What Are Your Plans?
My examiners didn’t ask me what I was going to do after my PhD, but I know candidates who were asked in theirs. Had I been asked, I probably would have been stumped by the question. No idea. The thoughts...
Daily viva help for PhDs
My examiners didn’t ask me what I was going to do after my PhD, but I know candidates who were asked in theirs. Had I been asked, I probably would have been stumped by the question. No idea. The thoughts...
They matter. But the little things that evade memory or fast recall probably don’t matter as much as you think they do. You’re primed to notice the little things you forget more than you notice all of the things that...
A potent strain of viva-anxiety virus breeds in the mind and says: Faster, faster, faster! Question. Answer. Question. Answer! Quest-ANSWER! What if you take too long? What if it doesn’t come quickly enough? You “should” know it, right? RIGHT?! Your...
You hear your examiners ask a question. You have a first thought, the shape of an answer appears. Ask yourself another question then to help that shape develop. Try one of the following: Is this the best thing that you...
We all know looking for a needle in a haystack is a fool’s errand. I understand why PhD candidates are interested in being well prepared for questions in the viva. Too often though the desire is expressed as wanting to...
Viva candidates pretty much have all the answers. That’s not because the viva is easy or the questions are predictable or because candidates can somehow prepare for every possibility. The viva’s not a quiz game. Some questions in the viva...
When you’re preparing for the viva, if you just ask the same questions as before to unpick your research you won’t uncover anything new. If you find new questions then you could find a new perspective. Find different questions, odd...
There are thousands of questions you could be asked in the viva! …but you won’t be asked most of them. Remember: you only have to answer one at a time.
In the viva you may have to defend your work. Ideally, you need to do so without becoming defensive. Defending: “This is why I made this choice…” Defensive: “I made the right choice!” Defending: “…that’s a fair question. I think…”...
The wind blows. That’s what it does. Some days it’s fast, some days it’s a gentle breeze, and some nights it sounds like it is bringing the end of the world. Depending on the situation I might wear a coat, bunker...