Sit a timed mock defence against the questions examiners actually ask, then read your scorecard: clarity, evidence, structure and timing, with the answers worth reworking first.
Start the rehearsal →A bank of examiner-style questions, no generative AI. Practice only, no grade guaranteed.
Discipline, title and research question: the questions adapt to what you wrote.
Ten to twelve questions, one at a time. You answer, then you rate yourself.
Clarity, evidence, structure, timing, and a targeted plan for what to rework.
An oral examination of your own thesis: examiners ask you to defend the question you chose, the method you used and the claims you made. It is the same exercise as a thesis defence or soutenance, under a different name.
Because it is a timed rehearsal, not a conversation. You answer under the clock, rate yourself, and get a scorecard per criterion, which is what turns practice into progress.
From measurable signals: how developed your answers are, whether they lean on evidence, whether they are signposted, how your time compares with the target, and your own rating. It is indicative and says nothing about what your examiners will decide.
As often as you like. Repeating the session and comparing scorecards is the point.
Almost always the same families: why this research question, why this method rather than another, what the limits of your work are, and what you would do differently. The simulator starts from your own topic, asks those questions, then follows up on answers that stay general.
Usually 30 to 45 minutes: a 10-to-20-minute presentation, then questions. That is why the rehearsal is timed — running over your presentation slot is the most frequent criticism, and the easiest one to fix beforehand.
You present, the panel asks questions, then deliberates without you. The presentation is not a summary — the panel has read the work. It has to defend your choices. That is what the scorecard measures: clarity, evidence, structure and time management.
Updated on · Published by ProRédaction