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Year: 2023

Nathan

Hitting The Target

Daily Post

An archer doesn’t get close to the target consistently through luck. If their arrow flies and strikes the bullseye they have been fortunate: this particular moment of skill has been rewarded.

It takes time, effort and learning to build capability to the point where someone can consistently hit their target. An archer has a different skillset from a researcher, but both need to demonstrate a great level of commitment and growth tif they are to be good enough to meet the challenges that face them.

When you sit with your examiners, discuss your work and respond to challenging questions you will show yourself to be capable of hitting your target consistently. There’s no luck: it takes time, effort and learning, everything you will have invested in during your PhD journey.

Nathan

Matters Of Context

Daily Post

Many aspects of the viva, viva prep, viva expectations and what to do in the many related situations depend on the circumstances.

  • Do you start to prepare two weeks or four weeks before?
  • Do you need to admit when you’ve spotted a mistake in your thesis?
  • Should you have an examiner whose work you’ve cited in your bibliography?
  • Can you challenge an examiner’s comment?
  • Should you invite your supervisor to your viva?
  • Is a mock viva necessary?
  • Do you need to focus on your methods, your results or your conclusions more?

So many questions. So many scenarios. No easy answers.

It depends.

Explore the context. What does that question mean in your situation? What do you need to do? What is the real issue that you are unsure about?

Nathan

The Distinction

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Viva prep is the set of tasks and activities related to your research and thesis that help you be prepared for meeting with your examiners. You feel comfortable responding to their questions and engaging with the discussion. Viva prep involves reading your thesis, making notes, checking papers and rehearsing.

Getting ready for the viva requires viva prep, but also preparing oneself emotionally for the viva. It involves feeling confident. It involves reflecting on your doctoral journey to realise that your work has value and that you are talented. Getting ready is a lot of practical work and a lot of hidden work.

Viva prep is something that you do in the weeks leading up to your viva, but getting ready for your viva is something that you start when you begin your PhD – if not earlier.

Nathan

Make A Good Space

Daily Post

A few weeks ago I shared four pointers that help when preparing for a video viva:

  • Read the regulations because then you know what your institution expects.
  • Talk to friends so you can find out about their recent experiences.
  • Practise! to rehearse for responding to questions.
  • Make a good space for yourself and that way you will have a good environment for doing what you need to do.

It struck me today that all of these apply for preparing for in-person vivas as well.

There are differences; the good space you need for an in-person viva is the space you’ll prepare in rather than the space for your viva. Even then you can do things to help yourself. Ahead of an in-person viva you can check the room out, be certain it has what you need and make arrangements for anything else that you require.

In-person or over-video, the viva is still the same event. There are differences because of the format, but they are not that great.

Neither are the differences in preparation.

Nathan

An Invitation

Daily Post

Your examiners are invited to be at your viva. Like most invitations they can decline if they need to or want to.

A viva is a much bigger commitment than the hours on the day for an examiner. If they accept and attend it’s because, more than anything, they find the invitation to be compelling. There is something about your work as it’s been presented that makes them think it will be a good use of their time.

Reflect on what your examiners might be seeing in your work. Focus on that as part of your preparations. How can you share your research with them? What do you need to do to be prepared? And how can you make sure that the invitation they’ve said yes to results in a good experience for them?

When you have ideas for that question you’ll also have ideas for what will help the viva to be a good experience for you too.

Nathan

Hats & Rabbits

Daily Post

A magician lays their top hat on the table after showing that there’s nothing inside.

They cover the hat with a silk handkerchief and wave a wand – and just like that a rabbit appears!

It’s magic! We are amazed!

And depending on our age, savvy and insight we might know that the rabbit didn’t just materialise. We may suspect hidden compartments, mirrors or misdirection, but the effect is all the same. However they did it, they pulled a rabbit out of their hat.

We might not know the exact methods involved, but if we think even for a moment we can surmise that it’s taken years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence to pull a rabbit out of a hat. It looks amazing. It looks impossible. But it’s the only way: they really worked to make it happen.

When we reflect on that level of commitment it seems all the more special I think.

 

Understanding how someone talented became that good, even if you can’t understand all of the steps along the way, helps you to appreciate them all the more.

Ahead of your viva, turn that reflection on yourself. Realise and remember that the magic you do, the special feats that you can perform in your work and in the viva, are the result of years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence.

You may not be pulling a rabbit out of a hat in your viva but you can create a suitably great impression all the same.

Nathan

Good Day Socks Work!

Daily Post

I wore a pair of my good day socks to the viva – socks that I always wore when I wanted the day to be a good day – and I passed!

After my viva I continued to wear the socks on days I thought would be challenging: a day I was doing a seminar for the first time or travelling and had to make a series of connections. The socks helped me to feel better.

Were they lucky socks? No! They just helped me to navigate challenging days more easily. I felt better wearing them – and realised eventually that I could have every day be a good day if I had enough pairs!

I also have particular shirts, a picture that my daughter drew for me and a special paperweight that help me. All of them help me to feel better when I have something difficult to do.

Do my good day socks or other comforts have anything to do with the particulars of my work? No, they’re just part of the story I tell myself that leads me to feel confident.

Good day socks work for me, but they might not work for you. Before your viva, take time to find something that will help. Look for the little things that can help lead you to the confidence that helps you feel ready.

Nathan

No Luck Required

Daily Post

PhD success is built on work.

The happy accident can happen. You can be in the right place at the right time. When all things are considered though, you put yourself in that happy place with the decisions, determination and dedication in your work.

Hard work takes you to the viva. You can’t pass by being lucky. You will pass through your own efforts.

 

PS: One way you can remind yourself of all the good you’ve done would be by playing How You Got Here, a reflective writing game about the PhD journey that’s part of the Viva Help Bundle – a collection of helpful viva prep resources on sale for £6 until Thursday 30th November 2023 – that’s today!

Nathan

Prep Is Personal

Daily Post

The purpose of viva prep is universal among PhD candidates: it’s part of the work that someone does to help them get ready for the particular challenge they’ll find in the viva.

The principles of viva prep are sound for any postgraduate researcher: read your thesis, annotate it, write summaries of things you need to think about and rehearse for meeting your examiners.

The doing of viva prep is individual for every PhD candidate.

No two candidates have the same prep because no two candidates are the same. Every thesis is unique and every set of circumstances is different. There are similarities and generalisations that can be made, but when it comes to doing the work every candidate has to pause, plan and then do the work in a way that suits them.

Plan the work in advance. Fit it around your other responsibilities. Get the support you need.

Prep is personal.

 

PS: Looking for more ideas of what you can do to be ready for your viva or how to get the work done? Check out the Viva Help Bundle: three great resources for a special price of £6 until November 30th 2023. The bundle has an edited book of 150+ Viva Survivors posts, my successfully Kickstarted 101 Steps To A Great Viva and an original reflective writing game on the PhD journey. Please do take a look!

Nathan

The Highlights

Daily Post

Highlighter pens can be a useful part of a viva prep toolkit.

You can use one colour to show key references and another to make essential information stand out. You could add a colourful edge to specific pages or mark the start of chapters. It may not be common, but if it meets your needs you could even keep track of typos and future edits with a careful colour selection.

Highlighters are a simple way to show something important but also a clever reminder that you have work in your thesis that matters. You draw attention to what needs to be seen or shared.

As well as edits, references and information, consider using highlighters for the highlights: what do you need to be able to see at a glance to share with your examiners?

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