How to Run an EDAIC Part 2 Mock Viva at Home: A Practical Protocol

The EDAIC Part 2 structured oral examination (SOE) is the final hurdle between you and the European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unlike the Part 1 written papers, the viva tests your ability to think aloud, structure clinical reasoning under pressure, and respond to follow-up questions that adapt to your answers. Many candidates find the oral format daunting—especially if their training programme offers limited formal viva practice. The good news is that you can run effective EDAIC mock viva sessions at home, alone or with a colleague, using a repeatable protocol anchored to the official syllabus.

This article sets out a practical, step-by-step method for EDAIC Part 2 viva practice. It will not reproduce confidential exam stations—those belong to ESAIC and change each cycle—but it will teach you how to build your own guided-question ladders, time your preparation and delivery, record and score your answers, and retest weak domains until your structure and reasoning improve.

Why Home Mock Vivas Work

The EDAIC Part 2 viva is criterion-referenced: examiners score you against a defined standard of competence, not against other candidates. That standard rewards clear structure, safe clinical reasoning, and the ability to justify your decisions when challenged. A well-designed practice oral anaesthesia exam at home trains exactly those skills.

Home sessions also let you:

• Control the pace. You decide which syllabus domains to drill and how often to repeat a station.
• Identify knowledge gaps early. Recording your answers exposes vague reasoning and gaps in pharmacology, physiology or guidelines before exam day.
• Build confidence speaking aloud. Many trainees read extensively but rarely verbalise their reasoning; home vivas force you to articulate answers as you will in the real exam.
• Simulate exam conditions. Timed preparation, a single attempt at each question, and scoring against published criteria replicate the pressure of the SOE.

Key point: Home mock vivas are formative practice, not leaked exam content. The goal is to train your method of answering, not to memorise specific stations.

The Six-Step Home Mock Viva Protocol

1. Choose a Syllabus Domain and Write a Guided-Question Ladder

The official EDAIC Part 2 syllabus (published on the ESAIC website) divides content into domains: general anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia, intensive care, pain, emergency medicine, and sub-specialties (cardiac, neuro, paediatric, obstetric, thoracic). Each viva station explores one domain through a guided-question ladder: an opening clinical scenario followed by a series of follow-up questions that deepen or shift focus depending on your answers.

To write your own ladder:

1. Pick a domain. For example, "obstetric anaesthesia" or "cardiac intensive care."
2. Draft an opening scenario. Keep it realistic and exam-appropriate: "A 34-year-old woman at 38 weeks' gestation presents for elective caesarean section. She has a BMI of 42 and a history of asthma. Discuss your anaesthetic plan."
3. Write 4–6 follow-up questions. These should probe structure ("How will you assess her airway?"), physiology ("Explain the cardiovascular changes of pregnancy relevant to neuraxial anaesthesia"), pharmacology ("Which local anaesthetic will you use for the spinal and why?"), safety ("What are your criteria for converting to general anaesthesia?"), and guidelines ("Summarise the OAA/AAGBI guidance on failed intubation in obstetrics").
4. Ensure the ladder has depth. Early questions should be broad; later questions should challenge nuance or ask you to justify a decision.

Use standard textbooks, the ESAIC recommended reading list, and national guidelines (UK Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association, European Resuscitation Council, etc.) to ensure your questions reflect current best practice. Do not invent facts or guidelines.

2. Set a Timer for Preparation

In the real EDAIC Part 2 viva, you typically receive the opening scenario and have a short preparation period to gather your thoughts. Replicate this at home by allowing yourself a brief preparation window (commonly around two minutes, though you should confirm current exam format details on the official ESAIC website):

• Read the opening scenario.
• Start your preparation timer.
• Jot down a brief structure (bullet points, headings, key drugs or thresholds) on paper.
• When the timer sounds, stop writing.

This trains you to organise your answer quickly and resists the temptation to over-prepare or look up every detail.

3. Record Your Answer (Voice Memo or Video)

Now deliver your answer aloud, as if speaking to an examiner. Use your phone's voice-memo app or a simple video recording. Speak for 8–10 minutes, working through the opening scenario and the follow-up questions you wrote.

• Start with structure. "I will approach this case by assessing the patient, planning the anaesthetic technique, preparing for complications, and ensuring post-operative care."
• Answer each follow-up question in turn. Pause briefly between questions to simulate the examiner's interjection.
• Think aloud. Verbalise your reasoning: "I would choose levobupivacaine 0.5% heavy because it provides reliable motor block for surgery, has a lower risk of cardiotoxicity than racemic bupivacaine, and the hyperbaric formulation ensures predictable spread in the sitting position."
• Admit uncertainty honestly. If you cannot recall a specific guideline, say so and outline a safe, logical approach instead.

Do not stop and restart the recording. Treat it as a single, timed attempt.

4. Listen Back and Score Structure, Content and Reasoning

Play the recording and score yourself against three criteria:

Use a simple three-point scale for each criterion: Strong / Adequate / Weak. A pass-standard answer scores Adequate or Strong on all three. If you score Weak on any criterion, that domain needs more work.

Exam tip: Examiners often say they are marking your process as much as your knowledge. A well-structured answer that admits a knowledge gap and outlines a safe plan can still pass; a disorganised answer full of facts often fails.

5. Identify Gaps and Revise Targeted Content

Review the recording and note specific gaps:

• Did you forget the dose of intrathecal morphine?
• Could you not explain aortocaval compression?
• Did you confuse the OAA failed-intubation algorithm with the DAS guidelines?

Write these gaps on a revision list. Spend 20–30 minutes immediately after the session reading the relevant section of a standard text (e.g. current editions of well-regarded anaesthesia textbooks on the ESAIC recommended reading list, such as Anaesthesia and Intensive Care A–Z or the Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia) or the official guideline. Do not try to memorise entire chapters; focus on the specific knowledge you lacked.

6. Retest the Same Domain One Week Later

Repetition is the key to long-term retention and fluency. One week after your first attempt, write a different guided-question ladder in the same domain (e.g. a different obstetric scenario: pre-eclampsia, placenta praevia, post-partum haemorrhage) and repeat steps 2–5. Compare your second recording to your first. You should find your structure tighter, your reasoning clearer, and fewer content gaps.

Cycle through all the major domains over 8–12 weeks, returning to weak areas more frequently.

Running Mock Vivas with a Colleague

If you have a study partner also preparing for the EDAIC Part 2 viva, take turns as candidate and examiner:

• The "examiner" writes the guided-question ladder and asks the follow-up questions aloud, adapting them based on the candidate's answers (just as a real examiner would).
• The candidate answers without notes, as in the real exam.
• After 8–10 minutes, swap roles and debrief: the examiner gives structured feedback on structure, content and reasoning; the candidate reflects on what felt difficult.

This peer format is closer to the real SOE and helps both participants learn—the examiner deepens their own knowledge by writing questions and listening critically.