Paint A Picture
Every viva is different but knowing what to expect can help you to paint a picture for yourself. Read the regulations, listen to stories and find out about norms in your department or discipline. Your viva will be different from...
viva regulations
Discipline Differences
Reading viva regulations and googling about what to expect for your viva can only tell you so much. There are a lot of general viva expectations worth paying attention to – related to the format, the questions and examiners –...
The Wild West Viva
Stereotypes of 1800s western towns are often invoked when it seems like “anything could happen” but that’s really not the case for your viva. Regulations have to be kept to, and can be known well in advance by everyone involved....
The Chair
It’s not good or bad to have an independent chair at your viva. Independent chairs are not examiners. They’re often a senior member of staff from your institution who is mostly acting as an observer. In your experience of the...
Certainty
You can’t know in advance what questions you’ll be asked at your viva. You can’t know how long it will be. You can’t know exactly what opinions your examiners will hold. A viva experience happens based on a range of...
Always Check The Rules
A simple plea for a Saturday: always, always read the regulations for thesis examination at your institution. Read the rules for the viva at your university. They might be a little dull in places, but you will get confirmation about...
The Unfair Viva
From time to time I’ve been told that the viva is unfair because candidates are at a great disadvantage due to the position they’re in. Examiners can ask what they want, they have more experience, they get to decide the outcome,...
Second Chances
I have heard stories of candidates that are asked to correct and resubmit their thesis after their viva. Resubmission is a formal process; it can mean that the candidate has to have a second viva. It could be that the...
A Collage Of Expectations
Viva expectations are a collage of different kinds of information: possibly dry regulations glued next to stories heard on the grapevine that then line up with the boundaries of firsthand, close-to-home experience. Often, you simply need to realise that your...
Necessary, Not Evil
Too often the viva is thought of as only a negative experience. Questions, Examiners, The End, Stress, Worry, What If, Failure, The Unknown… In advance of the viva, for many very understandable reasons, a candidate could expect it is going...