Fear Doesn’t Matter
It’s alright to be anxious or afraid of the viva. Maybe you feel it, maybe you don’t; maybe a little, maybe a lot. It could be specific or vague, keep you awake with “what ifs” or sound asleep with uneasy...
Daily viva help for PhDs
It’s alright to be anxious or afraid of the viva. Maybe you feel it, maybe you don’t; maybe a little, maybe a lot. It could be specific or vague, keep you awake with “what ifs” or sound asleep with uneasy...
A frequent worry in the mind of viva candidates is that their examiners will say something like: I was really surprised that you didn’t mention Famous Paper X by Professor Important in your literature review… What if your examiners say...
Failure at the viva is rare. There are many, many reasons why this is the case. The three that come first to my mind are: you did the research, wrote the thesis and you know how to answer questions about...
I’ve built up a small library of notes, slides and documents about the viva from a variety of sources. On a scrap of paper I found the thought that “viva questions can be probing and specific.” This is really worth...
Here’s a thirty minute viva prep exercise. It aims to help you think differently about your thesis by considering how you could communicate your work with other people. All you need is something to write on and write with. Take...
There’s an old fable about a group of blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time. In the story all of them think they’ve found something different because they each touch a different part: a snake, a leaf,...
How much work do you need to do to prepare for the viva? How do you get ready when you have so many other things going on? How do you deal with anxiety? It’s all about finding a balance. Balance...
…go tell someone what your viva was like. Tell them what you did to prepare. Tell them what made a difference. Tell them what happened in the viva. Tell them what questions came up. Tell them how you felt. Tell...
My youngest sister is nearly eight years my junior. It feels at times like we’re separated by generations. I’m sure she was the first person I heard use the words “ceebs” as a contraction of “can’t be bothered.” It’s a...
I used to be annoyed with past-Nathan all the time. past-Nathan was the guy who covered papers with scrawl. past-Nathan was the guy who couldn’t organise his notes. past-Nathan filed things away in bizarre places so I couldn’t find things....