10/03/2024, 11:50 140+ Viva Questions & How to Prepare for Viva?

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Viva Questions
Team Leverage Edu · Updated on Jan 18, 2024
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What are viva questions? A viva simply means a university examination

during which students answer questions in speech and these questions are
commonly based on a particular project or discipline. Viva questions are an
important part of an academic program and often take place at the conclusion
of a semester/year. Although viva questions can vary, they commonly focus on
four aspects: “What the project is about?”, “What were the key findings or
observations?”, “What was the process?” and “Why do the observations
matter?”. However, in some cases, these questions can be more diverse. If
you want to know how to tackle these PhD viva questions properly, then this
blog is a must-read for you!

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THIS BLOG INCLUDES:

1 10 Most Important Viva Questions with Answers
1. Summarize your project/thesis/research in 3 minutes
2. What is the strength and weakness of your research?
3. What makes your thesis work original?
4. Elaborate on how your findings relate to literature in your field
5. Tell me about yourself
6. Summarise your key findings
7. Highlight the strong and weak areas of your research
8. What were the major motivations behind this research?
9. Elucidate the process of evaluation
10. What is the key focus of this research?

2 50 Common Viva Questions

3 25 PhD Viva Questions
4 Viva Questions on Research Methodologies
5 Analysis and Research Findings: Viva Questions
6 Subjective Questions for School
Viva Questions for Physics
Viva Questions for Chemistry
Viva Questions for Biology

7 Viva Questions for Higher Education

8 Tips and Tricks to Ace the Viva
9 FAQs

10 Most Important Viva Questions with Answers

Whether you are a PhD or a school student, viva exams are equally tough for
everyone. But don’t worry, we have a solution to calm you down! Here are 5
commonly asked questions with answers:

1. Summarize your project/thesis/research in 3 minutes

To answer this question correctly, you need to be well-versed in the entire

project. Start with an answer by explaining why did you select the topic of your
project/thesis/research and close your explanation by providing an optimum
solution to the problem.

2. What is the strength and weakness of your research?

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Carefully analyze the strength and weaknesses of your research and while
answering, make sure you talk about your weaknesses also and not only your
strengths.

3. What makes your thesis work original?

While answering, keep in mind what was known before and what you have
added as part of being awarded your PhD is to contribute novel knowledge.

4. Elaborate on how your findings relate to literature in your

field

Explain how your findings connect with the literature review of your project and
what its contributions are in terms of the field of your research. Does it further
expand the literature? Does it highlight some new observations? Does it add to
the literature in this field? Answer these main questions.

5. Tell me about yourself

Talk about yourself and your areas of interest. Focus on the areas you are
extremely positive about. Talk about your past achievements and what brings
you to this position. Keep it professional.

Must Read: How to Ace “Tell Me About Yourself” in College

Interview?

6. Summarise your key findings

For this common viva question, focus on what you observed and found through
your research project, how it connects with your hypothesis as well as what
concluded through this research.

7. Highlight the strong and weak areas of your research

Mention the strengths first and elaborate on how they connect with the key
findings. Then, you can underline the weak areas and the factors that could
have been transformed into strengths.

8. What were the major motivations behind this research?

Focus on what inspired you to carry out this research, and cite certain
instances which helped you select this topic as well as the field for your
project.

9. Elucidate the process of evaluation

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Elaborate on how you evaluated the key findings in your research, the key
factors involved, whether the evaluation process faced some obstacles, how it
could have been better and what was the reason you choose a particular
process of evaluation.

10. What is the key focus of this research?

While answering this, keep a summarised version of your research in your

mind and then talk about the area of the primary focus of research. In order to
demonstrate that your research is viable, it is essential to identify some of the
key questions that it addresses.

50 Common Viva Questions

Mostly research-based viva questions are asked in the case of a doctoral

thesis wherein the key aspect of the process is to identify the thought behind
the development of the specific paper. It is done to determine the knowledge
and originality of the researcher and to assess their further interest in the field.

Below are some of the most common viva questions.

11. Tell me about yourself.

12. Summarise your research/thesis in 3 minutes.
13. Tell us how your research contributes to knowledge discourse.
14. What are the practical applications of your research?
15. What is the strength and weakness of your research?
16. How does your research help solve the underlying problems?
17. Can you explain your thesis in a sentence?
18. How did you come up with the subject of your research/thesis?
19. What was the source of inspiration behind this thesis/research?
20. What is the key idea that is unexpendable to your thesis?
21. What contributions are you looking forward to making in this area of
study?
22. What is the key focus of this research?
23. Where can we locate the originality in your paper?
24. What are the core areas of debate in this paper?
25. What research methodology have you applied to address this issue?
26. What were the alternative methods you could have used to address the
subject matter of concern?
27. Why did you feel it necessary to spend your resources in this area of
study?
28. What aids did you use to support your research?
29. Which pertinent research papers did you use in your research?
30. Can you name 3 remarkable research papers in this stream?
31. Explain the recent developments in this field.
32. How did you come up with these questions you have discussed in your
paper?
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33. Describe the necessary decisions taken in your process.

34. Elucidate the process of evaluation.
35. Ponder over the strong and weak aspects of your research.
36. What is the relevance of your research in the current scenario?
37. Where do you think your research can be practically applied?
38. Which aspects of your research are you looking forward to being
published?
39. Give us some insights into the references in your thesis.
40. What have you achieved in the process of this PhD?
41. Elaborate on how your findings relate to literature in your field.
42. Highlight the strong and weak areas of your research.
43. What were the major motivations behind this research?
44. How would you propose future research as a follow-up to this project?
45. Who will be more interested in this research project?
46. How is your research project relevant to your fellow researchers?
47. What was the process behind the research questions you selected?
48. Name some alternatives to your chosen research methodology.
49. Which of your research observations are you most interested in/curious
about?
50. Name some prominent achievements of your research.

25 PhD Viva Questions

A PhD viva is a final examination in which a candidate answers questions from

an academic panel on their work and understanding of their chosen subject
area. This is often used to determine whether the candidate has effectively
proved that they have learned enough about their specialised study topic to
produce original work.

During a PhD viva, the questions are frequently based on the original study
proposal and any other written material that has already been provided. Read
the top 25 PhD viva questions below:

51. What is the area in which you wish to be examined?

52. What have you done that merits a PhD?
53. Summarise your key findings.
54. What’s original about your work?
55. Which topics overlap with your area?
56. Where do current technologies fail such that you (could) make a
contribution?
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57. Who are their
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58. Can you summarise your project in 2 lines?

59. How can this research help other students working in the same field?
60. Which of your findings is your personal favourite?
61. Is your research inspired by some incident in your life?
62. Why did you choose this method to conduct this research?
63. What motivated you to conduct this research?
64. What was the biggest challenge that came your way?
65. What were the alternatives to this methodology?
66. How would you evaluate your work?
67. Were you short of any resources while conducting this research?
68. Can you tell me about the strongest point of your research?
69. What is the weakest point of your research?
70. . How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work?
71. What original contribution has your thesis made to this field of study?
72. Whose work has most influenced yours?
73. What ethical considerations did you apply?
74. Did your study go as expected? If you had to start the thesis again, what
would you do differently?
75. Now that you’ve completed your study, what did you enjoy about the
process?

Viva Questions on Research Methodologies

Preparing for an interview for the Statistician or Survey Specialist role? Then
worry not! Here are the most important viva questions on research
methodologies:

71. Under which circumstances are quantitative as well as qualitative

research methods fruitful?
72. Could you distinguish between case-based and observational-based
research methods in a few words?
73. What is a scientific study and what are its essential features?
74. You must have faced some ethical issues while conducting research.
How did you handle it?
75. What method did you use to collect data?
76. Was there any other way in which you could have assimilated the data? If
yes, then how?
77. What are the main achievements of your research?
78. What advice would you give to a research student entering this area?
79. What is the relevance of your work to other researchers?
80. How did your research questions emerge?

Also Read: Research Institutes in India

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When it comes to a career in Research, the outputs which you obtain are
assessed on multiple factors. Enlisted are some viva questions which will help
you prepare in advance:

81. How would you summarise your findings in a few words?

82. You have used 3 different techniques to analyse the final results. Could
you elaborate on all of them?
83. Was there any chance of implementing a different type of analysis
technique?
84. Apart from the topic, you selected, in what other applications can your
research findings be used?
85. Out of the given results, which of the findings, according to you, can be
beneficial in the near future?
86. Is the problem you have tackled worth tackling?
87. What would you have gained by using another approach?
88. Which are the three most important papers that relate to your thesis?
89. What would have improved your work?
90. What are the main issues and debates in this subject area?
91. What motivated and inspired you to carry out this research?

Subjective Questions for School

Be it for Chemistry or Biology practicals, from 10th standard onwards,

students have to appear for vivas. The concerned viva questions pertain to the
subject that the students have studied in the course of the entire year. The viva
that one appears for at the senior secondary level is based on the experiments
that the students perform to test their understanding of the research. Apart
from those experiments, the students are also asked several questions to
estimate their practical understanding of the key areas of study.

Viva Questions for Physics

Viva questions for Physics are mainly based on concepts and topics from
Physics textbooks. Here are the most common viva questions for Physics
Class 11 and Class 12:

Viva Questions for Class 12 Physics

92. What is Ohm’s Law?

93. What do you mean by ‘interference’?
94. Define tangent law.
95. Name the type of motion shown by the Torsional pendulum.
96. What happens with resonance in the LCR circuit?
97. What do you understand by the order of the spectrum?
98. How is Wedge Film Experiment useful?
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99. Define parallax and how it is removed.

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Tips and Tricks to Ace the Viva

Though the research you do in your PhD is a massive achievement, you need
to be prepared for the exhaustive viva session with the experts. The PhD viva
questions are a chance for students to discuss their work with professionals.
Its formal purpose is to ensure that the student understands and can explain
their thesis. It involves lots of stinging questions and conceptually complex
debates. How can PhD scholars best prepare themselves? Let us take a look
at the different tips for getting through your viva questions:

Calm down and breathe

Believe in yourself
Do something fun
Go in with a good attitude
Look presentable
Read your thesis
Know the rules
Make a list of your own corrections
Make plans to celebrate
Try to enjoy it

Must Read: How to Crack an Interview [20 Scientifically Proven

Tips]

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FAQs

Q1. What are the basic viva questions?

Ans. These are some of the basic viva questions:
Tell me about yourself.
Summarise your research/thesis in 3 minutes.
Tell us how your research contributes to knowledge discourse.
What are the practical applications of your research?
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What is the strength and weakness of your research?

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Q2. How do I prepare for viva?

Ans. Every institution is different; some have only two examiners, while others
include a convenor as well. Some institutions may require you to prepare a talk
to present before the viva (this was the situation for me, and it was excellent
preparation for the exam).

Q3. What is the first question on viva?

Ans. The examiners will frequently begin a viva with an introductory question,
such as “Spend five or ten minutes telling us about your work, what you have
done, and what contribution you have made” or “Summarise your work for us
in a single sentence.” These are some of the first PhD viva questions that you
can encounter.
Preparing for the viva questions beforehand helps you confidently answer
them in front of the panel of experts who not only test your subjective
knowledge but also do grading on the basis of your level of confidence.

If you are looking for admission to a university abroad and want to impress the
admission committee, Leverage Edu experts can provide you with tips and
tricks to ace the interview. Call us immediately at 1800 57 2000 for a free 30-
minute counselling session.

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Shreya Das
June 27, 2021 at 11:00 pm

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