated content analysis into marketing strategies to enhance consumer engagement and inform decision-making processes.

43. Alignment with Literature:

How well do your findings match with the literature in the field.

My findings align well with existing literature on the influence of social media on consumer behavior, extending previous research by providing empirical evidence and theoretical insights into the mechanisms underlying online user engagement and purchase behavior.

44. Undiscussed Implications:

Are there any implications of your research that you haven’t discussed.

While extensively discussed, some implications, such as the role of emotional content in driving engagement and the potential impact of social media on brand loyalty, warrant further exploration in future studies.

45. Unresolved Issues:

Are there any unresolved issues that require further research.

Yes, unresolved issues include the long-term effects of social media engagement on brand loyalty, customer retention, and the effectiveness of different types of social media content in driving consumer engagement and purchase behavior.

46. Conclusions:

What can you conclude based on your research.

In conclusion, my research demonstrates the significant impact of social media engagement on consumer purchasing decisions, highlighting the need for targeted marketing strategies in the digital age to effectively engage and influence online audiences.

47. Contradictory Evidence:

Is there any evidence that contradicts your findings.

While limited, contradictory evidence may arise from studies employing different methodologies or focusing on distinct population groups, underscoring the need for further research to validate and contextualize the findings.

48. Resource Utilization:

What would you have done differently if you had more resources.

With more resources, I would have invested in longitudinal studies to track changes in consumer behavior over time and conducted experiments to test the effectiveness of different social media strategies in influencing user engagement and purchase behavior.

49. Applicability in Other Contexts:

How applicable are your findings to other contexts.

Findings are applicable beyond the retail sector, with potential implications for industries such as hospitality, healthcare, or political campaigns, where online user engagement and consumer behavior are also critical factors influencing decision-making processes.

50. Responsible Conduct:

How did you ensure that the research was conducted responsibly.

The research was conducted responsibly through adherence to ethical guidelines, transparency in data collection and analysis procedures, and regular peer review of research findings to ensure rigor and integrity in the research process.

I hope this article will help you to know the various PhD Viva-Voce Questions and sample Answers that are mostly asked during the final defense. All the best for your Thesis Defence. Happy Researching!

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Viva Questions

Updated on
Jan 18, 2024

What are viva questions? A viva simply means a university examination during which students answer questions in speech and these questions are commonly based on a particular project or discipline. Viva questions are an important part of an academic program and often take place at the conclusion of a semester/year. Although viva questions can vary, they commonly focus on four aspects: “What the project is about?”, “What were the key findings or observations?”, “What was the process?” and “Why do the observations matter?”. However, in some cases, these questions can be more diverse. If you want to know how to tackle these PhD viva questions properly, then this blog is a must-read for you!

This Blog Includes:

1. summarize your project/thesis/research in 3 minutes, 2. what is the strength and weakness of your research, 3. what makes your thesis work original, 4. elaborate on how your findings relate to literature in your field, 5. tell me about yourself, 6. summarise your key findings, 7. highlight the strong and weak areas of your research, 8. what were the major motivations behind this research, 9. elucidate the process of evaluation, 10. what is the key focus of this research, 50 common viva questions, 25 phd viva questions , viva questions on research methodologies, analysis and research findings: viva questions, viva questions for physics, viva questions for chemistry, viva questions for biology, viva questions for higher education, tips and tricks to ace the viva, 10 most important viva questions with answers.

Whether you are a PhD or a school student, viva exams are equally tough for everyone. But don’t worry, we have a solution to calm you down! Here are 5 commonly asked questions with answers:

To answer this question correctly, you need to be well-versed in the entire project. Start with an answer by explaining why did you select the topic of your project/thesis/research and close your explanation by providing an optimum solution to the problem.

Carefully analyze the strength and weaknesses of your research and while answering, make sure you talk about your weaknesses also and not only your strengths.

While answering, keep in mind what was known before and what you have added as part of being awarded your PhD is to contribute novel knowledge.

Explain how your findings connect with the literature review of your project and what its contributions are in terms of the field of your research. Does it further expand the literature? Does it highlight some new observations? Does it add to the literature in this field? Answer these main questions.

Talk about yourself and your areas of interest. Focus on the areas you are extremely positive about. Talk about your past achievements and what brings you to this position. Keep it professional.

Must Read: How to Ace “Tell Me About Yourself” in College Interview?

For this common viva question, focus on what you observed and found through your research project, how it connects with your hypothesis as well as what concluded through this research.

Mention the strengths first and elaborate on how they connect with the key findings. Then, you can underline the weak areas and the factors that could have been transformed into strengths.

Focus on what inspired you to carry out this research, and cite certain instances which helped you select this topic as well as the field for your project.

Elaborate on how you evaluated the key findings in your research, the key factors involved, whether the evaluation process faced some obstacles, how it could have been better and what was the reason you choose a particular process of evaluation.

While answering this, keep a summarised version of your research in your mind and then talk about the area of the primary focus of research. In order to demonstrate that your research is viable, it is essential to identify some of the key questions that it addresses.

Mostly research-based viva questions are asked in the case of a doctoral thesis wherein the key aspect of the process is to identify the thought behind the development of the specific paper. It is done to determine the knowledge and originality of the researcher and to assess their further interest in the field.

Below are some of the most common viva questions.

Tell me about yourself .
Summarise your research/thesis in 3 minutes.
Tell us how your research contributes to knowledge discourse.
What are the practical applications of your research?
What is the strength and weakness of your research?
How does your research help solve the underlying problems?
Can you explain your thesis in a sentence?
How did you come up with the subject of your research/thesis?
What was the source of inspiration behind this thesis/research?
What is the key idea that is unexpendable to your thesis?
What contributions are you looking forward to making in this area of study?
What is the key focus of this research?
Where can we locate the originality in your paper?
What are the core areas of debate in this paper?
What research methodology have you applied to address this issue?
What were the alternative methods you could have used to address the subject matter of concern?
Why did you feel it necessary to spend your resources in this area of study?
What aids did you use to support your research?
Which pertinent research papers did you use in your research?
Can you name 3 remarkable research papers in this stream?
Explain the recent developments in this field.
How did you come up with these questions you have discussed in your paper?
Describe the necessary decisions taken in your process.
Elucidate the process of evaluation.
Ponder over the strong and weak aspects of your research.
What is the relevance of your research in the current scenario?
Where do you think your research can be practically applied?
Which aspects of your research are you looking forward to being published?
Give us some insights into the references in your thesis.
What have you achieved in the process of this PhD?
Elaborate on how your findings relate to literature in your field.
Highlight the strong and weak areas of your research.
What were the major motivations behind this research?
How would you propose future research as a follow-up to this project?
Who will be more interested in this research project?
How is your research project relevant to your fellow researchers?
What was the process behind the research questions you selected?
Name some alternatives to your chosen research methodology.
Which of your research observations are you most interested in/curious about?
Name some prominent achievements of your research.

A PhD viva is a final examination in which a candidate answers questions from an academic panel on their work and understanding of their chosen subject area. This is often used to determine whether the candidate has effectively proved that they have learned enough about their specialised study topic to produce original work.

During a PhD viva, the questions are frequently based on the original study proposal and any other written material that has already been provided. Read the top 25 PhD viva questions below:

What is the area in which you wish to be examined?
What have you done that merits a PhD?
Summarise your key findings.
What’s original about your work?
Which topics overlap with your area?
Where do current technologies fail such that you (could) make a contribution?
Who are your closest competitors?
Can you summarise your project in 2 lines?
How can this research help other students working in the same field?
Which of your findings is your personal favourite?
Is your research inspired by some incident in your life?
Why did you choose this method to conduct this research?
What motivated you to conduct this research?
What was the biggest challenge that came your way?
What were the alternatives to this methodology?
How would you evaluate your work?
Were you short of any resources while conducting this research?
Can you tell me about the strongest point of your research?
What is the weakest point of your research?
. How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work?
What original contribution has your thesis made to this field of study?
Whose work has most influenced yours?
What ethical considerations did you apply?
Did your study go as expected? If you had to start the thesis again, what would you do differently?
Now that you’ve completed your study, what did you enjoy about the process?

Preparing for an interview for the Statistician or Survey Specialist role? Then worry not! Here are the most important viva questions on research methodologies:

Under which circumstances are quantitative as well as qualitative research methods fruitful?
Could you distinguish between case-based and observational-based research methods in a few words?
What is a scientific study and what are its essential features?
You must have faced some ethical issues while conducting research. How did you handle it?
What method did you use to collect data?
Was there any other way in which you could have assimilated the data? If yes, then how?
What are the main achievements of your research?
What advice would you give to a research student entering this area?
What is the relevance of your work to other researchers?
How did your research questions emerge?

Subjective Questions for School

Be it for Chemistry or Biology practicals , from 10th standard onwards, students have to appear for vivas. The concerned viva questions pertain to the subject that the students have studied in the course of the entire year. The viva that one appears for at the senior secondary level is based on the experiments that the students perform to test their understanding of the research. Apart from those experiments, the students are also asked several questions to estimate their practical understanding of the key areas of study.

Viva questions for Physics are mainly based on concepts and topics from Physics textbooks. Here are the most common viva questions for Physics Class 11 and Class 12:

Viva Questions for Class 12 Physics

What is Ohm’s Law?
What do you mean by ‘interference’?
Define tangent law.
Name the type of motion shown by the Torsional pendulum.
What happens with resonance in the LCR circuit?
What do you understand by the order of the spectrum?
How is Wedge Film Experiment useful?
Define parallax and how it is removed.
How does the emission of light is carried out by LED?

Also Read: Physics Project for Class 12: Top 50 Ideas & Experiments

Viva Questions for Class 11 Physics

Name the units of the vernier scale.
What do you understand by Zero Error (Z.E)?
What are the two parts of the Screw Gauge?
Name one mechanical advantage of a Screw Gauge.
What is Focal Length?
What are the factors that impact surface tension?
Define the time period of a bar.
What is Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)?

Viva questions for Chemistry are mainly based on concepts and topics from Chemistry textbooks. Here are the most common viva questions for Chemistry Class 11 and Class 12:

Viva Questions for Class 12 Chemistry

What is Valency?
What is the value of Avogadro’s number?
What is the monomer of Polyethylene?
What are polymers?
What is the IUPAC Name?
Differentiate between addition and condensation polymer
What is the oxidation and reduction reaction in the electrolytic process?
What is Titration?

Also Read: Chemistry Project for Class 12: Topics & Sample Projects

Viva Questions for Class 11 Chemistry

Define the term ‘crystallisation’
What is solubility?
Why is crystallization done?
What is Kipp’s waste?
What is a Saturated Solution?

PhD viva questions for Biology are mainly based on concepts and topics from Biology textbooks. Here are the most common viva questions for Biology Class 11 and Class 12:

Viva Questions for Class 12 Biology

What is litter?
What is the shape of a pollen grain
What is tectum?
What are pollutants
What is hummus
Define Mitosis
Why is Mitosis called Somatic Cell Division

Also Read: How to Ace Class 12th Biology Practical?

Viva Questions for Class 11 Biology

How many types of proteins are there
What are enzymes
What is nucleic acid?
Examples of high-protein food
Full form of DNA
Full form of RNA
What are Mendelian Laws
What is placentation?
What are monadelphous and diadelphous stamens?
What is the flower’s importance to the plant?
To which family china rose belongs?

Admission tutors at the postgraduate level conduct viva or interviews to establish whether graduates are committed to and prepared for studying the master’s or PhD level courses. These are less formal than a job interview , but you still need to take them seriously – your aspirations to pursue overseas education could depend on your performance.

Let’s say you come from a Mass Communication background and you’ve made a documentary on “ underprivileged sections of society” . Then you might be asked about the process of the development of the movie, how long did it take to gauge the key aspects of the film or the perspective behind the direction process.

Though the research you do in your PhD is a massive achievement, you need to be prepared for the exhaustive viva session with the experts. The PhD viva questions are a chance for students to discuss their work with professionals. Its formal purpose is to ensure that the student understands and can explain their thesis. It involves lots of stinging questions and conceptually complex debates. How can PhD scholars best prepare themselves? Let us take a look at the different tips for getting through your viva questions:

Calm down and breathe
Believe in yourself
Do something fun
Go in with a good attitude
Look presentable
Read your thesis
Know the rules
Make a list of your own corrections
Make plans to celebrate
Try to enjoy it

Must Read: How to Crack an Interview [20 Scientifically Proven Tips]

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PhD Assistance

How do i prepare for a phd viva, phd viva presentation, phd viva questions.

It is a matter and pride great amount of pride to get done with your Ph.D. degree. A great number of efforts goes into making it happen. But preparing dissertations, thesis and getting it reviewed by the panel is no less than a herculean task. Even though you are done with preparing your thesis, yet the journey continues. There exists one big task to complete or to say a bridge to cross before finally getting your thesis approved and being conferred with the doctorate. This essential part during the doctorate or Ph.D. program is the viva. After you have prepared your thesis, the next step is submission to the panel wherein it will be reviewed and the student will be intellectually tested for their knowledge that they have put into the process.

Passing through this hurdle will ensure your doctorate degree which requires little more labor and a lot of sharp wits. So, before heading on to discuss how one can manage or survive the rig-ours of Ph.D. viva let’s take a sneak peek through the actualities of why the viva is conducted and later move towards tips and tricks to ease the entire process:

Why is a Viva required?

Viva is an oral examination wherein students are tested on their thinking caliber in front of a big panel of experts. The primary purpose of a viva is to understand how much does the student know about the topic and to understand their level of contribution. Well, doesn’t that make you read through your work and prepare well for the viva before getting through the actual process?

What does Viva include?

As any other viva session, a Ph.D. viva includes a lot of question and answers with you on the latter side of the panel. The thesis prepared by you will be thoroughly reviewed by experts right from the topic to the format. The formal purpose is to have a direct discussion with the students to test their knowledge of the subject.

Ph.D. being an important degree and thesis being the most essential aspect of the course. Thence one cannot deny its level of crucial and importance. Viva also includes Ph.D. viva presentation wherein the student will be required to prepare a PowerPoint presentation surrounding the topic. The PowerPoint presentation will include all the minute points and details most importantly those points which you wish to highlight in your study, mentioned in a gist. This not only makes the entire process less cumbersome or writing, preparing and presenting viva but also throws out light about the student’s knowledge of the topic.

Summarizing of the topic

The Ph.D. viva begins with the student asked to summarize the entire topic in a gist. The student must thus prepare themselves in advance to speak about your topic, the reason for choosing the topic, what does it convey. Additionally, it is recommended to read the entire thesis well before the presentation and viva, jotting down important points which can be put forth as questions. The summary will be the first ground to set your impression on the invigilator. The topics may also lead to debates, wherein your caliber and expertise in the subject will be tested further.

When preparing for Viva:

Be well abreast with the university’s terms and policies. Each and every institution and university have their own set of terms and conditions. Therefore, it is imperative to primarily read through the conditions and accordingly prepare yourself for the big day. You could also try to find about the panel that would be conducting the viva and get an understanding from peers about the kind of questions they pose and what to expect during the viva, which will prove to be cherry on the cake for your preparation.

Go through your thesis

Go through your theses, but now not as a student but as a third person. This will help you see through the prism of your thesis and help you gauge any loopholes and whether the research is up-to-date. Moreover, never underestimate the time spent by the examiners in reading through your thesis. And thus, this calls for you to be an equal expert who can handle the questions tactfully.

Along with reading through your thesis, check whether there have been any recent papers which are published in the particular topic same as yours and if so, ensure to read through them to be abreast with the latest happenings.

Hit the bull’s eye

During a Ph.D. viva, there are usually two examiners who would be present during the process. One who is an external expert from the field, who is not usually from your university and the other an internal one who is a subject expert associated with your field. Your onus is to win the minds of both. It is usually the external examiner who will be shooting the questions. Thus, being pretty updated with the subject knowledge, reading about the contributors who are related to your topic in some way is the best way out for winning the doctorate.

Prepare your answers

This is an important aspect of the viva and it all depends on how you defend your research.From this perspective, it is necessary to defend your point of view and claims, explaining your contribution and knowledge of the topic. Remember that no project is ever perfect, however, letting the examiner know you have contributed your best to the project is all the more important. For this, you can kick-start with anticipating some of the most sought questions and probable ones which you consider will be asked during the viva. Primarily looking for those which are most asked during a Ph.D. viva will ease your task to a large extent. Mostly the questions will be related to your literature review and conceptual points.

Practice the technique of answering

Well, you are not going to get a chance for reading your answers from your laptop verbatim in front of the examiner. However, being well prepared like knowing the answers like the back of your hand is the most important aspect. Articulate your answers and try to present yourself an answer in the tone you would be using for answering the examiner.

Take a printed copy of your thesis at the time of viva

It is always better to have an extra copy of your thesis present with you at the time of viva. In this copy, mark the important points and highlight them which you think might be useful at the time of viva. This will surely leave an impression on the examiner about your commitment to and involvement in the topic.

Now coming to what to do during a viva:

First impression matters

The first few minutes of introduction is all that can create an impression. Therefore,,keep a calm demeanor with no pinch of nervousness (though it is bound to exist). You will be getting a total of 15 minutes to articulate your knowledge to the examiner regarding the project. You must hence prepare well for your answers which showcases your knowledge of the topic, thinking-process and more importantly your confidence.

Avoid short and non-specific answers, this can turn the whole viva upside down.Thus, ensure you break the ice of silence and march ahead in the journey of achieving the Ph.D. degree and adding the prefix of Dr. to your name.

Do not think negative

Often examiners do not render comments to the students. This gets students into a pickle wherein they consider the answers to be either wrong or not so impressive to the examiners. Most often the institutional policy prohibits giving comments and sometimes the examiner notes it in the thesis remark.

Be ready for a healthy debate

A presentation or viva might not always be a smooth ride. There might be moments of debates that would require you to showcase your prowess. So don’t miss the opportunity, answer each question tactfully. The student here must know when to be more tactful, conceptual and when to apply a friendly tone.

When in doubt better to get it clarified

No one is a wizard and during the viva, there might be moments due to nervousness and a constant hit of questions when you need to look through your thesis for reference. Thus, herein you can ask your examiner for some time to write it down and during the time conceptualize your answer.

No time bar

Be well prepared and know that your viva might go on for one to 3 hours or even more. So accordingly, be well prepared with your answers and focus on explaining and expressing your contribution to the topic in a precise and concise manner.

While it might seem stressful, a Ph.D. viva is quite easy if you have a good understanding of the topic and confidence in yourself.

So running through the whole points:

Be confident
Read through the thesis
Mark important points

Be tactful with your answers to sail through the viva smoothly.

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The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

What is a PhD Viva Like? Sharing Graduates’ Experiences

When you’re trying to prepare for a PhD viva it can be really difficult to know what to expect. Unlike pretty much every other exam you’ll have experienced, the viva isn’t a standardised exam so you won’t find any past papers to practice on!

In this post I’ll be sharing the inside scoop on what a PhD viva is like. Both from my own experiences plus those of a few other PhD graduates.

Preparing for your viva? You may also want to take a look at some of the other PhD viva content I’ve written:

How to Defend a Thesis: An Introduction to the PhD Viva

Common phd viva questions.

Note: Every viva is different, in this post I’m focussing on my viva which took place in the UK. Two PhD graduates in Spain and the US also share their experiences.

What is a PhD viva?

For those who aren’t already familiar with what a PhD viva is, I’d highly recommend reading my full post on How to Defend a Thesis: An Introduction to the PhD Viva . This delves into how a PhD viva is assessed, who is present, the potential outcomes and what follows after.

As a quick recap, a PhD viva (also called a defense in some countries) is the final assessment a PhD student undertakes in order to pass their PhD. The format the viva can take varies from country to country and even institution to institution, but it typically involves discussing and defending your PhD thesis with experts in your field.

In this post you’ll hear about the viva experiences of three PhD graduates, each with a slightly different format.

To get the best understanding of how PhD vivas take place at your university I’d recommend:

Checking out any webpages your university have which formally outline the viva process
Speaking to your PhD supervisor
Chatting to colleagues such as postdocs who’ve been through it

Viva Experiences from PhD Grads

Prof elizabeth bondi-kelly , phd from harvard university, usa. assistant professor in computer science at university of michigan.

What was your PhD viva like? At my (virtual) defense, I had my committee, adviser, labmates, and family/friends. I was fortunate to give my job talk presentation again for my defense, so I had already had a lot of practice with presenting it and being asked questions about it.

How do you suggest people prepare for their PhD viva? For anyone who hasn’t had that opportunity, I highly recommend practicing to get a polished talk and practice answering questions about it.

Prof Raúl Santos-Rodríguez , PhD from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Full Professor in AI at University of Bristol.

What are PhD vivas like in Spain? The viva process in Spain varies from university to university. In most cases there are a few previous filters (internal/external reports) that make it such that, once you are through those, most of the pressure is off for the actual defence. The viva consists of a public presentation (usually with colleagues, friends and family in the audience) followed by questions from a panel, with each member asking their questions in turns. Both presentation and Q&A tend to be time limited (around 45 minutes each).

What was your PhD viva like? My viva experience was nerve-wracking but rewarding too. I remember how the exercise of putting together the presentation with the panel in mind actually gave me quite a different perspective on how to tell the story of my thesis. The event took place in a rather formal lecture room in our faculty. The panel consisted of five examiners (three externals including one from abroad, and two internals), all of whom were experts in my field of study. The panel asked me a wide range of questions, covering both very specific details and very high level matters. Once I answered their questions to their satisfaction, and after a short deliberation, I was given the good news. Overall, I found the viva to be a challenging but stimulating experience — and a good memory.

How do you suggest people prepare for their PhD viva? In terms of advice, I would suggest to:

Expect to be surprised by unexpected questions about your research
Be clear and concise, allowing examiners to ask for more details if needed
Practice your presentation without being constrained to say the same things every time
Not be afraid to ask for clarification if you don’t understand and take your time to respond
Enjoy the interaction with the examiners as they are experts that have a lot to add to your work

Portrait of PhD grad Prof Raul Santos-Rodriguez

Me! PhD from Imperial College London, UK. Research Fellow in AI at Bristol.

What was your PhD viva like? My viva, which took place over Microsoft Teams, included just an internal examiner, external examiner and myself. I gave a short presentation giving a summary of my PhD then about five hours were spent giving suggestions to improve content I was preparing to submit to journals. It was much less intimidating than I was expecting.

How do you suggest people prepare for their PhD viva? I mainly suggest to not over prepare! Sure, reread your thesis and swot up on any content you don’t feel comfortable describing (for instance certain techniques you’ve used), but I would caution against rehearsing too much: come to terms with the fact that you won’t be able to predict all the questions you’ll get asked.

I’ll be sharing more details on my viva experience in the rest of the post.

How To Prepare For a PhD Viva: The Advice I Was Given

Ahead of my own viva I typically got told to:

Relax and take your time in replying . This is somewhat sensible advice but a bit like telling someone to calm down: it doesn’t always work. Furthermore, relaxing can be hard to do when you also get told to…

Be prepared to answer questions about every part of your work . At face value this can seem reasonable: if you did the work, and deserve a PhD, you should be able to explain your work. Like many of us I heard the horror stories of examiners asking students to provide an explanation of fundamental techniques from first principles such as: “derive energy”!

However, I don’t think any rational examiner can expect a student to be able to answer every possible question about their PhD work. Not least because many students aren’t relaxed during the viva and instead are filled with nerves.

Thankfully, the reality is that examiners simply need to check that you’ve done the work and understand it. Therefore, yes you should be able to give a broad explanation of the techniques you’ve used but you can’t be expected to know everything about every technique.

Once it strays from your work to underlying principles I suggest that you explain as much as you feel comfortable then push back – the internal examiner (who acts as a moderator) should also step in if unreasonable questions are being asked. For more details on what PhD examiners are looking for, read this section of another post I’ve written .

How I Prepared for My PhD Viva

The time between submitting my thesis (14th February) and viva (25th March) was shorter than for most people. On top of that I didn’t spend long writing my thesis, meaning that the time between finishing my actual research and my viva was pretty short (around two months). Therefore I didn’t feel the need to “revise” for my viva. As in, sometimes you’ll hear of people reminding themselves of how certain experimental or analytic techniques work, but it was pretty fresh in my memory.

Instead, about 48 hours before my viva I started to read through my thesis. This is going to sound really bad but this was actually my first (and only) time properly reading through my thesis. No, I didn’t outsource or use ChatGPT to write my thesis!

When I submitted my thesis I had of course assembled all the chapters but had never given it a proper cohesive read all the way through. I read through the thesis over the course of 4-5 sittings. Reading fiction is definitely more fun .

I personally didn’t prepare by trying to come up with answers for lots of potential questions. But if you’re keen to have those to hand, read my Common PhD Viva Questions .

Preparing for your own viva? I’ve created a set of viva preparation worksheets which are available for free in the resource library. Click the image below for access!

Image showing free viva preparation worksheets which can be downloaded from the resource library

Why didn’t I prepare more?

I felt pretty relaxed about my viva. This isn’t because I am crazy clever or knowledgable. In fact, like many of us I’ve felt imposter syndrome, waiting for the moment that my lack of knowledge gets discovered: and if there ever a moment you’d expect this to happen it would be at your viva.

These three things relaxed me for the viva:

The external examiner seemed nice from the time I’d met him in the past at a conference. Certainly not a sure-fire sign that he wouldn’t turn into a scary beast during a viva but it seemed like a good starting point.
It was virtual. My viva took place right at the start of COVID and as such took place over Teams. For some reason this felt reassuring, as if I could get away with just unplugging my internet connection if they asked anything particularly scary. Thankfully I didn’t ever feel the need to try this out!
I had published PhD work in a well-ranked respected peer-reviewed journal. This was far and away the most reassuring thing. As mentioned in another post, examiners have to be confident in all of the following things to let you pass your PhD viva. If you have published some of your work somewhere respectable you tick many of the boxes immediately:

Oh, and I also didn’t prepare much because I was preoccupied with moving from London the week before my viva because of COVID and the start of lockdowns. Unexpectedly I ended up moving in with my girlfriend’s parents. It was rather chaotic but probably a useful distraction too.

Photo of the cluttered spare bedroom where I had my PhD viva: a tiny desk with laptop near a bed and lots of belongings

My PhD Viva Experience

Who was at my viva.

Unlike vivas in other countries, such as the two international experiences shared above, a viva in the UK usually only involves:

PhD student – me in this case!
Internal examiner – an academic working in the same research area from the host university. They’re there to moderate the discussion and check that the university’s viva regulations are followed.
External examiner – another academic working in the research area from a different university. In my case this was someone who was a leader in the field who came from another UK university.

Optionally the PhD student may ask their supervisor to attend. I’ve known of a few people who’ve had their supervisor there too, though it’s pretty rare and unnecessary in my opinion.

How long did my PhD viva last?

All in all it was about five and a half hours.

This was much longer than I anticipated. When we scheduled the viva to start at 10am I naively expected us to be finished by lunch. Admittedly the examiners did suggest stopping for a break at lunch time but again I naively thought we’d be done shortly afterwards, so declined the opportunity for more than a 5 minute comfort break. In the end we finished up around 3:30pm.

How was my PhD viva structured?

Pie chart showing the four sections of my PhD viva: as described below

Introductions (2 minutes) . I’d actually never met my internal examiner (who should act as a moderator) so introductions were necessary.
Presentation (10 minutes) . A few weeks in advance of the viva I asked whether or not the examiners would like a presentation, and if so of what length. They said yes, 10-12 minutes. My supervisor strongly suggested making it on the shorter side: short and snappy is good and you’re about to have hours to discuss the details.
Discussion (5 hours, yes, really!) . More on this in a moment.
Decision and final comments (10 minutes) . I was asked to leave the metaphorical room (Teams call, remember!) and after a few minutes was invited back in after which they told me I’d passed with minor corrections. They gave a summary of the next steps, which were mostly administrative with paperwork, and briefly went over what changes/corrections they were expecting to the thesis.

What did we discuss for five hours?

Before my viva I had visions of it being like a job interview that lasts for hours and hours. They ask a slightly tough or awkward question, you try and answer, rinse and repeat x 100. The reality was really different.

The experience was much less intense than I was expecting. The examiners said from the outset that they were happy with the quality of the work and just aimed to give feedback to improve both the thesis and publications.

The vast majority of the viva was spent going page by page through the thesis covering points that the examiners had written down: not questions, merely suggestions. Very little of the viva involved me getting questioned: most of what I said was probably along the lines of “I agree, that’s a great idea”.

The examiners commented that they liked the [short] length of the thesis (140 pages before references) which may have helped. I was expecting at least a few dodgy questions such as explaining the content of a particular reference or deriving something from first principles. In all honestly I’m not sure I’d have been prepared for some of this, so was fine with not getting a hard time of it.

There were very few questions in general which was somewhat of a relief, though I was kind of looking forward to more of a discussion around the project. There were only two actual questions I think I got asked: one explaining why a particular technique wasn’t representative, and secondly a much more fluffy question of what would I do differently if I was starting again. That was it. I was really expecting more questions.

Every viva is unique so I can’t claim that my experience is representative but I will say that it was a relief to get through it unscathed.

What I wish I’d done differently

Asked more questions myself . The viva is one of the few times you’re likely to have hours of access to academic experts with such a keen interest in your work.

Was it tiring?

A little, just as any meeting which lasts over five hours would be. But because I didn’t feel like I was actually getting quizzed the whole time it was nowhere near as tiring as it could have been. Mostly I was tired just from having to pay attention for that long: I usually don’t sit still for more than 20 minutes!

What happened afterwards?

My viva was in March 2020, at the start of lockdown. I’d moved from London just the week prior and had to cancel the scheduled celebratory drinks with colleagues. So instead I had a glass of champagne with my girlfriend and her parents (who I was staying with).

Photo of me smiling with a glass of champagne after my viva

After that, I got cracking right away the next morning on making the examiners’ suggested changes to my thesis.

My Advice If You’re Preparing For Your Own PhD Viva

Download my free viva preparation guide .
Read your thesis!
Look up likely questions (if you want), here are some Common PhD Viva Questions
Don’t over prepare
Be honest. If you’re not sure about something, make this clear. Feel free to say you’re not sure.
Ask questions
Enjoy it! Channel those nerves as excitement and make the most of having experts show such an interest in your work.

Do you have any other questions about the PhD viva experience? Let me know in the comments and I’ll answer them as best I can!

If you’d like personalised help with preparing for your PhD viva I am now starting to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please contact me to find out more or click here to book a call.

If you’re currently preparing for your own PhD viva, best of luck and remember to enjoy it! Be sure to check out the couple of other viva-related posts I’ve written .

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Research, Digital, UX and a PhD.

13 steps I took to prepare for my PhD viva

Published May 29, 2017 by Salma Patel

I submitted my thesis in Dec 2016. It took much longer than I had anticipated for the examiners and the chair to be approved due to administrative delays. Two months later (in late Feb) I received confirmation that my exam would be at the end of April.

In terms of the arrangements of the day of the viva, I must say the graduate office in my department were great and said they would organise the day, and I should only worry about preparing for the exam. I booked advance tickets so I could get to the University early and not have to pay a peak time train fare. I have a written about my viva experience here .

From Jan-March I was working with the public health team at Hackney City Council. I also had Open University marking to do in March. So I started preparing for my thesis approximately a month before my viva, and this is how:

Step 1: The first thing I did was read this really useful three part blogpost by Fiona Noble. I decided I was going to tackle the preparation in a similar fashion.

Step 2: I knew I had to read the thesis cover to cover , but I was dreading it. I was overcome by fear that I may open the first page and spot mistakes. Or I may start reading it and realise it is a complete rubbish. So I procrastinated for two days, looking for any excuse not to open the thesis, which is so unlike me. On the third day, I was forced to work in a cafe and lo and behold, I managed to read almost half the thesis. Whilst reading the thesis, I placed post it notes where I thought I may be asked a question, where I thought something may not be clear and also the references that were not fresh in my head. Because it had been three months since I had last read the thesis, it really felt like a fresh read, and when I completed reading it, thankfully I said to myself ‘it isn’t bad at all’ (which means it is good!).

Step 3: I then sat at my desk with my computer, and started to go through all the post it notes . Where it was in relation to a reference, I re-read the abstract of the paper, just to refresh my memory, and placed a short summary of the paper or the paper title on a larger post it note and stuck it inside the thesis, next to where it was mentioned. I also went through all the other post it notes, answered the questions, and left small post it notes inside the thesis, in case I would be questioned in my viva and I’d forget the answer.

Step 4: I prepared questions that could come up in the thesis in a Q&A document . I looked online, and found many questions, and I had also bought PhD viva cards a year or so ago. I also went through the archive of the PhD Viva website which I had set up in 2012 (but very sadly hacked and and deleted). So I sat with about 5 different long lists of questions and the cards in an attempt to amalgamate them, so that I would end up with a very thorough list of questions. I did that, and towards the the end I realised that the list of questions from this list published online was actually very comprehensive, and pretty much covered everything that was on other lists (I have copied the list of questions from that resource at the end of this post in case the online resource goes haywire). I sat and typed up the answers to these questions in note form in a Word document. I realised quickly that the answer to most of these questions was narrated in my thesis, so there was much copy pasting too. Rowen Murray’s book ‘How to Survive Your Viva’ is a book I dipped into regularly, during this stage and other stages too. It isn’t an essential read, but it is really detailed, and if you are not feeling confident about answering the questions, it suggests really good ways to approach the answers.

(NB: After I completed this step I found this resource: list of 40 viva questions , which is shorter but looks almost as good too (and in hindsight post-viva, I think it is a better set of questions).

Step 5: I then received an email from my main supervisor asking me to prepare a 10 min presentation for the mock viva, an answer to the question ‘Tell me about your research’ , as this is always the first question. She suggested that I should structure it as follows:

about you – what disciplinary perspective are you approaching this from? Your motivation for doing the research topic.
research problem, aims, research questions
methodology
conclusions and contributions

I was a bit taken aback to be honest at this point as I wasn’t expecting this type of open-ended question, and I hadn’t really come across it in the notes or books I had read, but once I had a think about it, it made sense that the first question is likely to be quite open-ended, and as she advised, it made sense to prepare for the first question thoroughly, as it gives you a good strong start. So I created a Powerpoint using a similar structure to the above (motivations for research, originality of the research, research question, findings, key contributions to knowledge, and key contributions to practice). I had already prepared this in note format in Step 4 so it didn’t take long to put this presentation together. However, I did spend some time vocalizing the presentation and practicing it in front of my husband. At this stage I was not sure whether I would use the Powerpoint in the viva, or just use the slides as a way to guide the answer to this question. My supervisor suggested I should go with whichever I prefer, and I left that decision for closer to the time.

Step 6: I placed bookmarks using post it notes in my thesis , across the top went Chapter numbers and across the side were key areas of my thesis, that I was pretty certain I may need to look at during my thesis (pages that had limitations of study for example, or why I had chosen one mode of survey over another for example).

Step 7: I had been compiling a list of new papers published since I had submitted that I thought I may be asked to comment about. I printed off the abstracts and read through them. I also went back to the document prepared in Step 4, and read through it again critically and added more notes to it, and made some of the notes briefer. I also added a few notes to the thesis itself.

Step 8: I re-read the entire thesis for the second time before the mock viva (I suspect this probably wouldn’t be required if you do not have such a huge gap between submission and viva). I also practiced the presentation and took all my notes along to the mock viva

Step 9: The mock viva ended up being more of a chat than a mock viva. I received some good feedback on the presentation for the viva, and we discussed a few questions that may come up. One of the questions I hadn’t thought of was: Would your findings have implications on any other fields outside of healthcare? My supervisor also advised me that if both examiners asked me to make a change, or argued a point strongly, I should accept their advice and say “I’d be happy to make that change” rather than arguing with them.

Step 10: I updated the PPT based on feedback from my supervisor, and I went through the Q&A document, and highlighted the key questions that I needed to take as notes in the interview. I copied those questions and placed them on to 2 pages. I also placed some of the question and answers inside the thesis, and referenced it with page numbers on this 1 page (double page) notes document that I decided I would take into the thesis (parts of this double page notes document can be seen in the image at the top of this post).

Step 11: I re-read the entire thesis (for the third time) two weeks before the viva and typed up any typos/errors I found. I also updated the Double page notes document during this time.

Step 12 : In the final week, I practiced the presentation , practiced answering viva questions using the viva cards by myself and got my husband to ask me the questions too. I also read the thesis again (but this time missing some chapters). I printed off the PPT two days before and got all the things ready for the viva using my last-minute checklist (see below). The day before I went through the Thesis Defence Checklist and ensured it was all ticked off.

Step 13: On the day of the viva I got myself to the venue, had the viva and I passed with very few small minor corrections (8 to be precise). I have written about my viva experience in detail here .

Reflection post-viva:

In hindsight, I probably over prepared slightly, and the majority of the questions I had prepared for never came up. But the preparation gave me a huge amount of confidence, and it meant that I knew my thesis inside out, so during the viva I easily navigated to certain pages. If I had to go back I would probably use the 40 questions listed below to prep rather than the longer list of questions. I would definitely not skip the two mock vivas, and the PPT presentation I prepared, because presenting the PPT at very start of the viva meant that I started off very strong and was very well prepared for their initial few questions. (BTW I used printouts of the PPT to talk over the slides (I gave the examiners a copy too), rather than formally presenting the PPT visually using a digital screen).

———————————————————————————————–

Possible viva questions, a long list compiled by ddubdrahcir

Summarise your thesis in a sentence.
Does the title represent the content?
Describe your thesis in brief.
How did you decide to order your thesis?
What is your overall argument?
Summarise the context.
Why did you choose this topic?
Why is this topic important, and to whom is it relevant?
What are the key findings?
What is original here; what are your contributions to knowledge?
What justifies this thesis as a doctorate?
Where did you draw the line on what you included in your literature review?
Where did you draw the line on what you included in the theoretical literature?
How did the literature inform your choice of topic and the thesis overall?
What three publications would you say have been most influential in your work?
Where does your work fit into the literature?
Who are the key names in this area?
Who are the project’s key influences?
How does your work differ from theirs?
Do the findings confirm, extend, or challenge any of the literature?
How does your work connect to that of your reviewers?

Research Design and Methodology

Summarise your research design.
Did you think about applying a different design?
What are the limitations of this kind of study?
Is there anything novel in your method?
What problems did you have?
How did you develop your research questions?
Did the research questions change over the course of the project?
How did you translate the research questions into a data collection method?
What are the philosophical assumptions in your work?
Where are YOU in this study?
Describe your sample.
How did you recruit your sample?
What boundaries did you set on your sample?
What are the weaknesses of your sample?
What boundaries did you set on your data collection?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your data?
What other data would you like (or have liked) to collect?
What is the theoretical framework in this study?
Why did you choose this conceptual framework?
Did you think about using any other theories, and if so, why did you reject them?
What ethical procedures did you follow?
What ethical issues arose in the course of your study and how did you address them?
Describe your frame of analysis.
How did you construct this framework?
What didn’t you include in the framework?
What problems did you have in the analysis?
Did you combine induction and deduction in your analysis? Can you share some examples?
Describe the findings in more detail.
Briefly summarise the findings as they relate to each of the research questions.
How do you think the theoretical framing was helpful? Can you share some examples?
What other data could you have included, and what might it have contributed?
Could the findings have been interpreted differently?
What are the strengths and weakness of your study?
What sense do you have of research being a somewhat untidy, or iterative and constantly shifting process?
How confident are you in your findings and conclusions?
What the implications of your findings?
How has the context changed since you conducted your research?
Where do your findings sit in the field in general?
How do you see this area developing over the next 5-10 years?
Where does your work fit within this?
To whom is your work relevant?
What haven’t you looked at, and why not?
What, if any, of your findings are generalisable?
How would you like to follow this project up with further research?
What would you publish from this research, and in which journals?
How did the project change as you went through?
How has your view of the area changed as you have progressed through your research?
How did your thinking change over the course of the project?
How have you changed as a result of undertaking this project?
What did you enjoy about your project?
What are you proudest of in the thesis?
What were the most difficult areas?
What surprised you the most?
If you started this study again, what would you do differently?

40 viva questions (a shorter list), compiled by Rebecca at OU Blog

1. Can you start by summarising your thesis? 2. Now, can you summarise it in one sentence? 3. What is the idea that binds your thesis together? 4. What motivated and inspired you to carry out this research? 5. What are the main issues and debates in this subject area? 6. Which of these does your research address? 7. Why is the problem you have tackled worth tackling? 8. Who has had the strongest influence in the development of your subject area in theory and practice? 9. Which are the three most important papers that relate to your thesis? 10. What published work is closest to yours? How is your work different? 11. What do you know about the history of [insert something relevant]? 12. How does your work relate to [insert something relevant]? 13. What are the most recent major developments in your area? 14. How did your research questions emerge? 15. What were the crucial research decisions you made? 16. Why did you use this research methodology? What did you gain from it? 17. What were the alternatives to this methodology? 18. What would you have gained by using another approach? 19. How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work? 20. How has your view of your research topic changed? 21. How have you evaluated your work? 22. How do you know that your findings are correct? 23. What are the strongest/weakest parts of your work? 24. What would have improved your work? 25. To what extent do your contributions generalise? 26. Who will be most interested in your work? 27. What is the relevance of your work to other researchers? 28. What is the relevance of your work to practitioners? 29. Which aspects of your work do you intend to publish – and where? 30. Summarise your key findings. 31. Which of these findings are the most interesting to you? Why? 32. How do your findings relate to literature in your field? 33. What are the contributions to knowledge of your thesis? 34. How long-term are these contributions? 35. What are the main achievements of your research? 36. What have you learned from the process of doing your PhD? 37. What advice would you give to a research student entering this area? 38. You propose future research. How would you start this? 39. What would be the difficulties? 40. And, finally… What have you done that merits a PhD?

Last minute checklist for the viva day:

Place on table:

Blank paper and working Pen
Presentation slides printed
List of corrections
Double sided notes
Detailed Question notes (just incase?)

Keep in bag:

List of recent papers published
All my published papers
Spare pen and notebook
Tissue pack
Chewing gum
Phone/charger?

Last minute generic advice:

Can you rephrase the question?/Is that what you are asking?
I am aware …. However …
That’s an interesting point, but the way I was thinking about it was …
Is that answering your question?
I am happy to correct that.

My PhD Viva experience
Planning and keeping track of thesis write up:…
My Academic Diary
10 tips towards PhD thesis submission
Holidays for PhD students – how does it work?

Published in Featured PhD Life Research Research Methods

[…] preparing for the viva. I have written about the 13 steps I took to prepare for the viva in detail here, so I will not go into that […]

Thank you very much for this post. I am preparing for my viva voce which will be on 20 Jan. When i re-read my thesis i felt overwhelmed by some parts of my thesis. But i will do my best and be prepared, so thank you for sharing this

it was useful

Thank you Salma for sharing your experiences in Viva Land. Much appreciated

Dear Dr.salma

Thank you for sharing your valuable viva experience , I will use your post as reference for preparing for my Viva next month , i have one question do think the 40 questions list is enough for viva preparation ( general questions)? Thank you !

Hi Munannad,

Personally I think the 40 questions as preparation is most likely sufficient as it covers most areas, and there’s only so much you can prepare anyways, as some questions will come that you did not anticipate. Do have a mock viva if you can. But don’t worry, you know your thesis inside out and can look into it too to find references or read passages.

All the best with your viva!

Best wishes, Salma

Thank you Dr Salma,

Reading through your viva experience has given so much confidence and structure. I will be having my viva voce PhD assessment in Mach 2020 and I am vigorously preparing for it with all my might. I have also just published an article based on my thesis. So, I thank you very much for sharing you experience, especially the 40 questions Best Wishes

Thank you. This is very useful post. Very thoughtful of you to have penned this so others find it helpful

01 Beginner

02 intermediate, 03 questions, 04 training programs, top 50 dbms viva questions and answers, database management system(dbms ) viva, 1. what is a database, 2. what is dbms, 3. what is a database system, 4. what are the advantages of dbms, 5. what are the disadvantages of a file processing system, 6. describe the three levels of data abstraction., 7. define the "integrity rules", 8. what is data independence, 9. what is a view how it is related to data independence, 10. what is a data model.

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11. What is the E-R model?

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What types of questions should I be expecting for my final year project viva for my undergrad? [closed]

Currently doing a final year project in artificial intelligence and was curious to know how this presentation(viva) works ? and how I should prepare for it ? are there common questions I should prepare for ? Do I have to explain my code?

computer-science

Ask your supervisor : Vivas vary between institutes.

Is there something general they ask ? – Jack Commented Feb 25, 2021 at 10:19
@Jack Institutes may each have some generic questions, but they'll vary between institutes. – user2768 Commented Feb 26, 2021 at 9:37

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Computer Science (PhD)

Empower your future with Dalhousie's PhD in Computer Science, combining groundbreaking research with real-world applications.

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Choosing Dalhousie's PhD in Computer Science offers benefits such as access to world-class research facilities, collaboration with leading experts, and opportunities for interdisciplinary projects.

The program emphasizes innovation, practical experience, and strong industry connections, preparing students for advanced careers in academia, research, and industry.

By the time you've completed your degree, you will be ready for a career in industry, or within an academic setting.

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COMMENTS

What are some typical questions one might be asked in a Computer
I recently (2-3 months ago) passed my PhD viva in Computer Science at a UK institution in the top 100. I will relay the useful points from my viva experience, but I preface this by saying that yours may differ. Ultimately the viva is a product of the examiners, and different examiners have different priorities.
Top 12 Potential PhD Viva Questions and How to Answer Them
Below are some popular PhD viva questions to prepare: 1. Tell me about yourself. Introduce yourself and talk about your areas of interest related to research. More importantly, focus on the areas you are extremely positive about. Briefly speak about your past achievements without overwhelming the examiners and sounding boastful.
Common PhD Viva Questions
Namely the purpose of the PhD viva (or defence) is to check that: You did the work; You understand the work; The research is up to the standard for a PhD. For more detail see my separate post here including Imperial's PhD viva mark scheme. In hindsight I probably didn't spend as much time preparing for my viva as is normal.
A guide to answering PhD viva questions (with examples)
The panel asks a PhD student questions about their research project and thesis, which requires the candidate to demonstrate knowledge in the subject area and understanding of how it applies to their project's topic. The purpose of the PhD viva is to determine whether you as the candidate has met all of the requirements for completing your degree.
100 Machine Learning PhD viva Questions
These 100 Machine Learning PhD viva questions cover a wide range of topics and concepts in Machine Learning, from basic concepts such as linear regression and decision trees, to more advanced topics such as deep learning, natural language processing, and image recognition. By preparing for these questions, you will be well-equipped to defend ...
PDF A Guide for Viva Preparation
The viva voce, shortened to viva, is an oral examination where you are expected to 'defend' your thesis, and the quality of your research will be assessed. The viva will take place usually within 3 months of submitting your thesis; it is a required examination in order to achieve a postgraduate research degree.
Top 12 Potential PhD Viva Questions and How to Answer Them
Types of PhD Viva Questions Generally, examiners prepare a series of questions for you to answer at the PhD viva voce examination. These questions are primarily based on your thesis. However, the questions asked in PhD viva examinations can be broadly grouped under four basic headings: 1. General Questions 2. Research Context and Methods ...
PhD Viva Questions [Interactive Template]
The easiest way to prepare for your viva. Our free PhD Viva Questions template lets you familiarise yourself with the most common questions. It's been designed in collaboration with Professor Peter Smith, author of Palgrave's The PhD Viva. The template is interactive and editable, meaning you can fully prepare model answers in advance of ...
PhD Viva Voces
A viva voce, more commonly referred to as 'viva', is an oral examination conducted at the end of your PhD and is essentially the final hurdle on the path to a doctorate. It is the period in which a student's knowledge and work are evaluated by independent examiners. In order to assess the student and their work around their research ...
(PDF) The Doctoral Viva: Questions for, with and to ...
The viva voce, known commonly simply as the 'viva' or the. PhD 'defence', is a landmark occasion to evaluate a doctor-. al candidate's written thesis (or dissertation) and their com ...
PDF WELCOME PhD Vi
utcomesThe outcomes range from award, as is to reject, with no recommendation for resub. ission. "Outright failure is uncommon, but not unknown" (Delamont et al., 2004, . 158). Such a scenario normally reflects a major weakness or problem that is known to the supervisors and the candidate prior to submission of the.
Interviewing for a PhD in ML? Here are some sample coding questions
These questions (try to) assess this ability, along with testing rudimentary knowledge of rapid prototyping skills any PhD candidate should have. Most importantly, the questions are constructed in a way to guide the interview in a calm and relaxing setting for the candidate, starting from simple confidence-building to more difficult creative ...
Most Asked PhD Viva-Voce Questions and Answers
Mosed Asked PhD Thesis Defense Viva-Voce Questions and Answers. These are all the 50 Common Dissertation PhD Viva Questions and Sample Answers you can prepare to answer during the defense. Thesis Title: "Understanding the Impact of Social Media Engagement on Consumer Behavior: A Mixed-Methods Approach". 1.
What are the Do's and Don'ts of Computer Science PhD viva?
In my view there is nothing special about a Computer Science Phd Viva that would differentiate it from another subject. There are minor differences between countries in the conduct of a viva so some of the answers are may be UK specific and some general to all Phd defence. ... Assume that critical questions mean that they don't like your work ...
phd
1. The distinction between a "programming task" or a "programming question" is meaningless in this context. Certainly, asking an interviewee to implement a typical string manipulation algorithm is within the realm of reasonable topics one can expect to encounter in an interview. The real question the OP should be asking is "how can I improve my ...
140+ Viva Questions & How to Prepare for Viva?
1. Summarize your project/thesis/research in 3 minutes. To answer this question correctly, you need to be well-versed in the entire project. Start with an answer by explaining why did you select the topic of your project/thesis/research and close your explanation by providing an optimum solution to the problem. 2.
Preparing for PhD Viva: Presentation and Common Questions
Summarizing of the topic. The Ph.D. viva begins with the student asked to summarize the entire topic in a gist. The student must thus prepare themselves in advance to speak about your topic, the reason for choosing the topic, what does it convey. Additionally, it is recommended to read the entire thesis well before the presentation and viva ...
What is a PhD Viva Like? Sharing Graduates' Experiences
This delves into how a PhD viva is assessed, who is present, the potential outcomes and what follows after. As a quick recap, a PhD viva (also called a defense in some countries) is the final assessment a PhD student undertakes in order to pass their PhD. The format the viva can take varies from country to country and even institution to ...
13 steps I took to prepare for my PhD viva
So I started preparing for my thesis approximately a month before my viva, and this is how: Step 1: The first thing I did was read this really useful three part blogpost by Fiona Noble. I decided I was going to tackle the preparation in a similar fashion. Step 2: I knew I had to read the thesis cover to cover, but I was dreading it.
Job Interviews: 47 Computer Science Questions To Prepare For
General computer science interview questions While knowing how to answer general interview questions is certainly important, preparing for industry-specific questions is critical to demonstrating your knowledge and understanding of computer science and ultimately securing a job. The following are common computer science questions you should consider when getting ready for a job interview in ...
Top 50 DBMS Viva Questions and Answers
Database Management System(DBMS ) VIVA. The DBMS viva or interview will generally examine your knowledge of database fundamentals, SQL, normalization, transactions, and database design.Expect questions about core subjects such as database types, ER diagrams, ACID attributes, and SQL command differences (e.g., DDL vs. DML). You may also be asked to describe terms such as primary keys, foreign ...
What makes one fail a PhD viva?
16. The following are some reasons that come to mind that might justify a failure in the viva: For the thesis: evidence of academic malpractice (plagiarism, etc.) fundamental methodological flaws, such as a poorly chosen method or a misapplied method that calls into question the scientific validity of the thesis.
Top 40 Computer Science Interview Questions and Answers
15) Distinguish between constructor and method abstract class and interface. The difference between class and interface is: Abstract class. Interface. Abstract class does not support inheritance. The interface supports multiple inheritances. An abstract class would contain constructor.
computer science
Please explain to the asker why we cannot answer their question and who may be able to do so. If there is a suitable question the author can ask about their situation, guide them towards it or edit the question if you can.
Computer Science (PhD)
Choosing Dalhousie's PhD in Computer Science offers benefits such as access to world-class research facilities, collaboration with leading experts, and opportunities for interdisciplinary projects. The program emphasizes innovation, practical experience, and strong industry connections, preparing students for advanced careers in academia ...