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Tag: viva feelings

Nathan

Risky

Daily Post

Are there risks of danger, problems or disappointment in the viva?

In general when we consider risk it’s worth assessing three elements:

  • The Bad Thing: the problem or outcome you’re concerned about.
  • The Likelihood Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of how certain The Bad Thing is to happen.
  • The Potential Impact Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of what might follow if The Bad Thing happens.

So, for example: your examiners find a typo. That’s very likely in a book with tens of thousands of words, but it wouldn’t have a great impact on your success or the work needed to correct it.

Or: your examiners could find a section in your thesis that they don’t agree with. There’s a fair chance of that happening when considering new and interesting research. The impact could be an in-depth discussion of the points in the viva or perhaps a request for certain amendments to your thesis.

An extreme example: it’s possible to fail your viva. That would have an enormous negative impact in many ways – but it isn’t very likely at all. It’s a very rare situation.

If you think or feel something about a potential Bad Thing, ask yourself how likely it is. Ask yourself what might happen. Then consider what you really need to do in response, either to reduce the chance of it happening or lessen the impact if it does.

Nathan

The Question No-one Asks

Daily Post

Almost thirteen years of workshops, seminars and webinars and no-one has ever asked me, “What do I do if I feel fine about my viva?”

  • I’ve met candidates who feel excited, but they also admit to needing to know more about the process.
  • I’ve met candidates who feel capable, but want to know how to prepare well.
  • I’ve met candidates who are reasonably confident and yet they don’t know what to do about a particular problem or issue they’ve realised.

And I’ve met a lot of candidates who are nervous, uncertain of the process or unsure of what to do to prepare.

People feel lots of things about their viva. I’ve never met a candidate who told me they just felt fine about theirs.

 

Of course, if you do then continue to do whatever has helped you to feel that way! Tell me (and everyone!) what your secret is. Relax, read your thesis and continue to build on how you feel.

If you don’t feel fine, which seems far more likely, then reflect on what’s holding you back.

What do you need to know? What do you need to do? Who do you need to ask for help?

Then take the steps you have to take to lead yourself to being ready for the viva. Maybe you won’t arrive at fine, but you can certainly feel capable and confident for meeting your examiners.

Nathan

Have Fun

Daily Post

Smile! Enjoy yourself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Things we don’t often say to someone when they have a viva soon…

But isn’t that a shame?

Yes, there’s work to do and an exam to pass, questions to respond to and a thesis to defend. Of course you have to share your research, discuss your thesis and demonstrate your excellence.

But who says that can’t be fun, enjoyable, a positive experience? Why don’t we encourage that more?

I’ll start: I hope you have a great time at your viva.

Nathan

Generating Confidence

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What could you do to boost or maintain your confidence for your viva?

  • Think about your research and focus on the good stuff?
  • Read about your examiners and get a sense of who they are?
  • Select an outfit that helps you feel good for your viva?
  • Reflect on the successes from your PhD journey?
  • Create and listen to a playlist of awesome music?
  • Have a mock viva to convince yourself that you know your stuff?
  • Highlight your strengths as a researcher?

Confidence helps put nervousness in perspective, and it’s to be expected that you might feel nervous for your viva. It matters. It’s important. Confidence won’t remove nervous thoughts, but it will help you to remember why you’re there.

There’s no magic pill for confidence, no simple button press. Thankfully, there are many things you could try. What else could you do to build your confidence?

Nathan

Impatience & The Viva

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It’s not wrong to want your viva to be done. That’s a natural response to the challenge and the situation.

But don’t try to rush your viva so it’s over as soon as possible. Don’t try to get every thought out as quickly as you can.

Likewise viva prep takes time. Give yourself a break before you begin. Take your time to do it well and take your time to think.

Perhaps if you feel impatient for your prep to be done or your viva to be over, stop and – if you can – think for a moment about what the real issue is. What’s driving how you feel? And what can you do about it?

Nathan

Drivers, Worries, Actions

Daily Post

In the viva, examiners drive the discussion by asking questions that:

  1. Explore your contribution;
  2. Investigate your authorship;
  3. Assess your capability as a researcher.

In turn, a candidate typically worries that:

  1. They haven’t done enough;
  2. They won’t remember enough about the process;
  3. They aren’t good enough to get a PhD.

To combat these a candidate could:

  1. Review their thesis and work to build confidence in the contribution;
  2. Rehearse explaining how they did the PhD to build confidence in describing the work;
  3. Reflect and remember how they have developed to build confidence in themselves.

Preparation helps with the discussion and lessening worries!

Nathan

A Recipe For Viva Stress

Daily Post

Take several years of difficult and demanding work.

Sieve together with months of writing.

Stir in vague half-truths and uncertain expectations.

Add two experienced academics to the mix.

Fold together with nervousness, worry, future plans and, depending on circumstances, pandemic-related uncertainty.

Bring to a slow boil over weeks of preparation and serve at the appropriate time.

 

A candidate might not feel stressed, but it’s not hard to appreciate why someone could be stressed by the thought of their viva. They would most probably still pass but the experience might be uncomfortable.

There’s no silver bullet to defeat viva stress, but there are remedies for each of the ingredients above.

Review your work and highlight what really matters. Re-read your thesis to be sure of how information flows. Find out more about what happens at vivas. Check recent publications by your examiners. And instead of bottling up stress as you prepare, use that time to build your confidence.

There’s a clear recipe for viva stress – but you don’t have to follow it.

Nathan

It Doesn’t Matter

Daily Post

Lots of things matter about the viva and how you succeed at it, but lots of thing really don’t.

It doesn’t matter if you have typos in your thesis, not really. Do your best to proofread and eliminate them, but be prepared to complete corrections after the viva.

It doesn’t matter if you missed a “key” reference from your field. You might have to think about it. You might have to talk about it. But how many more things have you read?

It doesn’t matter if your examiners are experts or not – and it doesn’t matter if you have cited them or not. Whoever your examiners are, they will be professional, they will be prepared and they will be ready to examine you.

It doesn’t matter if your viva is two hours or three hours or longer, except in terms of how tired you feel and whether you need to do something to prepare for that investment of time and energy. Long vivas don’t lead to more corrections.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re nervous. It might not feel comfortable and it could be distracting, but recognising that your viva matters, i.e., being nervous, won’t stop you from succeeding. Work to build your confidence and you’ll see that nervousness is just one more detail of your viva experience.

Nathan

Special Days

Daily Post

There are so many special days in the life of a typical human.

Special days usually invite some element of preparation.

A special day might make someone nervous.

You mark your calendar for a special day.

And a special day is often marked in some way: a celebration, big or small, to show that the day really was special.

The viva is a special day in the life of a typical human. Not every human has one, but those that do get there after a long series of days. Some of those will have been special too, but some will have been hard, others will pass without comment and some days will go by in a blur of activity.

The viva takes preparation, you might be nervous because you’ll know it’s a special day ahead of time.

And hopefully you’ll make time to celebrate somehow too.

 

PS: Today is a special day for me as it’s my birthday! I won’t say how old I am, but for a little fun and celebration of my own you can save 42% on all of my ebooks at my Payhip store until the end of the month if you use the code SPECIALDAYS when prompted at the checkout! 🙂

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