[robotresearcher]

So there’s no external examiner? That’s very surprising to me, but it certainly refutes my claim.

I agree the supervisor should almost never allow a defense to take place that you won’t pass. But I can’t imagine a school passing a candidate if the external gives an unfavorable report.

I’ve also been involved in many PhD defenses, every one of which had an independent external examiner. Computer Science or closely related, not physical sciences.