Viva question generator

Type your topic, your thesis or project title, your key terms and your methods, and get 15 to 25 practice questions of the kinds examiners ask in a viva or oral exam. Copy them or print them. Free, no sign-up, and no AI: it fills in fixed question templates in your browser.

Question types

Your questions appear here

Enter your topic (and, for a thesis or project, its title, key terms and methods), or press “Try an example”.

Practise answering with an examiner

In Migo AI Students, Viva Simulator plays the examiner. Build a study agent from your own notes or thesis chapters, and it asks questions from that material, gives rubric feedback on each typed answer (what you covered and what you missed) and then asks the next question. Chat Tutor explains anything the feedback flags. Study modes are free.

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How to use the generator

  1. 01 Choose what you are being examined on: a thesis, a dissertation, a project, or an oral exam on a topic or module.
  2. 02 Enter your topic and, for a thesis or project, its title. Add the key terms and the methods you would expect to be asked about, separated by commas.
  3. 03 If you like, add your main finding, so the findings questions are about your result rather than results in general.
  4. 04 Pick the question types and how many questions you want. Press Shuffle for a different mix.
  5. 05 Copy or print the list, then answer each question out loud, without notes.

How the questions are made

Each question type has a set of hand-written templates, separate ones for research vivas and for oral exams on a topic. The generator fills them with your words: a template such as “Why did you choose [method] for this work?” becomes a question about your own method. If a template needs something you didn’t enter, such as a second key term, it is skipped, so you never get a question with a gap in it.

Questions are shared out across the types you tick, so a list of 20 covers every angle rather than twenty versions of one question. Each extra key term or method lets a template be used again about a different idea. Nothing is generated by AI, sent to a server or saved.

The seven question types

  • Opening and key ideas. Can you explain the work and its key ideas clearly and briefly?
  • Methods. Do you understand how, and why, it was done this way?
  • Findings and evidence. Can you state the results and what they mean?
  • Limitations. Can you see the weaknesses honestly and say what they affect?
  • Contribution. Do you know what this adds and who it matters to?
  • Future work. Can you see where this goes next?
  • Defending your choices. Were your decisions deliberate, and can you argue for them?

Examiners rarely use the same wording twice, but the intent behind their questions repeats. If you recognise “why did you do it that way?” as a defending question, you already know the shape of a good answer: the alternatives you considered and the reason you chose yours.

How to practise with them

Answer out loud, or type the answer exactly as you would say it. Give the answer in your first sentence, then one reason or piece of evidence, then stop: examiners ask a follow-up if they want more. After each answer, ask yourself the obvious next question (“why?”, “what would you do differently?”) and answer that too.

Mark the questions you found hardest and practise those first next time. Saying “I don’t know, but here is what I do know and how I would find out” is usually a better answer than bluffing.

Questions

What questions are asked in a viva?

Most vivas come back to the same types of question: an opening summary of your work, how and why you used your methods, what you found, the limitations, what your work contributes, what you would do next, and why you made the choices you did. The generator gives you practice questions of each type, in your own words.

Does the generator use AI?

No. It uses fixed question templates written for each question type and fills them in with the title, topic, key terms and methods you type. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored.

Will my examiners ask these exact questions?

Probably not word for word. Examiners phrase questions their own way, but the intent behind them repeats. Practising each type of question means you recognise what is being asked, however it is worded.

How should I practise with the questions?

Answer them out loud, or type your answer exactly as you would say it, without notes. Give the answer in your first sentence, add a reason or evidence, then stop. Afterwards, ask yourself the obvious follow-up question and answer that too.

Can I use it for an oral exam or an OSCE?

Yes. Choose the oral exam option and enter the module or station topic and its key terms. You get questions about explaining, applying and defending ideas, like the examiner questions that often end an OSCE station. Hands-on OSCE skills still need practice in person.

How many questions should I practise?

The generator makes 15 to 25 at a time. A full practice round of that size, followed by fixing what it exposed and then another round, is more useful than reading through a long list once.

Related guides

General study advice. Follow your own course’s guidance and your institution’s rules on assessment and AI use.