Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2022: Viva Prep

Daily Post

I finish every year of Viva Survivors with a look back at some of my favourite posts from the year. In the coming days I’ll share topics like surviving and confidence, as well as general reflections on the viva and some of my favourite short posts.

Today we start with viva prep as that feeds into lots of areas related to the viva. What can you do to get ready and how do you do it? Here are some ideas:

  • The Busy Factor – to begin with, advice on getting ready that helps if you’re busy – and helps if you’re not!
  • Find Five – prompts for starting viva prep.
  • Annotated For You – why and how to annotate your thesis, with examples of what you could do.
  • Summary Values – a short reflection on why writing summaries can help your viva prep and viva.
  • A Helpful Acronym – a long overdue return to writing about one of my favourite ideas for viva prep!

Viva prep is not a huge amount of work. A little thought in how you do it can make a big difference in terms of how you feel. Tomorrow: some of my favourite reflections from Viva Survivors 2022!

PS: the Viva Survivors blog celebrated five years of daily posts earlier this year! To mark the journey so far I wrote and published “Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology” – a curated collection of the best of the first five years. If you’re looking for viva help then this blog is and always will be free – if you want to support the blog and get an awesome book as well, then take a look at the options at the link. Thanks!

Nathan

Christmas Break

Daily Post

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever your viva is or was, very best wishes from me to you at this time of year. I hope you take some time to rest and however you celebrate – or if you don’t – I hope you have a lovely time over the next week or so.

Viva Survivors will pause for three days now, returning on Tuesday 27th December with the first of five “best of” posts to round out the year. Until then:

Merry Christmas from Viva Survivors!

(and enjoy last year’s A Visit From St. Nate!)

Nathan

Fortune’s Favours

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The harder I work, the luckier I get.

As with so many quotes it’s difficult to pin down who said it. Whoever said it they were definitely on to something. There’s such a thing as simple luck, but in many cases we create good fortune by working hard, by investing time in ourselves and the things we do.

We create the circumstances by which good things can happen, and the more we do the more chances there are that we can find “luck” or good fortune.

So for a PhD candidate, success at the viva isn’t due to luck. Good fortune through the PhD, in writing the thesis and in passing the viva comes down to work: time invested in getting better as a researcher, effort invested in making something that wasn’t there before and energy invested in writing it up.

When you pass your viva it’s not through luck: you’ve done the work and made your own good fortune.

Nathan

Viva Prep Blues

Daily Post

This post is for anyone who feels down at the thought of getting ready for their viva.

  • Remember that the hardest work is done by the time you submit your thesis.
  • Planning your preparation helps to break down the work you still have to do.
  • There is no rule that says you can’t take a break.
  • There is no rule that says you can’t make your preparations enjoyable.
  • In most cases it’s easier to do a little prep each day than squeeze everything into one or two pressured days of preparation.

And if you feel blue about getting ready or about your viva then it will probably help to talk to someone you trust to get advice or support.

Nathan

The Viva Radar

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In movies, people look at radar, sonar and other detection screens and as a noise pings and a blur moves across the screen they say, “Something’s coming!”

Everyone stops and stares, holds their breath and wonders, “What is it? It’s getting closer! It’s big! It’s almost here!”

They wait to see what will happen. What exactly is this thing? What do they need to do in that situation? And then whatever it is – a submarine, an alien, a spaceship – arrives and urgent action is needed.

 

This isn’t so different from the situation some PhD candidates find themselves in with their viva.

“My viva is coming soon! Something will happen! I’ll be asked some questions! I need to get ready!”

But they hold it all in. They focus inwards. They wait until the day nears and they have to take urgent action.

Thousands of vivas happen every year. There are plenty of people around every candidate, not to mention books, blogs, podcasts, resources, supervisors, graduate schools and more. There is no reason for the viva to be just another vague blob on your screen.

Find out what it is and you’ll know what you need to do.

Nathan

The Bridge of Preparation

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You submit your thesis, you have your viva and in between these two events is the bridge of preparation.

Viva prep bridges the gap between one challenge and another, but the gap is not that great and the bridge is not so difficult to build. A little effort spread out over a few weeks can be enough to ensure that you get from submission to the viva with no problems.

Maybe you can leap the gap, but why leave it to chance?

Nathan

The Right Words

Daily Post

There are wrong words you could use in the viva. You could exaggerate or bluff. You could lie! You could mis-speak. You could be too modest or you could be careless in your thought or speech.

There are no perfect words for the viva discussion. Your examiners don’t expect you to respond like a machine without hesitation, errors or deliberation. Questions can have answers but they could also have opinions offered or hunches shared. You can say I don’t know.

You need the right words in your viva. The right words aren’t perfect, but they are considered. The right words aren’t scripted but can benefit from practice beforehand. The right words don’t require knowing the questions ahead of time or special understanding of the process.

The right words just require you to do the work. Do the work and you’ll find the right words on your viva day.

Nathan

Ifs And Thens

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If you figured out how to get to submission then you can figure out how to succeed in the viva.

If you did all the work and wrote it up in your thesis then you can discuss it with your examiners for a few hours.

If you spent three (or more) years doing the research then you can talk for three hours (or less) about what it all means and how you did it.

Beyond nerves, beyond expectations, beyond the details of your research and your story, this is what it all comes down to. We can find lots of ways to look at the situation but it’s quite simple.

If you did the work, then you’re good. If you’re good then you can pass the viva.

Nathan

A Cracking Viva

Daily Post

A viva is a little like a Christmas cracker.

There’s a moment of tension between two sides. There’s an expectation that something will happen. But what?

Christmas crackers and vivas have a lot of variety. Some are small, some are big.

The contents can vary wildly. Some people like them and some don’t, but all put up with them when it’s time.

The tension is real-

-and then it’s done.

Nathan

Time Off

Daily Post

It’s a time of year where people typically take some time off. I’m already doing that – I wrote this post weeks ago so that I could enjoy more family time! Viva Survivors will continue to update every day until the 23rd of December, take a few days off, then return for five days of “best of” posts from this year.

Another time where people typically take some time off is just after submitting their PhD thesis. While a candidate could have all sorts of busy things in their life besides research, it can be really helpful to take time away from their thesis to just rest. Breathe. Stop pushing for a week or two. Take time to stop, before viva prep starts.

You might want to plan your time off between submission and viva prep. It could help to sketch out what you want to achieve and how you might do it, but time off is an essential part of the process. Give yourself space to change from one kind of work, to an altogether more considered mode of activity.

 

If you are taking time off in the coming weeks, I hope it is restful, happy and everything you want from it 🙂

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