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Nathan

Scary Times

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If you’re worried or scared by your upcoming viva you have to ask yourself why.

Knowing why doesn’t take the worry away but it can help you to start wondering “what if…?” and “how…?”

  • If you’re concerned about some part of the viva process, how could you find out more?
  • If you’re worried by your examiners, what if you knew more about them?
  • If you’re scared that you’ll forget something, how could you address that in your prep?
  • If you’re not sure what to do to get ready, what if there was someone who could offer some suggestions?
    • I’m not the only person who could do this, but there are a lot of ideas on this blog!
  • If you just don’t know why you feel scared, how could you start to unpick what’s wrong?

The last question might be the first step to resolving feeling scared.

You can’t suddenly stop feeling scared but you can begin to take steps to help yourself.

Nathan

Terrifying Tales Of Vivas Past!

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How many scary movies have come to cinemas in the last few weeks? How many horror shows have just been released on various streaming services?

Around viva time you’ll notice something about the stories people tell too.

They remember a friend of a friend had a rough time. Maybe it was the wrong examiner for them.

Or that person – what’s-their-name? – whose viva was all day!

And who can forget the story of So-and-so… The year before you started your PhD they failed theirs!

 

Some vivas are tough or especially difficult: there are real tales of bad viva experiences out there, but the vast majority are positive.

Most vivas result in success and most of those successes are vivas that are two or three hours in length, involving deep discussion and resulting in minor corrections.

Around viva time rumours and half-truths swirl about, like ghosts on a Halloween fog conjured from a spooky cauldron – but inspect them just a little, ask some specific questions from people you can trust and you’ll see that that’s not what all vivas are like.

In fact, terrifying tales are the rare exception rather than the typical situation.

Nathan

Yikes!

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Outside of ghost stories and horror movies, there’s not a lot to be scared of on Halloween. The frights are all make believe, costume and shadows serving to send shivers down our spines. For a moment, perhaps, we feel a little anxious before we realise there was nothing to worry about.

And outside of apocryphal tales and half-rumours, there’s not a lot to be scared of by the viva. Worries spring forth from not-knowing, easily dismissed when you find out more about the process. Fears are largely unfounded, nerves building on feeling just how important the occasion is – evaporating in the daylight of the actual experience or by building confidence.

It’s not wrong to feel concerned about the viva. It matters, and it’s understandable to feel anxious. Eventually though, you will realise there was nothing to worry about.

Nathan

Boo!

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Whether it’s Halloween or any other day of the year, your viva is not a scary story in your future.

No-one is going to jump out at you in your viva.

Nothing startling. Nothing horrific.

No terror. No torture.

Your viva is unknown but not unknowable. You can’t know exact questions but you can know what they will be related to. The viva isn’t a spooky mystery with shadowy figures lurking in the background: your examiners are right there in front of you, and you know who you are.

There might be surprises, but even then, if someone asks a questions that’s unexpected you can still take your time to think it through. You don’t have to respond to some immediate terror confronting you.

However you might feel now, once you’re done you’ll realise that your viva was not so scary after all.

Nathan

Action Overcomes Fear

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I looked back over the last three years to see how I’d been inspired by Halloween previously:

I’m not going to be silly or spooky today though – this year has had enough fear and worry in it.

If your viva is coming up and you’re worried or afraid, the first step to resolving the situation is to figure out what the problem really is. Ask for help from someone, or think about how you’re going to do something about it. Then do something! And remember why you’re doing it.

Your fears come from somewhere. Beating them comes from you.

Nathan

Viva Horror Stories

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The internal examiner dabbed the red away from his lips and paused before settling his stone-grey eyes on the shivering candidate.

“How,” he began, his voice like the echo of a whisper, “How… Hmm… How did you arrive at this choice of methodology?”

A look of pain passed the candidate’s face, a long-held fear finally realised! A moment of sheer terror, a buried tension risen to the surface like a zombie erupting from a grave. No choice, no alternative, but to state with quivering voice:

“I…! I did it… Because my supervisor told me to!”

And with that they fainted.

“Pity,” said the internal, taking another red sip from their chalice, “I had such high hopes for this one.”

A snarling from the external examiner’s secure crate reverberated around the seminar room.

“Well, quite,” said the internal, “A perfectly acceptable answer. And I really wanted to know why they had settled on Magnusson’s ‘Treatise on Ancient Awakenings’ as well…”

It’s possible you’ve heard of a real viva horror story. I know people have negative experiences, but it’s not the majority of experiences, not even close. And they don’t “just happen”. There are always reasons why: problems with the thesis, a research issue that was overlooked, a breakdown between supervisor and candidate.

Good horror stories, the really scary ones, have no reasons.

The Thing is just there in the ice, waiting.

The zombies march, and we don’t know how they came to be.

Dracula is.

There are reasons why you did a PhD. Reasons why you’ve got this far. Reasons why your thesis is done. Reasons why you’ll pass your viva. You can be scared by viva horror stories, but you can always unpick why they happened that way. You can be nervous in advance of your own viva, but it’s possible to unpick where that fear comes from. What drives it, what makes it worse, and maybe what could make it better.