Don’t Deny Nerves
If you feel nervous about your viva there is a reason. Don’t try to put it to one side or squash it down, because that feeling is trying to draw your attention to something. If you feel nervous because you...
Daily viva help for PhDs
If you feel nervous about your viva there is a reason. Don’t try to put it to one side or squash it down, because that feeling is trying to draw your attention to something. If you feel nervous because you...
Whether it’s Halloween or any other day of the year, your viva is not a scary story in your future. No-one is going to jump out at you in your viva. Nothing startling. Nothing horrific. No terror. No torture. Your...
My hero Seth Godin describes anxiety as “failing in advance”. In seminars I would estimate at least a third of candidates I ask describe themselves as nervous, anxious or worried about their chances of viva success – with anxiety being...
Your viva could feel a bit uncomfortable in some ways. It could be there’s parts of your research you would rather not talk about. Or you’re nervous about unexpected questions. The fear of going blank and forgetting something could make...
This is a non-exhaustive list of things that candidates, in my experience, consistently throw lots of energy and attention at – despite none of these things really being problems. Answering every question you set out to with your research. Not...
Off in the distance, on the edge of a clear blue sky is a single cloud. Something to be aware of, but not something that needs to be acted on. The wind may never blow it your way, and even...
Every now and then my daughter goes through periods of worrying about spider shadows in her room at night: not spiders, but things that look like the shadows of spiders in the dim half-light of her nightlight. We’ve explained they’re...
You’re not the first person to feel nervous, excited, unprepared or whatever you feel before your viva. Ask around, find out how others coped. You’re not the only person in your viva who might feel nervous, wanting to do a...
If you feel nervous before your viva there is typically a simple explanation: you’re recognising that the viva is important. You need to pass, you’ve invested a lot of work to this point, and even though the vast majority of...
In some cases, you won’t be able to. The viva is not a question and answer session or a quiz. Some questions won’t have memorisable facts that you can serve up to your examiners; instead, you will have to offer...