Solo Preparation
If your supervisor is busy or you don’t have a good relationship with them then you can still prepare for your viva. You don’t need them – or anyone else – to help you read your thesis, or annotate it,...
Daily viva help for PhDs
If your supervisor is busy or you don’t have a good relationship with them then you can still prepare for your viva. You don’t need them – or anyone else – to help you read your thesis, or annotate it,...
Two types of questions can seem challenging: unexpected questions and tricky, topic-related questions. You can’t prepare an answer for an unexpected question, but you can be prepared to answer. You can build confidence through a mock viva or by just...
“What determines your fate in the viva?” is one of the more unusual questions I’ve been asked in seminars. Could it be your topic? Perhaps you need to choose something that resonates with your examiners and others. In which case,...
An upcoming viva, like any major life event, can come to dominate your day-to-day life. There’s likely nervousness, possibly excitement, a slight melancholy at another chapter of your life coming to a close. There’s wondering if you’re ready, wondering what...
It can’t be perfect. It can be good, could be great, And you can be too. (many more haiku in the archives)
It’s not likely, but if you find something that’s just wrong, then own up to it. Don’t lead with it in the viva, but go prepared. Make notes and figure out what would make it right. You don’t need to...
It’s possible to overthink about viva questions. Yes, you need to prepare for them; no, you can’t prepare for every question or anticipate everything that might come up. Your examiners might not know which direction the conversation will flow either....
That’s how long my PhD was, from the day I started to the day I had my viva. 1345 days is just over three and a half years. That’s a long time! I didn’t work every day. I took holidays,...
Six years ago, not too long after I started Viva Survivors, I published my first e-book on viva preparation, Fail Your Viva – Twelve Steps To Failing Your PhD (And Fifty-Eight Tips For Passing). I wanted to share what I...
No, you can’t prepare for your viva in just one minute, but there are tasks you can do to help your preparation which only take a minute. Most of them lay foundations for later, deeper work. Here are ten ideas;...