You Are Here

Tag: april fool

Nathan

The Last Post

Daily Post

I had an idea to do an “April fool!”-style post about this being the last day of Viva Survivors, but couldn’t bring myself to do it! 🙂

The last ever post. What would that look like? A summary? A thank you? Goodbye? A big list of links?

I really don’t know. And I really don’t know why I would stop, how I would close things off tidily or, importantly, what I would do with myself if I did. So I guess it’s really good I’m not stopping!

 

I remember my last ever day as a PhD student. I had been trying to avoid thinking about it.

I turned up for one more cup of tea and to check nothing was left in my desk. There was no ceremony. No triumphant fanfare. My friends had to work, of course, but now I was done. It was odd. It was weird to have nothing else left to do, perhaps because for me, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do next.

For now, you might be busy getting your thesis finished, or working hard to get ready for the viva. Still, take a minute to look ahead: the day will come when you will no longer be a PhD student. No longer a postgraduate researcher.

You will be done. Being done is strange to adjust to. Take a little time to think ahead to see if there is anything you can do to make that transition easier for your future self.

Nathan

No Fooling

Daily Post

No trick questions. No gotcha statements.

Your examiners aren’t in the viva to fool you or trap you, to belittle you or break you.

Your examiners are there to examine you. It’s in the name! They ask questions to start conversations; they have conversations to build evidence. They need the evidence to justify their conclusions and the outcome.

Trick questions wouldn’t help them get what they need. There’s no space for fooling you.

Nathan

Scoring The Viva

Daily Post

Introduction: The Place Where The Post Starts

Today’s post is a little different. I’m often asked about the criteria for the viva. What do examiners look for? How are candidates assessed? These are good questions and I’ve decided that today, April 1st 2019, I’ll share details of the assessment. Academics do not want these to be widely known, but I think it’s important that PhD candidates are not fooled by rumours!

Score 100 Or More: The Goal Of The Viva

In the viva you’re trying to get a score over 100. Your score starts at 100, but your participation in the viva can raise or lower this score.

Your score increases by 1 for every question you’re asked and for every minute you spend answering that question.

Points are deducted for overly long hesitations on a sliding scale (1 point for five seconds, 2 points for 10-20 seconds, 5 points for 20+ seconds).

Points are deducted at the examiners’ discretion for repetition, stalling and grandstanding.

10 points are usually deducted for errors, lies and instances of plagiarism, unless they’re really well done, in which case bonus points could be added (depending on whether your university’s name is “University of X” or “X University”).

Questions, Answers And Points: What You Need To Know

Questions must be from the list of pre-approved questions, unless the examiners receive special dispensation from the Vice Chancellor.

If a question is not from the pre-approved list the candidate will receive a bonus point to their score (as there was no way they could prepare an answer for it in advance).

17 points are deducted for every “I don’t know” unless the candidate can justify why they don’t know, in which case 7 points will be added to the total.

Addendum: The Other Things You Need To Know

Bonus points can be awarded for answering in rhyme.

Every five minutes after the first 90 will see a decrease in score by two points, unless one of the examiners has a palindromic family name.

Otherwise, vivas longer than two hours will need to be rescored under the Alternative Viva Scoring Method (Lipra and Loof, 2019).

…actually, this method is all quite complicated…

If you really want to know how vivas are assessed at your institution, it’s probably better that you check the regulations. Chat with your supervisor or other academics from your department or faculty. Explore viva experiences with graduates from your department.

Your viva will be unique, but if you explore the likely scenarios you won’t be fooled.