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Tag: offering help

Nathan

Unhelpful Things…

Daily Post

…to say to friends who have their viva coming up:

  • “Good luck!”
  • “Don’t worry!”
  • “You’ll be fine, nearly no-one fails!”

Better things to say include:

  • “You’re talented, don’t forget!”
  • “What can I do to help?”
  • “How are you doing?”

And if you’ve had a viva and it was fine, don’t just tell your friend that they’ll be fine. Tell them why you were fine. Tell them your story, short and simple, but with enough to help them see what the viva can be like – and what helped you be ready for yours.

Nathan

Phone A Friend

Daily Post

I used to love the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The “phone a friend” idea fascinated me. Who were these people? How were they confident Jim would know about Oscar winners? What would they do if Janet couldn’t help them figure out 18th century philosophers? That’s a lot of pressure!

You can’t phone a friend in the viva. It’s all up to you. You can’t ask the audience either or bring the options for answers down to a 50:50 choice…

…because the viva’s not a game show of course! It’s not all about factual recall or tiny closed questions that you can know or not. The viva is discussion, opinions, ideas and arguments.

And there’s just no place for your friends to help you in the viva.

It’s completely different before then. Phone your friends. Make plans with them. There’ll be lots of ways they can support you.

And if you have a friend with a viva coming up, see if they need some help. See what you can offer.