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Nathan

Zero Chance

Daily Post

The failure rate of the UK PhD viva is not zero but it’s very close. An incredibly rare event might still be enough to make someone worry, particularly when the outcome is so important.

If you are worrying at any stage before your viva then please consider:

  • If you did the work that means something.
  • If you wrote your thesis, reviewed, revised and redrafted, that means something.
  • If you learned what to expect that means something.
  • If you prepared well that means something.
  • If you show up with even a small amount of confidence to meet your examiners that means something.

If you have all of the above then you have nothing to worry about. You can work past worry ahead of your viva. You can do your best over a long period of time. The overall failure rate might not be zero but your actions can put you in a category all of your own.

If all of the above points are true for you, what are the chances that you’re really headed towards failing your viva?

Nathan

Pick One

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Imagine I had a new service, YourViva™, where I could offer you a viva with one of the following characteristics:

  • Your viva will be short, under an hour.
  • Your viva will be easy, no surprising questions.
  • Your viva will result in no corrections.
  • Your viva questions will only come from one of your examiners, your choice.

You can pick one but will have no guarantees on any of the other characteristics. You might get them, their opposites or anything else in-between.

What would you pick? Why does that matter to you?

 

YourViva™ doesn’t exist but if you picked a viva feature it would be for a reason. You may not have any influence over getting that for your viva but, given that it’s in your mind, what will you do as a result? If you have a worry or concern you can still do something.

For example:

  • Viva length is totally out of your control. You’d be better preparing yourself to be at your viva for as long as it takes.
  • You can’t control the questions you’re asked. Rather than hope for easy questions, prepare yourself by rehearsing with a mock viva.
  • Some people get no corrections but not many. Consult your regulations to get a sense of what to expect for minor corrections.
  • Your examiners will have a plan and work together. A little research can help you understand who you’re talking to, what they might ask and why.

Focus on what you can reasonably expect and what you can practically do for your viva. You can’t control all the details of your viva but you can ensure you show up ready to do well.

Nathan

Just Yesterday

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My life has moved on a lot since my PhD – but there are aspects of the first week of being a PGR that I remember as clearly with a pin sharp image and in 3D Surround Sound audio.

I remember what it felt like to walk in to my office for the first time. How it felt to get going again after a year’s gap from my Masters. Looking at half-remembered notes of a topic and rebuilding those ideas. The early conversations and confusion, “So what do I do?”

 

I can remember all of that well. With years of hindsight I see the difference between Nathan-in-October-2004 and Nathan-in-June-2008. The latter knew a lot more than the former! He had done a lot, but he didn’t think about it that way. He had results but he didn’t value them as much as he could have.

Both of those Nathans were quite different, except that both still continued to not feel confident.

 

At times the first day of my PhD and the first minutes of my viva seem like they were just yesterday. And sometimes they feel like a million years ago or that they happened to someone else.

I would encourage you to look back a little as you come to the end of your PhD journey. Hopefully you’ll look kindly on the former-you; at the very least realise that you have come a long way, growing in knowledge, understanding and skill.

And hopefully you’ll realise that that growth and achievement is a good foundation for feeling confident at your viva.

Nathan

Deleted

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Or left out. Or removed. Edited. Excised. Not pursued after a certain point.

The many thousands of hours of work that lead to your thesis also produced things that did not make it into your thesis.

Your viva prep needs to focus on the research that’s in your thesis. You need to review the ideas, results and conclusions that matter but perhaps spare thirty minutes for the deleted.

Reflect and pick something that you left out and consider:

  • Why was it deleted?
  • How did you arrive at the decision?
  • What difference, if any, would it make to include it in your thesis?

You’ve not made a mistake by leaving something out; remind yourself of why your thesis has what it has – and why it doesn’t have what you have deleted. Review the case for presenting things exactly the way you have.

Nathan

Six Questions About Contributions

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Examiners need to explore your significant original contributions to research at your viva.

In preparation for your viva it’s worth reviewing your contributions to think about how you would share them. There’s no right answer or script to use: the words you find in the moment will be enough. In preparation though, reflect on any contribution with the following questions to give you something to consider and speak about:

  • Why did you explore the contribution area?
  • How did you do that?
  • What did you find as a result?
  • When did you do this work?
  • Where did you do this work?
  • Who, if anyone, helped you?

The first three questions, Why-How-What, help to explore what makes the contribution valuable. The second three questions, When-Where-Who, reveal more of the context for the work.

Start with Why-How-What. Dig deeper with When-Where-Who.

No scripts. Just thoughts and ideas to draw from at the viva.

Nathan

The Seven Steps

Daily Post

I like details. I like tips. I like solutions.

I also like the big picture, like these seven steps to being ready for your viva:

  1. Submit your thesis.
  2. Sketch out a viva prep plan.
  3. Check the regulations and make sure you follow them.
  4. Ask for help when you need it.
  5. Do the prep work needed to be ready.
  6. Find opportunities to rehearse being in the viva.
  7. Reflect on the knowledge, capability and progress that has got you this far.

This is the big picture – and there over 2800 more posts on the Viva Survivors blog that dig deeper!

 

PS: I’ll be sharing a lot of advice and ideas at my Viva Survivor session on March 27th 2025. Registration is open now for my webinar and includes a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live.

Nathan

Red Carpet Treatment

Daily Post

There are no silly questions for a PhD candidate to ask about the viva.

I’m continually saddened though that PGR culture – and regulations and supervisors – haven’t stopped candidates believing that their examiners are some higher order of human and thus need very special treatment at the viva.

Here are three questions I’ve been asking the last six months:

  • “Do I need to arrange catering for my viva?”
  • “Is it appropriate to buy gifts for my examiners?”
  • “Is there a formal way that I’m supposed to talk to my examiners?”

Again, these aren’t silly questions: these are stressed questions by people who desperately want to do the right thing. There’s a mystery to the viva process. There’s a substantial amount of work leading to it. It’s all important so there are a lot of motivations for a lot of questions that any candidate might ask.

To the questions above: catering might be welcome, but it’s not your job to arrange it; no gifts; being polite and friendly is enough.

 

Your examiners are professionals. They’ve come to do a job. It’s an important job, no more than that.

They don’t need a red carpet rolling out.

Expect them to be prepared. They expect the same from you.

Leave the formalities there.

Nathan

Airbrush

Daily Post

There’s a lot you might need to focus on from your PhD journey as you prepare for your viva: your contribution, the work you put in, time invested in building your skills and knowledge.

As you take time to prepare consider that it could be time to let some other things go.

Let go of disappointments. Don’t dwell on your failures, except what you learned from them. Airbrush out things that drag on your confidence. Leave behind past frustrations that aren’t helping you get ready.

What do you need to forget from your PhD journey? What can you leave out of the story you tell yourself of how you got this far?

You don’t have to focus on your whole PhD journey to find confidence and feel capable for your viva.

Nathan

Knowing Your Stuff

Daily Post

At the viva you’re expected to know your stuff, whatever that might mean for someone in your field or discipline. Broadly speaking: you’re clever, you’ve done the work and you’re assumed to be capable.

It’s not hard to worry that you might be missing something, but keep in mind, to set the right perspective:

  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean you need to know everything.
  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean you are expected to have a fast recall of every detail.
  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean having read every paper.
  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean guessing every question your examiners might have.
  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean knowing all of your examiners’ stuff too.
  • Knowing your stuff doesn’t mean figuring things out quickly.

At the viva, knowing your stuff means being knowledgeable, capable and being willing to engage with your examiners’ questions and the discussion that follows from them.

To get as far as you have you must know your stuff: it’s the only way anyone could get to submission.

 

PS: want to know more about the viva process and expectations? Take a look at my Viva Survivor session. Registration is live for my March 27th 2025 webinar and includes follow-up resources and a catch-up recording if you can’t attend on the day.

Nathan

The Build-up

Daily Post

At submission sketch out a viva prep plan.

You might not know your viva date but that’s OK: you know your current situation. You know how busy you are and you know what responsibilities you have. With a little reflection you can also get a good feeling about how you need to approach getting ready.

A sketch of a plan can take account of busy-ness and obligations. Do you need two weeks to get ready or is it safer for your stress and your time to have a month? Sketch how you would do the work.

Start small and build. Day one of viva prep doesn’t have to mean reading your whole thesis, checking ten papers and having a mock viva. Build up to that. Read a little and then do more the next day.

The last week of viva prep will probably be busier than the first – but the last day might be more relaxed as you realise you’ve built up everything you need for meeting your examiners.

After all, you’re building on solid foundations.

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