Daily viva help for PhDs
Help for the viva can be summarised very simply.
It’s simple, but not always easy.
They do.
Slips, errors, accidents, typos, absent-minded actions and more. There’s a worry for some candidates that examiners will not forgive mistakes. Perfection is not the standard for the thesis or the viva, but you can still wonder, “What will they think about X?”
Well, let’s assume that whenever you find out about X you can’t do anything to change it (because otherwise, you probably would and it wouldn’t be a worry). Maybe you know X happened while writing up; maybe you discover X when you’re preparing for the viva; perhaps you’re asked and only realise X in the viva. Essentially your next steps in all these cases are the same.
Simply think about the Why, How and What of the mistake:
Mistakes happen, and sometimes you need to act to correct them. Sometimes you just need to acknowledge them. Reflect on the why, the how and the what to explore how you might respond to examiners’ questions about mistakes in the viva.
A candidate told me they were afraid because they had nowhere to hide in the viva.
Examiners would have spent lots of time reading their thesis and so the candidate worried they would be unable to evade questions on the day.
Literally in the viva room as well, there is nowhere to hide. On viva day it’s just you and your examiners: talking, discussing, figuring out what the thesis means and what that then means for the end of your PhD.
So yes, nowhere to hide…
…but also no need to hide.
Why hide in the viva? You have your work, your thesis, your ideas, your know-how, your talent. Why would you need to hide?
When I did my PhD there was very little help available for viva candidates. Now there is help everywhere.
There are scores of advice articles for the viva and probably hundreds of blog posts about personal experiences – you can find a link to some of them here!
Universities have staff who are there to answer questions, academics with experience who can tell you what’s what and resources to help get ready for the viva – it’s worth checking out what’s available at your institution!
And Viva Survivors has dozens of interviews with PhD graduates, lots of free resources – and over 850 daily posts of viva help!
There is a super-abundance of help for the viva out there. A wealth of information, ideas and advice that can be accessed by any PhD candidate who wants to know what the viva is about and what they can do to be ready.
So: what will you do to get ready?
Because now all of this help is out there, the only thing stopping you being ready is your decision about what you will do.
I’ve been a huge fan of Tim Ferriss for the best part of a decade. His books and podcast have been a great inspiration to me (as they are to many people). Recently, I put aside the time to annotate his two most recent books Tools Of Titans and Tribe Of Mentors, both of which are about asking others for their advice. In Tribe Of Mentors he asked hundreds of peak performers in many fields the same eleven questions, and gave them the freedom to answer in whatever form they wanted. As a result, the book is fascinating: full of really interesting ideas, patterns of behaviour and thought among successful people.
Tim outlines why he embarked on the project in this LinkedIn post, which is a copy of the main introduction to Tribe Of Mentors. There’s a lot of really useful ideas here too – just generally, never mind for the viva! – but one line stood out to me in particular:
Life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific ask.
This resonated with me in thinking about viva preparation. Viva preparation does not have to be a solo project. I imagine most people will spend most of their time getting ready alone, but there are really valuable things you can get from others – your supervisor, your colleagues, your friends and family.
All you have to do is ask, but you will get more if you are specific and clear.
Don’t just ask for a mock viva: be clear about when you might need it, if there is someone you’d like for a second mock examiner and if there are topics you really want questions on for specific practice.
Don’t just ask friends for advice: tell them what you want to know, ask them specific questions about their vivas or ask them to read a chapter and then ask questions over coffee.
Don’t just ask for support from loved ones: tell them how they could best help you, then ask them to do it!
Don’t be vague, be specific. There is a lot of help and support available before the viva, but you need to ask clearly for what you need.
Before the viva, your examiners will have an idea of the outcome. They’ve read your thesis; they have thought about it; they have experience. They will have an outcome in mind before the viva based on what they think of the thesis.
But it’s not set in stone. It’s an outcome they think is likely, but you still have to show up and show them what you know, what you think, what you can do.
In very rare cases examiners tell candidates the result at the start of the viva. In those cases they are so sure of the viva outcome that they want to put the candidate at ease to then have a great discussion. But those cases really are rare. Don’t expect it for your viva.
Expect that your examiners will have an idea: they do their job in the preparation and come prepared to do their job on the day. They come with a decision that they look to see confirmed by your actions and your words.
You can make a decision too. You can decide to be ready for your viva. You can decide how you will show up on the day.
So decide.
PhD student or postgraduate researcher?
Examiner or academic?
Expert or experienced?
Prepared or ready?
The labels we use make a difference. They’re a part of the story we tell ourselves about a situation.
Some labels help and others don’t.
What labels have you chosen for your examiners? What labels describe you? And are they the most helpful labels for your viva and the end of your PhD?
…not perfect.
Today I’m delivering my 218th Viva Survivor workshop. I still get a little nervous, but only a little. I’m more likely to be anxious about travel arrangements than talking or presenting.
I make a point of giving the latest session count in each Viva Survivor – not to boast, but to emphasise that practice leads to confidence. I was a terribly anxious speaker when I finished my PhD: in talks I was always looking for places to hide, looking for anything I could do to not feel so nervous. There are lots of things I have done since then to build my confidence.
A simple part of it is practice, action aimed at becoming better.
My point isn’t to tell candidates to go and get as much viva practice as possible before their viva – they will only have one mock viva, not 217 before they get to the real one. My point is that real, relevant practice that builds a candidate up has been done all through the PhD.
You grow, you learn, you develop. You can’t always see it because the research is in the foreground, but it’s there. Your PhD experiences matter, and those experiences can lead to confidence.
Not perfect, but practised.
Your examiners have to reach a decision, but it may be that they don’t agree on everything. It could be that one likes a particular idea or experiment or conclusion in your thesis and the other doesn’t. It may be that they can just work it out before they meet with you, but it could be the case that you have examiners who disagree with each other about something in the viva.
What do you do?
Remember: it is not your job to resolve disagreements between your examiners. They’re professionals: expect them to be professional.
Wait for them to clearly state their points, then do what you can to engage with them and find out what (if anything) you have to do as a result.
What does viva success look like to you? What’s the outcome that will make you happy?
If you set it as getting no corrections, or finishing within a certain time limit there may be nothing you could do to be successful.
If you try to be perfect, responding to questions quickly or with perfect paragraphs of ideas and arguments, you will almost certainly fail.
If you define success as doing your best, being prepared, being switched on and ready to engage with your examiners then you’ll have a goal you can achieve.
You get to choose. What will success at the viva mean to you?