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Read your thesis. Write an overview. Have a mock. Congratulations you did it! There is a lot of good, general advice for the viva but it can’t be reduced to an easy step-by-step instruction book. The unique nature of every...
Daily viva help for PhDs
Read your thesis. Write an overview. Have a mock. Congratulations you did it! There is a lot of good, general advice for the viva but it can’t be reduced to an easy step-by-step instruction book. The unique nature of every...
When and how do you get ready for the viva? How do you manage what needs to be done, especially considering that you’ve already got lots that you need to do? Consider the pressures on your time and availability to...
You can have reasonable expectations of what your viva might be like, but you won’t know until you’re inside it. You can rehearse responding to questions but you won’t know how you’ll really feel until they’re being asked by your...
After your viva, before you are finished with your PhD completely, take a little time. Thank everyone you need to thank. Reflect on what you’ve learned over the years. Decide on what you don’t need to take with you into...
A mini-viva is what I call one possible set of questions from the Mini-Vivas resource that I developed a few years ago. There are 7,776 possible combinations of five questions possible from that resource; of course, in practise this would lead...
What do you need from your supervisors? I only had the one. Throughout my PhD I needed him to explain things to me, particularly in the beginning. I needed him to listen to how I was getting on, and check...
If you’ve submitted your thesis but don’t yet have a date for the viva then it might feel early to prepare for meeting your examiners. Before you have a date it could feel like you’re aiming at a target that...
Faced with a difficult question or unexpected comment in the viva, perhaps the best thing you can do is ask why. Ask your examiner(s) why that question is important. Ask why a comment matters to them. Ask why they think...
Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. I often tell candidates that getting ready for the viva could be summarised simply as “keep going”. If someone has got to submission they must be talented, knowledgeable and determined. Whatever challenges...
If there is one thing that has to be talked about in the viva it is the significant, original contribution that you’ve made through your research and that you have written up in your thesis. It’s not the only thing that...