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One upholstered chair, seen from behind, drawn up to a long curved table of pale stone in a concrete room with a wall of glass on to the sea. Four blank sheets lie on the table in front of it and three empty chairs stand on the far side. A warm yellow light glows under the near chair.

Viva questions to practise

Practise the questions. The answers are yours.

Try the practice set

The film: the practice set in 25 seconds, on an illustrative example. Questions only. You supply the answers.

What the film shows, in words
  1. What might they ask you?
  2. Seven themes. Fourteen questions.
  3. Four are built from your own words.
  4. “You claim that fees matter less than trust in agents. What is new about that?” Your answer, aloud.
  5. Change the design: the methods question changes to “How did you decide you had enough interviews?”
  6. Questions only. The answers are yours.

When a card changes, one question turns to follow it

Fourteen questions, seven themes. Four are aimed at what you wrote.

Four lines cross the table, each from a question to the card it is built from. The other ten are asked of any thesis and cross to no card.

ExampleWorked example: a mixed-methods thesis on mobile money and traders. Nothing is saved or sent.

Step 1 of 4

OpeningOpening: two questions, one built from your topic
ContributionContribution: two questions, one built from your contribution
LiteratureLiterature: two questions, asked of any thesis
MethodsMethods: two questions, one built from your design
FindingsFindings: two questions, asked of any thesis
LimitationsLimitations: two questions, one built from your limitation
FutureFuture: two questions, asked of any thesis

ContributionQuestion 3 of 14Built from your contribution

You claim that fees matter less than trust in agents. What is new about that?

Your answer, aloud.

Topic

mobile money use among market traders

Design

Mixed methods

Your main contribution

Fees matter less than trust in agents

Your biggest limitation

One city only

14 practice questions in 7 themesFour built from your wordsTen asked of any thesis

Questions only. Your answers must be your own; practising them aloud is the point.

Now your thesis, on four cards.

Write on the four cards at the near edge of the table. Four of the fourteen questions are built from what you write on the cards. The other ten are the same for every thesis. Choose a theme on the far edge, read the question in the middle, and answer it aloud.

OpeningQuestion 1 of 14Built from your topic

Summarise your thesis on mobile money use among market traders in five minutes.

Your answer, aloud.

The Opening question is built from this. A few words. The tool sets them in lower case.

Design

Decides the Methods question.

The Contribution question is built from this. One sentence, no full stop. The tool sets it in lower case.

The Limitations question is built from this. A few words, no full stop.

14 practice questions in 7 themesFour built from your wordsTen asked of any thesis

Time on this question:

The tool asks for this answer in five minutes.

OpeningQuestion 1 of 14

The clock counts up on this page and nowhere else. It records nothing, listens to nothing and saves nothing.

LiveQuestions only. Your answers must be your own; practising them aloud is the point.

The whole set, as textBuilt from your wordsAsked of any thesis

14practice questions
7themes

Practice questions

Opening

  • Summarise your thesis on mobile money use among market traders in five minutes.
  • Why did you choose this topic?

Contribution

  • You claim that fees matter less than trust in agents. What is new about that?
  • Who should change what they do because of your findings?

Literature

  • Which two studies is your work closest to, and how does it differ?
  • What did you leave out of the review, and why?

Methods

  • How did you integrate the quantitative and qualitative strands?
  • What would you do differently with the same time and money?

Findings

  • Which finding surprised you most?
  • Which result are you least sure of, and why?

Limitations

  • How does one city only affect what you can claim?
  • What would a sceptical reader say about your conclusions?

Future

  • What is the next study that should follow yours?
  • What will you publish from this thesis first?

Reflection checklist

  • Can you state your contribution in one sentence?
  • Do you know your data well enough to explain any table without notes?
  • Have you practised aloud, timed, with someone asking follow-ups?
  • Have you re-read the thesis in the last two weeks?

Questions only. Your answers must be your own; practising them aloud is the point.

Your practice setViva practice question set and reflection checklistTry this form

Practice 11: Research supervision, academic coaching & publication supportFree · instant results on this pageTool owner: Prof. Wisdom Gagakuma and Michael GagakumaVersion 1.0 ·

Your set, as it standsYour organisation

Practice questions

The four built from your words

  1. OpeningSummarise your thesis on mobile money use among market traders in five minutes.Built from your topic
  2. ContributionYou claim that fees matter less than trust in agents. What is new about that?Built from your contribution
  3. MethodsHow did you integrate the quantitative and qualitative strands?Built from your design
  4. LimitationsHow does one city only affect what you can claim?Built from your limitation

And ten asked of any thesis, then the reflection checklist of four.

Topic
mobile money use among market traders
Questions
14
Design
Mixed methods

Questions and a checklist, nothing else: no answers, no score, and nobody has read or assessed your thesis.

Your dated checklist

Viva practice question set and reflection checklist, by email once delivery is connected.

Viva practice question set and reflection checklist (PDF)

Preview only. No email will be sent. Your results are available above.

Nothing you enter here is sent anywhere. Privacy notice

· a free brief, or book the Professor · from USD 150

How it works, and its limits.

The seven themes and their questions are fixed. Four of the fourteen questions are built from what you write on the cards. The other ten are the same for every thesis. The tool reads nothing you have written beyond the four cards, and it does not know your examiners.

Examiners ask what they ask; practise flexibility, not scripts.

Method

  1. 01

    Seven common viva themes, each with questions tailored from your topic, design, contribution and limitation.

  2. 02

    Methods questions change with your design.

  3. 03

    A reflection checklist closes the set.

What it cannot tell you

  • Examiners ask what they ask; practise flexibility, not scripts.
  • Questions only: no answers are provided.
  • Your supervisor knows your examiners’ expectations best.

Quality ruleQuestions only; student supplies their own answers.

Four long slot windows stepping down a concrete wall, each framing the sea; the third is lined citrine and throws a yellow light down the wall.
Four things you supply. Four questions are built from them.
An empty concrete room facing three tall openings side by side onto the sea, with a pane of citrine glass at the right edge.

When practice needs a person

A page cannot ask a follow-up question.

The tool’s own checklist asks whether you have practised aloud with someone asking follow-ups. Who that is, is yours to choose: a supervisor, a colleague, a coach. Our coaching is feedback only: the student writes every word, coaching is not supervision, and no outcome is promised.

Also in this practice

Thesis & dissertation coaching: the student writesService · 11 Research supervision, academic coaching & publication support 11 Research supervision, academic coaching & publication supportPractice Research topicsFree toolResearch methodology decision aidFree toolResearch-proposal structure & review checklistFree toolReference-list consistency checkerFree tool

What needs to move forward?

Tell us the decision, the challenge or the opportunity. We reply with a scoped approach, a named principal and a fee before any work begins.

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