Unstuck

For anything you were stuck on during your PhD, reflect:

  • What was the problem? Why was it a problem and why was it worth solving?
  • What were you stuck on? What caused the issue? What was the stickiest point?
  • How did you get unstuck? What helped? What did you realise?
  • What was the outcome? How did this help you? And why does any of this stand out to you now?

Being stuck doesn’t feel great. Getting past it is a sign that you have learned, developed, grown. You know more, you can do more.

Positive signs for the viva.

A Viva Prep Top Ten

It has to be a top ten rather than the top ten, because there are so many useful things that one could do to get ready for the viva!

  1. Sketch a post-submission timeline.
  2. Stick a Post-it Note at the start of each thesis chapter.
  3. Read recent papers by your examiners.
  4. Check the regulations for your institution.
  5. Read. Your. Thesis.
  6. Have a mock viva.
  7. Write a few summaries.
  8. Check the details of the viva arrangements.
  9. Explore the why of your research.
  10. Find ways to remind yourself that you are good at what you do.

There’s more you could do, but this list would give someone a good overview of the practical work that helps.

What else would you add to this list? And what are you going to do next to get ready?

Interesting Decisions

Seth Godin writes recently of “the magic of trade-offs” – an idea that resonated with my own memories of doing a PhD.

  • I remember writing only a few paragraphs about an application for one of my results, because I knew my time would be better spent developing something else new.
  • I remember the pride when I worked out a neat method that saved a lot of calculation time in an algorithm – because I’d previously decided to wait and explore more before checking with my supervisor, though this was uncertain when I started my plan.
  • And I remember the trade-off (that paid off) when I decided to not apply for jobs as I was getting close to submission, to save my time and attention for getting my thesis as good as it could be.

I’m sure you must have made trade-offs in the process of doing a PhD. Another way of looking at trade-offs is that someone makes an interesting decision. There may be no right or wrong, but for now this is the choice. A consequence, doing a PhD, might be that other options are closed to you as a result of your interesting decision.

And another consequence might be that your examiners ask you to talk about or defend your interesting decisions in the viva. Not because you’re right or wrong, or because your examiners are – but because your decisions are interesting. They’re worth talking about and exploring.

In preparation for your viva, review your interesting decisions. Where did you trade-off different things? How did you make those decisions? What were your reasons?

And do you still think it was the right thing to do?

Make It Special

With the move to video vivas in the UK, I’ve not heard of any terrible stories, but I can well imagine that for some candidates the viva doesn’t feel that important. Or if it does, there’s a shadow of it not being all that special when they succeed. Finishing a video chat and sending a few emails or text messages isn’t the same as being able to meet a group of friends for dinner and celebrate.

There are things we just can’t change, not yet, not now – but celebrating success, while it might have to be different for a while, still has to happen.

Consider how you can make your viva success feel awesome. What can you ask others to do to help you? What could help make that day feel amazing? Who will you need to tell? How will you tell them? And how will you celebrate that day or soon after you’ve finished?

If you department has a tradition, maybe there’s a way you can update it for now. Some traditions might be hard to replicate over Zoom though…

You might not be pulled through the streets in a balloon-covered wagon, but you can find some way to make your viva success matter!

Head In The Sand

Ostriches, despite popular legend, don’t put their head in the sand to hide. It’s a common comparison to make for people avoiding problems though, I’ve used it here on the blog at least once before. In that post I encouraged viva candidates to not hide from concerns – figure out what’s wrong and do something rather than worry and avoid.

Ostriches actually put their head in the sand to check on their eggs and see if they’re alright. Building on this new information, still don’t be like an ostrich with your head in the sand repeatedly!

  • Concerned about expectations? Find out and write them down. Done.
  • Worried you’ll have trouble finding things in your thesis? Make a list of key points, stick bookmarks in your thesis. Done.
  • Unsure about your examiners? Spend time reading their work and write a summary for yourself. Done.

Don’t hide from your problems, but don’t keep checking on them either. Feel a concern? Act on it and resolve it, as best you can. Then move on and keep doing what you can to focus on getting ready.

Comfortable Silence

There are many reasons for silence in the viva:

  • A moment while a broadband router buffers in the background.
  • Time while a page is consulted or a note made.
  • Processing time while someone thinks through the implications of a comment.
  • Thinking time in a candidate’s mind while they prepare a response.

The latter might feel unnerving, but none of these could feel particularly comfortable. Silence invites speculation. Knowing possible reasons doesn’t dissolve fears, it simple gives you something else to wonder about.

Rehearsals help. A mock viva won’t be a way to learn your lines like a play, but can give you the confidence to be in that space. Silence is just silence. The reasons don’t matter in a way. The silence is the space between the discussion. You have to wait for it to pass, or use it to help you think.

Practise and get comfortable with the little moments of quiet that you’re sure to find in your viva.

Acceptable

Acceptable is a funny word. It means that things are fine, but it sort-of sounds like they’re only just alright. Like if you think about it more you might decide that actually you’ve changed your mind.

I’ve been asked a lot of questions related to the viva with the word “acceptable” in them.

How much do I need to write for an acceptable thesis?

Who would be an acceptable examiner?

What’s acceptable to say if you don’t know something?

I know the feeling that flows behind these kind of questions. Fear and concern, a little worry that perhaps something isn’t good enough but might just pass the standard.

I recommend candidates remove ideas of perfection from the PhD and the viva: there isn’t a perfect thesis, no perfect candidates, examiners aren’t perfect – none of these need to be for someone to find success in the viva.

In a similar vein, we need to get rid of acceptable from the PhD and viva lexicon. You can’t have things be perfect, but you should expect a lot more from yourself, your thesis and your viva than acceptable.

You can aim a lot higher and do a lot better than acceptable.

Telling Tales

If you tell yourself you’re lucky, you might come to think that you don’t deserve to pass your viva.

If you tell yourself there were things you could have done better, you might come to believe that your research isn’t that great.

If you tell yourself to be worried about your examiners, then you’ll probably build up your anxiety for the viva.

If you tell yourself that the viva’s all a bit of a mystery, then you’ll likely be afraid of what might happen.

Stories steer our reality. Personal expectations for the viva are influenced by the experiences that graduates and academics share, but these take root in the tales that we tell about ourselves. The tales you tell yourself about your progress, talent and imagined futures can dominate how you feel and act now.

So if you tell yourself you’re fortunate, you’ll know that you’ve found success through hard work.

If you tell yourself what worked well in your research, you’ll find a way to share that with others.

If you tell yourself that your examiners want to have a good discussion, then you’ll smile and thank them for their questions. (hopefully!)

And if you tell yourself that you’re talented, that you’ve not got this far by mistake or blind luck, then whatever you’re asked in the viva you can be confident you’ll rise to the challenge.

Start Prep Well

Everyone has responsibilities or time pressures.

Yours might include family life, a job, research you’re working on, caring responsibilities, illness or many other things. Way before you submit, sketch out what a typical day or week is like for you. You don’t need to take days off work necessarily to get ready for the viva, but you might want to mark out a couple of evenings in each week. You might need to block out a Saturday morning. Or ask a family member to cover a responsibility around your home so that you have a little time each evening.

Everyone has responsibilities or time pressures – but preparing for the viva doesn’t need to feel pressured. A small amount of thought, the simplest of sketches for a plan can help you to begin getting ready without a rush, without a feeling of uncertainty, without a sense that you don’t know what you’re doing.

Start well with a plan; start as you mean to go on.

Little Things Help

Sticking Post-it Notes to mark the start of chapters.

Bookmarking the webpage with your university’s viva regulations.

Underlining a typo, and then leaving it alone.

Making a list of things you know.

Reminding yourself that you are talented.

There’s lots of big pieces of work that help someone like you create a thesis. There’s lots of big things that you need to do to get ready for your viva.

Don’t forget the little things that will help too.

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