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 · Written and reviewed by Chris McGarrigle
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 LabStudents also ask
- How do I prepare for a viva?
- Be able to state your contribution in one sentence, defend every methodological choice with the alternative you rejected, know your own limitations before the examiner names them, and rehearse aloud under time pressure.
- What questions are asked in a dissertation viva?
- Expect: summarise your thesis in a few minutes, why this question, why this method, what is original here, what would you do differently, and what should happen next.
- What happens if I cannot answer a viva question?
- Say so calmly, reason aloud from what you do know, and offer how you would find out. Examiners assess how you think, not whether you have memorised everything.
Related research: defend and submit
Rehearse the questions your examiners will ask before they ask them.
Dissertation viva questions and how to answer them
The most common dissertation viva questions, organised by chapter, with guidance on how to prepare confident, honest answers.
Continue your dissertation journey
- Dissertation viva questions and how to answer them
- How to write a methodology chapter
- How to write a limitations section
- How to write a research question
- How to write an abstract
Browse every guide in viva and completion.
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This guide is general educational content. Your institution's regulations, handbook and supervisor's instructions always take precedence. Where a named framework is mentioned, consult the original source text rather than relying on this summary.