Final Year Project Viva Questions and How to Answer Them

Key takeaway

A viva is not a test of the subject. It is a test of whether the report is yours. Almost every question comes from six places: your problem, your choices, your design or method, your results, your limitations and your future scope. Prepare a short spoken answer for each and you have covered most of what will be asked.

Questions asked in almost every viva

1. Explain your project. Two minutes: problem, what you did, how, result. Practise it aloud.
2. Why did you choose this topic? A real reason from your own experience is better than "it is trending".
3. What are the objectives? Say them in the same words as Chapter 1.
4. What already exists, and how is yours different? One difference you can point to.
5. Why this technology, or this method? Because it fits the project, with one reason. Never "my guide told me".
6. Explain this diagram, or this table. They will open a page and point. Know every one.
7. What was the hardest part? Name one problem and how you solved it.
8. What are the limitations? Have two honest ones ready. Every project has them.
9. What is the future scope? Two specific additions, not "it can be improved".
10. What did you do yourself? In a group, be exact about your part.

For a software project (blackbook)

• Database: How many tables? What is the primary key of this one? What is normalisation, and which normal form are your tables in? Why a relational database, or why not?
• Diagrams: What does this use case diagram show? What is the difference between a DFD and an ER diagram? Explain the flow in this sequence diagram.
• Code: Open this module and explain it. Where is the login checked? How are passwords stored?
• Testing: What kinds of testing did you do? Show one test case that failed at first and what you fixed.
• Process: Which development model did you follow, and why? What does your Gantt chart show?
• Security and limits: What happens with wrong input? How many users can it handle? What would you change to put it into real use?

For a research project report

• Objectives and hypotheses: State them. Was each hypothesis accepted or rejected, and on what evidence?
• Sample: How many respondents, who were they, and how did you choose them? Why that sampling method? Is the sample large enough to generalise?
• Data: What is primary and what is secondary data in your study? Show the questionnaire. Why did you ask this question?
• Analysis: Which tools did you use? Read this table: what does it tell you?
• Findings: Which finding surprised you? Which suggestion follows from which finding?
• Literature: Name two studies from your literature review and what they found.
• Limitations: Time, sample size, area, honesty of responses. Say how they affect the findings.

The methodology questions are the ones students fumble most. The terms are explained in the research methodology guide.

A two-day preparation plan

Day one

• Read your own report from cover to conclusion, with a pen. Mark anything you cannot explain.
• For every figure and table, say aloud in one sentence what it shows.
• Write your two-minute project explanation and time it.

Day two

• Answer the ten common questions aloud, to a friend or a phone recording.
• For software: run the project from a fresh start, and make sure the demo data is in place. Keep screenshots ready in case it fails on the day.
• For research: recheck that totals in your tables match your sample size.

On the day

• Carry the bound report, and your logbook or progress sheets where your college uses them.
• Answer the question that was asked, briefly, then stop.
• If you do not know, say so, and say what you do know.
• Do not blame the guide, a teammate or the time you had.

Questions for your own project

General lists only go so far, because the best questions come from your own pages. A blackbook written on BlackBook has a viva section in the editor: it reads your report and gives the questions an examiner is likely to ask about it, with answers drawn from what your report says.