Abstract
Oral examination, sometimes called viva which is a Spanish word means alive or vital, should be considered seriously because it gives a clear and direct impression about the student's level of education, and how to behave when facing difficult situation. Considerable number of students feels very unhappy about oral examination and probably prefers the written ones. Oral examination also gives an idea about the personality, the behavior, the way of communication, and the response of the student to a difficult situation. Napoleon the French commander said: it is easier for hire to participate thousand times in a battle field than to site once in the examination hall. Oral examination is one of the oldest methods of student's evaluation, and probably it was the only way to examine in the ancient days. In oral examination, the students rights should come on the top of everything and the benefit of doubt should be on the student's side always. Unfortunately, sometimes mix up occurs between under and post graduate students and even between different levels of post graduate students, the same question may be given to all levels for that reason a clear cut sharp line should be drawn between the different levels of students, and specifications in the questions for each level in mandatory. Almost all students are anxious during oral examination, this anxiety is usually associated with lower oral score, therefore sympathy and empathy is necessary from the examiners side. To perform oral examination, four corner stones are mandatory which consist of students, examiners, questions and examination hall. Perils and pitfalls may arise in any of the above. The author is putting down his perspective on the structured oral examination which consist of giving mark for each separate questions in addition to separate and secret score from each member of the examination committee, and how ideally should be performed to reduce or to avoid pitfalls and achieve justice as much as possible.
