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Tag: viva feelings

Nathan

Ten Words

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A quick bit of viva prep.

Write a few sentences on each of the following ten words. Don’t take too long, don’t overthink things, just reflect a little and then write a little:

  1. Thesis
  2. Examiners
  3. Methods
  4. Contribution
  5. Confidence
  6. Expectations
  7. Feelings
  8. Problems
  9. Success
  10. Questions

Put all of your sentences to one side for a few days, then come back and read them. Whatever you’ve written tells you something about how you’re approaching your viva.

What does it all mean and what do you now need to do?

 

PS: If you’re looking for more ideas of what you can do to get ready for your viva, take a look at the  Viva Help Bundle of ebooks. A collection of my best blog posts, a practical guide to getting ready and a reflective writing game to build confidence – available for £6 until Thursday 30th November 2023.

Nathan

Viva Day Confidence

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Feeling confident on the day of your viva isn’t a magic shield against difficult questions. It doesn’t mean that you won’t or can’t feel nervous about the prospect of meeting your examiners.

Feeling confident for your viva means you’re as certain as you can be you’ve done as much as you can to get ready. You’re certain your work has value. You’re certain that you are capable. And you feel certain that whatever questions your examiners ask you will be able to engage with them and respond to them.

Viva day confidence is built up through work and reflection – and thankfully you have plenty of opportunities over the course of your PhD and in your viva preparation to build up your confidence.

Remember the work you’ve done. Remember what it means. Remember what a difference your learning and research and effort have made to you. Reflect on the work and all the impacts and you have the firm foundations for feeling confident on your viva day.

Nathan

Unfinished Projects

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Your PhD thesis and your success at the viva don’t rest on you doing “all the things”. You need enough of the right outputs and outcomes for your research to demonstrate that you’ve achieved PhD status.

If you have unfinished projects and they worry you or occupy your thoughts, consider:

  • Unfinished now doesn’t mean unfinished forever. As you complete your PhD it could help to make sure your work is left in a state where you can pick it up again some day.
  • Unfinished doesn’t mean that you didn’t learn something. What ideas grew out of that effort? Did any of it make a difference to your thesis?
  • Unfinished could invite questions. If the pandemic or something else stopped your progress that could be a topic for discussion in the viva. Or if you made a choice to focus in another way that’s also interesting and worth talking about.

Remember that a project that’s unfinished now could remain unfinished forever. As you finish your PhD you could be leaving something behind. That could also lead to mixed feelings for you.

Take time to resolve your emotions either way, so you don’t carry them with you longer than you need to.

Nathan

What Will It Take?

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When you start to prepare for your viva, make a list of what you will need to feel prepared. Ask yourself:

  • What practical materials do you need to help you get ready?
  • How much time do you have to invest?
  • Who do you need to consult with?
  • What key tasks do you have to have finished?
  • What activities will you engage with?
  • What outputs or outcomes will help you to know that you are prepared?

With all of these questions responded to and items listed, you have a checklist. The more you mark off, the closer you are to being sure you’re ready. Even if you can’t get everything – say, if you can’t have a mock viva – if you manage most things then you can feel pretty confident for the big day.

What will it take for you to feel ready? Make a list and do as much as you can.

Nathan

Feelings Matter

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Whatever you feel about your viva, reflect and think about what that means you have to do.

  • Feel nervous? Why? What’s at the root of that? What could help?
  • Feel anxious? What’s the problem? Who could you turn to for help?
  • Feel uncertain? What do you need to know? Where could you get more information?
  • Feel unprepared? How much time do you have? What are you next steps?

And what if you feel confident? Well, what can you do to build on that and continue to feel confident for your viva?

How you feel about your viva matters – but then you have to do something.

How do you feel? What do you need to do?

Nathan

Believe It Or Not

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If you believe your examiners will be fair with their questions then you’ll be more likely to try to engage with them, rather than suspect a trap or harsh comment.

If you believe you can get prepared during the submission period then you’ll be more likely to feel ready when the time comes.

If you believe the mostly positive stories about viva experiences that you hear and read then you’re going to act as though your viva will be a mostly positive occasion too.

 

What have you heard about the viva? What do you believe about it? And how does that help you (or not)?

Nathan

What’s Your Real Worry?

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If you feel worried about any aspect of your viva, ask yourself why first. For example:

“I feel worried about the discussion…”

Why?

“I’m worried I might forget something important…”

When you know what’s behind a worry you can start to do something about. You could reflect and think of possible steps to take. Continuing the example, possible next steps could be:

  • Highlighting information;
  • Adding notes in the margin;
  • Attaching sticky notes to key pages;
  • Writing summaries of important ideas;
  • Rehearsing for the viva.

These are all possible steps to help. Individually they might not be solutions to the problem, but they could move someone closer to feeling better about the worry. When you have possible steps, you then have to do something.

 

When faced with a worry about the viva, follow three steps:

  • Ask yourself “Why is this a worry for me?” – and dig a little deeper into what’s really wrong.
  • Reflect and think “How could I do something about this?” – find options that could help.
  • Decide, “What will I do now?” – and take action to help yourself.

Why is this a worry? How could I do something? What will I do?

Nathan

Getting Ready & Being Ready

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The process and the goal.

Getting ready means reading your thesis, asking questions, checking things, making notes and building confidence. Being ready means feeling certain that your viva will be successful.

Before you sit down to get ready, think ahead to what you want to feel when you are ready. What does being ready mean for you? What would you have done? What would convince you that you’re ready for your viva?

When you have a sense of what it would mean for you to be ready for your viva, you can plan and do your preparations much more easily.

Nathan

Bracing

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Every now and then we’ve had trouble with the boiler in our house.

One of the more extreme problems was a time when the temperature of the shower would cycle between pleasant and absolutely-freezing while in use. Over the course of twenty seconds or so a rhythm would play out in the temperature:

  • Nice.
  • Nice-
  • -cool-
  • -cold!
  • Freezing!
  • Oh gosh how does it go that cold?!
  • It goes colder???
  • Freezing!
  • Warming, phew!
  • Nice.

And repeat.

It took a few weeks to arrange the repair. During that time it was never certain when or if the problem would recur. Some days the shower was fine. Some days you would get a sudden surprise as the water temperature plummeted. We never knew when it would happen!

 

For the most part, everything works with vivas. Examiners and candidates have a sense of what is supposed to happen, and then everyone does their part to make that a reality.

But sometimes a question doesn’t produce the response that was expected.

Occasionally an assumption about an idea is wrong.

Or emotions in the event are too much.

All of these could be uncomfortable, even shocking in the moment. Like a suddenly cold shower.

But like a cold shower, if you’re already in that moment, what else can you do but continue? What else can you do but keep going?

If there’s a mismatch of expectations, or a question prompts an odd response, or if you’re feeling overwhelmed then pause. Ask a question. Ask for a break. Ask for help! Read your thesis. Sip some water. Do something.

As best as you can in the situation, keep going.

 

Cold showers and challenging viva moments. Both can be unexpected. Both can be uncomfortable.

When you’re in that kind of situation, you have no choice but to find a way forward. For the viva, remember that you have knowledge, talent and experience.

Nathan

Summary & Memory

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Writing a summary of some aspect of your thesis or research before the viva can do a lot of things to help you. It forces you to focus on something, to highlight the best parts or the most difficult sections and can really support you as you fine-tune your thinking.

It’s important to also recognise that creating a summary can help your memory too. It helps embed ideas. You don’t need to memorise your thesis, or a list or a page of notes, or anything like that. Your examiners want to talk to a person and hear their research, their story and what that means. They don’t need you to recite your work to them.

The focus of writing a summary can help boost what you remember for the viva. You know enough and have done enough or you wouldn’t be working towards finishing your PhD. A little more work can help you remember what you need for meeting your examiners.

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