Inside a Master’s Defence
It’s April 20, and I’m hopelessly browsing the internet for anything useful that might answer the question: “Will I pass tomorrow?” After going through a bunch of Reddit posts and blog articles, I still didn’t find anything that really helped me. So I thought I’d share my own experience in case it aligns more closely with what someone like me might be looking for.
The hours and minutes leading up to my defense were some of the most stressful moments of my life. The fact that almost no one fails a master’s defense provided very little comfort, simply because you could still technically fail. It’s not impossible, even if it’s highly unlikely. The problem is that the aftermath of failing something so massive—something that consumed two to three years of your life—feels nothing short of catastrophic. So naturally, you try to prepare for the worst-case scenario, even when it’s not supposed to happen.
So there I am, going over my presentation deck one last time. There are 57 slides, and I’m planning to get through them in 40 minutes. It’s 11:55 a.m., five minutes before the presentation. I join the Google Meet link. At first it’s empty, but slowly people from across the department start joining one by one, all with their cameras and microphones off. I guess a lot of people are interested in sim-to-real after all.
One of my supervisors joins—only one of them so far. None of the other committee members are there yet. It’s 12:05. My supervisor jokes about having a backup plan in case my examiners don’t show up, and then jokes that it’s a good thing I have a job lined up in case things don’t work out. Haha. Seriously?? That does not make me feel better.
Anyway, the committee members show up around 12:07 p.m., and the presentation begins. It starts slowly, as expected. My brain is cold and still trying to warm up. Some sentences feel hard to construct. But eventually the gears start turning, the speech begins to flow more naturally, and my ideas connect more seamlessly.
I finish around 12:57 p.m., after about 50 minutes of presenting. Three minutes are then offered for questions from the audience. I think it’s common courtesy not to give your fellow student a hard time during that part :) No one really asks anything except for a close friend of mine.
Once the presentation wraps up, I’m asked to join a separate link for the oral exam. So I do, along with the three committee members and the exam chair. The exam begins with a private “review” session where the examiners discuss me as a candidate, so I’m asked to leave the meeting at first. Once I’m pinged back in, the oral exam officially starts with a cue from the exam chair.
Then the questions come one after another, with almost no pauses in between. I try my best not to stall or say “I don’t know.” Even for questions I genuinely wasn’t sure about, I still tried to give a plausible answer. Two rounds of questions from the three committee members last about an hour to an hour and a half.
Once that’s done, I’m asked to leave the meeting again for deliberation. Nearly two minutes later, I’m pinged to come back in. That was quick. The exam chair announces the result:
“Congratulations, you have passed.”
That was it.
If you have your defense coming up—especially an M.Sc. defense—I can tell you this: the actual process is less frightening and more pleasant than what you’re probably building up in your head. Also, almost no one fails a master’s defense. Being allowed to present your work is already a very strong sign that you’re going to pass.
I hope reading about my experience helps.
Good luck. You’ve got this