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Year: 2024

Nathan

Unrecorded

Daily Post

The vast majority of viva experiences are unrecorded.

Candidates don’t typically write an account of it or give an interview afterwards. Until fairly recently vivas were occasionally audio-recorded for quality assurance but it wasn’t common at all to record vivas beyond examiners’ paperwork and notes.

During and after the surge to video vivas during 2020 and 2021, the opportunity for recording vivas has grown massively. It’s now possible to record many vivas quite easily with a few software options. My suspicion, based on hunch and anecdotes, is that vivas still are not typically recorded in this way though.

I can see that it might be helpful for some candidates if they were. I am confident that no major objections would be made if a candidate wanted to make a recording to review the viva discussion afterwards.

(I can’t imagine it would be something the candidate would watch a lot though!)

 

It would be helpful if PhD candidates reflected and recorded their experiences after the viva though. It could help someone else to hear or read a short account of what happened at your viva, what you thought and what that might mean.

It might also be a good memento of the day: a reminder when you encounter future challenges that you are very capable of rising to big things.

 

PS: one thing that will be recorded in the near future is my Viva Survivor live webinar on Thursday 5th December 2024! I’d love everyone to be there for the full three hours, but if you have to arrive a little after the start or dash away before the end there will be a four-week catch-up recording you can stream. More details here, do check it out.

Nathan

Set Your Intention

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You intend to pass your viva! So what will you do?

You intend to submit the best thesis you can! So what will you do?

You intend to respond as well as you can in the viva! So what will you do?

 

Intention helps. Actions follow intentions. You can set a goal and hope or you can decide what steps you will take. The latter is probably more effective!

If you intend to prepare well then perhaps make a plan for your viva prep. Leave room for the unexpected. Make good time for you to do it when you won’t be stressed or tired.

If you intend to engage well in the viva then rehearse. Have a mock viva. Talk with friends. Read your thesis. Do a lot of thinking.

 

If you intend to pass your viva then don’t just hope that it all goes well. Make it certain.

Nathan

Not The Reason

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I’ve lost count of the number of PhD candidates who’ve told me that they’re worried about receiving critical questions.

Some are worried about particular criticisms. Some are worried about hypothetical questions. Some are worried about the questions that they haven’t anticipated.

All are being rational.

It’s not that they should worry, more that it’s not irrational to worry about critical viva questions. Given the amount of work involved in getting to the viva – and given the outcome that a candidate would be hoping for – it’s understandable to worry.

As ever, in situations where someone worries it helps to ask why.

  • If you’re worried about a particular criticism, why? What’s the reason?
  • If you’re worried about a particular hypothetical question, why? If you’ve thought about it, can’t you do something to think about how you might respond?
  • If you’re worried about the undefined mass of questions you’ve never considered, why? Is there nothing you can do to change how you feel?

I have a three-word aphorism that I always try to keep in mind (both for myself and others): work past worry. Worry is human, but action will always take you closer to resolving the situation than worrying alone.

If you worry, do something.

If you worry there’s a reason for that worry. If you do something you can work towards the concern being satisfied in some way.

Remember as well that whatever question your examiners ask, there is always a reason motivating them. If you’re not sure how to respond then try to consider the reason for their question in the first place.

Nathan

Suggestions, Not Solutions

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If someone says do X to help with your viva problem Y…

  • …you shouldn’t do X if you’re not confident it’s a good idea.
  • …you shouldn’t do X if you don’t think it will meet your needs.
  • …you shouldn’t do X if your problem was Z rather than Y!
  • …you shouldn’t do nothing either if X seems like it won’t meet your needs.

Advice isn’t an order. Advice is an option. Assuming that anyone you look to for help is offering it with good intentions, ideas are still suggestions: they are not definite solutions to a problem.

Getting ready for the viva can be a stressful time for many reasons. Don’t let suggestions that aren’t suitable add to that.

If you can, be precise when making requests for help; if you receive suggestions that aren’t solutions to your situation then you have to decide on the next step.

Do you adapt the advice? Do you continue exploring options with the person who made the suggestion? Or do you look elsewhere?

 

PS: I’ll be offering a lot of helpful suggestions at Viva Survivor, my live webinar on Thursday 5th December 2024. I’ve delivered it for university groups for over a decade – to more than 7000 PhD candidates – and this is my first independent webinar. Do take a look and see if it might be a help – just a suggestion of course! 🙂

Nathan

Problems And Solutions

Daily Post

In the last four years I’ve tried various lighting options when I present webinars.

Natural light can work well but only when the sun is shining and typically only in the morning. I’ve tried ringlights and they make me look like a ghost. Mostly I have hoped that it will work out and people will be able to see me.

And none of this matters any more: after my summer break I noticed the new “portrait” option in Zoom. A clever filter darkens my background and lightens me. This tiny bit of contrast makes a great difference!

It’s an unexpected solution to the problem I had.

 

All of which is a roundabout way to my point: it can be very easy to focus on one type of solution to a problem. I tried many lighting options but needed something different. Perhaps the problems you face for your viva have different solutions than you expect – or perhaps they are different problems altogether.

  • How will I remember everything for my viva?! Maybe you don’t need to remember everything, perhaps you need to annotate your thesis effectively.
  • How can I get ready when I don’t have time?! Sketching a plan to break the work down will help, as will remembering all the work you’ve already done.
  • How do I get rid of my nerves?! Why not focus instead on building confidence? Build confidence to offset nervousness, rather than try to eliminate nerves.

I spent a long time wondering about how to light myself for the camera – and realised when I landed on a solution that this was only one way to look at the problem.

If you have any viva-related problems and they seem intractable, perhaps a helpful next step is to consider whether or not there are any other ways to look at the situation.

Nathan

Defining The Unknown Viva

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Every viva is an unknown until someone experiences it – but that doesn’t mean that the viva itself is completely unknowable.

  • Your university has regulations that govern how vivas proceed. This leaves a lot of blanks for individual vivas but lays out formally what’s expected of examiners, candidates and others involved.
  • Stories of vivas past create a body of general experiences that show patterns and trends of vivas. Viva lengths, key questions, structure, flow, tone and more – there are no guarantees but a definite sense of what’s appropriate.
  • The stories of PhD graduates from your department can help shape your expectations of the common practices for vivas in your discipline. For example, in my department it was very common for candidates to be asked to give presentations to start the viva.

Taken together these can all give you something to expect about your unknown viva: you can’t know for certain exactly what will happen, but given the possibilities you can know that you will be ready for it.

Nathan

Hyped

Daily Post

It’s sometimes said that excitement and nervousness are two sides of the same coin.

That might suggest there’s no control over which side is shown, like a coin toss, but really it’s just focus. If you try to focus on excitement that’s what you’ll find more and more.

You could focus on the opportunity to talk about your work with experienced academics. You could think about the contribution you’ve made to your discipline. You could think about how close you are to finishing your PhD!

It won’t eliminate nerves, but getting excited can help a lot to reduce the discomfort of nervousness – and maybe it will give you one more reason to feel confident for your viva.

Nathan

Important Future Dates

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Your submission date: it helps to be mindful of when this will be. Check what paperwork needs to be completed for your institution – including notice of submission forms – and also double-check whether you have a specific deadline when you must have submitted your thesis.

Your first day of viva prep: it doesn’t matter so much when it is or what you do. Plan for it in advance. Decide what you will do. Start with a good intention.

The day before your viva: deep breath, final checks, decide on what you will wear and pack your bag (if needed).

Viva Day: do I need to say anything more?

Final submission deadline: most candidates are asked to complete minor corrections. Universities have regulations that state the amount of time for completing minor corrections. Therefore as soon as you know your viva date you can estimate when you will have to have your corrected thesis completed and submitted.

Graduation Day: attendance is your choice, but this marks the date when you’ll officially be Dr Somebody – and that will be something worth celebrating!

 

PS: and one important future date is Thursday 5th December 2024 – when I’ll be sharing my live Viva Survivor webinar! Full details at the link – do check it out.

Nathan

January Viva Blues

Daily Post

This post is for all those people who have recently submitted their thesis or are just about to – and who won’t be having their viva now until some time early next year.

Your uni will close in about a month and everyone will go home for a few weeks. The building lights will go out, the doors will be locked and out of office emails will fire at every little electronic message that comes their way.

Perhaps you, your family and friends will celebrate Christmas or another festival. Certainly there will be festive occasions all around you.

 

And you’ll continue to think about your viva. You might have a date. You might not. But either way you’ll be thinking:

“It’s coming.”

Hopefully it won’t distract too much from all of the other things you might rather be doing. If it threatens to do that, then consider some of the following:

  • Keep a small notebook where you can record thoughts or worries about the viva.
  • Once every few days take ten minutes to think about any issues that have been noted.
  • Sketch a plan for January when you are able to return to your typical working patterns.
  • If you feel like there isn’t enough time for everything you will need to do then consider some small, finite tasks to do over the winter break (like making lists or writing short summaries).

January Viva Blues don’t have to dominate your thinking over the Christmas break.

Nathan

Effort

Daily Post

What did you learn in order to get through the first year of your PhD?

What did you figure out about your research area before you were halfway through your PhD journey?

What challenges did you overcome along the way?

How many pages does your thesis have?

How many chapters?

How many references in your bibliography?

How many days did you show up to do the work of your PhD?

 

Perfection isn’t possible in a PhD. Luck is only a very small factor in success. When you really reflect on the last few years, you only got this far through sheer effort.

And when you reflect on what all that effort means you can see why you’ll succeed at your viva too.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring success and how you achieve it at the viva at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Thursday 5th December 2024. Lots more as well: expectations, examiners, viva prep – they all feed into confidence and success. Find out more about the session here.

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