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Nathan

What’s Bad?

Daily Post

Is it possible to have a “bad” viva?

There are lots of general expectations about the viva process. A reasonable expectation for the duration is two to three hours. There are outliers: it’s possible to be finished in less than an hour, but it’s not a possibility to be hoped for. My viva was four hours and I once met someone whose viva was five hours!

I don’t think my viva was “bad” but can imagine that for another person four hours would have felt like an awfully long time.

Maybe there are certain questions that would feel bad to receive. Perhaps a particular focus by an examiner would be unwelcome. There’s a very remote chance that an examiner could approach the viva with the wrong attitude: looking to find problems or to show off their own knowledge and experience.

That would be objectively bad and it’s very unlikely, thankfully.

 

Most ideas of a “bad” viva are subjective: you have concerns about what could make your viva “bad” for you. If you can name those concerns then maybe you can do something about them.

For example, if a “bad” viva would be one where you forgot things, then you could take steps in your prep to help in case that happened. If a “bad” viva focussed on a particular topic, then you could do extra reading in preparation, or take time to rehearse more for talking about it.

If you have an idea of something that would make your viva “bad”, first check to see if it’s at all likely. Knowing that it probably won’t happen could be enough to help – but if not, consider what steps you could take to help yourself.

Nathan

Viva Day Confidence

Daily Post

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

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

Challenging

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It’s natural to not want to talk about challenging parts of work or research in your viva. It’s human to focus on the good stuff and hope you won’t need to explain something tricky. It’s not wrong to be worried or have concerns about what might happen.

Rather than simply worry, maybe it’s better to confront the problem and do something – even something small – to improve the situation.

  • Can you think of a paper you struggled to understand? Take another look and find one thing you can make more sense of now.
  • Is there a concept in your field you often struggle to explain? Try again. Find the tricky point and come up with an idea.
  • Do you know of a question you really don’t want to be asked in your viva? Spend ten minutes unpicking why you don’t want it, what the issue is and what you could do to respond to it.

The viva is full of challenges, big and small, simple and complicated. Not all of them can be known in advance, but if you are aware of challenges don’t simply avoid them. Spend a little time exploring why it’s a challenge – then a little more on how you could engage with it.

Do more than worry.

Nathan

Red, Yellow, Green

Daily Post

A viva prep exercise to sort out worries and concerns.

Take two sheets of paper. On one of them, write down all the things you can think of that make you worried or concerned for your viva.

  • Think about gaps in knowledge. What else do you need to know and what are you uncertain about?
  • Reflect on your thesis. What do you need to do to feel confident about talking about your work?
  • Think about yourself. What do you need to do to feel good about presenting yourself as a capable researcher in the viva?

When you feel you’ve emptied your head, make three columns on the second sheet of paper. Title them Red, Yellow and Green. You’re going to make three lists, but these aren’t static records so you might want to write in pencil or use sticky notes to capture thoughts.

Red, Yellow and Green are going to be your way of solving your worries. You can’t just leave them. You have to work past worries to help get ready for your viva. Use the columns in the following way:

  • Red: this column captures worries that you don’t know what to do with. You’re aware of the situation, but you haven’t figured out what will resolve it. Items in this column need solutions. Ask yourself what you could do or who you could get help from.
  • Yellow: move items from Red to Yellow when you have an idea of what to do. Maybe you need to perform a particular task (like annotate your thesis or have a mock viva). Maybe you need to ask someone for help. Items in the Yellow column are in-progress; you’re on your way to resolving the problem.
  • Green: move items from Yellow to Green when you have sorted out the worry. It’s no longer a problem. Now, it serves as a record: you’re making progress, getting closer to feeling ready for your viva.

It’s natural to have worries or problems related to the viva. Succeeding at the viva matters.

If something is bothering you it probably won’t go away by itself. Get the worries out of your brain so that you can focus on doing something about them.

Nathan

My Two Questions

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In the opening minutes of any viva session I ask two simple questions of the cohort:

When is your viva?

&

How do you feel?

Both of these questions, and their responses, are really helpful to me. I start to think about adapting the session I’ll present. I have a plan of course, but if I know that everyone has submitted their thesis then I know parts I don’t need to emphasise as much. If lots of people say they feel uncertain about their viva then I’ll find a few moments to talk about expectations.

My two questions help outside of viva prep sessions. Consider:

  • When is your viva? Whenever it is, you have time. If you have days then you have time to work towards being ready. If you have weeks you can invest that time in slow and steady preparation if you want to. If you have months before submission then you can carefully build your confidence.
  • How do you feel? Whatever you feel is not fixed. If you feel great then let’s cement that. If you feel uncertain then let’s help you with some information. If you feel unprepared you have time to work on that. If you feel nervous you’re not alone! Most candidates do and that’s OK.

Consider the time you have left and what you can use it for.

Consider how you feel and how you want to feel – and then decide what you will do as a result.

 

PS: One thing you could do is go to Kickstarter and back my campaign to print 101 Steps To A Great Viva! The campaign hit the target over the weekend so now I’ll definitely be producing the print run next month. If you want to make sure you get a copy – and possibly pick up some extra rewards for supporting the campaign – then please go and check it out.

Nathan

The Edge

Daily Post

Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?

Your viva, and your success at it, aren’t a leap of faith. You did the work, you did the prep, you can learn about the process. You don’t need to hope that it all goes well. You can be reasonably certain that things are going to work out.

And yet you are at the edge of something.

The edge of your PhD before you step out and do something different. The boundary line between here and there. It could be very similar if you’re continuing in academia or a great change if you’re moving to another field or industry – but it will still be different.

Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?

It helps to know because then you can do something.

 

Nathan

The Last Minutes

Daily Post

What do you do if you have an hour left until your viva and you feel a little nervous?

You do something.

  • You write a few sentences to describe your contribution.
  • You check the bookmarks you have placed in your thesis.
  • You talk with a friend and tell them how you feel.
  • You go for a short walk and breathe!

When you’re nervous in the viva you can only be there and engage as best you can. Before then, if you feel nervous, you can do lots of things to help yourself. Be thoughtful as you prepare: if you were to feel nervous in the last minutes before your viva, what could you do to help yourself?

Nathan

In The Way

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If you feel worried or anxious before the viva then stop and ask yourself, “Why?” What is getting in the way?

 

For example, if you feel unprepared it could be that you’re pressured with the time available. It could be that you’re not sure what to do. It could be you’re now concerned something is missing in your work. Any of these could be in the way, but all have solutions – you have to know what is in the way before you can work to remove it.

If you don’t feel confident it might be that you don’t know what to expect from the viva. It might be you are feeling especially nervous. It might be that you just don’t believe you’re ready. All of these and more could be reasons why someone doesn’t feel confident. All can be overcome, once you know what the barrier is.

And if the thought of talking with your examiners makes you uncomfortable, perhaps it’s because you don’t know that much about them. Perhaps you don’t know what the tone of the viva is supposed to be like. Perhaps you don’t always feel certain when discussing your work. Whatever is in the way, you can take actions to improve how you feel.

 

There could be lots of things in the way of you feeling good about your viva. There are also lots of things you can do to help yourself. You just need to know what is in the way so that you can start a plan to get past that barrier.

Nathan

What Do You Do?

Daily Post

Here and there in my posts you’ll see subtle hints and outright confirmation that I love games of all kinds. Computer and video games, board games, card games, role-playing and story games. Thematic games, abstract games, little games, big games – basically games of all kinds, purposes, styles and descriptions.

I have a particular fondness for role-playing and story games. I love the countless possibilities when one reads a game and appreciates the intent and flavour that someone else has presented – that is now open to interpretation, modification and enjoyment by the people who are going to play. It’s a great thrill!

In many role-playing games, whatever their mechanical rules or genre, there is a fundamental question asked by the people playing whenever a situation is encountered: What do you do?

  • A dragon appears in the dungeon! What do you do?
  • You try to open the door but it’s stuck. What do you do?
  • The person you’re talking to has answered your question but you’re not sure if they’re telling the truth. What do you do?

There could be a facilitator for the game or not. You might be playing with a group or responding to prompts in a text. You might be rolling dice or drawing cards to influence the outcome but still at some point the question is always, “What do you do?”

 

It strikes me that this simple question is one that helps a lot in so many other situations, even with the viva.

  • You find a passage in your thesis after submission that doesn’t read well. What do you do?
  • Your first-pick for external examiner has cancelled. What do you do?
  • You have a week before your viva and want to boost your confidence. What do you do?
  • It’s two hours into your viva and your internal has called for a break. What do you do?
  • It’s two hours into your viva and your internal has asked a question you’ve never considered before. What do you do?

You might have an idea in mind. You might need to ask someone for information or help. You might not be in a hurry. Eventually, you have to do something. You’re the only one who can do something to move things forward or start the process.

It might not help to consider endless “what if…” possibilities, but considering how you might approach particular challenges could help. More importantly, recognising that it really is you who will have to do something to resolve a challenge, big or small, can help you realise that you’ll need to take action.

So, what do you do?

Succeeding in the viva is not a game, but it can help your confidence to have a winning strategy. You don’t need to play a role to pass. If a challenge presents itself pause and ask yourself what you will do. Then do it and move closer to your ultimate goal.

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