Nervous or Confident?
You don’t have to feel one or the other for your viva. In fact, it’s likely that on the day and in the time leading up to your viva you could feel a whole range of things. Nervousness comes from...
Daily viva help for PhDs
You don’t have to feel one or the other for your viva. In fact, it’s likely that on the day and in the time leading up to your viva you could feel a whole range of things. Nervousness comes from...
The time to prepare for the viva is after submission. There are many things you could do before submission that could help – and a lot you do while finishing your thesis will build you up for the viva –...
You don’t need to have done perfect research. You don’t need to have written the perfect thesis. You can’t have done every possible task in preparation. You don’t need to have an answer for everything. You don’t need to be...
As you prepare for your viva, remember who did the work. Remember who read the papers. Remember who figured things out. Remember who wrote your thesis. Remember who became more capable and more knowledgeable. Remember who made a real contribution...
Your viva is coming up and you got this! Whatever questions, comments or criticisms your examiners have, you got this! Whatever pressures you faced throughout your PhD, you got this! However the pandemic impacted your work, you got this! Whatever...
Viva preparation is not a production line. It doesn’t follow anything as neat as moving from one task to the next, finishing one component and moving neatly on to the next. Prep does not follow a flow diagram: it’s not reading...
There are PhD games that people play that are ultimately not fun or helpful. They’re founded in perfectionism and not knowing what’s expected. Playing them seems like a good idea sometimes, but is ultimately frustrating. Don’t play those games. Don’t...
What if I forget something? What if I go blank? What if my examiners don’t like something? All hypothetical questions. All reasonable too: any PhD candidate could feel worried about these things for their viva. But why are hypothetical questions...
To help remember your effort and progress – to then help build confidence for the viva – keep records of what you do and what happens during your PhD. You don’t have to have a minute-by-minute journal of what you...
It’s not a bad thing if you feel nervous before the viva, or at the start. It’s probably not comfortable. Nervousness can sometimes grow into feeling overwhelmed or anxious because – but by itself it’s not a terrible state. Nervousness...