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Nathan

7 Starts To Viva Prep

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1. Read a handful of posts from a blog!

2. Sketch out a plan of the weeks leading up to your viva, noting busy days and quiet times.

3. Read the introduction to your thesis.

4. Search for and download the last two papers by each of your examiners.

5. Page through your thesis and insert sticky notes at the start of each chapter.

6. Ask your supervisor when they might be free for a mock viva.

7. Download the regulations for thesis examination for your university.

 

Viva prep takes a fair amount of work, but small tasks help. Little things get you moving if you’re not sure what to do. The smallest of steps can help energise you to the next thing you need to do.

If you’re procrastinating or unsure of what to do, or even worried about what’s still to come with your viva, remember that getting started puts you on the path to being done.

So start!

Nathan

Persuade Yourself

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In your thesis, whatever the topic, whatever the structure, you’re trying to persuade your audience of something.

In your viva you are adding to the work of your research and the words in your thesis to persuade your examiners. You want them to believe the truth: you did the work and it has the value they’ve understood when they read your thesis.

Whatever their questions, you’re working to persuade them that you have ability and knowledge and your thesis is good enough.

 

Between submitting your thesis and succeeding in the viva you have to persuade yourself that you have ability, knowledge and a good thesis. Depending on your journey, your background and your circumstances when getting ready, persuading yourself that you really are good enough could be the hardest task of your PhD.

But that’s what you have to do.

And hard as it might be, given your experience so far, it’s a challenge you will rise to. Given everything else you’ve done, you can do this too.

Nathan

Pre-empting Questions

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You can’t know what your examiners will ask you at your viva.

You can have a good idea of what topics they will be interested in. You can make reasonable guesses. You can expect certain lines of questioning. You can look at past patterns, vague or clear, from what others tell you about their experiences.

And while all that is useful it is still very different from knowing what questions you are going to be asked.

It’s important to prepare for the viva – and necessary your focus doesn’t skew towards pre-empting particular questions. Don’t prepare only for questions you want, questions you expect or questions that you simply have a hunch about.

Prepare for the discussion by engaging in discussion. A mock viva could help set the tone and help you to find the balance between expecting topics and being prepared for questions that arise from what you’ve done.

Nathan

Too Much

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You can’t be overprepared for your viva, but you can be overinvested. You can do too much by doing more than is needed.

Through uncertainty or worry you could easily spend more hours, do more tasks or obsess more than is required.

Keep it simple. Plan ahead. Don’t fill your days. Figure out the core tasks required and do them when the time comes.

Not too much, just enough – just like your thesis, your research and you.

Nathan

Peaks & Valleys

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Viva confidence can come from reflecting on the years you’ve invested into your research and thesis. The journey has to show progress, personal growth and development and times that you’ve succeeded in your goals.

Looking back could also show you times when things didn’t work out, or when you faced setbacks. Particularly given the last few years you might remember the impact of the pandemic, both personally and professionally.

When you reflect it’s good to consider both the high points and the low. Use specific questions to unpick how a situation had an impact and what it’s lead to now.

  • A High Point: What happened? How did you come to succeed/develop/grow? Why has that contributed to your confidence now?
  • A Low Point: Why was this a difficult moment? How did you get through this? What have you done to learn from this time?

Highs and lows, peaks and valleys, whatever we call them, every journey of growth and progress has them. No plan goes unchallenged, there are always obstacles to overcome. But if you’re looking back on your PhD and getting ready for your viva, remember that you have overcome your challenges. You have done enough.

Don’t dig too deep into anything painful, but also remember that you have made it through your low points of your PhD. Keep going now and you will succeed at your viva.

Nathan

Predicting Failure

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It’s clear that most PhD vivas results in success.

Ask your graduate school. Look online. Talk to people who have been through the process. The vast majority succeed. Corrections are part of the process and not a failure or setback. The process of doing a PhD, submitting a thesis and having a viva is not perfect, but it tends to work.

So accurately predicting success as the outcome of submission and the viva is simple.

Candidates succeed at the viva for very similar reasons, even when their research and theses could be very different. They succeed because they did the work, they wrote a good enough thesis and became a capable researcher. In the viva, they were able to demonstrate everything they needed to in order to pass.

 

Accurately predicting failure is much, much more challenging. Candidates pass for very similar reasons. They fail for very different, personal ones. It’s hard to know in advance.

Worry and nervousness isn’t enough. The vast majority of candidates succeed and most of them are in some way nervous about their viva! If you genuinely feel concerned that you’ve missed something or that something isn’t good enough, talk to someone. Talk to your supervisor. Talk to your graduate school. Talk to friends and colleagues and anyone who could help and ask them, “Do I really have a problem here? Am I just a little nervous? What can I do?”

Get help if your thoughts are turning to failure. It’s extremely unlikely, but finding a way that you can work towards success is much better than trying to assess how likely it is that you’re headed for failure.

Nathan

There Are Limits

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A PhD journey is bounded in many ways.

You can only read a finite number of papers and articles to build up your knowledge.

There’s a cap on the number of words that a thesis can reasonably contain.

You have only so many productive hours in any working day and pushing beyond that will not bring greater progress.

And you have hundreds of days to do the work but those days will eventually come to an end – and then you’ll have weeks to prepare for your viva.

 

Consider your limits as you start to get ready for submission and your viva. What do they show you?

Perhaps there were other things you could have done, but if you’re a typical PhD candidate those limits will show that you are knowledgeable. You embraced your work and studied. The limits of your PhD journey will demonstrate that you worked hard enough to get things done. You’ll have a thesis with thousands and thousands of words as proof that you stayed determined.

There are limits that come in many forms, but none detract from the picture presented of you and your work. You did something. You made something that wasn’t there before and you can be proud of what you’ve made.

Nathan

Flaws & Problems

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After submission it’s likely that your thesis will have flaws. It’s possible that your thesis may have problems too. Both of these have the potential to be talked about in the viva and have consequences for corrections afterwards.

Flaws are simple. A flaw is relatively simple to spot through careful reading and obvious with hindsight. It’s the spelling mistake that gets overlooked and corrected, or an alteration to a diagram or table that provides clarity. You might find it or your examiners might; a flaw could be frustrating but it’s not a challenge to fix.

Problems are complicated. A problem might not be obvious at first glance. A problem could need exploring or explaining; it could have a simple solution after conversation removes confusion. The biggest contrast with a flaw is that a flaw is definite: something needs to be changed. That might not be the case with a problem. A problem could exist in the mind of a candidate or examiner – something has been read and interpreted one way when the truth is something different.

Flaws are found and fixed simply. Problems are perceived and pondered on carefully.

Neither flaws nor problems should get in the way of success at the viva. Read your thesis carefully in preparation, make notes if you need to, then be ready to talk in your viva about the amazing work you’ve done, as well as the flaws and problems that need addressing in some way.

Nathan

The Defence

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Remember that thesis defence doesn’t mean that you need to protect your work from harm.

Remember you’re not in a courtroom with your thesis on the witness stand.

Defending your thesis means you are tasked with speaking up for a silent book.

The words are all there, but maybe they’re not all clear. The pages are packed but there could be more to say. You have every chapter you need, but your examiners might want to know a little more or talk a little more about the fascinating things you’ve laid out.

In the viva, your task is to continue to support the work you’ve done for a long time. Defending your thesis means supporting the ideas you’ve developed and saying more about why they’re valuable.

Nathan

No Heroics

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Your examiners are looking for a significant, original contribution in your thesis and a conversation with the capable researcher who did the work. For you to meet their expectations you don’t need to have super-researcher powers…

  • Laser Focus: you can cut through an argument or question with a single glance!
  • Ultra Memory: you can recall any fact, piece of data or trivia you have accumulated!
  • Hyper Talents: you have absolute world-leading practical research skills for your discipline!

This doesn’t need to be you. It can’t be anyone. There isn’t a researcher in the world who can meet the impossible standards that worry might set. Your examiners don’t need a hero in the viva: they need a human, capable and dedicated researcher.

They’re looking for you.

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