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Nathan

What’s My Line?

Daily Post

I hate the thought of forgetting something important.

I prepare before any webinar that I deliver – even if, like Viva Survivor, I have delivered the session many, many times before.

  • I have a 1-page session sheet on my desk. I write it out again before every session.
  • I also have a prompt sheet on-screen with key points and timings. Again, this gets reviewed before every session.
  • And I take at least an hour to look over my slides in parallel to reading my notes.

I have shared Viva Survivor with postgraduate researchers over 350 times. And yet, every time before I start, I think, “Wait, what do I say?”

 

You can’t take notes like mine to your viva. Your examiners are looking for a presentation not a conversation. But still you can do things to help yourself if you think you’re going to forget something.

  • You can annotate your thesis with helpful notes.
  • Invest time in reviewing your thesis’ key sections.
  • And it’s essential to rehearse responding to questions to help how you feel.

The last point is especially helpful.

Like me, you might feel bad at the thought of forgetting something that matters. Like my situation though, there are an abundance of things you can try to help you remember.

Nathan

What Does It Mean?

Daily Post

What does this mean? What does that mean? What’s the difference between X and Y?

If there are any terms that you can remember being asked about a lot during your PhD, then take time to refresh your memory before your viva. If there are terms you use regularly while you do your work, be sure that they mean what you think they mean. Be sure that there aren’t edge cases or extra points you’ve forgotten.

You don’t need to know every fact, detail, reference and idea, but take time to unpick what common terms mean, especially if you’ve used them a lot.

Nathan

Key Terms

Daily Post

The Kauffman polynomial.

Two-variable polynomials for unoriented links.

Genus 2 mutations.

Reidemeister moves.

These were all things I knew and needed to know in order to do my PhD research – but which I also needed to get my head clear on in advance of my viva.

I realised as I was preparing for my viva that for too long I’d just known what these things were in an abstract way. Even in writing up my thesis I’d written and rewritten what different technical terms and ideas meant many times.

There’s a lot to share in the viva. You’ll have a lot of valuable ideas and information you want to get across to your examiners. While you will take time thinking about how to summarise your results, make sure you leave time to consider the key terms that underpin your research.

Refresh your memory, review your notes and rehearse how you will communicate what the important things mean.

Nathan

Refresh Your Memory

Daily Post

Read your thesis, at least once, before your viva. Once might be enough to help you recall the general flow of what you’ve set out and remember the most important details.

Write out a paragraph for each key project you’ve done, to refresh your memory of how you got started.

Read the most recent paper by each of your examiners and look at their staff pages to ensure you know a little about them.

Make a bullet-point list of your results and conclusions. Make another list of all your achievements from the course of your PhD.

You don’t need to have a photographic memory to succeed in the viva. Being able to recall key information easily can help though – and reminding yourself of your achievements can help ground you in the hard work you’ve done and the talent that has helped you to do it.