You Are Here

Year: 2019

Nathan

The Decision

Daily Post

Before the viva, your examiners will have an idea of the outcome. They’ve read your thesis; they have thought about it; they have experience. They will have an outcome in mind before the viva based on what they think of the thesis.

But it’s not set in stone. It’s an outcome they think is likely, but you still have to show up and show them what you know, what you think, what you can do.

In very rare cases examiners tell candidates the result at the start of the viva. In those cases they are so sure of the viva outcome that they want to put the candidate at ease to then have a great discussion. But those cases really are rare. Don’t expect it for your viva.

Expect that your examiners will have an idea: they do their job in the preparation and come prepared to do their job on the day. They come with a decision that they look to see confirmed by your actions and your words.

You can make a decision too. You can decide to be ready for your viva. You can decide how you will show up on the day.

So decide.

Nathan

Labels

Daily Post

PhD student or postgraduate researcher?

Examiner or academic?

Expert or experienced?

Prepared or ready?

The labels we use make a difference. They’re a part of the story we tell ourselves about a situation.

Some labels help and others don’t.

What labels have you chosen for your examiners? What labels describe you? And are they the most helpful labels for your viva and the end of your PhD?

Nathan

Practice Makes…

Daily Post

…not perfect.

Today I’m delivering my 218th Viva Survivor workshop. I still get a little nervous, but only a little. I’m more likely to be anxious about travel arrangements than talking or presenting.

I make a point of giving the latest session count in each Viva Survivor – not to boast, but to emphasise that practice leads to confidence. I was a terribly anxious speaker when I finished my PhD: in talks I was always looking for places to hide, looking for anything I could do to not feel so nervous. There are lots of things I have done since then to build my confidence.

A simple part of it is practice, action aimed at becoming better.

My point isn’t to tell candidates to go and get as much viva practice as possible before their viva – they will only have one mock viva, not 217 before they get to the real one. My point is that real, relevant practice that builds a candidate up has been done all through the PhD.

You grow, you learn, you develop. You can’t always see it because the research is in the foreground, but it’s there. Your PhD experiences matter, and those experiences can lead to confidence.

Not perfect, but practised.

Nathan

When Examiners Disagree

Daily Post

Your examiners have to reach a decision, but it may be that they don’t agree on everything. It could be that one likes a particular idea or experiment or conclusion in your thesis and the other doesn’t. It may be that they can just work it out before they meet with you, but it could be the case that you have examiners who disagree with each other about something in the viva.

What do you do?

  • First: listen and let them lay out their positions. You may have strong feelings for a topic, but let them talk first and see whether this is something you actually need to respond to. They may just be expressing different opinions, it may not be disagreement.
  • Second: be sure of what you are responding to before you respond. If someone doesn’t like something, ask why. If they are vague, ask for details. Be clear and then respond as best you can. You don’t have to take sides, you just have to explain what you think.
  • Third: if discussion results in corrections, get as much clarity as possible to see what’s involved. If there is disagreement about corrections between examiners, ask again for clarity.

Remember: it is not your job to resolve disagreements between your examiners. They’re professionals: expect them to be professional.

Wait for them to clearly state their points, then do what you can to engage with them and find out what (if anything) you have to do as a result.

Nathan

Success

Daily Post

What does viva success look like to you? What’s the outcome that will make you happy?

If you set it as getting no corrections, or finishing within a certain time limit there may be nothing you could do to be successful.

If you try to be perfect, responding to questions quickly or with perfect paragraphs of ideas and arguments, you will almost certainly fail.

If you define success as doing your best, being prepared, being switched on and ready to engage with your examiners then you’ll have a goal you can achieve.

You get to choose. What will success at the viva mean to you?

Nathan

Easy Viva, Hard Viva

Daily Post

Is it better to have an easy viva or a hard viva?

I got this question at one of my final Viva Survivor sessions before my summer break. I have lots of thoughts…

First, the answer really depends on what we mean by “easy” and “hard”. It depends on the candidate and their preferences. If easy means zero challenge, does that mean the viva means nothing really? If hard means almost-overwhelming questions and discussions, does that mean it was fair? And regardless of whether you want or have an “easy” or “hard” viva, there are no guarantees one way or the other…

Around a year ago I wrote a little on this topic (Easy, Hard, Challenging). The final thought from that post seems relevant to the question today:

On the day you could find [the viva] easy or hard, but it will still be a challenge.

It’s still a challenge even if you are necessarily talented.

You don’t know what kind of viva you’ll get in advance. You can know what kind of candidate you are, and rise to meet whatever challenge you find in your viva.

Nathan

Relaxed

Daily Post

Viva prep doesn’t have to be frantic, rushed or pressurised.

Being relaxed doesn’t mean being lazy, or doing a bad job. It means being ready, taking your time, knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it. Rushing your prep is a choice. You can choose to be relaxed.

Do it by thinking ahead. Sketch what you’ll do, what sequence, what you need to help you, and then wait for the moment to arrive when you need to do it.

Even if you’re busy, rushing, frantic in your day-to-day, you owe it to yourself to prepare well for the viva.

Do that by being relaxed.

Nathan

Looking Forward

Daily Post

Think about what might be good in the viva.

  • If you could, what would you like to talk about with your examiners?
  • If you could ask any question, what would you ask?
  • What tone would you want for the discussion?
  • If you could show your examiners your talent, what would you do?

What are you looking forward to? And how could you try to make it happen?

Nathan

Being Grateful

Daily Post

There’s so many things that can be awful in the PhD.

Tight deadlines, fuzzy goals, abstract references, weird politics, bad supervisors, hard topics, vague questions, and a lot more…

And that’s the tip of the iceberg, the general postgraduate researcher problems. Some people have it much harder.

A lot could be good though. It might not all be, but as you get to the end of the PhD, when the viva is just around the corner, I’d encourage you to think about all you are grateful for from your time as a PhD. What opportunities did you have that you might not otherwise? What did you learn? How did you grow? Who helped you and how?

Being grateful can help shift your focus. If you’re feeling down about your work or the journey, look for the brighter stuff to help steer you into a positive place for your viva preparation.

Nathan

Don’t Know, Do Know

Daily Post

Candidates often worry about “what they don’t know” but frame it as a nebulous fear that waits out of the corner of their eye… What they don’t know is something that examiners do know, and examiners are looking to use that against them perhaps. What they don’t know is unpredictable, unclear and uncertain. That makes it something to be afraid of.

It can seem unclear, but I think we can examine this more clearly by contrasting what you don’t know with what you do know.

What You Don’t Know

  • Everything.
  • What your examiners think about your thesis.
  • What questions they want to ask.
  • What the outcome of your viva will be.

What You Do Know

  • Enough – you’ve read enough papers, done enough work, built up enough knowledge.
  • What you think of your work, what your supervisor thinks of it, what others have told you about it.
  • How to answer questions: you’ve built this talent up throughout your PhD.
  • What the most likely viva outcome is, and why that happens.

Seth Godin has truly timeless advice on this sort of thing: you get to choose which list you focus on.

In this case, the second one is much, much more useful.

1 … 10 11 12 13 14 … 36