Daily viva help for PhDs
Don’t wait until your viva day to think about how you explain your contribution.
Don’t wait until your viva day to wonder about what your examiners might ask.
Don’t wait until your viva day to experience what it’s like to be asked a question about your work.
Don’t wait until your viva day to find out what vivas are like.
Don’t wait until your viva day to know whether or not you’re ready.
Your friend’s experience might be useful to know but has to be placed into the wider viva context.
One good story shouldn’t be enough to help you feel better about the viva. Similarly, one person’s negative experience shouldn’t shift you to thinking that your viva will be bad too.
Ask others for help and ask for their stories but consider them alongside the wider advice about the viva, in terms of prep, expectations and approach. One story can be interesting; the patterns and trends in many stories can be valuable.
Anecdotes about the viva are good but good advice is much, much more helpful.
There’s a really obvious trick to viva success. It’s a secret hidden in plain sight, obvious when explained, and even though it makes absolute sense some candidates refuse to believe it even when it’s pointed out to them.
Are you ready?
The secret is that it takes a dedicated, knowledgeable and capable PhD researcher to succeed at the viva.
That’s it. Someone who has done the work. Someone who showed up. Someone who grew and learned and can demonstrate that.
Sound like someone you know?
The simplest way to start your viva well is to follow three steps:
Start well by showing up ready, prepared and knowing what you need to do.
PS: if you want to know more of what to expect from the viva and what you can do to be ready, take a look at my upcoming Viva Survivor webinar on March 27th 2025! A 3-hour session, follow-up resources and a catch-up recording.
Good viva prep is like embarking on any long trip or expedition (or any project): you plan, figure out a direction and get started.
Good viva prep is planned. It’s less effective and more stressful if you improvise completely. It takes time to do and a little time to first consider how you will do it. You can decide when, where, how and so on. As you plan you can figure out sticking points or stumbling blocks.
You can set your course – but you also have to be ready to adapt if circumstances change.
If you have a bad day, if something goes wrong, if you forget something then the plan changes and you go with the changes. This is just what you would do with any long trip or expedition – or any project – or the viva itself!
Set your course, but be ready to adapt.
The viva is not a race, a quiz, an interview, a trial or an ordeal.
When your examiners ask a question, you can take your time.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Take a beat to check you understand the question or comment. Take a beat to think about how you’ll respond.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Then speak – unless you need more time to think, in which case take more time to think.
The viva is not a race.
An incomplete list of reasons why a PhD candidate would benefit from rehearsal before the viva.
To know how it might feel to be in the viva, minute to minute.
To get a sense of what you might do when you’re asked a question.
To get a sense of how you might feel and what you might do when you’re asked an unexpected question.
To practise what you might do when asked a question.
To practise talking about your work with a good audience.
To review how you did afterwards.
To explore your work.
To explore how you describe your work.
To ask questions about your work and how others see it.
To revise your plans for your viva prep.
To build your confidence for the viva.
To hopefully feel better about your viva.
To experience what it feels like to say “I don’t know.”
To demonstrate to yourself that you can do it.
Rehearsal isn’t limited to a mock viva. There are many other opportunities like having a chat, coffee with friends, giving a seminar or having a mini-viva.
And the list of reasons above is incomplete. Why else might you rehearse for your viva?
Look for the good stuff in your thesis. You might find typos or mistakes. These are good to know about, but it’s far more important to look for the contribution.
Look for people to help you get ready for your viva. Look for the right people: ask early for help, be clear and make sure you ask people who can really help you to get ready.
(and when you can be someone who offers help to others getting ready)
Look for expectations about the viva. If you’re not sure what to expect take the time to find out more. Again, ask the right people the right questions and you’ll find what you need to get a good sense of the viva.
For so much of the viva and viva prep, you have to see things clearly. And to do that you have to take the first step and look.