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Nathan

Substance, Not Surface

Daily Post

At the viva you are invited into a discussion.

Of course you’ll respond to little questions for clarification and confirmation, but the overall drive of the viva is towards conversation.

It’s not a quiz or game show where the fastest answer wins. Your examiners want your considered thoughts and ideas. They want substance, not surface.

Do the work. Prepare well. Listen to the question. Take your time and think. Be as clear as you can be.

Which is all to say: do your best. That’s all your examiners are looking for and all anyone could expect.

Deep questions require more than surface-level responses.

Nathan

Making Prep Better

Daily Post

The time between when you submit your thesis and have your viva is your viva prep period.

Is it possible to wing it? To go with the flow and do things as and when you feel like it? Probably! It might not be very comfortable though.

Everyone is different – in themselves, their research and their situation – so I’m sure some people could do what comes to them as they go through the weeks leading up to their viva.

If that doesn’t feel like a comfortable situation for you though, or even if it does and you want to make sure your prep is as good as it could be, consider doing some of the following:

  • Sketch a plan. Think about the time you have available and how you might do the work to help you get ready.
  • Prioritise. Make sure you make time to do the things that matter most.
  • Ask for help. Ask early and as you need it. You’re alone at your viva but before then there are many people who can support you.
  • Recognise when you have done something. Mark a checklist or record it on your calendar. Make it obvious to yourself that you have done the work.

Finally, take time to remind yourself of the work you’re doing now and all the work you’ve done before. Viva prep is for the particular challenge of your viva. In the years before you have done a lot of work that helps you.

Nathan

At First Glance

Daily Post

Rescued baby hedgehog turns out to be hat bobble (BBC News)

This news story has been stuck in my head for over six months: a well-meaning member of the public took a hair bobble to a wildlife rescue centre because they mistakenly thought it was an abandoned baby hedgehog.

Awwwww!

 

And because of the way my brain works it made me think of the viva and all the things that are mistaken about that.

  • Candidates mistake corrections for failure, when really they are just part of the process.
  • People mistake examiners for the enemy, when in fact they’re there to do their job and do it well.
  • Questions are mistaken for criticisms, opinions are mistaken for facts and experiences are mistaken for the whole story.

At first glance there’s a lot about the viva that can seem negative – but that doesn’t come from the viva itself. Perception plays a big part and perception can be distorted by stress, nerves, the situation and skewed expectations.

Before you worry and before you act, make sure that you’re considering something real – and not just a metaphorical hair bobble!

Nathan

Write Two Lists

Daily Post

On the first list capture the following sorts of things:

  • Your disappointments from your research.
  • The things that didn’t work.
  • The questions you don’t know how to answer.
  • Your concerns for finishing your PhD.
  • Your worries about the viva process.

On the second list write the following sorts of things:

  • The conclusions of your thesis.
  • The results you got through your research.
  • The ways you became a better researcher.
  • The topics you’re looking forward to talking about at your viva.
  • Your great plans for the future.

Now decide: which of these lists are you going to look at every day, and which are you going to skim over once a week?

Put the everyday list in a prominent space and the once a week list in a drawer.

 

You get to decide where you put your focus; it might be helpful, for example, to think a little about viva worries and do something about them – but maybe it’s better to think more often about the good things in your thesis than the what ifs of your viva?

 

(writing two lists is a viva-centric riff on a Seth Godin idea – his blog is always worth reading!)

Nathan

When To Get Ready

Daily Post

Get ready for the specific challenge of your viva after taking a short break from your research and thesis submission.

Get ready by making sure you sketch out a plan for your viva prep. Give yourself enough time to read and review your thesis. Take time to reflect on what it all means and rehearse for meeting your examiners.

Get ready during this period by building up your confidence. Recognise that you are a capable researcher. You must be: that’s the only way you could have developed as much as you have.

And recognise that while you are preparing for the specific challenge of your viva, in reality you’ve been getting ready for your viva for a very long time.

 

PS: you don’t need to get ready for the viva until after submission. For help with all of the work and days leading up to submitting your thesis, check out Final Year Focus – my 1-hour live webinar running TOMORROW! Figuring out priorities, getting clear on plans, writing up, thinking about life after the PhD and more. Full registration details are on Eventbrite and there will be a catch-up recording if you can’t attend live. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Signs Of PhD Success

Daily Post

You don’t pass your viva until you actually pass your viva – but there are lots of signs that can indicate PhD success before then.

  • You have a thesis.
  • You have submitted (or had accepted) one or more papers.
  • You have presented a talk or paper at a conference.
  • You have been working towards a PhD for at least several years.
  • You have submitted your thesis.
  • You have a viva date.
  • You have positive feedback from your supervisor and/or others about your research.
  • You can see future applications for your research, even if you’re not going to be the one to do that work.
  • You have future plans.
  • You have prepared for your viva and feel fairly confident.

You don’t pass your viva until you pass your viva. Before then, pay attention to the many signs showing PhD success in your future.

It’s not simply luck that you’ve got this far.

 

PS: if you’re working towards submission now and any of the above seem out of reach, take a look at Final Year Focus, my 1-hour live webinar running this Thursday, 24th October, at 11am. If it seems good but you can’t make it then you can still sign up to watch the catch-up recording! Full details and registration on Eventbrite. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Easy-To-Remember

Daily Post

Here’s a short, easy-to-remember, viva prep exercise for when you read a chapter of your thesis.

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into four equal parts. Reflect on each of the following four points and make notes on the paper:

  • When you think about the chapter what is valuable to others?
  • What was interesting to you? What sparked your fascination when you were doing it?
  • Were any points in the chapter vague or unclear as you read them now? Reflect on what could help you to explain them to others.
  • Finally, is there anything you would like to ask your examiners? The viva is a conversation so what would you ask?

I first thought of this idea over ten years ago and have been developing the concept ever since. I’ve written about it a few times before on the Viva Survivors blog (here are some other times). I like it because it’s an easy-to-remember exercise with an easy-to-remember acronym.

  • Valuable to others;
  • Interesting to you;
  • Vague or unclear;
  • Ask your examiners.

See, easy-to-remember! 🙂

Nathan

Two Dates

Event, Update

I am very happy to share two upcoming dates that will be of interest to Viva Survivors readers.

 

Next Thursday, October 24th 2024, I’m sharing my Final Year Focus session live on Zoom. I’m asked to deliver this many times over the course of a year by various universities in the UK but I haven’t run an independent session of it for a while.

Final Year Focus is a 1-hour webinar for any PhD candidate working towards submission. How do you take control of the massive amount of work to do in your final year? What can you do to get to grips with the work that matters? These are the big questions I’ll be sharing my thoughts on next week.

Registration details are here on Eventbrite: I’ll be recording Final Year Focus too so if you can’t make it next Thursday 24th October 2024 you’ll be able to catch up for four weeks afterwards!

 

Even more exciting: registration is now open for Viva Survivor on Thursday 5th December 2024.

Quite simply, without Viva Survivor there would be no Viva Survivors blog! Viva Survivor is a 3-hour session that I have now delivered more than 375 times, both in-person and online, for over 7000 PhD candidates.

I’ve had the very good fortune to develop and deliver this session so many times over the last decade and Thursday 5th December 2024 is the first time I have ever offered it as an independent webinar.

What do you need to do to get ready for your viva? What can you expect from your examiners? How can you build confidence for the viva? I’ll respond to these questions and many more at Viva Survivor. There will also be a four-week catch-up recording, helpful handouts and a couple of special surprises along the way.

I’m really very excited to host this session with an open registration for the first time. Information about Viva Survivor and registration are all on this page on Eventbrite. The session itself will be live on Zoom on Thursday 5th December 2024.

 

If either of these upcoming sessions seem helpful to you then I hope you register and can join me for them. If you know someone who would benefit then please do share the link. And if you have any questions about either of the sessions then please do get in touch.

Thank you for reading 🙂

Nathan

Nathan

Different To Expectations

Daily Post

Regulations, general experiences of PhD candidates and the more particular stories from people in your department create your viva expectations.

Every viva is unique, but yours won’t be a total unknown because it will follow – to some extent – the patterns of other vivas. Whatever you learn and whatever you come to believe, yours will not be a photocopy of the idea you have or a twin to a story someone else told you.

Find a balance for yourself in all this by getting ready.

A little knowledge (expectations) has to result in action (viva prep).

Having a mock viva isn’t a direct rehearsal for your actual viva: it’s not the dress rehearsal where everyone knows their lines – you’re getting a feel for the room, a feel for what it sounds like to be talking about your work and to be in discussion.

Your viva will necessarily be different to expectations – and in a way that you can’t expect!

All you can do is find out what you can, prepare as best you can and then keep going and being the determined, capable researcher that you are. That’s how you succeed.

Nathan

VIVA, Viva, viva

Daily Post

I regularly receive all three formulations of the above four-letter shorthand for “thesis examination” when people ask me questions:

  • VIVA is used when someone thinks there is an acronym involved or perhaps they are especially nervous, placing the event on a great pedestal.
  • A person might write Viva when they give some importance to the exam. It has a title. This is my Viva.
  • It’s most common for people to simply write viva – it’s also technically the correct way to write it as well!

When you’re asking a question, it doesn’t matter which spelling or arrangement you use, so long as you’re understood.

It helps to remember though that different words mean different things, and perhaps give a hint to how you feel about something.

If you’re preparing for your VIVA, is it possible that you’re anxious? And if so, what can you do to help yourself or get help?

If you think about your Viva are you sure you’re on track? Sometimes a person’s focus on the importance of a thing can lead to obscuring other details. Maybe take some time to check all is well.

And if you are simply working towards your viva then just take it nice and easy. How will you get ready? How will you get the help you need from others?

It takes a little work but not too much to get ready for a viva – but then if you’re writing viva instead of VIVA or Viva you’re probably fine in appreciating that!

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