What’s My Line?

I hate the thought of forgetting something important.

I prepare before any webinar that I deliver – even if, like Viva Survivor, I have delivered the session many, many times before.

  • I have a 1-page session sheet on my desk. I write it out again before every session.
  • I also have a prompt sheet on-screen with key points and timings. Again, this gets reviewed before every session.
  • And I take at least an hour to look over my slides in parallel to reading my notes.

I have shared Viva Survivor with postgraduate researchers over 350 times. And yet, every time before I start, I think, “Wait, what do I say?”

 

You can’t take notes like mine to your viva. Your examiners are looking for a presentation not a conversation. But still you can do things to help yourself if you think you’re going to forget something.

  • You can annotate your thesis with helpful notes.
  • Invest time in reviewing your thesis’ key sections.
  • And it’s essential to rehearse responding to questions to help how you feel.

The last point is especially helpful.

Like me, you might feel bad at the thought of forgetting something that matters. Like my situation though, there are an abundance of things you can try to help you remember.

Not The Reason

I’ve lost count of the number of PhD candidates who’ve told me that they’re worried about receiving critical questions.

Some are worried about particular criticisms. Some are worried about hypothetical questions. Some are worried about the questions that they haven’t anticipated.

All are being rational.

It’s not that they should worry, more that it’s not irrational to worry about critical viva questions. Given the amount of work involved in getting to the viva – and given the outcome that a candidate would be hoping for – it’s understandable to worry.

As ever, in situations where someone worries it helps to ask why.

  • If you’re worried about a particular criticism, why? What’s the reason?
  • If you’re worried about a particular hypothetical question, why? If you’ve thought about it, can’t you do something to think about how you might respond?
  • If you’re worried about the undefined mass of questions you’ve never considered, why? Is there nothing you can do to change how you feel?

I have a three-word aphorism that I always try to keep in mind (both for myself and others): work past worry. Worry is human, but action will always take you closer to resolving the situation than worrying alone.

If you worry, do something.

If you worry there’s a reason for that worry. If you do something you can work towards the concern being satisfied in some way.

Remember as well that whatever question your examiners ask, there is always a reason motivating them. If you’re not sure how to respond then try to consider the reason for their question in the first place.

Problems And Solutions

In the last four years I’ve tried various lighting options when I present webinars.

Natural light can work well but only when the sun is shining and typically only in the morning. I’ve tried ringlights and they make me look like a ghost. Mostly I have hoped that it will work out and people will be able to see me.

And none of this matters any more: after my summer break I noticed the new “portrait” option in Zoom. A clever filter darkens my background and lightens me. This tiny bit of contrast makes a great difference!

It’s an unexpected solution to the problem I had.

 

All of which is a roundabout way to my point: it can be very easy to focus on one type of solution to a problem. I tried many lighting options but needed something different. Perhaps the problems you face for your viva have different solutions than you expect – or perhaps they are different problems altogether.

  • How will I remember everything for my viva?! Maybe you don’t need to remember everything, perhaps you need to annotate your thesis effectively.
  • How can I get ready when I don’t have time?! Sketching a plan to break the work down will help, as will remembering all the work you’ve already done.
  • How do I get rid of my nerves?! Why not focus instead on building confidence? Build confidence to offset nervousness, rather than try to eliminate nerves.

I spent a long time wondering about how to light myself for the camera – and realised when I landed on a solution that this was only one way to look at the problem.

If you have any viva-related problems and they seem intractable, perhaps a helpful next step is to consider whether or not there are any other ways to look at the situation.

Scary Times

If you’re worried or scared by your upcoming viva you have to ask yourself why.

Knowing why doesn’t take the worry away but it can help you to start wondering “what if…?” and “how…?”

  • If you’re concerned about some part of the viva process, how could you find out more?
  • If you’re worried by your examiners, what if you knew more about them?
  • If you’re scared that you’ll forget something, how could you address that in your prep?
  • If you’re not sure what to do to get ready, what if there was someone who could offer some suggestions?
    • I’m not the only person who could do this, but there are a lot of ideas on this blog!
  • If you just don’t know why you feel scared, how could you start to unpick what’s wrong?

The last question might be the first step to resolving feeling scared.

You can’t suddenly stop feeling scared but you can begin to take steps to help yourself.

Behind Worry

It’s not wrong to worry about the viva. Worry is a very typical, human response to a sensitive, pressured and important event. Years of work build to one meeting. You want it to go well!

It’s not wrong to worry. It’s not wrong to be nervous. Neither state is comfortable, but neither state will diminish your work or impact how likely you are to succeed.

To move past worry you have to explore why you feel that way. When you know what your worry is you can do something about it.

  • If you worry about your examiners you can find out more about them.
  • If you worry that you’re not ready you can do more prep.
  • If you worry that you don’t know enough about the process of vivas you can take time to learn more.

It may be that you can’t remove all sources of worry in your life, but you can probably take action to reduce the worries you feel about your viva.

And for all the worries you feel you will still succeed at your viva.

You Need To Get Ready

The practical tasks involved in viva prep are not hard, but shifting focus to do the work can be tough.

Why? Perhaps because you’ve done it all before. You did this work! Haven’t you done enough already? You did the research, you wrote the thesis, you checked it and now you have to read it again and do more work for the viva. Really?!

Or maybe your response is lead by nervousness. Maybe you have lots of questions in the way. What exactly will be involved in the viva? What do examiners do? How do they behave? If viva prep is another step closer then putting it off means you might not have to inspect your own nervousness yet, at least for a little while.

Or you could be busy. Steering your attention to prep when you have a job, or you’re looking for one, or when you have responsibilities is just a hard ask. You know it needs doing, but finding the time or feeling energised enough when you need to prepare can be tough.

Whatever it is, whatever is proving a barrier, you need to find a way around it. Whatever the problem is you still need to prepare. You need to get ready for your viva.

  • You’ve done the research – but you need to get ready for your viva.
  • You could be nervous – but you need to get ready for your viva.
  • And of course you’re busy – but you need to get ready for your viva.

It’s not as simple as saying just get ready. Whatever is in the way of you shifting your focus to preparation is real. You have to find a way forward though. Everyone is different, so every solution is going to be unique.

Generally you have to make a plan that works for you, that is driven by what time you have, how you feel and what gaps you see in your preparation. Recognise the barrier and figure out a way around it.

And then you have to do to the work.

You need to get ready for your viva.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on January 23rd 2022.

What’s Your Worry?

Don’t keep your viva worry bottled up in your brain where you can merely be anxious about it.

Write it down. Tell a friend. Talk to your supervisor.

Your worry could be unfounded. Talking to someone who has had their viva or knows about the process could put your concerns in perspective. They could help you see what you can do to help yourself.

Your worry could be easily resolved. Being clear with yourself and knowing what’s wrong and could allow you to move forwards.

Your worry could be a tough situation – in which case exploring what you could do and what you will do, possibly with support from others, will allow you to work past that worry.

It’s natural, given the importance of your viva, that you might have worries. If you do then you can also do something about them.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on September 27th 2021.

Silence

What if it gets silent in my viva?

A small question I’m asked from time to time. A candidate hears that the viva is a discussion; discussions involve talking and so if the talking stops then it’s not going well, right? What happens as a consequence if that happens?!

 

The viva is important. Important things make people nervous. Sometimes nervous people worry about things more than is needed.

Silence in the viva isn’t good or bad. It just is. Silence is a pause. Silence is a sip of water. Silence is thinking or checking. Silence is a part of a discussion or conversation!

Silence might not be comfortable. If you are nervous – and you might be – then the best thing to do is work instead of worry. Have a mock viva. Have conversations with friends where they ask you about your work. Practice and rehearse so that silence isn’t something you avoid but something you respond to.

Silence might be a part of your viva, naturally and in some ways necessarily. Rehearse so that you can manage to keep going in those quiet moments.

No Shame

I’ve sensed the worry and the shame behind many PhD candidates’ questions about the viva.

  • If only I’d done more, I could have worked harder…
  • If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have made that mistake…
  • Ugh…
  • The stupid pandemic made it go wrong and now I don’t have what I wanted…

Could someone do more or different than what you’ve done for your PhD? Perhaps.

Should you feel ashamed or nervous or in any way bad because you haven’t done more or different to what you’ve done? Absolutely not.

Remember that you couldn’t have got this far with your PhD journey unless you had done something right. Not just one something. A lot of somethings. You have got this far because you did the hard work and enough of that hard work brought success to you.

Maybe you could have done more or different to what you’ve done.

Maybe, but taking time to think about that is probably a distraction.

If it helps, be aware of the alternatives, but focus on what you did and who you became – because more than anything that’s what your examiners will want to talk about at your viva.

Find X

I love maths problems that look really simple.

A simple statement that asks a question. A string of numbers looking for connection. A picture with an undefined angle or shaded area.

They can look really simple but require real thought to unpick what’s involved and then find X.

 

This isn’t very different from having concerns about the viva.

If you or someone you know feels worried we have to find the X that is worrying them. We have to unpick why X is a concern. We have to understand what that means. We can then start to think of possible options.

A maths problem typically has a single solution being looked for. Viva problems can have lots of possible solutions; they depend on the person or the situation.

In viva problems, finding X is the first step to a bigger solution. Find why the problem is a problem and you can start to find options for resolving the situation.

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