Viva-voce prep: questions every candidate should rehearse

Examiners want to know that the work is yours and that you understand it deeply. Rehearsing core questions out loud is the single best preparation.

Questions you should be ready for

• In one or two sentences, what is your contribution to knowledge?
• Why did you choose this methodology over the alternatives?
• What are the limitations of your study, and how did you mitigate them?
• If you started again, what would you do differently?
• How do your findings relate to the key authors in your field?

Practise under pressure

A mock viva with a domain expert surfaces the gaps you can't see yourself. By the time the real defense arrives, there should be no question you haven't already faced.