You Are Here

Category: Daily Post

Nathan

You Can Take Action

Daily Post

I feel like I’ve written this a lot in recent posts – and over the years of writing Viva Survivors! – but it’s worth repeating: when you encounter a worry or a problem as you get ready for your viva there is no situation where you can’t take action to improve things.

Your action might be:

  • To stop and think;
  • To come up with a plan;
  • To ask a friend for help;
  • To read the regulations for thesis examination at your institution;
  • To talk to your supervisor;
  • To read something and think.

Or more generally to just do something. You could feel worried, stressed or unsure – but you can still do something.

Remember that you always have the option to try something to make your viva prep situation better. If you’re worried or stressed a good first step might be to ask for help, particularly if you’re feeling unsure what to do.

Work past worry.

 

PS: for more encouragement take a look at the eighth issue of Viva Survivors Select. I released The Survival Issue yesterday which contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive plus new writing to help with making it to the end and through the PhD journey. Take a look!

Nathan

Where Is Your Focus?

Daily Post

Where are you giving your attention when you plan your viva prep?

You don’t have to do everything all at once. You don’t have to do what everyone else does.

It might be a good idea to summarise the content of each chapter in your thesis – but equally you could focus on the contribution of your thesis as a whole. Either way could work well to get you reviewing and reflecting.

Having a mock viva is a good general preparation idea – but it might be even more helpful for you to explore different ways of explaining key parts of your research to friends or in a presentation.

Be mindful of your focus as you get ready. Are you doing what you need to do to get ready?

Nathan

Assumptions

Daily Post

Whatever you assume about your viva will have an impact on how you prepare for it, how you feel as you get ready and what you do as you start talking to your examiners.

Before you get to that point it makes sense to check regulations, viva stories and general expectations: do your assumptions line up with what the rules and other people say about the viva?

 

If you assume that your viva is going to be hard questions and unfair criticism then you’re going to make a tough time for yourself.

If you assume that your examiners are there to talk and listen and prompt a discussion then you might still be nervous but you’ll be able to prepare yourself.

And if, after all the work you’ve invested, you assume that you’re ready then you will approach the viva with a more positive outlook than if you assume you are somehow lucky or just getting by.

 

PS:  very quick announcement that The Survival Issue of Viva Survivors Select is out tomorrow! This is the final issue of this volume and joins seven other collections I’ve curated and released over the last seven months or so. Do look out for an announcement email tomorrow 🙂

Nathan

List Ten Problems

Daily Post

Here’s a little viva prep exercise to unpack problems you faced on your PhD journey.

Start by listing up to ten problems that you faced. These could be access to literature or resources, time challenges, supervisory issues, personal circumstances, a particularly difficult research issue or something else.

Once you have up to ten on your list take a minute or two to rank them according to severity, starting with the one which had least impact and then working your way to the most severe.

For each one write a few notes to respond to the following questions:

  • Why was it a problem?
  • How did you overcome it?
  • What was the specific impact on your PhD?

Reflecting and writing you will build up ideas for how you could talk about this with your examiners if the topic comes up at your viva. You might make connections between problems and see there was a deeper issue you addressed.

However big the problems were you will also see that you were able to rise to meet them: you overcame a lot to get this far and that means something, both for your research and for you.

Nathan

Watching Out

Daily Post

You can’t eliminate every potential stressor or difficult question ahead of your viva but through preparation you can be aware of them.

Read your thesis and reflect on your research. What was stressful? What was difficult in a negative way? Was there anything over the course of those years that made doing the work difficult?

Ahead of your viva you can prepare for engaging with those topics if they come up at the viva. You don’t have to say everything but you might have to say something that you’re uncomfortable talking about.

Writing some notes beforehand, talking with your supervisor or a trusted friend or even using the mock viva as a way to prepare can all be useful steps to getting ready if there’s a sensitive topic.

You can’t remove difficult topics from the viva conversation. You can be aware, you can watch out and prepare to engage well.

Nathan

“I Had To”

Daily Post

Those three words might be true but they will never be enough for a response to a question in your viva.

There’s always a reason and it’s always worth digging into. You always need the “because” or the “why” behind doing things a certain way in your PhD.

 

“I had to” might be the first words that come to mind with something difficult or even something particularly challenging in your research journey. If you know of situations like this ahead of your viva then it will be helpful to consider what else you could say. If it’s a sensitive topic you’ll probably still need to say something more than “I had to” – so think in advance what you might feel comfortable saying.

Nathan

Change For Your Prep

Daily Post

There might be a certain logic to do some of your viva prep in a different space to where you would typically work.

A different space allows you to think away from your typical environment. Maybe working at a different time could give you a new insight into how you work or what you’ve done well. Working in a different way (writing longhand rather than typing) might change the pace of your observations or the way you think about things.

Viva prep could be a really good time for changing things up as you get ready for your viva.

Nathan

Keeping Score

Daily Post

You don’t get points for right answers in the viva.

You don’t get marks deducted depending on how long you take to respond.

You don’t get a final mark – there’s no A, B or 7/10.

Your level of corrections aren’t a grade: they are simply a part of the process.

 

You can keep score for yourself before your viva.

Tally the days you showed up. Count the papers and books you’ve read. Add up all the versions of all of the pages you wrote. Consider how many times you’ve done the practical elements of your research (experiments, models, paper, interviews, hypotheses and so on).

When you consider the numbers of all of these things you can see that you’ve built up an impressive score of your own – that corresponds with your capability, your knowledge and the confidence you can feel for meeting with your examiners and succeeding at your viva.

 

PS: If you want more idea on confidence building then take a look at The Confidence Issue – the most recent curated collection of Viva Survivors Select. Twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive plus new helpful resources. And the final collection of this volume, The Survival Issue, will be released next week on Wednesday 12th November 2025!

Nathan

Right and Wrong Examiners

Daily Post

Some academics are definitely wrong as examiners for your viva: they don’t know your subject, your discipline or don’t have the requisite experience. They would never be asked.

Some academics are definitely capable to be your examiners: they are subject experts, experienced and have a good combination of knowledge and ability that means they could do the job.

Some academics might feel wrong to you as examiners: you’ve heard rumours or you’ve got a sense from interacting with them that you’d prefer not to engage with them in your viva.

Some academics might feel more right to you as examiner choices: they have a specific research interest you think connects with your work.

And some academics might be selected as your examiners regardless of whether you approve or not: ultimately, your supervisors decide.

What you can do, in advance of your viva, is think, consider and suggest names. You can express preferences and your supervisors can listen and decide what they need to decide.

Whoever your examiners are, they will be experienced, supported and capable. You will know who they are and know what they do. You can help yourself to be ready for meeting them.

Nathan

Two Step Viva Prep

Daily Post

Step One: Make lists.

Step Two: Do the work.

Viva prep involves a fair amount of work, reflection, planning and time – but you don’t need to make it complicated.

 

PS: one more helpful viva prep step would be to subscribe to the Viva Survivors blog and get a new helpful post emailed to you every day!

1 2 3 … 311