Daily viva help for PhDs
While viva prep depends a lot on the person, their research and their circumstances, there is one quality I wish for every PhD candidate’s prep: I would want it to be unrushed.
No rush. Pressure can be useful as a motivator for some but I don’t think stress is ever helpful.
Plan your prep. Give yourself the luxury of time and space to do the work well.
No rush, no hurry, less stress, less fuss.
It helps to read your examiners’ recent publications before your viva.
Look for connections between your work and your examiners’ research. Look for similar terminology. Check to see if they have done work like you or something a little different.
Finding connections doesn’t make the viva easier: it gives you reference points you can connect to and ideas of how you can relate your research in the discussion.
Noticing that there aren’t many or any connections doesn’t make the viva harder: you may have to explain some ideas in more depth, but also trust your examiners to do their homework to be ready to talk with you.
It’s not good or bad to find connections, it’s not good or bad to realise there are few or none. Checking, noticing and reflecting helps you to think through what you need to do next in your prep and in the viva.
The list of things you can potentially do to prepare for your viva is very, very long. If you combed through the posts on this site for unique ideas then you’d find far too many for someone to do.
Viva prep ideas give options for how someone can do the work. For example, there are lots of useful summaries you could write to gather your thoughts but you don’t have to write all of them to be ready.
When it’s time to think about viva prep, take a moment to really consider how much time you have. Reflect on what you need to do and how you can do it best for yourself.
I don’t have a list of criteria for you but here are some helpful questions to consider:
Remember to ask others about what they did and what they found helpful. That doesn’t mean you should just copy their approach, but you might find ideas you can adapt rather than start from a blank page for your own prep.
Don’t make big resolutions for this year. Don’t set impossible goals for yourself.
Don’t put that on yourself, particularly if you’re finishing your PhD and your viva will be between now and December 31st.
Instead, try one thing. Every day, when you’re fully awake, before you start your work or leisure, just ask yourself: “What can I do today to make tomorrow better?”
It can be tiny. It could be a one-off. It could be the start of a habit. It could be by yourself or involve others. It could be the start of an activity or finishing something.
“What can I do today to make tomorrow better?”
Then do it.
All the best for 2024 and my particular best wishes if you’re working towards your viva. What can you do in the coming weeks and months to make that day better?
Surviving the viva, surviving the PhD… It doesn’t mean overcoming obstacles or terrible trials. Survive means “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances”.
You survive the PhD because you find a way to keep going. You survive the viva by continuing in that way.
Like confidence, surviving is a topic I find fascinating to explore in the context of the viva. I hope you find these posts helpful.
Next year will certainly have challenges, possibly including your viva. How you survive will depend on what you do. It won’t just happen but you can decide how you will approach your year.
How will you manage to keep going in difficult circumstances?
Confidence is one of my favourite topics to explore when thinking about the viva. Good research, a good candidate and good prep can be assumed of any viva – but confidence makes a big difference for how someone engages with their examiners and the situation.
Here are five posts from this year that have dug a little deeper on the topic of confidence.
Tomorrow is the last round-up post of the year – and the last post of the year! – and we’ll come once again to the topic of surviving. How do you “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances”?
I like to limit these round-up posts to five links, but as every link today is for a short post I thought I’d add an extra one!
And that’s all for today. Five posts on confidence tomorrow!
If you read through any handful of posts on Viva Survivors you’ll come across a reflection. With the work that I do supporting postgraduate researchers – and having done this for a very long time now – I like to reflect, look for patterns, look for connections and try to find interesting ways to explore what the viva is all about.
You’ll read many more reflections on the viva, viva prep and everything related in 2024 – but tomorrow look out for my favourite short posts of 2023.
It’s that time of year where I share my favourite posts from the last twelve months!
I always like to start my round-up posts with viva preparation as it’s a big part of the viva experience. The viva itself is done in a few hours, but preparation is often spread out over several weeks. Here are five helpful posts:
Look for more viva prep posts on the site, and look out for tomorrow’s post with my favourite reflections from this year.
Viva Survivors will be on a short break for a few days now. I like to pause the posts because however you celebrate this time of year – or if you don’t – it’s good to take a break.
Despite many ups and downs, there’s been a lot of good in my life this year, and I hope the same has been true for you. It’s an honour to share something helpful here every day and to know that it is being read by so many people.
From my family to yours, whatever your plans, we wish you the very best this Christmas-time.
Be safe, be well, be with people you love and who love you.
Viva Survivors returns on Wednesday 27th December 2023 with the first of five days of a round-up of the year. All the very best until then!