Nathan

Part-time Prep

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Generally speaking, a candidate doesn’t need to take time off in order to get ready. If you have any typical responsibilities – a job, family, friends, caring responsibilities or your own needs – then viva prep can fit around everything you need to do.

If you feel pressured because you work full-time and have a life as well, then the only thing you need to do to get ready is plan and possibly start early. You don’t need to cram lots of things in your diary. A little organisation will help.

  • How could you find thirty minutes to an hour most days for viva prep?
  • If you can’t commit to most days, when could you make the time?
  • Would starting a month before the viva give you time to spread out the work you need to do?
  • Would that create a space with as little stress as possible to do what you need?

Prep is part-time. By submission there’s only a small amount of work needed to be done. If you have a full-time life there is still plenty of space for prep. A little planning and organisation helps make it less stressful.

Nathan

Lucky

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There’s no luck with the viva. No trick or superstition to rely on for success. Instead, it’s all on you.

What you did, what you know, what you can do.

None of that is due to luck either. There could be good fortune – when hard work pays off – and you achieve something that was uncertain, but there’s no simple luck.

There’s nothing that just gets you through – and nothing that simply, randomly, unluckily stops you.

You worked for your success. That work continues to help you through the viva.

Nathan

What Would You Change?

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It’s possible that your examiners would ask about changes to your research. Not what you could, would or might do to make things “better”, simply given your experience, what would you change?

It’s not a trick or a trap. The question is another way of exploring “what have you learned from the process of doing research?” They’re asking you to demonstrate how far you’ve come, not to showcase what is wrong with your work.

Reflecting on changes could be helpful in your preparation. It can help to make you more certain of what you did. You can be more confident of what you have learned. And before you meet your examiners in the viva it can help you to realise just how far you have come.

Nathan

The Possibility of Disruption

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Most of the time viva prep goes well. Most of the time nothing goes wrong in the viva. Despite concerns, most video vivas have no real problems.

But there’s always a chance that something could happen. Not unexpected, just unlikely, and definitely unwelcome.

  • A last-minute crisis leaves you less time to get ready.
  • A delay on your viva day means someone is running late.
  • A glitch means you can’t see your examiner or they can’t see you.

There’s a chance something could go wrong; whatever that might be you can work to make it better.

And sometimes it’s worth planning just in case the unlikely happens.

  • Sketch a plan for your prep so there’s space for last-minute crises.
  • On viva day, be organised so there’s much less chance you’re late.
  • Practise with your equipment and check your wi-fi so you can be confident it will all work – and arrange a backup plan!

There’s a possibility of disruption to your best laid plans around your viva. But you can do something about it. Either by planning ahead of time or acting when the moment comes, you can make sure your viva is the best it can be.

If something goes a little wrong, pause – be shocked, frustrated, cross – then think “what can I do?”

Nathan

The Outtakes

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I’m curious about outtakes in movies – the scenes that didn’t make it in or alternate versions of scenes that did.

Sometimes outtakes are shown as bloopers: the moments when things went wrong or when someone laughed. It’s helpful to see outtakes because it reminds you that however impressive something looks in a movie it’s taken time and effort to achieve that.

Your thesis will have outtakes too. Sections that aren’t included. Perhaps a whole chapter that just doesn’t fit. You’ll have loose threads you cut or ideas that had to be left out because of the space or time you had available.

As interesting as movie outtakes can be their existence also serves to remind us of something else: that there’s a reason that they were not in the finished film. They didn’t fit. They didn’t work. They were just people laughing, and as funny as that might be to see it doesn’t tell the story.

It’s the same with your thesis. You might second-guess yourself, or doubt if you have enough in your thesis at some point but remember: if you left something out of your thesis there is a good reason.

Remember what those reasons are and you can strengthen the reasons for including the work that you have.

Nathan

A Supervisor’s Faith

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At one of my final sessions before my summer break, a participant commented that supervisors wouldn’t let a candidate submit their thesis if they didn’t have faith that their thesis was good enough.

I think the core of this is true: good supervisors are invested in their researcher’s success. Good supervisors care enough to give guidance and feedback. Good supervisors make sure their researchers have an idea of what to expect from all stages of the PhD process, including the viva.

You have to believe, but you also have to ask. If you need more – guidance, feedback, information – then you have to take the first step to find out more.

You can have faith, but you can also take certainty from their support too. If your supervisors support your thesis submission you can be confident they think you’ve done enough and you’re good enough.

 

With thanks to soon-to-be-Dr Stewart McCreadie for his observation at a 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva session!

Nathan

Before and After Submission

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Before submission focus on getting your research completed and your thesis finished.

After submission focus on getting your confidence raised for the viva through a little preparation.

 

Before submission you don’t need to prepare for your viva.

After submission you don’t need to second-guess and nitpick details in your work.

 

Before submission you’re on track to pass your viva.

After submission you’re on track to pass your viva.

 

The definition of survive is manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. It applies to the whole PhD as much as it does to the viva.

 

Before submission? Keep going.

After submission? Keep going.

Nathan

A More Considered Goal

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Tim Ferriss, one of my favourite writers and podcasters, has introduced me to a number of vision and goal-setting tools over the last decade or so. A really helpful one springs from the observation that you very rarely need to be a millionaire to be content. Sometimes people set wildly unachievable goals, thinking that will help them to be happy – “If I was a millionaire I could do whatever I want!” – and then fail and are miserable because it’s hard to be a millionaire.

But if you wanted a nice car, a big TV or a holiday you could work out how much you would need – and it would be a lot less than a million pounds. Then perhaps you could start to work towards really getting what you want.

I remember in my PhD that I was banging my head against my desk for a week trying to solve a problem that I needed for a piece of a maths proof – before realising that I didn’t need to answer that problem at all! I was aiming for the greatest version of that result, when what I needed was much simpler. Realising this, I found what I needed in minutes.

(and ten minutes later, realised that applying the simpler result could help show the larger one!)

Sometimes PhD candidates set themselves up for heartache and misery in their viva preparations because they think they have to be exceptional in everything at all times. They must know their bibliography back to front, have memorised their thesis and be almost-precognitive in their ability to anticipate their examiners’ questions.

None of these things are needed. Have you got a thesis? Have you made a contribution? Have you worked hard and been dedicated for the years you’ve worked towards your PhD? Can you take a little time to get ready? Then you’re good.

You don’t need to be a millionaire to be content. You don’t need perfection to pass your viva.

Nathan

Asking Why

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I’ve been looking through the Viva Survivors archives lately – there’s over 1500 posts to take a look at if you’re looking for more help! – and a post from the past that stood out to me was Your Greatest Hits.

I like writing all kinds of things, from tiny posts to great big essays, reflections and list posts. I like the five questions in Your Greatest Hits for exploring the best parts of a PhD and thesis:

  • When were you most engaged during your PhD?
  • What do you want people to refer to in your thesis?
  • What would you most like to build on?
  • Which of your chapters or results is closest to perfection and why?
  • What parts of your research are least important?

I wrote it in the early days of the daily blog, and I still like it. With hindsight I can’t believe I left something crucial out of most of these questions. Asking what and when helps but you also have to ask “Why?”!

When were you most engaged? Why?

What do you want people to refer to? Why?

What would you most like to build on? Why?

“Why?” helps you reflect as you prepare for the viva. “Why?” can also help in the viva to prompt your responses or to unpick a question from your examiners. If the why of a question is so silent that you don’t hear it, don’t be afraid to ask it yourself.

Nathan

Expect A Challenge

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Questions of whether or not the viva will be “easy” or “hard” are unanswerable. There are too many personal and subjective factors. Objectively, we can say that the viva is a challenge. The level of the conversation, the nature of the discussion, the purpose and hoped-for outcome – all give rise to an environment of challenge.

It could be a challenge to respond to critical comments, but in the moment you find it easy to reconcile your examiners’ words.

It could be a challenge to recall specific details of something that would ordinarily be trivial to remember. You might need to pause, check your thesis and see if you can find something to spark your memory.

Don’t expect easy or hard. Expect a challenge.

And expect that by now you have a talent for rising to meet challenges.

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