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Month: May 2023

Nathan

My Two Questions

Daily Post

In the opening minutes of any viva session I ask two simple questions of the cohort:

When is your viva?

&

How do you feel?

Both of these questions, and their responses, are really helpful to me. I start to think about adapting the session I’ll present. I have a plan of course, but if I know that everyone has submitted their thesis then I know parts I don’t need to emphasise as much. If lots of people say they feel uncertain about their viva then I’ll find a few moments to talk about expectations.

My two questions help outside of viva prep sessions. Consider:

  • When is your viva? Whenever it is, you have time. If you have days then you have time to work towards being ready. If you have weeks you can invest that time in slow and steady preparation if you want to. If you have months before submission then you can carefully build your confidence.
  • How do you feel? Whatever you feel is not fixed. If you feel great then let’s cement that. If you feel uncertain then let’s help you with some information. If you feel unprepared you have time to work on that. If you feel nervous you’re not alone! Most candidates do and that’s OK.

Consider the time you have left and what you can use it for.

Consider how you feel and how you want to feel – and then decide what you will do as a result.

 

PS: One thing you could do is go to Kickstarter and back my campaign to print 101 Steps To A Great Viva! The campaign hit the target over the weekend so now I’ll definitely be producing the print run next month. If you want to make sure you get a copy – and possibly pick up some extra rewards for supporting the campaign – then please go and check it out.

Nathan

Your Thesis

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Your thesis is proof that you did the work. It’s the best summary you are able to make of years of research you’ve done.

Your thesis is a talisman to hold on to. It’s one more thing you can look to for confidence in your capability and knowledge.

Your thesis is a resource to use in the viva. Read it in preparation and annotate it to make it more helpful..

Your thesis is one book, but can mean lots of things.

What’s the most helpful story you can tell yourself about your thesis?

Nathan

Risky

Daily Post

Are there risks of danger, problems or disappointment in the viva?

In general when we consider risk it’s worth assessing three elements:

  • The Bad Thing: the problem or outcome you’re concerned about.
  • The Likelihood Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of how certain The Bad Thing is to happen.
  • The Potential Impact Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of what might follow if The Bad Thing happens.

So, for example: your examiners find a typo. That’s very likely in a book with tens of thousands of words, but it wouldn’t have a great impact on your success or the work needed to correct it.

Or: your examiners could find a section in your thesis that they don’t agree with. There’s a fair chance of that happening when considering new and interesting research. The impact could be an in-depth discussion of the points in the viva or perhaps a request for certain amendments to your thesis.

An extreme example: it’s possible to fail your viva. That would have an enormous negative impact in many ways – but it isn’t very likely at all. It’s a very rare situation.

If you think or feel something about a potential Bad Thing, ask yourself how likely it is. Ask yourself what might happen. Then consider what you really need to do in response, either to reduce the chance of it happening or lessen the impact if it does.

Nathan

Disagreeing With Examiners

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Tension is created when opposing perspectives meet, in the viva or elsewhere. In daily life that could be very challenging depending on the situation, but it doesn’t have to be that way in the viva.

Disagreement in the viva just means that there is something to talk about.

If there’s disagreement then the best thing you can do is explore why. What reasons do you or your examiners have for your positions or beliefs? What’s the evidence? What does that mean? Where do you have common ground and where do you really differ? And what does that mean?

A difference of opinion could mean simply understanding the other view. It could lead to an acknowledgment of an alternative in corrections to your thesis. It could be due to a simple mistake or error on someone’s part; discussion could help to resolve tension that’s purely accidental.

If you encounter disagreement in your viva, it may not be a big thing or a bad thing, but it’s something.

Something to talk about and resolve.

Nathan

A Delay

Daily Post

There are many reasons why a viva might be delayed.

Examiner or candidate illness could lead to a date change. Traffic or transport disruption could lead to a last minute change. Simple, random life stuff could force back the start time by half an hour on the day of a viva.

Whatever the circumstances, no delay to the viva – of weeks, days or minutes – will feel good.

To build up and get ready for meeting examiners and then have to wait could make someone feel extra-nervous; it might have other practical considerations too, like arranging childcare, checking transport options or having to rebook a room.

If it were to happen to you, remember that the feelings will pass. The situation will resolve. It won’t directly impact the viva itself. All of your preparation still counts. You might have a little longer to wait but you will still make it through.

Nathan

Five Questions

Daily Post

A little exercise that might help with viva prep and getting ready.

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into quarters, giving yourself space to write notes in response to the following questions:

  1. What were your greatest challenges doing your PhD?
  2. What would you change about how you did your research?
  3. How would you summarise your thesis’ contribution to knowledge?
  4. What changes did you make during your research process?

Read through your responses. Turn the page over and write: 5. So what have you learned during your PhD?

Respond to the question on the second page while reflecting on the previous four responses.

You’ll have lots of specific and personal learning from your PhD journey, but your response to the fifth question could be summarised as a lot.

 

PS: One more question! If you’re looking for more viva help, can you please take a look at and support my Kickstarter campaign, running until 31st May? 101 Steps To A Great Viva is a helpful little guide to getting ready and I’m crowdfunding a print run. Any support or sharing is greatly appreciated 🙂

Nathan

The Big Announcement

Update

I’ve written a helpful little guide to the PhD viva and I need your help to make it a reality.

From today until May 31st I’m running a Kickstarter campaign to fund a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I’ve nurtured this idea for a long time and I’m thrilled to be sharing it now.

Draft interior pages from 101 Steps To A Great Viva

If you find Viva Survivors helpful then please take a look at my Kickstarter. I think you’ll like what you find and if you think it’s worth backing there are some great rewards to say thank you:

  • Copies of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, including limited earlybird pledges at the time of writing!
  • Signed copies of my last book Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology.
  • Your name listed in the special thanks section of 101 Steps To A Great Viva.

There are also a limited number of very special pledges to have a 1-2-1 conversation with me over Zoom! We can talk viva prep, advice, respond to particular questions and just go over anything you need for your viva.

Thank you so much for reading and do take a look at 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I’m so happy to share this with you today and I hope it can help you or someone you know. Pledge your support and help me make a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva!

Draft cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

Nathan

Prep Is A Workout

Daily Post

Viva prep is a series of tasks and activities that help you towards being ready for the specific challenge of your viva. From that perspective, I think it’s fair to think of it as a workout: you’re exercising specific mental muscles, getting in a good academic condition for the work you’ll do on the day responding to your examiners.

Viva prep is building on foundations you’ve created through your life and PhD journey; like many workout programmes it requires a little preparation itself, a little planning so that you space the work out.

(no pun intended)

Like a workout though, you have to actually do the work. You have to read your thesis, make notes and annotations, rehearse for being in the viva and more. And like a workout that work is personal to every candidate: every candidate has a unique set of needs they have to satisfy to reach the ready state they want, even if there are general principles that will help every candidate as they work towards being ready.

So: what are your needs? How are you going to workout in preparation for your viva?

Nathan

How Much Do You Say?

Daily Post

This is a very common question about the viva and I have a lot of thoughts!

  • The most honest response is simply, “It depends,” because it really does depend on the question, the discussion, the situation and what is really being asked.
  • In some situations you might want to convince your examiners of something. You respond by saying as much as you need to: you give details and reasoning and respond to any objections.
  • Sometimes you might respond to a question in the viva with as much as you can: you share what you know, you check your thesis and perhaps reach a limit for what you can add to the discussion (or at least you reach the limit that you feel in the moment).
  • Maybe you encounter a question and don’t really know what you can say. You share a little or offer thoughts because you don’t know exactly the sort of thing your examiners want. That’s fine: if they need more they can ask for more. It might also help to ask them directly, to ask them for clarity or information.

How much do you say in response to a question? It depends on the question. It depends on the situation. It depends on your knowledge, your experience and your research. It depends on knowing what your examiners are looking for.

To know that you might have to ask them a question or two.

Nathan

The Question No-one Asks

Daily Post

Almost thirteen years of workshops, seminars and webinars and no-one has ever asked me, “What do I do if I feel fine about my viva?”

  • I’ve met candidates who feel excited, but they also admit to needing to know more about the process.
  • I’ve met candidates who feel capable, but want to know how to prepare well.
  • I’ve met candidates who are reasonably confident and yet they don’t know what to do about a particular problem or issue they’ve realised.

And I’ve met a lot of candidates who are nervous, uncertain of the process or unsure of what to do to prepare.

People feel lots of things about their viva. I’ve never met a candidate who told me they just felt fine about theirs.

 

Of course, if you do then continue to do whatever has helped you to feel that way! Tell me (and everyone!) what your secret is. Relax, read your thesis and continue to build on how you feel.

If you don’t feel fine, which seems far more likely, then reflect on what’s holding you back.

What do you need to know? What do you need to do? Who do you need to ask for help?

Then take the steps you have to take to lead yourself to being ready for the viva. Maybe you won’t arrive at fine, but you can certainly feel capable and confident for meeting your examiners.

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