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Nathan

8 Thoughts About Viva Questions

Daily Post

I’ve written a fair bit about viva questions before. I’m exploring different angles on the topic at the moment for future posts and workshops.

Here are eight short thoughts that might be useful:

  1. There are lots and lots of lists of common viva questions. Google it. There’s no reason for anyone to go to the viva ignorant of what could come up.
  2. There are lots and lots of questions you could be asked about your thesis which won’t be on any of those lists.
  3. You can’t practise every potential viva question.
  4. You could reflect and practise a few in particular on explaining your research or methodology.
  5. You can practise answering unexpected questions so you get comfortable in thinking through questions you’ve never considered before.
  6. You don’t have to answer a question immediately without pause or asking for clarification.
  7. You don’t have to answer a question without making a note of it first.
  8. Every question in the viva is being asked for a reason.

Number 5 is important. You can gain confidence by knowing that you can answer questions in viva-like conditions. Mock vivas, conversations with friends, giving seminars – there are lots of opportunities. Go find them.

Nathan

Field Tests

Daily Post

It’s great if you have read your thesis, made notes, created summaries. You’ve probably got a beautiful mental model of your research. Can you use it though? How will you do in the viva?

Find opportunities to field test your knowledge and your skills. The mock viva is a great opportunity to do that, as are discussions over coffee and seminars for interested friends. Get confident answering questions by getting people to ask you questions.

Sounds simple; is simple.

Nathan

Tell Ten People

Daily Post

I like to read entrepreneurial books. A lot of the same stories and ideas come up, but sometimes it’s more the way that someone phrases something that hooks you than the idea. An idea isn’t just a thing: it needs to be given in a way that it will latch into someone’s brain, it needs something extra to make it instantly or powerfully understandable.

“Tell Ten People” is a good idea for testing products that comes up again and again: before you put your book, your product or whatever in front of customers, tell ten people, friends or partners or colleagues that you trust about what you’re doing. If none of them give you more than an “OK” then you’ve probably not got a winning idea. Maybe you have a good idea if you have but you’ve not hit on a winning expression of it.

A thought for today: tell ten people about your research. Ten people who you know and you can trust to listen. Tell them why you do it, how you do it and what you’ve got as a result. You’re not looking to hopefully convince them the way that an entrepreneur would, you’re just hoping that they get it. If they do, great. If they don’t, ask them about what information they needed.

The more you talk about your research and the more feedback you get, the better you will get at showing people what you do.

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