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Nathan

Slide Deck Prep

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You might need slides for your viva if your examiners ask you to prepare a presentation. It’s not a common experience, but it does happen.

If you need a presentation then prepare carefully: think about what your examiners need to know, what they might need to see and how you can best summarise what you have to get across to them. Your supervisors and possibly your friends and colleagues can be valuable in helping you to know what you have to include and what you have to do.

If you need a presentation then you would have to practise. Don’t simply copy and paste old slides together and rely on old memories. Rehearse your presentation if you’re asked to prepare one for your viva.

And if you’re not asked then you don’t need one! Simple as that.

 

Although, if you’re not asked for a presentation for your viva, putting together a slide deck could still be a helpful way to bring your thoughts together.

A few bullet points on each topic. A few images that help you remember. A logical sequence of information to organise your thinking. Something simple to scroll through and refresh your memory on the days leading up to your viva.

If you’re not asked for a presentation then you don’t need one – but you might still get help from making a slide deck. Simple as that.

Nathan

On Mini-Vivas

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It was five years ago yesterday that I first published 7776 Mini-Vivas. Since starting this blog in 2017 it remains one of my favourite resources I’ve created.

Since then I’ve shared it with over five thousand PhD candidates in workshops and webinars, posted supporting posts on the blog from time to time – most recently in September – and adapted it as a print resource. Before the summer it inspired another new resource I’ve started offering with my sessions.

All of which is by way of preamble to say, “I made a thing to help with viva prep five years ago and I still think it’s really good and other people do too!”

If you’re looking for something to get you thinking or talking about your work then check out 7776 Mini-Vivas, because after five years it’s still a really helpful thing.

Nathan

Going Back

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What would you change about your viva prep if you could go back and do it over?

I was asked this at a recent webinar. I knew immediately what I would change: I would have a mock viva. I definitely spent way more time on getting ready for my viva than any typical postgraduate researcher would need, but the one thing I didn’t do was rehearse.

For five or six weeks I read my thesis, made notes on pages and read my examiners’ work. I checked several papers I’d forgotten and had a weekly meeting with my supervisor where we talked about a thesis chapter. My examiners asked me to prepare slides to give a presentation for the start of my viva.

And while all of this helped, none of it prepared me directly for the simple thing I would spend my time doing in the viva: responding to questions and being part of a discussion.

So what would I do differently? Rehearse. I recommend every candidate do this too!

Nathan

Simulated

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Rehearsal for the viva is essential because it simulates some of the aspects of being there. If you’re nervous about how you will respond, what will come up or what it will feel like to be there then you can’t do better than rehearse in some way.

A mock viva is the best way to simulate the viva experience. Questions from experienced academics in a relevant field or disciplines. Time to think and be in a viva-like environment. Facing uncertainty of what the next question or opinion will be. You can practise what you will do and get a sense of how you might feel.

A mock viva, a simulation, however polished, can’t be as accurate or as good as the real viva. How will it differ from the real thing? You can’t know beforehand. You can simply be better prepared for talking to your examiners.

Nathan

Show What You Know

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Your viva prep does not need to be confined to book work and solitude. While a mock viva is the most notable prep activity that involves others, it’s not the only task that you could involve others in.

  • Sit down over tea or coffee and describe to someone how you have done your research. See if you can share something that will help them.
  • Give a talk. Split your time equally between showing what you have done and taking questions to dig deeper.
  • Write a summary for someone else. Not a cheatsheet for you, but a page or two about a method or process that you have needed for your research.

During my PhD years I noticed that my own understanding of a topic grew whenever I had to explain it to someone else. I found better words, more useful metaphors and gaps in my knowledge. Take a little time in your viva prep to show others what you know, so that you can practise for the viva, build your confidence and show yourself what you know too.

Nathan

Set In My Ways

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I learned the same lesson several times during my PhD: when a certain approach isn’t working, it’s a good idea to try something else.

This was a hard lesson for me. I knew how to use the tools and concepts I had. Learning something else took time and was difficult. But I had to learn and change and see that there were better methods – or in some cases, methods that actually worked.

I learned another lesson too: when I found a method that worked there was bound to be another method used by other people. Maybe it didn’t give exactly the same result or have the same benefits, but it was still useful.

Remembering and reflecting on this leads me to several questions that might help you on the way to your viva:

  • Have you become set in your ways or are you still open to other ideas and methods?
  • Is yours the only method that could lead to the research outcomes you’ve found?
  • Are you aware of your examiners’ work and know what methods they use or favour?

The ways you’ve found to get things done have probably served you well through your PhD. Make sure you’re at least aware of the alternatives so that you can talk confidently in the viva about why yours work or what the differences are between different approaches.

Nathan

Opportunities To Practise

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A key step of viva preparation is investing a little time to practise. A mock viva could be a great rehearsal for the real thing, but it’s not the only option.

  • Simply talk. Sit down over coffee, over video if you need to, and just tell someone about your work. Invite their questions. Ask them to prompt you if you’re not being clear.
  • Give a talk. Invite colleagues to listen. Use a few slides but only to help frame your thesis and research. Don’t talk for long; use the time to get into conversations.
  • Have a mini-viva. There are thousands of possible conversations that this resource could prompt. One or two might give you useful practise.

There are reasons why mock vivas are generally valued as a part of viva prep. They’re supposed to help you explore what it would be like to be in the viva. More fundamentally though, you need practise at responding to questions; taking the time to think and feeling comfortable doing so.

So what opportunities will you make for yourself?

Nathan

Mocks Are Maybes

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We don’t own a toaster.

The rest of our family think we’re really weird. They can’t wrap their heads around why we choose not to have a toaster and prefer to use our grill. We still toast things! We just don’t use a toaster.

 

You might not want a mock.

Madness!!! – is what some well-meaning people might say. You need a mock to rehearse for the viva! Or how will you get a feel for being in the viva?? Well-intentioned comments but you might not want or need a mock.

A mock could feel stressful to you. It could be that you think your supervisor wouldn’t be the best choice to help you. Or you might want a mock but not be able to have one because of your schedule.

And all of that is fine.

Instead, you could have discussions with friends over coffee, deliver a seminar or find some other way to get more comfortable with being in the kind of situation you’ll find in the viva. A mock could help, but all of these other options could be just as helpful for you.

 

In our house we need a way to toast bread – but we don’t need a toaster.

You need a way to rehearse and practice for the viva – but you don’t need a mock viva.

Nathan

Needing A Mock

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You don’t need a mock viva. You need practice for the viva, a rehearsal space to think and respond like you might do in the viva. You don’t need a mock viva, it’s just one of the ways that you could rehearse.

You don’t need a mock viva, it’s just supposed to be like a real viva, with substitute examiners who will be well-placed to ask you relevant, helpful questions to give you a sense of kind of discussion that arises in the viva. You don’t need a mock viva, there are lots of ways to get help, but given that it’s supposed to be like the viva it could be a really useful opportunity if you have the chance.

You don’t need a mock viva, you need to be ready: a mock is a means to an end, not the end itself. There are other things you could do that would help.

But if you have the chance, a mock viva could be exactly what you need. A small, self-contained piece of preparation. A boost to confidence, to awareness, to expectations. A chance to rehearse and build. A chance to get ready.

You don’t need it. But it might help a lot if you have it.

Nathan

Clear (To You)

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Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide…

 

A few weeks ago I was half-humming, half-singing Bohemian Rhapsody as I was tidying up.

“What’s that?!” asked my seven-year-old daughter.

I started singing the song properly. I stayed in tune. I know the words pretty well and thought I did a good job.

When I stopped, I waited for applause and appreciation.

My daughter said, “No, what was that? I don’t know that. Is it new? Or is it really old?”

She could hear all the words, catch the tune, see her dad making a bit of a fool of himself (that’s standard operating procedure), but was at a loss for trying to really get what she was listening to. She’d never heard Bohemian Rhapsody, was unfamiliar with that kind of song or style of music, and so all she got from my virtuoso performance was confusion.

Whereas I thought I was being very clear!

 

Consider, as you prepare for the viva, where you feel you’re clear – in your thinking, in your knowledge, in how you communicate your research – and explore what you could do both to check how clear you are and improve how clear you are. Share your research with friends and ask them about what they understand and what they want to know more about. It’s not enough that you get it: check that they get enough of what you’re trying to share.

You know a lot and can do a lot to have got this far through your PhD. Now check how clear you are when communicating with others – something you’ll have to do when you meet your examiners in the viva.

 

Any way the wind blows…

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