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Nathan

Summary & Memory

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Writing a summary of some aspect of your thesis or research before the viva can do a lot of things to help you. It forces you to focus on something, to highlight the best parts or the most difficult sections and can really support you as you fine-tune your thinking.

It’s important to also recognise that creating a summary can help your memory too. It helps embed ideas. You don’t need to memorise your thesis, or a list or a page of notes, or anything like that. Your examiners want to talk to a person and hear their research, their story and what that means. They don’t need you to recite your work to them.

The focus of writing a summary can help boost what you remember for the viva. You know enough and have done enough or you wouldn’t be working towards finishing your PhD. A little more work can help you remember what you need for meeting your examiners.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: Iā€™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 July 8th 2023.

Nathan

Let Go

Daily Post, Sabbatical

All the things you didn’t do. All the things you couldn’t do. All the ideas you didn’t follow. All the questions you couldn’t answer. All the opportunities you had to turn down.

You have to let them go when you prepare for the viva.

Whatever they mean, and whatever you might do with them in the future. They might be of interest in some way, or add context to something you could need to talk about. Exploring them might be a small part of your preparations but they can’t be your focus for getting ready.

Focus on what you did. Focus on the ideas you explored. Focus on the questions you answered, the results and conclusions you found. Focus on the opportunities that lead you somewhere.

Focus on who you are, not who you might have been.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: Iā€™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 March 12th 2021.

Nathan

Evidence

Daily Post

Confidence follows your actions. If you don’t feel confident ahead of your viva it’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you don’t have anything to show for all your work. It’s probably because the length, difficulty and circumstances of your PhD have made it hard to appreciate what you’ve done.

When you go looking you’ll find that the evidence of your capability is everywhere. As soon as you start to see the evidence you’ll feel capable – and in turn you’ll start to build your confidence.

Look at the hundreds of days when you’ve showed up to do the work. Look at the thesis you’ve produced. Think back over the many, many papers you’ve learned from. Remember the meetings, the seminars, the posters, the presentations and maybe the papers you’ve produced too.

None of this simply just happened. All of it exists because of you: your time, your effort, your determination and your willingness to grow and learn.

A PhD is hard for a lot of reasons. When you stop and reflect you’ll see evidence of your talent everywhere. Use that as evidence of your confidence as well. Then go and succeed at your viva.

 

PS:Ā the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts tomorrow! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors šŸ™‚

Nathan

Say More

Daily Post

Two words to keep in mind for your viva.

If your examiners want more from you in response to one of their questions then they will ask for it.

If you want to say more about a topic because it’s interesting or fun or difficult then you can offer it.

You don’t need to talk for the sake of it though. Any question or comment in your viva is inviting the best response you can give in that moment. Not the longest. Not the wordiest. Just the best you can do.

Say more or say less. Give your best.

 

PS:Ā the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts on Monday! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors šŸ™‚

Nathan

Connect The Dots

Daily Post

If everything is in your thesis then what are your examiners asking about?

Questions in the viva are asked for a range of reasons.

Sometimes it’s to dig deeper into a topic. Sometimes examiners need to understand something that isn’t clear to them. A question might not be about the thesis at all, instead looking to explore a candidate’s skillset, knowledge base or way of thinking.

And sometimes a question is a means to explore and get the candidate to explore. Can they connect the dots between ideas? Can they show what they think would happen? Can they combine their ideas with something new?

Whatever the question in your viva: pause, think and respond. Be clear. Take your time. Connect the dots so that your examiners can be confident in awarding you your PhD.

 

PS:Ā the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts on Monday! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors šŸ™‚

Nathan

Take Your Time

Daily Post

Take your time as you finish your thesis. You’ll never make it perfect but you can be proud it’s as good as you can reasonably make it.

Take your time as you get ready for your viva. Plan your prep and give yourself space to do the work without stressing or rushing.

Take your time in the viva. You don’t need to speak as quickly as possible – you can think, you can be clear and you can respond confidently.

Take your time after the viva to breathe and appreciate what you’ve done. Getting a PhD is not something that everyone does; at the very least it marks you out as someone capable and determined.

If you can, when your PhD is complete, take some time to think about what you’ll do next.

 

PS:Ā the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts on Monday! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors šŸ™‚

Nathan

Summer Sabbatical

Daily Post

I didn’t mark the seventh anniversary of the Viva Survivors daily blog back in April. It completely slipped my mind. I wrote about something else instead and the date only registered weeks later.

Seven years.

Over 2500 daily posts.

More than 400,000 words about the viva, viva prep, expectations, examiners, confidence, nervousness, worry, getting ready and more. Serious and silly posts, lists, essays, highlights, resources and lots of things that are neither one thing nor another.

I’ve no intention of stopping Viva Survivors, but I think I need a break šŸ™‚

 

From next Monday, July 1st 2024, I’ll be taking my first ever Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: instead of a new daily post there will be an old daily post from the archives, every day through to September 30th.

I’ve already arranged so the site will run without my intervention over the coming months. I’ll be contactable but otherwise investing the time I would have spent on Viva Survivors every week on other creative projects.

If you don’t already, subscribe to Viva Survivors for a daily piece of viva help! šŸ™‚

Nathan

Who You Ask

Daily Post

Lots of people say lots of things about the viva. It depends who you ask. It depends on their experience.

If you ask your supervisor about your upcoming viva they might tell you not to worry. They could offer a small piece of experience-tempered wisdom.

If you ask friends also working towards their PhDs about your upcoming viva they might share some things they’ve heard. Rumours, half-truths and apocryphal stories of possible vivas past.

If you ask friends who have had their viva already then they might offer some interesting details. You might have to ask specific questions and give them space to remember. You will have to be mindful that all vivas are different, even if there are trends and patterns in the process of how they happen.

If you were to ask yourself about your upcoming viva, what would you say? Would you be positive? Would you be concerned? What would you focus on?

Nathan

Feeling Ready

Daily Post

If you feel ready for your viva then you probably are!

So ask yourself two questions, just to be sure:

  1. Is there anything else you can do?
  2. Is there anything you might have forgotten to do?

If you can honestly answer no to both of these then the third question is simple: what will you now do to hold on to this feeling of being ready?

Nathan

The Nightmare Viva

Daily Post

What’s the worst thing that could really happen at your viva?

Failure is a very, very remote possibility. If you have real concern you should talk to your supervisors and friends – and unpick whether failure is more than a very, very remote possibility for you.

So then, what’s the worst thing that could really happen at your viva?

Perhaps you could be asked to complete corrections that you weren’t expecting or don’t want. That would be a nuisance but corrections come after the viva, after you’ve passed. You need to do the work to complete your PhD, but that’s all. Do them and you’re done.

What’s the worst thing that could happen?

Maybe an examiner could make a comment that you don’t like or ask a question you don’t want. It might be an uncomfortable moment but it wouldn’t stop you passing.

What’s the worst thing you could find at your viva?

Your viva could be long. It could have questions you don’t like. You might freeze or forget something. Your viva might not follow the trends of expectations you had heard about.

 

And yet: you’d still succeed. Because whatever happens, you still would have done the work. You still would have prepared. You still would be ready.

Maybe none of the things above match what you think the worst thing might be at your viva. It’s all hypothetical. Some or none of the above and perhaps none of your deepest worries might come true. They’re just traces of nightmare fuel for you, secret concerns that perhaps you’ve missed something in some way and that will spell the end.

It won’t be.

There is an end coming – the end of your PhD – and it’s a good thing. It might be different than you expect and it might have surprises you don’t like, but they’ll pass. You’ll be on to whatever you’re dreaming of next.

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