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Tag: mock viva

Nathan

Manageable Tasks

Daily Post

Viva prep is manageable. Compared to the massive scale of a PhD it’s a speck of effort.

A candidate might take weeks to get ready, but only in bits and pieces of time.

Half an hour of reading. Ten minutes of looking something up. An hour to bring some notes together.

You can run these sorts of tasks together into longer prep sessions but that’s not an essential part of the process.

Even a mock viva, if you have one, is manageable.

Viva prep is a series of manageable tasks that make the viva itself manageable.

Nathan

Mocks Aren’t Magic

Daily Post, Sabbatical

A mock viva is not a silver bullet that will solve all of your nervous feelings about the viva.

What are you looking for from your viva preparations?

  • Confidence?
  • A better picture of how you see your work?
  • A clearer understanding of what the viva is like?
  • Opportunities to practise?
  • Opportunities to think and get your head straight?
  • A chance to check your own talents?

If you know what you’re looking for, you can think about how you might find it. And while it’s not a magic solution that solves everything, when you think about what it can do, a mock viva could help with all of the above.

A mock viva is not a silver bullet, but maybe it’s good enough that we can think of it as a bronze arrow?

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on April 2nd 2019.

Nathan

Set Prep Goals

Daily Post

It’s not enough to plan your viva prep and write read my thesis: you have to spell out what you’re trying to achieve by doing that.

Don’t just pencil in a date for your mock viva: what do you want from that experience?

And you can’t simply allocate time for checking a few papers written by your external: what do you want to know from reading them?

Plan your prep so you have an idea of how and when you’ll do the work.

Set prep goals so you have a good sense of what you’re achieving and how it will help you.

Nathan

Another Way

Daily Post

If you can’t have a mock viva or don’t want one, there will be another way for you to rehearse talking about your research. Give a seminar, go for coffee with a friend or just chat with people about what you’ve done. These actions are not the same as a mock, but they help in the way that a mock does.

If you don’t want to read your thesis in preparation for your viva in the way that your colleague did, then think about how you could do it. They did a chapter a day? Maybe break it down into sections instead. Or maybe take an afternoon off to read it all. There will be a way for you to do the work.

A lot of really helpful viva prep advice gets swallowed in the specifics of how someone else did it. Find your way to do things like read your thesis, make notes and summaries, rehearse and so on. If your friend’s way won’t work or you can’t follow the advice of the person on the internet then find another way to do it that will work for you.

Nathan

Going Back

Daily Post

What would you change about your viva prep if you could go back and do it over?

I was asked this at a recent webinar. I knew immediately what I would change: I would have a mock viva. I definitely spent way more time on getting ready for my viva than any typical postgraduate researcher would need, but the one thing I didn’t do was rehearse.

For five or six weeks I read my thesis, made notes on pages and read my examiners’ work. I checked several papers I’d forgotten and had a weekly meeting with my supervisor where we talked about a thesis chapter. My examiners asked me to prepare slides to give a presentation for the start of my viva.

And while all of this helped, none of it prepared me directly for the simple thing I would spend my time doing in the viva: responding to questions and being part of a discussion.

So what would I do differently? Rehearse. I recommend every candidate do this too!

Nathan

The Prototype Viva

Daily Post

A mock viva or mini-viva is like a prototype for the real thing you’ll experience.

  • Does it have all of the questions you’ll be asked at your viva? No, but it has enough to get a sense of what to expect.
  • Will you have all of the familiarity or preparation you need to engage on the day? No, but you can figure out what else you need to do for that day.
  • Does it mostly work in the way you’d expect of the real viva? Yes, it’s still trying to explore and discuss all of the things you’ve done and can do.

A prototype never has all of the features of the final product, but it helps one to get a feeling for what it will be like. Whether you rehearse with your supervisor or with friends, make some time to engage with viva-like practice before your viva.

Nathan

The Good Kind Of Feedback

Daily Post

Certain kinds of feedback can be useful as you prepare for your viva. By that stage you can’t make any changes to your thesis. Feedback has to be carefully targeted to things you can change.

If you have a mock viva it will help to get feedback afterwards. Focus on the good stuff. Ask questions that you want thoughts on, rather than simply see what your supervisor says.

If you rehearse by sharing your research or having a conversation with friends then ask key questions. Were you clear? What did they not understand? Was anything confusing?

When discussing your thesis with your supervisor after submission, remember that feedback has to drive action. Critical comments or things to think about must have real purpose behind them. If a method could be challenged then how could you respond? If X is open to interpretation then what can you do?

Time is limited after submission, so feedback needs to be limited too. To get good feedback ask questions that you really need responses to – and consider before you ask how you might act on them.

Nathan

Simulated

Daily Post

Rehearsal for the viva is essential because it simulates some of the aspects of being there. If you’re nervous about how you will respond, what will come up or what it will feel like to be there then you can’t do better than rehearse in some way.

A mock viva is the best way to simulate the viva experience. Questions from experienced academics in a relevant field or disciplines. Time to think and be in a viva-like environment. Facing uncertainty of what the next question or opinion will be. You can practise what you will do and get a sense of how you might feel.

A mock viva, a simulation, however polished, can’t be as accurate or as good as the real viva. How will it differ from the real thing? You can’t know beforehand. You can simply be better prepared for talking to your examiners.

Nathan

Managing The Mock Viva

Daily Post

A key part of viva prep is using opportunities to rehearse for the viva.

You have to read your thesis to prepare, make notes, check references you might have forgotten, and so on – but in the viva you need to talk. You’re not called on simply to present but to respond to questions. You have to be ready to be a participant in the discussion your examiners are facilitating.

A mock viva is probably the best opportunity you could have to rehearse. By design it is supposed to be like the viva you’re expecting. It’s run by your supervisor and maybe a colleague of theirs; while they may not have had the full prep time your examiners will have, they can draw on their own relevant experience to help you prepare.

A mock viva doesn’t have to be a big deal to arrange but there are key questions to consider first:

  • Do you really want one? They’re a great opportunity but not for everyone. Think carefully about yourself, your relationship with your supervisor and what you need for your prep.
  • When could you have one? Talk to your supervisor about their availability and schedule a time that will suit you both – giving plenty of time to debrief and build on your rehearsal.
  • What do you need to do to be ready for the mock? Probably everything you’re already doing to get ready for the viva at that stage, so nothing else!
  • What do you want to get from the experience? If you just want to have something like the viva, then you don’t need to ask for anything else. If you want questions on a specific topic or aspect of your work then prime your supervisor.

Remember that this will not be a run-through for your real viva. Your real viva will be different. Your real viva will matter more, have different questions and come with the real expectations and anticipations of the day. A mock viva helps you rehearse how you might feel and behave on the day, rather than allow you to test responses to questions.

There’s not a lot to manage to have a mock viva. Think ahead a little and you can manage your expectations, then do something to help with your viva preparation.

Nathan

Mocks Are Maybes

Daily Post

We don’t own a toaster.

The rest of our family think we’re really weird. They can’t wrap their heads around why we choose not to have a toaster and prefer to use our grill. We still toast things! We just don’t use a toaster.

 

You might not want a mock.

Madness!!! – is what some well-meaning people might say. You need a mock to rehearse for the viva! Or how will you get a feel for being in the viva?? Well-intentioned comments but you might not want or need a mock.

A mock could feel stressful to you. It could be that you think your supervisor wouldn’t be the best choice to help you. Or you might want a mock but not be able to have one because of your schedule.

And all of that is fine.

Instead, you could have discussions with friends over coffee, deliver a seminar or find some other way to get more comfortable with being in the kind of situation you’ll find in the viva. A mock could help, but all of these other options could be just as helpful for you.

 

In our house we need a way to toast bread – but we don’t need a toaster.

You need a way to rehearse and practice for the viva – but you don’t need a mock viva.

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