The Big What If

Your thesis isn’t perfect. You’re not perfect. Your examiners aren’t perfect. Your viva won’t be perfect.

And all of that is fine. Remove the possibility. You can’t have something related to all of this be perfect, so try not to worry about it.

There are real worries related to the viva though. There are situations that could come up, hypothetically, and it’s not wrong to worry…

…but if you find yourself worrying about some big “what if” situation then you have to do the responsible thing and think about how to make the situation better.

  • What if I forget something? What could you do to help you remember?
  • What if your examiners don’t like something? How could you engage with their questions?
  • What if the viva is long? What could you do to manage your energy levels?
  • What if something in your thesis isn’t as clear as you want? How could you make it clear to your examiners in the viva?

What do you worry about? What is the big “what if” for you?

What are you going to do about it?