Rehearse the questions before you walk into the room.

How to use practice questions well

Enter your topic, department and document type and the tool returns practice questions grouped the way defences tend to run: the problem and objectives, the methodology, the results, the limitations, and general questions about the whole work.

The questions are for rehearsal. They do not tell you what your panel will ask, and they come with no answers, because the right answers come from your own work. Write your own short answer to each, then say it aloud.

A simple way to rehearse

• Answer each question in two or three sentences out loud before you check your report, then compare.
• Practise a two-minute summary of the whole project; many defences open with something like it.
• For every number or claim in your results, be ready to say where it came from and how you know it is correct.
• Prepare honest answers about limitations. Panels tend to respect a student who can name what the work does not cover.
• Ask a friend to read the questions to you in a different order so you are not memorising a script.

Final year project, seminar and SIWES defences differ

A final year project defence focuses on your problem, method and results. A seminar defence leans on how well you understood and organised the literature you reviewed. A SIWES defence is mostly about your placement: what you did, what tools you used and what you learned. The tool adjusts the section headings to match.

Is the defence questions tool free?

Yes. There is no signup and no charge.

Will my panel ask these exact questions?

Not necessarily. These are practice questions to help you prepare, and your panel may ask different ones.

Does the tool give me answers?

No. It only suggests questions. Your answers must come from your own work, your own data and your own reading.

What if the question writer is unavailable?

You get a general set of practice questions for your document type instead, clearly marked as general rather than written for your topic.