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Nathan

17% Uncomfortable

Daily Post

That’s my prediction for your viva.

You know your research, you wrote your thesis, you’ve prepared for the day. You’re reasonably confident, not arrogant, slight flutter of nerves because it’s important. There’s a few moments of worry – you don’t know what your examiners think, what they’re going to ask, if you’ll go blank on something or not – but you can probably feel pretty comfortable with the situation.

I would hope that you feel only a little uncomfortable, just a little, because when you think rationally you know why and how you’ve got this far. 17% uncomfortable means that you’re doing well.

And if you’re feeling more uncomfortable than that, what are you going to do about it? Who are you going to ask for help? What actions are you going to take?

Nathan

The Least I Can Do

Daily Post

There are lots of things that could get in the way of preparing.

You’re busy or you’re bothered, you feel stressed or worried…

What’s the smallest meaningful thing you could do? Even if you’re busy or something’s getting in the way, what could you do that would take five minutes and make a difference? Two minutes? One minute?

Why not…

  • Read a page of your thesis.
  • Add a bookmark.
  • Stick a Post-it in your journal saying what you need to do next when you get a moment.
  • Write down a question that occurs to you.
  • Summarise your contribution, even if you’ve done it many times before.
  • Google your examiners and save their staff pages for later.
  • Pencil in half an hour in your diary for when you will do some prep.
  • Download “The tiny book of viva prep” to print and fold later!
  • Print and fold “The tiny book of viva prep”! 😉

Viva preparation takes time; usually thirty minutes to an hour at a time is good for considered thinking or work. But little things add up too. If you find yourself short on time, short on patience, short on confidence, just ask yourself, “What’s the least I could do?”

What small thing could you do, even if it takes only a moment, that would make a difference overall?

Nathan

Not Ideal

Daily Post

There’s so much about your viva that might not be exactly how you want it to be.

You find typos or a clunky paragraph after submission.

You’re busy and struggle to find preparation time.

Your first choice examiner can’t do it.

You feel more nervous than you want to be.

You worry there’s something missing in your thesis.

You worry you should have done more.

Worry and mistakes and missed opportunities are all not ideal. But the best thing to do is ask, “What can I do?”

Then act. Do something. Don’t diminish how you feel, or just stress about would be better: work to get closer. Work to do something that helps.

So underline your typos or pencil in a correction.

Make a plan for your prep and do what you can.

Learn about your examiner’s research.

Ask yourself why you feel nervous and work on the root cause.

Examine whether there’s really something missing, not just a worry.

Ask why you didn’t do more – probably, because you were doing something else in your thesis!

If something’s not ideal, you can feel disappointed or cross or upset.

But then act. What can you do?

Nathan

Viva Advantages

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There are lots of things in your favour when you go to meet your examiners!

  • The conversation is about your research, which you know better than anyone.
  • Your examiners have read your thesis, but you wrote your thesis.
  • You can annotate your thesis to help details stand out in the viva.
  • You can rehearse being in the viva.
  • You can decide in advance how to approach responding to questions.
  • And finally you have extremely relevant talent, knowledge and experience.

Individually, these are helpful for viva day. Combined, they mean you have a lot of advantages to meet any challenges you’ll face in your viva.

Nathan

A Reminder About Viva Nerves

Daily Post

Nerves don’t mean there’s something wrong. They’re just a symptom of you noticing that the viva is a big day.

Your viva is important, so you probably feel nervous as a consequence. Nothing more.

Prepare for your viva, because it is important. Do what you can to find confidence, because while confidence won’t banish nerves, it will help to keep them in check.

Acknowledge that your viva nerves are there. An anticipation of an important event. Nothing more.

Nathan

Leap

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You’ve done everything you can, become everything you are, know everything you can and need to know.

Viva day comes and you have to leap and trust you’ll reach the other side. A day that’s different from all the others in your PhD life, but still just a day like any other.

You’ve got what you need. So now you come to it: a leap of faith, an act of confidence.

Of course you’ll reach the other side of your examiners’ questions and discussion. How could you not?

Nathan

You Must Be This Tall To Ride

Daily Post

Amusement park signs have never bothered me.

I’m tall and I don’t like rollercoasters. Those signs with arrows indicating heights have always been for someone else. My daughter, however, is six, and tall for her age, but short for the signs. “You can’t go on this one, it’s not for you, not yet, not now.” Tears of frustration follow, until another diversion is found.

Frustration and sometimes tears show up around the end of a PhD too. Frustration brought on by fear, worry, anxiety – candidates wondering if they’ve hit the mark. Has their thesis passed the test? Have they done enough? It’s not wrong to wonder, it’s natural given how important everything is at that stage. The thesis, the PhD, the effort that goes into them – your efforts – they’re all important.

It takes time for children to grow so that they pass the arrow on a rollercoaster sign. Academia doesn’t print any signs like that, but they’re there, invisible, and probably behind you now as you head towards the end of your PhD…

You Must Be This Good To Viva.

And to get as far as you have, you must be good enough.

Nathan

Vulnerable

Daily Post

You will be vulnerable in the viva. In a way, you have to be.

Your examiners have to ask you questions. But they are carefully asking questions. They’re not trying to hit a weak spot; they have to ask you questions, they have to listen to your responses, there has to be discussion. In doing so, they may hit a weak point, either in your work, your knowledge, your understanding or something else. But that’s not their intent.

You have to put yourself in a position where you’re open to questions. You have to put your thesis out there so that it can be questioned.

You can’t be invulnerable. You have to be vulnerable. For some people that’s one of the scariest things you can do.

What can you do? Acknowledge it, but don’t just worry about it. Work on it, maybe work through it. You can’t build a suit of armour that covers you, but you can – through preparation – make a more confident way of being open to questions and discussion.

Nathan

A Valentine For The Viva

Daily Post

A sappy rhyme

A silly card

Could never really say…

So little time

Easy or hard?

One important day!

 

A great big book

A lot of work

And now it comes to this…

Another look

No way to shirk

A date you cannot miss!

 

A thousand days

Or maybe more

And by that time you’re steady…

So many ways

And none a chore

And then you can be ready.

 

It’s not easy

You could worry yet

But you’re a survivor.

This poem’s cheesy

But I’d bet

That you’ll pass your viva.

 

It’s not one in a million, Cupid’s Arrow, or a lightning bolt that doesn’t strike twice.

Consistently you’ve done good work. You can do that one more time for your viva.

You might not love it, but you’ll survive it!

Nathan

Every Little Thing

Daily Post

The success you’ll find in your viva is cumulative. It’s built on top of everything you’ve done over the last few years.

It’s not an all or nothing, once-in-a-lifetime event. You’re there because of every little thing (and quite a few big things) that you’ve done well, got right and been amazing at over the course of your PhD.

Find your confidence for your viva in all of your other successes that have come before.

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