Free template
The Defense Prep Question Bank
The questions committees tend to ask, organized so you can rehearse your answers before the room does it for you.
"A defense isn't really an exam on your dissertation's content — the committee has already read it. It's an exam on your relationship to that content."
Who it's for: Anyone with a defense date on the calendar and a growing feeling that they should probably start preparing for it.
What's inside
- A working list of the questions that show up in almost every oral defense, regardless of field
- Space to draft your own answers ahead of time, not scramble for them in the room
- A few prompts for the harder, more personal questions candidates tend to freeze on
The night before
- Reread only your rehearsal tracker and your weakest answers — not the whole manuscript
- Say your Contribution & Significance answers out loud one more time; they anchor the whole defense
- Prepare one question to ask the committee, if the format allows it
- Sleep — a tired, over-rehearsed answer reads worse than a clear, well-rested one
Before you rehearse
How many questions?
34, across 6 categories that show up in almost every field.
My field asks different ones?
The 6 categories generalize; you fill in your own field's specifics.
A deeper version?
In progress. Two other Pro workbooks are already live.
0 researchers have already downloaded this
📩 Get it free
Get the Defense Prep Question Bank by email
Enter your email and it lands in your inbox after a one-click confirmation.
Want more? Browse the rest of the free templates →