From our research
What this interview looks like
A health-science university viva is usually a two-examiner affair: an internal examiner from the candidate's own college and an external examiner from another college in the same university, sitting for 5 to 15 minutes per candidate at the end of the practical examination, with the practical record book or log book open on the table. Marks are a fixed slice of the practical paper, often 10 to 20 out of 50 or 100, and in many universities a candidate must pass the practical and viva separately from theory. The external asks the first question, usually from the record, then moves to classifications, mechanisms, principles of a procedure and one applied question; the internal fills gaps and checks attendance and record completion. A PhD viva voce is longer, typically 45 to 90 minutes: the candidate presents the thesis for 20 to 30 minutes, then the external examiner, who has already sent a written report, cross-examines on methodology, novelty, statistics, limitations and the published papers, with the supervisor and research-committee members present and an open-house audience in most Indian universities. The ExamPilot mock compresses either into about 15 minutes with the same shape: a short introduction, a subject round with a subject expert, a round on your record book or thesis chapters, and a brief close, scored against what a real external rewards: clear definitions, correct sequence, honest admission of limits and no invented figures.
How it is weighted
In MBBS the viva voce is typically 20 marks within a 100-mark practical plus viva component, with university rules requiring 50 percent in theory and practical separately. In BPT the viva and case presentation together are a substantial share of the practical paper. Specific marks vary by university.
Who this is for
MBBS students facing the first professional university viva in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry and the second professional viva in pathology and microbiology under the NMC competency-based curriculum, and BPT students facing practical vivas in exercise therapy, electrotherapy, musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiorespiratory physiotherapy. Vivas are taken at the practical examination by internal and external examiners, often as a table viva around specimens, slides, charts, instruments or a patient.
The panel focuses on
- Spotting and describing a specimen, slide, bone, instrument or chart and then saying its applied significance
- Mechanisms in physiology and biochemistry explained as cause and effect, with regulation and what goes wrong in disease
- Classifications: nerves, joints, anaemias, hypersensitivity, bacteria by Gram stain and oxygen requirement
- Principles of a laboratory procedure: staining, culture media, haemoglobin estimation, urine analysis, blood grouping
- Physiotherapy assessment to treatment: goniometry, MMT grading, electrotherapy parameters and contraindications, exercise prescription
- Clinical correlation the examiner expects: the nerve injured in a given fracture, the enzyme marker for a given organ
Step 1
Pick your subject
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this post. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas
Subject expert
Panel interview · 3 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas
Subject expert
Dr. Imtiaz Qureshi
Subject expert
Prof. Devendra Kulkarni
Subject expert
What to expect
4 rounds · 10 minutes
A ten-minute oral examination of the kind held at the end of a laboratory course or project: school board practicals, engineering lab and project vivas, pharmacy and nursing practicals, dissertation and thesis defences. One external examiner, sometimes seated with the internal teacher, asks the candidate what they did, why it works, what they observed and what could go wrong, then looks at the record file or project and asks one question that tests whether the work is the candidate's own. The examiner escalates when answers are correct, gives one hint when the candidate is stuck, and never teaches during the viva.
- Round 1
Introduction
· 1:00Settle the candidate and establish exactly which experiment, practical, project or thesis the viva will be about, so that the subject questions can be anchored to work the candidate actually did.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas1–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Viva on concepts and experiments
· 7:00Test whether the candidate understands the principle behind the experiment or project they did, can describe the procedure and observations accurately, knows the precautions and sources of error, and can reason about a change in conditions. Separate genuine understanding from a memorised record file.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas4–6 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Record file or project
· 1:00Check that the record file, activity or project is the candidate's own work and that they understand it: why they chose it, what the data or result was, what went wrong and what they would improve.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas1–1 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
Closing
· 1:00End the viva courteously and formally, as an external examiner does, without feedback, marks or any hint about the result.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas1–1 questions
Sample questions
Health & Research Viva MBBS & Physio viva interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the Health & Research Viva MBBS & Physio viva interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Anatomy
This is a humerus. Identify the side, and tell me which nerve is at risk in a fracture of the shaft and what the patient would show.
What a strong answer covers
Identifies side using the head facing medially and the olecranon fossa posteriorly, names the radial nerve in the spiral groove, and describes wrist drop with sensory loss over the dorsum of the hand. Avoid naming the nerve without the clinical sign.
- Physiology
Explain how the body corrects a fall in blood pressure when a person stands up quickly.
What a strong answer covers
Describes the baroreceptor reflex: reduced stretch in carotid and aortic baroreceptors, reduced afferent firing, increased sympathetic and reduced vagal output, raising heart rate and vascular resistance. A strong answer mentions what fails in orthostatic hypotension. Avoid a list without cause and effect.
- Biochemistry
A patient has a raised serum ALT far more than AST. Which organ is involved, and why is ALT the more specific marker?
What a strong answer covers
Points to liver cell injury, explaining ALT is found mainly in the liver cytoplasm while AST is also in heart, muscle and other tissues, so ALT is more specific for hepatocellular damage. Avoid stating diagnoses beyond what the enzymes indicate.
- Pathology
Classify anaemias by red cell size, and give one common cause in India for each group.
What a strong answer covers
Microcytic such as iron deficiency, normocytic such as acute blood loss or chronic disease, macrocytic such as vitamin B12 or folate deficiency, with a brief rationale linking the cause to cell size. Avoid listing causes in the wrong group.
- Microbiology
Why is MacConkey agar called both selective and differential, and what does a pink colony on it tell you?
What a strong answer covers
Bile salts and crystal violet inhibit most Gram-positive organisms, making it selective, while lactose with a pH indicator separates lactose fermenters, which form pink colonies such as E. coli, from non-fermenters that stay pale. Avoid calling it an enriched medium or confusing selective with differential.
- Laboratory procedure
In the haemoglobin estimation by Sahli's method in your record, what are the main sources of error?
What a strong answer covers
Mentions inaccurate pipetting, incomplete conversion to acid haematin, poor colour matching under different light and subjective comparison, and why modern methods are more accurate. Avoid claiming the method is perfectly precise.
- Physiotherapy assessment
For a BPT student, how do you measure knee flexion range with a goniometer, and what is the normal range?
What a strong answer covers
Positions the patient, aligns the fulcrum at the lateral femoral condyle with arms along the femur and fibula, measures active and passive range, and states normal flexion of roughly 135 to 150 degrees. Avoid incorrect landmarks.
- Electrotherapy
In which situations is therapeutic ultrasound contraindicated, and what is the reason in each case?
What a strong answer covers
Lists contraindications such as over a pregnant uterus, malignancy, active infection, over the eyes or gonads, and areas of impaired circulation or sensation, explaining the tissue heating or cavitation risks. Avoid listing without reasons.
- Neuro physiotherapy
A stroke patient has increased tone in the elbow flexors. How would you grade the spasticity, and what would your first-week plan include?
What a strong answer covers
Uses the Modified Ashworth Scale with a correct description of the grade observed, then plans positioning, slow sustained stretching, active-assisted movement and functional tasks, with caregiver education. Avoid confusing spasticity with rigidity or planning only passive exercises.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI Health & Research Viva MBBS & Physio viva panel that follows up like the real one.
Practise these questionsMeet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this post.
Prof. (Mrs.) Jacintha Thomas
ChairSubject expert
Principal, college of nursing, and external examiner for GNM and BSc Nursing practical examinations (Kochi)
Warm but exacting; wants procedure steps in order with rationale and will not accept a step without a reason.
Female voice · 4 languages
Dr. Imtiaz Qureshi
Subject expert
Professor of Pharmaceutics and external examiner, B.Pharm and D.Pharm university practical examinations (Aurangabad)
Methodical, dry, fair; rewards a clean definition and a correctly explained principle over memorised lists.
Male voice · 3 languages
Prof. Devendra Kulkarni
Subject expert
Professor and PhD external examiner, research degree committees across science, engineering and health-science faculties (Pune)
Quiet, rigorous, sceptical of over-claiming; probes methodology and statistics and respects an honest limitation.
Male voice · 4 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- हिंदीHindi
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Conceptual understanding40%
States the principle, law or formula behind the experiment or project correctly and in their own words; explains why the method works rather than only what the steps are; handles a why or what-if question with reasoning; does not confuse related concepts or recite a definition that does not answer the question.
- Experimental procedure & observation30%
Describes the actual procedure, apparatus or tools, readings or data and how they were processed; knows the units, the expected result and the order of magnitude they obtained; names sources of error and the precautions that address them; for a project, knows the data, method and limitations of their own work.
- Clarity of explanation20%
Answers the question actually asked in short, ordered sentences; uses correct technical terms and units; can explain the same idea more simply when asked; does not ramble or bury the answer in unrelated recall.
- Confidence & honesty10%
Speaks steadily, holds a correct answer when gently challenged, corrects themselves when shown an error, and says I am not sure rather than guessing; recovers after a hint instead of freezing.
Pass mark 50 / 100 · Practical / project viva voce with an external examiner
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