Nathan

Why Expectations Matter

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Expectations give your viva a sense of shape.

Expectations help you understand the pattern even if you know your viva will be unique.

Regulations and stories help you understand the process (in some cases in a lot of detail).

Every viva will be one of a kind – but no upcoming viva needs to be a complete unknown to a candidate.

And with a sense of what to expect you can measure how ready you feel for your viva.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring viva expectations a lot at my Viva Survivor session four weeks from today! Check out my live 3-hour webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026 for more details of what I’ll cover: viva prep, examiners and a lot more. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

A Rough Outline

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Whenever you set your mind to creating a summary as part of viva prep start by making a quick rough outline. Give yourself two minutes to write down keywords, bullet points and essential details that you must include in whatever summary you’re going to write.

A rough outline is a catalyst for the real work. It’s not about writing more quickly but writing it at all! A blank page is a tricky opponent and often PhD candidates have to do viva prep after their regular working day. Any help you can give yourself to start well is a good thing.

A two-minute rough outline is a good starting point for any summary whether it’s a list, an overview, a mind map, a page of paragraphs.

What else could you do to help your viva prep tasks go well?

Nathan

Closing Stages

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When you’re close to being done with your PhD it’s a really good idea to pause and check you’ve not missed anything. This applies to all of the closing stages: writing up, submission, viva prep, the viva and the post-viva period.

As you finish writing up make sure you leave time to talk to your supervisors and reflect on their final feedback. With a little thought and planning you can submit your best possible thesis. Take time to check the regulations so you know you’ve not missed anything important.

Submission should be a happy exercise in following forms and guidelines! It might be an anti-climax in some ways though; one day you’re working hard to finish writing a book and the next day you’ve hit return on a webpage submission. You can still take time to make sure it’s done well.

Viva prep is best when it is personal and planned. Look for advice but do it your way. When you submit your thesis invest a little time to sketch out a plan for doing it well. Aim to remove stress from the process.

You’ve read the regulations but also remember to talk to PhD graduates about their viva experiences. Get a sense of what to expect. If you’re worried find an action to take that will lower the worry.

At your viva pause and think before you respond to any question or comment. Take it slow and remember how you’ve got to this point and all the work you’ve done.

Finally, when the viva is done and you know what corrections you need to do take time to make a plan. Check the regulations again. Ask for guidance on anything unclear. Figure out how and when you will get the work done. It helps to know in advance how much time is typically given for completing corrections and what the process is for submitting your final thesis.

There are lots of stages to the end of the PhD journey. As you get close to them take your time to do them well. Often this means checking details or making a plan – and typically the sooner you do these the more ready you will be for tackling the final closing stages.

 

PS: Looking for more help with getting ready for your viva? Then check out my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026 – I’ll talk about a lot of things to help with your viva! You’ll get four-week access to a recording of the session and plenty of follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

The M&M Clause

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There’s an old story that rock band Van Halen asked for bowls of M&Ms in their dressing rooms as part of their contract – but with all of the brown candies removed.

This wasn’t superstars being super-picky: the detail was way down the contract clauses and served as a safety check for them. The band had shown up to concerts previously and found stage crews who hadn’t followed safety procedures they had set out and agreed to. Now if they showed up and saw brown M&Ms in their dressing room they would know there was a good chance that the venue weren’t paying attention and they could take action as needed.

 

There’s an analogy here for the viva!

You might want to be a rockstar but alas you’re the venue.

You need to read the regulations (the contract) that your institution has put forward. Don’t simply follow what others tell you or what seems like common sense.

Read the regulations. Be sure. Regulations are updated from time to time so be sure that you know the process, know what you and others need to do and know what the exceptions are. If your viva needs to be different for some reason then you can see how that comes about, who does what and why.

You’re unlikely to find a small clause in the regulations that means you have to provide bowls of treats for your examiners but it’s worth checking all the points so that you can concentrate on the real work of getting ready.

Nathan

All Or Nothing

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Pass or fail. Question and answer. True or false. You versus Them.

There are lots of ideas that imply the viva is all or nothing – and that if you miss something, anything, then it’s going to be nothing for you.

These ideas set up false expectations of conflict and arguing, defending at all costs rather than supporting your work. They lead to stress, worry and being concerned about things that aren’t relevant and don’t help.

You can do better for your preparations than focus on the short, over-simplified ideas above!

Nathan

Needing Help

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Academic culture can create barriers. If you don’t know something then you can feel like you are supposed to figure it out by yourself without knowing where to look. Somehow, you are just supposed to know…

Sometimes PhD candidates do need to take a first step or take some responsibility. In most cases though, if you feel like you need help to understand what the viva is all about or to help you get ready for your viva then please reach out to someone:

  • Ask your institution for resources or for guidance on regulations.
  • Ask your supervisor for their perspective on your examiners.
  • Speak to friends and colleagues about their experiences to help guide your understanding.
  • Talk to family and friends about what you’re going through and what they can do to help.

Ask if you need help or support. Be clear, give people time to respond but do ask.

And if you need something from Viva Survivors or me then please get in touch!

 

PS: One potential source of help is my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. I’ll cover everything you need to know about the viva and getting ready, as well as take questions throughout the session. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Lots Of Lists Of Questions

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You only have to search for “phd viva questions” in your search engine of choice and you will find many, many resources that people have created. It’s likely that your AI-service of choice can also offer a lot of general questions from similar sources. If you want examples of the kinds of questions that can be asked by examiners then there are many resources to explore.

The value of these questions isn’t found in simply reading over them though. Making notes will help but will only do so much. The real value is in being asked questions by someone else so that you can rehearse being in the viva and seeing how it feels to respond to a question in real time. It helps not to just skim over a question on a page and think for a moment – but to be surprised by a question and know what it is like to cope with it.

There’s a place for reflecting on questions. Creating summaries is a big boost to viva preparation. Rehearsing by responding to questions is absolutely essential.

You can’t get what you really need to be ready for your viva by simply looking through lots of lists of questions.

 

PS: Looking for more viva prep ideas? Then check out my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026 where I’ll talk about viva prep and a lot more. You’ll get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Determination Over Perfection

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Determination is what gets you through the PhD journey.

In some ways it is as simple as showing up to do the work when you need to do it. You can be frustrated or uncertain but if you show up enough then you do enough. If you do enough then you find enough. If you find enough then you have enough – for your thesis and to show that you are a capable researcher.

Striving for perfect won’t get you a PhD.

Knowing that you just need to show up for enough can help.

Knowing that you need a similar determination for the viva helps too.

You don’t need to be perfect at your viva. Keep going with the same determination as you showed throughout your PhD journey.

That’s enough.

Nathan

Prep For Your Examiners

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Viva prep is for the specific challenges that you’ll find at the viva – and two of those challenges are your internal and external examiners.

  • Talk to your supervisors, if you haven’t already, to explore why these academics are good choices to be your examiners.
  • Read the most recent publications by your examiners to get a sense of who they are and what they do.
  • Rehearse for the viva by having a mock viva so that you have a feel for the process that your examiners will be using on the day.

If the viva is a challenge then it makes sense to focus some preparation on the people who will be challenging you.

 

PS: Looking for more viva prep ideas and information about examiners? Then check out my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026 where I’ll talk about these topics and a lot more. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Final Focus

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I try not to be overly prescriptive or proscriptive when it comes to advice about viva prep.

There are certain kinds of work that are helpful when someone is getting ready for their viva but every candidate faces their own challenges and situation. There are approaches to planning prep (start with reading, for example) that would seem appropriate for every candidate…

…but what might be a good approach for one person could be bad for someone else. You might need to read your thesis over the course of a week in preparation for your viva while a friend has the opportunity and impulse to read theirs in one afternoon.

I emphasise the kinds of work that help not how someone “must” do them. It’s helpful to make a plan but you need to make a plan that works for you.

And with all of that said, one thing I would encourage is to give a little focus towards your confidence at the end of your preparations.

A few days before your viva take some time to think about your PhD journey. Note down what you’ve done and what it means. Recognise the talents that you have developed and see them as a foundation for confidence at meeting your examiners.

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