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
The viva and case presentation together are usually 20 to 40 percent of the practical paper, with the procedure demonstration and clinical record making up the rest. Most boards require a separate pass in each practical. The exact distribution varies by university and state nursing board.
Who this is for
Students of INC-recognised GNM and BSc Nursing programmes facing the university or state nursing board practical examination, where the viva follows a nursing procedure demonstration, a case presentation or a care-plan review on the ward. Examiners are an internal faculty member and an external nursing educator or senior nursing officer. Covers fundamentals, medical-surgical, community health, midwifery and obstetrical, and mental-health nursing vivas; the subject list follows the INC revised curriculum.
The panel focuses on
- Procedure steps in order with rationale for each: hand hygiene, vital signs, injections, catheterisation, oxygen therapy, wound dressing
- Nursing process on your assigned case: assessment findings, nursing diagnoses in priority order, expected outcomes and evaluation
- Anatomy and physiology behind the sign: why the pulse is thready in shock, why oedema forms in heart failure
- Community programmes and the nurse's role: immunisation schedule, antenatal visits, growth monitoring, national programme targets
- Midwifery mechanisms and stages of labour, partograph reading, newborn assessment and danger signs
- Ethics and communication: consent, confidentiality, therapeutic communication with a psychiatric patient, breaking bad news
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 · 2 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
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 Nursing viva interview questions
Questions panels commonly ask in the Health & Research Viva Nursing viva interview, with what a strong answer covers. Practise them aloud with the AI panel.
- Fundamentals of nursing
Demonstrate verbally the steps of hand hygiene with alcohol rub, and name the moments when a nurse must perform it.
What a strong answer covers
Lists the rubbing steps covering palms, backs, between fingers, thumbs and fingertips for adequate time, and the five moments: before patient contact, before aseptic procedures, after body fluid exposure, after patient contact and after touching surroundings. Avoid skipping moments or steps.
- Nursing process
Your assigned patient has heart failure with leg oedema. List two nursing diagnoses in priority order and the expected outcome for each.
What a strong answer covers
Prioritises diagnoses such as excess fluid volume and impaired gas exchange or activity intolerance, with measurable outcomes such as reduced oedema, stable weight and easier breathing, and nursing actions like positioning and intake-output monitoring. Avoid medical diagnoses phrased as nursing diagnoses.
- Applied physiology
Why is the pulse rapid and thready in a patient with hypovolaemic shock?
What a strong answer covers
Loss of circulating volume reduces stroke volume, so the heart rate rises to maintain cardiac output while the weak volume produces a thin, thready pulse, along with vasoconstriction and cold extremities. Avoid giving only the observation without the mechanism.
- Midwifery
Explain how you read a partograph, and what crossing the alert line means for the midwife.
What a strong answer covers
Describes plotting cervical dilatation, descent, contractions and foetal heart rate over time, and explains that crossing the alert line signals slow progress requiring closer monitoring and timely referral or action as per protocol. Avoid confusing the alert and action lines.
- Newborn care
What danger signs in a newborn would make you refer the baby immediately from a sub-centre?
What a strong answer covers
Names signs such as not feeding well, convulsions, fast breathing or chest indrawing, fever or low temperature, lethargy and jaundice on palms and soles, with prompt referral and keeping the baby warm. Avoid listing signs without urgency.
- Community health
What is the role of a nurse in an immunisation session, from cold chain to observation after vaccination?
What a strong answer covers
Checks vaccine vial monitors and cold chain, verifies due-list and age, follows safe injection practices, counsels the mother, observes for adverse events for the advised period and records correctly. Avoid skipping post-vaccination observation.
- Mental health nursing
A psychiatric patient on your ward says he hears voices telling him he is worthless. How would you respond therapeutically?
What a strong answer covers
Responds calmly, acknowledges his experience without arguing or agreeing with the voices, focuses on his feelings and safety, assesses risk of self-harm and informs the team. Avoid dismissing his experience or reinforcing the hallucination.
- Ethics and communication
Before inserting a urinary catheter, how do you obtain consent and maintain the patient's dignity?
What a strong answer covers
Explains the procedure and its purpose in simple language, answers questions, obtains consent, ensures privacy with screens and drapes, and has a chaperone where appropriate. Avoid starting the procedure without explanation.
- Clinical procedures
While giving oxygen by face mask, what observations would tell you the therapy is working, and what safety precautions do you follow?
What a strong answer covers
Improved breathing, colour, oxygen saturation and level of consciousness, with precautions such as no open flames, correct flow rate, humidification where needed and skin checks under the mask. Avoid changing flow rates without orders.
Reading is not rehearsing. Answer these out loud to an AI Health & Research Viva Nursing 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
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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