Online Viva and Virtual Defense Preparation: A Practical Guide

The tech setup that actually matters

Most online viva problems come from a small set of failure points: connection instability, audio that cuts in and out, and a camera angle that makes you look like you are being interviewed by a passport booth. All three are preventable.

• Connection: use a wired ethernet connection if at all possible. Wi-Fi is adequate until it isn't, and mid-exam packet loss is a poor time to find out your router is marginal. If wired isn't feasible, sit as close to your router as you can and close everything competing for bandwidth.
• Audio: a headset with a boom mic or a dedicated USB microphone is noticeably better than a laptop's built-in microphone. You don't need expensive equipment — consumer headsets designed for calls are sufficient. Test the specific microphone your platform will use, not just the device.
• Camera: position it at eye level, not angled up from the desk. A laptop on a stack of books is fine. The goal is that when you look at your notes or screen you are not visibly looking away from the camera by a large angle.
• Lighting: a window or lamp in front of you, not behind. Backlit video looks dim and reads as unprepared. A desk lamp facing you costs almost nothing.
• Platform: confirm which video platform your institution or committee uses, and do a full test call with someone on the same platform at least two days before. Don't leave this to the morning of the exam.

Room and environment

The room behind you will be visible for the entire exam. You don't need a special backdrop — a plain wall or a tidy bookshelf is fine. What you want to avoid is anything distracting or anything that moves (windows onto busy areas, doors that might open).

Tell anyone in the building that the exam is happening and approximately how long it will run. Put a note on the door. Turn off any phone or device that will make a sound. Close browser notifications. The exam is typically one to three hours; these are small things to control for that window.

Have water within reach, off-camera. You will talk more continuously than in most other settings, and a dry mouth in hour two is unpleasant and avoidable.

Sharing slides and keeping notes in reach

If your exam includes a presentation, test screen sharing on the exact platform you'll use before the day. Know which window you will share and whether sharing will cut your ability to see the examiners' video feeds. In most platforms, you can share a specific application window rather than your whole screen, which keeps other windows visible to you.

Notes are easier in a virtual exam than an in-person one — you can have them off-camera without anyone seeing. A printed one-page summary of your contribution, limitations, and key findings is genuinely useful. The risk is the opposite of what most candidates expect: having too many notes and spending the exam hunting through them rather than thinking. One page. Large font.

If you use a second monitor, position it so that glancing at it is not a large, visible head movement. Examiners can see when you are reading rather than thinking.

Looking at the camera versus looking at the faces

In video calls, eye contact means looking at the camera, not at the face on screen. When you look at the examiner's face in the video grid, you appear to be looking slightly downward or away. Most people find this uncomfortable to maintain, and it is worth practising.

A workable approach: look at the camera when you are delivering a considered answer. Look at the screen when you are listening. The asymmetry is natural in the direction that matters — examiners notice whether you appear to engage with them, and camera contact during your answer is the most direct way to convey that.

Don't obsess over this during the exam itself. If the content of your answers is strong, the camera angle is secondary. Get the habit in place during practice so it doesn't require conscious attention on the day.

When the technology fails mid-exam

If audio becomes intermittent but you can still see the examiners, say so calmly and ask them to wait while you troubleshoot. The exam can pause. Examiners have been on enough video calls to understand that this happens.

If the platform itself crashes, most video conferencing tools generate a rejoining link that is still active. Rejoin quickly rather than spending time diagnosing the cause. If you can't rejoin within a couple of minutes, use your phone fallback or contact the chair.

Etiquette specific to video exams

• Mute yourself when an examiner is speaking for an extended period, especially if your room is not acoustically clean. Unmute before you begin your answer.
• If two people begin speaking simultaneously, stop and defer — the same as in person, but worth being more deliberate about because audio cues are less rich on video.
• Don't eat during the exam. Water is fine.
• Close all applications not needed for the exam. Video platforms report audio activity from other applications in some configurations.
• Ask before recording anything yourself, even for your own notes. In many jurisdictions and institutions, recording requires explicit consent from all parties.

What is the same as an in-person exam

The questions are the same. The structure of the examination — the examiner's job, what they are looking for, the kinds of answers that land — does not change because you are on a screen. Justify your methodology, defend your contribution, demonstrate that you understand the limits of your work. These are the exam, wherever you sit.

The preparation is the same. Practise answering questions aloud, not just reading through your thesis. Get someone to ask you the hard questions — someone who will follow up when your first answer is vague. The technology changes the setting; it doesn't change what you need to be able to do.

The nerves are the same. The virtual format does not make the exam less significant, and it doesn't make the preparation less important. What the setup work buys you is the ability to stop thinking about the technology and spend the exam on the work.