How to prepare for your viva

What examiners are testing in a viva, the questions that come up almost every time, and how to rehearse without memorising a script.

9 min read · Reviewed 2026

A viva tests whether the work is yours and whether you understand it well enough to defend the choices you made. It is not a hostile examination and it is not a memory test.

Formats vary widely between institutions and levels, so confirm the structure, length and panel composition with your department before you prepare.

Questions that come up almost every time

Prepare an answer to each of these out loud, not on paper.

Summarise your research in two minutes.
Why does this research matter?
Why this method rather than the obvious alternative?
What is your contribution?
What were the limitations, and how did they affect your conclusions?
If you started again, what would you change?
Which finding surprised you?

Know your weakest point better than they do

Identify the part of your work you would attack if you were the examiner. Prepare an honest answer that acknowledges the limitation and explains the reasoning behind the decision. Defensiveness reads far worse than a well-argued trade-off.

Rehearse aloud

Speaking answers is a different skill from writing them. Rehearse with someone outside your field: if they follow your explanation, an examiner certainly will.

Common mistakes

Memorising scripted answers that collapse under a follow-up.
Defending a limitation instead of owning it.
Being unable to state the contribution in one sentence.
Not rereading your own dissertation shortly before the viva.

Try this: The two-minute summary

Record yourself summarising the research in two minutes.
Play it back and mark where you hesitated.
Rewrite only those parts, then record again.
Repeat until it is fluent without being memorised.

Do it in SuperDiss

Run a mock viva and map where your confidence is weakest.

Open the Viva Lab