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Month: June 2020

Nathan

Recommendations

Daily Post

It’s useful to get recommendations from others on lots of things connected with the viva.

  • Suggestions on what makes for good and bad examiners.
  • Ideas on what a good thesis looks like.
  • Tips for viva preparation.
  • Tools to help you get ready.
  • Advice on whether or not to have a mock viva.
  • Help with feeling confident before the big day.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for any of these though. Ask for help, listen to recommendations, then sift with the ideas you get from others to see how you might apply them to your circumstances.

And after your viva be prepared to offer your own recommendations. Couch them as best you can in terms of ideas only. Leave space for people to make their own decisions, rather than give them room to doubt themselves.

Nathan

Find Three

Daily Post

Find three things that can help you feel ready on viva day.

Maybe your thesis, a notebook and a bottle of water.

Or a prompt card with keywords, your choice of clothes and a cup of coffee.

Perhaps your good day socks, a picture of your family and the most recent paper by your external.

Or your three things could be a mock viva, a lucky charm and a phone call to a friend.

More generally, find things to help you feel ready by considering work to help you prepare, things that help you feel confident and things that remind you of who are you (and what you can do).

Nathan

Nurture, Cultivate

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A plant won’t grow well if you simply throw water on it and hope the sun shines.

You have to take care of the soil. You have to keep a proactive eye out for pests. You have to know the right time of day to water it. If you want to really help, you might even consider the circumstances of the soil and time of year when you’re planting it.

If survive is a good verb for the viva, maybe nurture is a good verb for viva prep – or cultivate.

You can’t just cram your thesis into your brain the day before your viva. It makes a difference when you read, when you make notes, what questions you reflect on, what the situation is like around you.

So what can you do to make the most of your preparations? How can you cultivate a good set of circumstances?

Nathan

Assume

Daily Post

What assumptions are you making about your viva? Here are some I think are generally valid for the viva.

  • Assume your examiners will be prepared.
  • Assume you’ve written a good thesis.
  • Assume that perfection is out of reach.
  • Assume you have enough time to get ready.
  • Assume that you have what it takes.
  • Assume your viva will follow the general pattern of vivas.
  • Assume that it will be different to every other viva you’ve heard of too.
  • Assume that you will pass.

I like to assume – and think it’s fair to assume too – that once you’ve passed you’ll go and do something even more impressive.

Nathan

Busy Times

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Even before coronavirus, PhD candidates would ask me about what they should do to prepare for their vivas because they were busy.

  • “I have a full time job as well, what should I do?”
  • “I get home late, what should I prioritise?”
  • “How much time do I really need to spend?”

I shared a post a few months ago about the kinds of work to prioritise (here), but time is a hard thing to give an easy answer to. It really depends on circumstances.

Twenty to thirty hours of work at most would be enough. It can be spread out over weeks with a little planning. If you have a full time job or you get home late or you’re just stretched at the moment, it may feel really hard to find an hour in a week – nevermind an hour a day or even thirty minutes of peace.

But that’s what you need: peace, calm, quiet. An hour to breathe and read and think. Thirty minutes to add a few Post-its or make some notes.

If you’re busy you still have to find time to get the prep work you need to do done. I can’t help with finding time, but while you do have prepare for your viva – even if you’re busy – you have a greater duty to be kind to yourself. If you are exhausted, take a break. If you just cannot make time for a task, then rest. Effective viva prep doesn’t happen under pressure.

Nathan

Accumulated Awesomeness

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This is what you take to the viva: a treasure chest you can open to respond to questions, think about your field and share what you know about your research. A hoard you have stored up day by day over the life of your PhD. You didn’t simply find it. You didn’t follow a map and it was waiting for you.

You earned what you’ve got: countless gold coins of accumulated awesomeness. Super-valuable and yours to use in the viva as you need to.

Nathan

Unlucky

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Flashback to one of the earliest posts in this blog: “You’re fortunate, you’re not lucky.”

A tricky question, a tough correction, a difficult discussion – none of these are unlucky. They happen for a reason. You missed something. You made a choice that didn’t come together. You had a lapse of concentration. Some of these things may or may not be beyond your control. But still, you’re not unlucky – that would mean that your PhD and viva were just random events.

You’re not simply lucky if you pass; you’re not simply unlucky if something doesn’t work quite right. And given that a massive majority of viva candidates pass the viva, it’s not likely that you would be unfortunate either.

Nathan

Tensions

Daily Post

As I was setting up one of my last Viva Survivor sessions before social distancing (three months ago!), one of the participants piped up, “Are you here to put the fear of God into us?”

The room had been quiet, and tense with the What’s-all-this-about-then?-wonderings that seminar rooms have before training or workshops. Her question cut through and made everyone smile.

The tension of a room of people was eased with a single question.

There are lots of tensions surrounding the viva:

  • The tension between being an expert and being examined;
  • The tension from the upcoming change of state, candidate to graduate;
  • The tension between of the unknown elements of the viva;
  • The tension between the nerves you probably feel and the confidence you want to have.

It’s important to realise the tensions first, before you try to do something about them. They’re the reason for your actions – a big to-do list won’t get done well unless you get to the causes behind the needs.

General tensions aside, reflect on what’s troubling you about the viva, then explore what you can do about it. And as the person from one of my last seminar-room sessions did, perhaps all you need to do is find the right question to ask.

Nathan

Slicing Carefully

Daily Post

Don’t attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by stupidity.

According to The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts – a book I mentioned a month ago on the blog and which is still echoing around my brain – this little line above is Hanlon’s Razor.

I wonder if stupidity is a little tough, maybe we could say carelessness? Oversight? A slip?

For the viva and viva prep it’s very easy to see something wrong and see (incorrectly) bad intentions behind it. Try not to. Instead of seeing negativity in your past actions, acknowledge that you could have made mistakes, or your supervisor could, or your examiners could be now. Not out of malice, just out of error.

Pause to appreciate motivations and intentions by all concerned in the viva – and definitely don’t call anyone stupid…

Nathan

Two Lists For Viva Prep

Daily Post

Take a sheet of paper, divide it in two.

Down the left column write down problems for your viva. Anything you can think of that you’re worried about, or tricky questions, sticky situations, little worries and fears. Anything and everything.

Now in the right column, write at least one thing you could do for each problem. Ask a friend for help, read your thesis, learn something, do something. At least one thing – you may not know the solution for a problem, but you will definitely have ideas of where to start.

Cut the sheet in half, you now have a list of problems and a list of things that might help.

Which one do you want to focus on for your viva?

(inspired by this evergreen post of wonderful advice by Seth Godin)

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