The Right Words
There are wrong words you could use in the viva. You could exaggerate or bluff. You could lie! You could mis-speak. You could be too modest or you could be careless in your thought or speech. There are no perfect...
Daily viva help for PhDs
There are wrong words you could use in the viva. You could exaggerate or bluff. You could lie! You could mis-speak. You could be too modest or you could be careless in your thought or speech. There are no perfect...
If you figured out how to get to submission then you can figure out how to succeed in the viva. If you did all the work and wrote it up in your thesis then you can discuss it with your...
A viva is a little like a Christmas cracker. There’s a moment of tension between two sides. There’s an expectation that something will happen. But what? Christmas crackers and vivas have a lot of variety. Some are small, some are big....
It’s a time of year where people typically take some time off. I’m already doing that – I wrote this post weeks ago so that I could enjoy more family time! Viva Survivors will continue to update every day until the...
Why do candidates succeed at the viva? How do they do it? What does that success look like? The why is pretty simple: they have done enough in and through their research to produce a suitably good thesis and...
Need help before your viva? Just ask. There are lots of people who can help you practically. Your supervisors, your friends and your colleagues could all do things to help with your preparations. Need to know more about the viva?...
There are good reasons to have your supervisor present at your viva. They can make notes on your behalf. After the viva these notes could be helpful for completing corrections or continuing research. Your supervisor could also be a friendly...
What should I include in a 15-minute summary of my thesis? The candidate asking me this had been prompted by their examiners to prepare a presentation to start their viva. This isn’t a common situation, but it’s one way to...
It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. Everywhere I go I hear seasonal music. Cheesy 80s number ones, crooners from a former era, carols. Of course there are other signs too that Christmas is weeks away! – but the sound...
There are lots of expectations for what vivas are supposed to be like. Vivas tend to last a certain length, it’s typical for candidates to have two examiners, it’s common for them to take place within three months of submission,...