TT
The Thesis Defense
🔵 Stable🕐 updated 2026-07-18
🔷 SkillSpec L3
pm-students
Simulate your thesis defense before the real one — a committee of examiner archetypes probing YOUR actual thesis, the questions you hoped nobody would ask, and a debrief with preparation priorities. Use when asked simulate my thesis defense, grill me on my dissertation, what will my committee ask, or prep me for my viva. Produces the defense transcript with your answers stress-tested, the committee's private deliberation, and a debrief ranking the exposed weaknesses by preparability.
What to give it
▸The thesis substance — abstract, chapter summaries, or the full argument; central claim, methods, key findings. The committee probes only what's supplied — thin input gets a thin defense, and says so.
▸The known dread — the question they hope nobody asks; it opens act two
▸The committee's real composition — if known — the methods person, the adjacent-field skeptic, the advisor's rival — archetypes get tuned to it
▸Format and stakes — masters/PhD, open vs. closed defense, revisions culture of the program
✅ The bar it holds itself to
Every skill in this library self-verifies — these are this skill's own quality checks, straight from its definition.
✓Every question traces to the supplied thesis or a noticed absence
✓Follow-ups escalate on weak answers — no examiner accepts the first dodge
✓The deliberation's real assessment differs from the room's polite version where it realistically would
✓The debrief converts every wobble into a rehearsable answer-shape
✓The "I don't know" done well appears and is explicitly endorsed
⚠️ What it refuses to do
Do not pull punches — a friendly defense teaches nothing; the kindness is in the debrief
Do not invent findings or literature to attack — absences ARE the material
Do not let the candidate bluff successfully — rewarding bluffs trains the exact wrong instinct
Do not simulate humiliation — hard questions, professional tone; the goal is a prepared candidate, not a hazed one
Do not stay in character in the debrief
Install
npx pm-claude-skills add --agent claude # or codex · cursor · gemini · hermes
# or one-line MCP (every skill, any client):
claude mcp add pm-skills -- npx -y pm-claude-skills-mcpRelated skills
🔌 Embed this skill
Drop this on your blog, docs, or site — it renders a "Run this skill" card:
<div data-pm-skill="the-thesis-defense"></div>
<script src="https://mohitagw15856.github.io/pm-claude-skills/embed.js" async></script>💬 Discussion
The Thesis Defense is one of 599 open-source professional AI agent skills — all SkillSpec L3.
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