Nathan

Removing Obstacles To Being Ready

Daily Post

What’s getting in the way of you being prepared for your viva?

  • Not being sure what to do;
  • Not knowing something;
  • Not having support from people;
  • Feeling like there’s not enough time;
  • Feeling like there’s not the right time;
  • Feeling like there’s too much to do;
  • Feeling nervous, worried, scared or unsure;
  • Not feeling as confident as you want to.

 

What can you do about these sources of friction and irritation?

  • Read viva regulations;
  • Talk to your supervisor and your friends;
  • Make a plan;
  • Reflect on your PhD experience;
  • Read a blog post or two;
  • Explore what help is available from your university;
  • Explore what help is available elsewhere (like daily blogs that also offer webinars sometimes!)
  • Reflect to find the root cause of what’s in the way.

 

That last point is really helpful actually: if you know you feel something that’s getting in the way of being prepared and you know WHY you’re feeling it then there’s typically a lot you can do to help yourself.

Figure out why and you can remove any obstacles in your way.

Nathan

Then What Happened?

Daily Post

A PhD journey is a series of steps. You make choices, do the work, see what happens and then figure out the next options. Then you do it all again.

A PhD journey can develop due to good fortune. You make a choice and it works out well. Maybe an opportunity comes your way. A eureka moment strikes you at just the right time.

Still: where do these things come from?

You have to put yourself in a good place to receive an opportunity. It isn’t a lightning bolt from nowhere. It’s not magic. It happened to you because you did the work.

 

Remember the steps that got you where you are. Think about how you might explain that to other people including your examiners. If you’re telling your story and someone says “Then what happened?” your response should never be to simply say, “Oh, I got lucky…”

You might have the benefit of some good fortune, where you work hard and enough of that hard work pays off – but PhD candidates don’t get where they are because of luck.

(if you’re working towards your PhD and your plan requires luck to succeed then you need a new plan!)

Nathan

Nice Ideas

Daily Post

“…I’m sorry but that won’t work for me…”

I’m always slightly sad when I hear that or see it in response to a piece of advice or help for the viva.

Please don’t mistake me: I don’t think that someone is wrong for not agreeing to what I suggest! I want to help people get ready for their viva and if options I offer don’t work I’m sad that I couldn’t help.

I’ve come to accept that there is no universally helpful idea for getting ready for the viva. Ideas for making plans might run counter to someone’s preferences or situation; the good idea of having a mock viva might not be practical given a candidate’s supervisory relationship; a particular annotation idea could be a non-starter given the nature of someone’s thesis.

Still: if a nice idea, a tip, approach or piece of advice you receive for your viva really won’t work for you, then use that as a provocation. What could work for you? If a particular annotation won’t help, what might? If you’re not going to have a mock viva, how will you rehearse?

If someone’s nice ideas for getting ready for your viva won’t work for you, then you have to come up with some nice ideas of your own.

 

PS: one nice idea for getting ready for your viva is my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my comprehensive live session on getting ready and there’s full details at the link. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight tonight you can save £10 on registration!

Nathan

Plan Ahead

Daily Post

Read the regulations for vivas at your institution before you get to submission time.

Sketch out a plan for your prep when you submit your thesis, looking ahead at your obligations and circumstances for the coming weeks.

Assume that you have a good plan as you get to work but review it as and when you do work or your situation changes.

When confronted with several options for how to get ready – or when circumstances change ahead of your viva – the best option is probably the one that allows you to keep as many options open as possible.

The more freedom you have to pivot and change your plans the less stress you’ll hopefully have as you get ready for your viva.

 

PS: if you’re thinking about how to plan your viva prep you can get many more ideas at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my in-depth 3-hour session on getting ready for your viva. Participants can attend the live session, get a catch-up recording and a bundle of resources to help their prep. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025 you can save £10 on registration!

Nathan

Be Helpful

Daily Post

What can you offer your friends and colleagues when they are getting ready for their vivas?

When you’ve had your viva, who will you share your experience with and how will you try to help them?

If you’ve not already had your viva then keep a little record as you get ready of what you do and how it helps. This will help you to figure out positive actions that you might recommend.

A good starting point for helping others could be to think of the help that you got. An even better starting point might be to consider the help that you feel you really needed.

 

PS: and another good starting point might be to tell someone to subscribe to the Viva Survivors daily blog if they don’t already do that!

Nathan

The Same

Daily Post

It’s interesting to consider what you would do differently if you had your PhD time again.

Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight you would take a different approach, explore another topic or organise your work differently. In some cases it might not even be a case of thinking that things would be better: perhaps you can simply see that there are other options or opportunities.

What would you keep the same?

This is perhaps an even more interesting provocation: with experience, understanding and hindsight, what would you keep the same about your PhD?

Ahead of your viva consider what you wouldn’t change. Maybe your topic, approach and effort. Maybe your working process.

Surely your determination. One reason that you got as far as you have is that you managed to keep going, whatever challenges came to you along the way.

 

PS: if you’re looking for help getting ready for your viva then check out details of my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my standout, comprehensive session on getting ready and there’s full details at the link about what to expect. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025 you can save £10 on registration!

Nathan

Viva Survivor Webinar, December 3rd 2025

Update

Let’s keep this announcement short and simple:

  • I’m running my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025.
  • Registration is open now for this three-hour live webinar and participants will have access to a four-week catch-up recording and other follow-up materials.
  • Viva Survivor has been delivered for the last 15 years to more than 8000 PhD candidates at universities and programmes all over the UK.
  • In that time and in over 400 sessions I’ve been continuously developing Viva Survivor to be as helpful as possible to PGRs.
  • You can register now and use code VIVASURVIVORS until midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025 to save £10 on registration.

There’s a lot more information at the link about the webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025 and if you have any questions please get in touch. Viva Survivor is one of my favourite things to do and I’m really looking forward to this session, my only remaining independent Viva Survivor of 2025.

Please take a look if you’re interested and don’t forget that the code VIVASURVIVORS will save £10 on your ticket if you register before midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

What’s Your Problem?

Daily Post

Whenever something viva-related is tricky, confusing or makes you feel negative, your first step is to figure out what the problem is.

What makes this hard? What don’t you understand? Why are you feeling this way?

Once you know what the problem is you can start to do something about it. You could work to make the tricky more simple, the confusing more clear or act to change how you’re feeling. You can ask others to help and even if the problem is big you can take a small step in the right direction.

The work ahead might not be easy, but it’s easier than just trying to cope with stress at your viva. Once you can explain the nature of the problem clearly then you can start to do something about it.

 

(of course, this kind of thinking applies outside of the viva too!)

Nathan

Keeping Tabs

Daily Post

What can you do with sticky notes and highlighter tabs as part of viva prep?

  • Plan out your tasks!
  • Mark out chapters!
  • Point to typos!
  • Highlight key references!
  • Draw attention to important paragraphs!
  • Add notes!
  • Mark out key sections!
  • Colour code information!
  • Leave encouragements for yourself!

This is scratching the surface of course. There’s a lot you can do with very basic stationery to help make your thesis much more valuable as a resource for the viva.

Think about your needs. Keep it simple but get the most from your thesis and do what you can to build yourself up.

Nathan

A Reflection

Daily Post

To reflect a little ahead of your viva, take a sheet of paper and divide it into four parts. Respond to each of the following questions with a few sentences.

  1. What was the starting point for your most significant work?
  2. What were the three most useful papers you read?
  3. What words come to mind when you think of your PhD challenges?
  4. What was the most helpful skill or understanding that you developed?

You can always build on any of these thoughts by reflecting on your responses and asking why.

A reflection or a summary is a chance to think ahead. What other useful questions can you think of to explore topics and that will help you at your viva?

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