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Tag: opposites

Nathan

Poorly Prepared

Daily Post

Poorly prepared for your viva means you didn’t bother, or you didn’t take it seriously.

Poorly prepared for your viva means you relied on hope rather than work to get you through.

Poorly prepared means you didn’t find out about what was involved with the viva.

You didn’t ask graduates about their experiences to help set your expectations.

Poorly prepared means you didn’t read your thesis or practise or do anything really after submission.

Poorly prepared maybe even means that you just submitted any old thing and hoped it would pass!

The actions (or lack of actions) that could lead to someone being poorly prepared for their viva are pretty clear.

So are the actions that could help candidates be ready.

Nathan

Opposites

Daily Post

What would the opposite of good viva preparation look like? I asked this question in my first book, Fail Your Viva – which, incidentally, has pretty good reviews on Amazon – but if you want the short version, here it is:

  • Never read your thesis.
  • Never ask for help.
  • Ignore any thoughts about possible questions.
  • Don’t have any kind of practise.
  • Basically do nothing.

Going right off the deep end: burn your thesis, trash the backups, pile your desk and bookshelf contents into a box and drive to a landfill. Decide not to turn up.

So: if that’s the opposite of good viva prep, what are you going to do?