Best of Viva Survivors 2021: Viva Prep

It’s an established tradition at Viva Survivors that I finish each year by sharing a selection of posts before the New Year. Over the coming days I’ll share long posts, short posts and posts on confidence; today we start with the important topic of viva prep. In many ways viva prep isn’t complicated, but there are lots of ways someone could get ready for their viva. Here are some ideas:

• 7 Questions To Ask Friends About Their Vivas – your friends can help to shape how you feel about your viva by sharing their experiences.
• In The Margins – “…lots of useful, empty space on the borders of every page in your thesis.”
• Valuable, Interesting, Vague, Ask – the return, after a long absence on the blog, of a valuable tool for summarising your thesis.
• 7 Questions To Explore Your Contribution – seven questions to explore one very important one!
• Kind Prep – “Be kind to yourself as you get ready.”

Getting ready for the viva involves doing the work – but it doesn’t have to be a burden. Sketch a plan before prep time comes, spend time with your thesis, spend time on practice and you’ll be ready.

Tomorrow: a selection of some of my favourite long posts from this year!