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Nathan

Clear Questions Get Better Responses

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This sentiment applies in life, work and the viva!

Clear requests for prep help from friends and supervisors are more likely to get a helpful response.

Clear questions from your examiners (and you) will help drive good discussion at your viva.

Clear follow-up questions will allow you to dig deeper – and questions for clarity from you, if you need to ask, will only make the viva conversation better.

Take your time, choose your words carefully and be as clear as possible at your viva and during prep.

Nathan

Doubts

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Information isn’t enough to get rid of doubts about your viva but it’s a necessary start.

If there’s something you don’t know about the viva then look for help. Ask your supervisor. Check the regulations. Talk to others.

You need information to feel better about your viva. Once you have that you need to define what the remaining doubt is and figure out what you do next.

Nathan

Make Prep Fun

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Viva prep is important. It’s the work that helps you get ready for your viva.

It matters. You have to do it and you have to do it well so that you can do well at your viva!

It’s serious stuff but you’ll probably do it better and get more from it if you have some fun here and there:

  • What can you do to reward yourself for completing tasks?
  • How can you make your work aesthetically pleasing?
  • Can you set a fun tone for yourself by working in an interesting place or listening to nice music?
  • And who can you invite to work with you to help get the work done?

Viva prep matters. What can you do to make it fun too?

 

PS: You can definitely make rehearsing for your viva fun by asking friends to help, giving a seminar or going for nice chat over coffee. Rehearsal is also the topic of the latest Viva Survivors Select collection. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please check it out: twenty posts from the archive and new help to help you get ready!

Nathan

The Wrong Way

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If you’re worried about doing something wrong at your viva or in your prep then you’re probably fine.

But, to be sure:

  • Check your institution’s regulations for the viva.
  • Ask your friends how they got ready for their viva and what happened.
  • Check out a few posts on this site for advice.
  • Ask yourself why you might be doing something wrong and get at the root of the worry.

If you’re self-aware enough to think that you’re going in the wrong direction then you’re probably on track and nervous. Nervous simply means that you’re recognising the viva – correctly – as something that matters.

Nathan

Exact/Precise

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At the viva you’re expected to know your stuff but you’re not expected to know everything.

What kinds of details do you need to know? How exact or precise do you need to be? That depends on your research and how you did it but here are some general things to consider:

  • Ask your supervisor and colleagues. Talk to them to get reasonable expectations for your discipline.
  • Annotate your thesis to make important information easier to navigate to and easier to see at a glance.
  • Take time to create summaries that bring together details that matter so that you prime your memory and thinking for the viva.

And most general of all: consider what the viva is really for. When you have a good sense of what your examiners are there to ask about, even if you don’t know the precise questions, then you can help yourself to get ready for the experience.

Nathan

Tackling Your References

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How many references do you have in your bibliography?

Hundreds?

You don’t need to remember them all word-for-word to be ready for your viva. It will help if you’ve taken some steps to make exploring your references part of your prep.

  • You could make a list of the top ten or top twenty works referenced in your thesis.
  • You could summarise why these top references make a difference to your work.
  • You could highlight key references on the pages of your thesis.
  • You could have a chat about your bibliography with your supervisors.
  • You could give a short seminar about where your work comes from to your friends and colleagues.

You don’t need to remember all of the details of hundreds of papers to be ready for your examiners. You do need to have a sense that you know your stuff.

What will you do to be ready for your viva?

 

PS: if you are looking for more viva help then check out Viva Survivors Select 13, The Personal Issue. Your bibliography and research background are just one of the ways in which your viva is a unique and personal experience. Take a look at the issue to find out more 🙂

Nathan

Non-PhD Vivas

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A PhD isn’t the only research degree that has a viva.

The vast majority of PGRs I meet at webinars are PhD candidates but in the last six months I’ve also shared viva help with MPhil candidates, MScR candidates – and a couple of MRes researchers too.

Over the years I’ve also had professional doctorate candidates reach out to me, EngD researchers and more. There are many flavours of PGR that have a viva!

 

A natural question for non-PhD PGRs is “how will my viva be different?”

Let’s start with how they’re the same:

  • Vivas for research degrees have the same purpose. Your examiners are exploring the contribution you’ve made and how capable you are as a researcher.
  • Vivas for research degrees require the same kind of preparation. You need to take time to read, to think and to rehearse – and you need a plan that works well for you.
  • Vivas for research degrees follow regulations. There are ways of doing things and you can learn all about it in advance.
  • Vivas for research degrees always have a little of the unknown about them. There are expectations but you can’t know everything until you’re in your viva.

To explore the differences it’s good to start with regulations for your university. See what they say about your institutional expectations and requirements. Then talk with other people who have been in your situation to get a sense of what that was like.

Viva prep is the same kind of work whether you have done a PhD or, say, an MPhil. You’ll probably do less prep work for an MPhil viva because there is typically less material to read and prepare for. The kind of work is the same and the importance is the same but it might not take as long. The same could be true for your viva too.

 

Whatever your research degree, know that your examiners are prepared. Know that the purpose is the same. Know that you can be prepared and remember that you did the work.

It helps to explore expectations for your viva, whatever your degree, but it helps more to know that you are ready for it whatever happens.

Nathan

Selecting Your Examiners

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As a candidate it’s important to remember that you don’t get to formally choose your examiners. At best you can make suggestions to your supervisors: they can follow those ideas or not depending on what they think would work best for you, your thesis and the situation.

It’s reasonable to ask your supervisor why they think that Professor A or Doctor B are a good choice if you’re not sure. If your supervisor isn’t following your suggestion then you can at least know why and work from there.

You can safely assume that any examiner you would have is experienced and has the benefit of training. Beyond that, if you have the option to make suggestions, the first step is to think about what you would really like. What matters to you when you think about a good examiner? Do have names in mind or are you thinking about a kind of person? A specialist or a generalist? Or something else?

Explore your preferences, shortlist some names and then have a conversation with your supervisors. You might not get your choice but you can be confident that whoever your examiners are they are prepared and selected for good reasons.

Nathan

Expecting Examiners

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There are general expectations of all viva examiners and specific expectations for yours.

In general, examiners are experienced academics with training to examine a PhD thesis. They’re supported by their institutions and colleagues. They invest time in preparing for your viva, want you to succeed if you can and want to do their part well.

There are no good cops, no bad cops, no gotcha questions – but there might, because of the nature of the viva, be challenging questions that they have to ask as part of the exam.

Any examiners could be expected to fit the description above – but you don’t have any examiners.

Your examiners might follow your preferences in their selection. You could suggest a person or kind of person to fill the role and your supervisor might follow that suggestion. When they’re approved, you can get a sense of what you might expect from them by finding out more about them.

You can read their most recent publications to have a sense of their current or recent focus. You can look at their pubic staff webpages to know where their general interests lie. You can consider what all this means for what they might do specifically at the viva.

To really know what to expect from your examiners you have to consider the general and the specific as you get ready for your viva.

Nathan

The Same Viva

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If you ask a friend about their viva experience you know that yours won’t be the same.

Even if they had it in your department with the same examiners your viva will be different because you are different: a different person with different research, resulting in a different thesis at a different time.

If you ask your friend and listen to their experience though you can:

  • Get a sense of what a viva is like;
  • Understand what you could do to prepare;
  • Consider the differences;
  • Ask questions to find out more;
  • Remember that you are not alone.

The last point helps a lot.

Doing a PhD, even in the best and most supportive departments, can feel like a lonely thing. Your unique position can make you feel that no-one else could understand.

You’re one of a kind but you’re not the only one. You won’t have the same viva but there’s lots that could be similar.

 

PS: I’ll be sharing more viva help tomorrow morning, Saturday 4th July 2026, at my 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinar. This is my first-ever weekend webinar and I’m very excited! Registration includes a catch-up recording, follow-up email and my pdf guide 101 Steps To A Great Viva. There are full details for all of my July webinars here. Hope to see you at a session soon 🙂

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