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Surviving a viva: a guide for candidates Made By Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman 1

Surviving a viva exam tips

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Page 1: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

1

Surviving a viva: a guide for candidates

Made By Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

Page 2: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

2Tip # 01

• Dress For Success

• Dress well

• Your Examiner will much more likely be impressed by a clean, polished appearance that a student shows up.

• If you have a plain two-piece dark suit, wear it.

• Donot be hero ,try to be simple, clean and presentable

• Try to avoid wearing shirts having cartoons on them

Page 3: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

3Tip # 02

• Appearance and etiquette• You need to feel as comfortable as possible, psychologically as well as

physically

• You will be offered a chair. Put your backside as far into the angle of the chair as it will go: this will throw your upper body forwards into the appropriate posture for a viva. Cross ankles but not legs and never arms. If you are an enthusiastic hand-waver, wave your hands

• if you refrain you will feel odd and look odd.

• Donot play with hands

Page 4: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

4Tip # 03

• Keep calm • Examiners do not probe weaknesses in your study just to be

difficult. It is part of the examination not simply to find the limits of your knowledge, but to check that what does you know about that subject.

• Never seek to appear to be anxious: if you aim for sympathy by showing excessive signs of anxiety you will get none. The examiners will immediately assume that there is good reason (i.e. that you are not properly prepared).

• Donot look on floor or doors or windos  

Page 5: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

5Tip # 04

•  Try to maintain eye contact with the examiners as appropriate – don´t look at the floor or out of the window for long periods! - 

• But donot be rude.

Page 6: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

6Tip # 05

• Answer the question • Try to answer in a simple form. Never try to be Einstein or Allama

Iqbal

• You could also use national language ( urdu ) to elaborate your answer

• Examiners are looking for a clear and logical dissertation on a subject, usually within a few minutes because of the pressure of time. They tend to like a definition that shows that you know what is going on, and you need to make yours as watertight as possible. You may need to refine some parts of your definition if the examiners challenge it.

Page 7: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

7Tip # 06

• If you do not understand a question, ask for it to be rephrased or ask for clarification, such as ‘I’m sorry, would you like me to tell you about...?’ If you are asked several questions at once, the examiner is clearly at fault: pick one of the questions that you are happy with and answer that.

Page 8: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

8Tip # 07

• In the viva you may be hit with a heartsink question. A heartsink is a question that is perfectly simple yet for some reason completely unanswerable at that instant—‘What is the difference between plasma and serum?’ There is no good way of responding to a heartsink question.

• You can skip any question instead of giving wrong answer

Page 9: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

9Tip # 08

• At the end of the viva

• When the bell goes, say ‘thank you’, stand up and leave the room immediately. Ignore anything that is said after the final bell. Do not dwell on instances of ‘Good’, ‘Well done’, ‘Excellent’, ‘Oh dear’, ‘Never mind’,

Page 10: Surviving a viva exam tips

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman

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Wish you Good Luck

Muhammad Ramzan Ul Rehman