Build Up To The Viva
On your first day of viva prep you don’t have to push yourself to work at maximum intensity. Maybe make a list. Read a chapter. Check a regulation or two. You don’t have to start and maintain an exhausting pace...
Daily viva help for PhDs
On your first day of viva prep you don’t have to push yourself to work at maximum intensity. Maybe make a list. Read a chapter. Check a regulation or two. You don’t have to start and maintain an exhausting pace...
Whatever the worry, issue or problem, if you find yourself concerned by something during your viva prep just pause and reflect on three questions: Why is this a problem? How could you fix it? What will you do next? Ask...
Have five minutes spare and feel like you need to do something productive for your viva prep but don’t know what? Try one of these: Make a list. Key points, key papers, important people, helpful thoughts, things to do –...
When you come to plan your viva prep consider what you want to have and how you want to feel when you’ve finished the work. What resources do you want to have made? What tasks do you have to complete?...
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...
What viva prep actions would have a great impact on how ready you were for your viva? I’m thinking about the Pareto principle – in brief, that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes – and I wonder how...
What could you do to get ready for your viva? A lot! For example you could: Annotate your thesis to make a better version for yourself. Brief your friends and family on how they could support you. Create a cheatsheet...
There’s a lot you can do during viva prep. Some tasks and activities are essential, some are optional and some depend on how you feel about your work (or the specifics of the work itself). Always start the period of...
While viva prep depends a lot on the person, their research and their circumstances, there is one quality I wish for every PhD candidate’s prep: I would want it to be unrushed. No rush. Pressure can be useful as a...
The list of things you can potentially do to prepare for your viva is very, very long. If you combed through the posts on this site for unique ideas then you’d find far too many for someone to do. Viva...