Thesis & Graduation

Defense Rehearsal Timer

Run per-block countdowns for your thesis defense rehearsal. Choose your time slot, start the clock, and compare your actual talk duration to the budgeted time from the Thesis Defense Presentation guide.

Blocks are from the official time-budget tables. Learn the full structure.

Not started
00:00

Blocks in plan

Summary: elapsed vs. budgeted

Block Budgeted Elapsed Difference

Before you start

Get comfortable with your slides, clear your desk, and close Slack. Set a timer for 30 seconds to remind yourself to breathe and settle between blocks. The clock here tracks elapsed talk time, not your thinking time. If you pause for breath, do not stop the timer—the committee will not stop the defense for you.

Frequently asked questions

Can I edit the block durations?
The timer pulls from the official time-budget tables on the Thesis Defense Presentation page. Before you start your rehearsal, modify your slides to match those budgets exactly—or build a custom timing chart in your speaker notes and manually adjust the budgets here by clicking on each block's duration. The timer records how long each block actually took, so you can compare plan versus reality.
What if I run over on one block?
The timer keeps running. At the end of your rehearsal, the summary shows elapsed time versus budgeted time for every block, including over/under for each. This is the point: rehearsal exposes where your talk is long. Use the summary to decide what to cut from the next draft, or allocate more time to that section in future runs.
Can I pause and resume later?
Yes. Pause stops the clock. When you resume, the timer picks up where it left off. The block-level times remain accurate. However, the timer does not persist across page reloads—if you close the tab or refresh, the timer resets. For a real rehearsal, do not close the page.
How do I skip to the next block?
Press the Skip button. The current block is marked done and its elapsed time is recorded. The timer advances to the next block and starts fresh. Use this if you need to jump over a section or if you finished earlier than expected.
Does the timer work offline?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser with no server calls. You can save this page and open it from file:// on your laptop right before your rehearsal, and it will work perfectly without internet.

Sources