Behind Worry

It’s not wrong to worry about the viva. Worry is a very typical, human response to a sensitive, pressured and important event. Years of work build to one meeting. You want it to go well!

It’s not wrong to worry. It’s not wrong to be nervous. Neither state is comfortable, but neither state will diminish your work or impact how likely you are to succeed.

To move past worry you have to explore why you feel that way. When you know what your worry is you can do something about it.

• If you worry about your examiners you can find out more about them.
• If you worry that you’re not ready you can do more prep.
• If you worry that you don’t know enough about the process of vivas you can take time to learn more.

It may be that you can’t remove all sources of worry in your life, but you can probably take action to reduce the worries you feel about your viva.

And for all the worries you feel you will still succeed at your viva.