For The Hundredth Time
It might take a lot of re-reading to remember something that you need to know. On the morning of my viva I knocked on my supervisor’s door to check the definition of something I had been using in my work for...
keep going
The Viva Challenge
The viva is a challenge because you don’t know what will happen. It’s a challenge because you don’t know what your examiners think. It’s a challenge despite the vast majority of candidates passing. It’s a challenge because the outcome matters....
The Nightmare Viva
What’s the worst thing that could really happen at your viva? Failure is a very, very remote possibility. If you have real concern you should talk to your supervisors and friends – and unpick whether failure is more than a...
What Do You Do?
What do you do if something goes wrong in your viva? What do you do if you’re feeling nervous? What do you do if you’re feeling unsure of what to say? What do you do if you’re feeling forgetful and...
Good, Not Perfect
Good is the standard you need to meet for your thesis and your viva. You don’t need to have thought every thought. You don’t need to have followed every idea. You don’t need to have an answer for every question....
Hitting A Milestone
Today is the 2500th daily post of Viva Survivors. I take a few days off each year for Christmas and with sharing the occasional webinar and my Kickstarter last year there’s been more than two-and-a-half thousand blog posts, but today...
A Little Help
I’ve been publishing Viva Survivors for over six years. In writing more than 2300 posts I’ve shared why candidates succeed, what they can expect, what they can do to prepare and how they can find the confidence to believe that...
Not That Different
A lot of viva prep – and the viva itself – is not that dissimilar to many things that you will have done during your PhD. Many prep tasks draw on the same skills and knowledge you have used throughout...
Hold On To Confidence
It’s not wrong to feel nervous before your viva. It’s really important! It comes at the end of years of work and you want to succeed. It’s almost certain that anyone would feel a bit nervous, but that doesn’t mean...
A Little Announcement
(because The Big Announcement will be in a few weeks!) The Headline: I’ve written a new publication and I’ll soon be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund producing a print run! 101 Steps To A Great Viva is a short...