Three Easy Wins
I start most working days with “three easy wins” for my productivity: before I get stuck into the harder stuff and deeper thinking I do three things that help me feel like I’m already making progress. A walk is often...
viva preparation
Prep Is A Workout
Viva prep is a series of tasks and activities that help you towards being ready for the specific challenge of your viva. From that perspective, I think it’s fair to think of it as a workout: you’re exercising specific mental muscles,...
Figuring Out Fears
It’s not irrational to be nervous about your viva or concerned for what might happen. The outcome matters, it’s important, and naturally anyone who faced a viva in their near future could feel a little nervous. If you’re anxious, worried...
One Weird Trick
I can’t believe I’ve never shared this before! It’s this one weird trick that helps with the viva!! One thing that universities, examiners and PhD graduates don’t want you to know!!! Whatever discipline you are in, however long you have...
Five Big Viva Mistakes
First, a candidate can think that vivas are random. It’s true that you won’t know what will happen exactly until you get to yours, but there are general expectations that can help you understand the process. Second, a candidate can...
Why Write A Summary?
You’ve written your thesis, read it in preparation for your viva and maybe made notes on pages. So why would you write anything else about it? Why would you write a summary as part of your viva prep? To gather...
Prep & Procrastination
If it’s hard to get started on viva prep or you’re putting it off then perhaps you need to make a plan – not to procrastinate but to give yourself some structure. If you get distracted then maybe you need...
If You Forget
Forgetting something in the viva could happen to any candidate. It’s a reasonable thing to worry about, even if there realistically wouldn’t be a great consequence to a minor lapse in memory. It’s reasonable to worry about forgetting; if you...
Want And Won’t
To organise your viva prep think about what you want to do and what you won’t do. You want to read your thesis but you won’t obsessively re-read it. You want to make a note of typos but you won’t...
The Prep Sequence
To prepare for the viva well it helps to do the right things. You don’t need to cover your thesis in notes and extra scribbles in every margin. Be targeted to make a better version of your thesis. You don’t...