Prepare For The Challenge
The viva is most likely the final challenge of your PhD. Corrections are work, but in most cases they’re simply editing or amending what you’ve already finished. The viva is the big thing you need to focus on and get...
Daily viva help for PhDs
The viva is most likely the final challenge of your PhD. Corrections are work, but in most cases they’re simply editing or amending what you’ve already finished. The viva is the big thing you need to focus on and get...
When your viva is all done there’s no gold medal for no corrections. You don’t get a little asterisk on your certificate for minor corrections. No corrections, minor corrections, major corrections. Different outcomes that mean the same thing: you’ve passed....
I wanted to call this post… The Picture In My Head Is Not The Picture In Your Head …but even I have my limits! This phrase came to me recently when my daughter was trying to explain something from school....
Happy New Year from Viva Survivors! I’m often asked “What are vivas like?” I can help with that, as can a candidate’s friends and colleagues. No-one can guarantee what a viva will be like beforehand but there are enough...
Consider the movie Home Alone and the PhD viva, two very different things: One of these things is a story about someone preparing to face two determined professionals in advance of a really important day. A particularly talented protagonist uses everything...
For Christmas gifts, even if the present is not quite what you wanted, when someone gives you something it really is the thought that counts. Someone took the time to think about you and wanted to do something that’s nice....
I like things to be just right. I’m not fussy, I’m particular. Which means I’m never satisfied by Christmas selection boxes: a collection of chocolate bars in one festive package. My grandmother would say, “You mustn’t eat them all at once or...
These three words were drilled into me in my former life as a mathematician. In solving a maths problem it wasn’t enough to find an answer, I had to show how I had got there. I couldn’t claim a result...
I know. I think. I feel. There’s a place for all in the viva, potentially. Some questions will hit a target made up of facts. Things you know. Things you have discovered. For some questions you weigh up information against...
You have many people around you who could give support as you get ready for your viva. Ask your supervisor for help. Ask early in case they’re busy. Be clear so that they can support you. Check their availability to...