Common viva questions and how to answer them
Most vivas return to the same handful of question types: summarise your work, justify your choices, explain a key concept, deal with a limitation, and say what you would do next. Preparing a clear way to answer each type works better than memorising answers to specific questions.
What most advice leaves out
Students often hunt for a list of exact questions, but examiners rarely ask the same wording twice. What they repeat is the intent behind a question. If you recognise "why did you use this approach?" as a justification question, you already know the shape of a good answer, even when it is phrased in a way you have never heard.
Step by step
- 1
"Summarise your work in two minutes"
Give the question you set out to answer, what you did, what you found and why it matters. Practise until it fits in two minutes without notes. This opener sets the tone for everything after it.
- 2
"Why did you choose this approach?"
Name the alternatives you considered and the reason you chose yours. Examiners want to see that it was a decision, not a default.
- 3
"Explain this concept as if I were new to it"
Start with the plain idea, then add the technical detail. If you can only explain it in jargon, practise explaining it simply first.
- 4
"What are the weaknesses of your work?"
Name a real limitation, say how it affects your conclusions, and what would address it. Admitting a limitation clearly reads as understanding, not weakness.
- 5
"What would you do next, or differently?"
Have one or two concrete next steps ready. This is often the closing question and a chance to finish on your own terms.
Common mistakes
- Learning a list of "top 50 viva questions" by heart instead of practising the five or six underlying types.
- Getting defensive when asked about weaknesses, or claiming the work has none.
- Answering a different, easier question than the one asked.
Practise it with Migo AI Students
Ask Viva Simulator for one strict question at a time and it will mark your typed answer against a rubric, list the points you missed and give you the next examiner question, so you practise follow-ups as well as openers. Because it questions from your agent’s sources, the questions are about your material rather than a generic list. If your viva includes scenarios, Case Practice walks you through one and asks you to defend your reasoning. Both are free.
Questions
Do examiners try to catch you out?
Mostly they are testing how deep your understanding goes, which can feel like being caught out. Hard follow-up questions usually mean the examiner wants to see you reason, not that the answer has gone badly.
Is it OK to ask the examiner to repeat a question?
Yes. Asking for a question to be repeated or clarified is normal and far better than answering a question you misheard.
Related guides
- How to prepare for a vivaPrepare for a viva by practising answering questions out loud, under pressure, about the work you will be examined on, then fixing the gaps each practice round exposes. Rereading your thesis or notes feels productive but does not train the skill a viva tests.
- How to prepare for an oral examPrepare for an oral exam by turning your syllabus into questions, practising spoken answers to them out loud, and rehearsing until you can give a short, structured answer without notes. The skill being tested is explaining on the spot, so that is the thing to practise.
- What is the Feynman technique?The Feynman technique is a way of learning by explaining a topic in simple language, as if teaching it to someone new, noticing where your explanation breaks down, and going back to fill those gaps. It is named after the physicist Richard Feynman.
General study advice. Follow your own course’s guidance and your institution’s rules on assessment and AI use.