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Tag: getting ready

Nathan

Worn Away

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You have time to press pause before you prep. You can put your completed thesis to one side and come back to it when you have had time to restore yourself. You can’t help yourself get ready for the viva if you don’t help yourself into a good condition more generally.

It’s general viva prep advice to pause and rest at submission, but essential if you reach submission and are tired by all you’ve had to do. If you feel worn down then a single day off is not going to help you get in the right frame of mind to read your thesis or prepare for a mock viva. Rest and take the time you need to get ready to prepare.

Nathan

Show What You Know

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Your viva prep does not need to be confined to book work and solitude. While a mock viva is the most notable prep activity that involves others, it’s not the only task that you could involve others in.

  • Sit down over tea or coffee and describe to someone how you have done your research. See if you can share something that will help them.
  • Give a talk. Split your time equally between showing what you have done and taking questions to dig deeper.
  • Write a summary for someone else. Not a cheatsheet for you, but a page or two about a method or process that you have needed for your research.

During my PhD years I noticed that my own understanding of a topic grew whenever I had to explain it to someone else. I found better words, more useful metaphors and gaps in my knowledge. Take a little time in your viva prep to show others what you know, so that you can practise for the viva, build your confidence and show yourself what you know too.

Nathan

Long Term Prep

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Viva preparation is a short term project. You don’t need to start getting ready before you submit. You don’t need to focus your final year on building up for the viva. If you have a long time to go before submission you need to focus on finishing your research and your thesis. That has to be the priority.

You do not have to do anything to prepare for your viva until after submission. However, confidence plays such a big part in feeling ready for the viva it feels right to suggest a few things you could do over a long period of time. If in your final year you want to build your confidence then try some of the following:

  • Make opportunities to present your work.
  • Reflect on your progress once per week.
  • Record your successes as they happen.
  • Write down any tasks, activities or situations where you feel confident.

As you get closer to the viva, reflect on all of these. Presenting and discussing work gets better with practice. The more experience you have the better you will feel. Reflecting and recording your PhD journey will help to highlight that you are doing well; you’re building a firm foundation for confidence. Finally, if you know the times when you feel confident you can use that to your advantage in your viva preparations.

Short term prep is the work of weeks. Read your thesis, write a summary or two, have a mock viva. Long term prep is the work of your life. Pause, reflect and realise that you are a lot better than your worst moments.

You have done well, you can do well, you will succeed in the viva – and beyond.

Nathan

Simple Advice

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Read your thesis. Make notes. Reflect on your PhD journey. Rehearse being in the viva. Plan your prep to avoid pressure.

Can we say a lot more? Of course!

Do we need to say more? Sometimes.

Can we make it more complicated than it needs to be? Often!

 

Plan your prep. Do the work. Get ready. Be ready. Go succeed.

Nathan

The Viva Is The Viva

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The viva is a conversation.

The viva is a test.

The viva is the end of the PhD.

The viva is pass or fail.

The viva is inevitable.

The viva is something you can prepare for.

The viva is an unknown because it’s different every time.

The viva is your one chance.

There are lots of ways that people talk about the viva. Lots of comparisons. Lots of things that are true and lots of things that are “true”.

The viva is lots of things but you don’t have to take time to consider them all. You can invest your energy in the aspects that help you; you can remember that the viva that matters most to you is your viva.

The viva is the viva.

Your viva is your viva. What elements can you focus on to help yourself? What actions can you take to be ready?

Nathan

Linked

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As preparation for the viva read three recent papers by your internal examiner. Read three recent papers by your external examiner.

Look for links between your work and their work. Look for connections between your interests, methods and the kinds of questions you ask.

When you find connections you find ideas that are worth thinking about so you can explore them well in the viva. If you discover that your work is not closely connected then you can think before the viva about how you can share your ideas effectively.

Knowing about the links between your work helps. Knowing if the links aren’t there helps too.

You have to look for the links.

Nathan

Fuses & Feelings

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My mum called in a panic: her electricity had gone off and she had no power.

By the I time I got to her house, she had checked and reset the main fuse box. The power was on again. It was still a mystery though. What happened? It just went off? The TV was the first thing she noticed… Hmm…

We decided to relax with a cup of tea. My mum set the kettle to boil and the power shut off again. Five minutes of careful trial and error helped us realise it was not the TV, the main fuse box or the electrical socket in the kitchen that was at fault. The kettle was no longer safe and was tripping the mains fuse, in turn, shutting off the power.

With the fault diagnosed, my mum didn’t have a kettle for a day, but everything else was fine.

 

This reminds me of so many times I’ve found myself cross, worried, anxious and unsure. Sometimes I feel one of these ways and I just don’t know why.

Taking a step back helps.

Reflecting helps.

Thinking about what happened in the lead up can help too.

How you feel about the viva has an impact on how you get ready for it. If you feel anxious or worried then it’s worth trying to unpick what the cause is. Anxiety and worry are right on the surface. Explore what’s underneath.

There are many possible causes, including:

  • Not knowing about an aspect of the viva;
  • Having a concern about what to do to prepare;
  • Being unsure of how to respond;
  • Being worried that you won’t be able to respond at all.

There will be many more, much more personal reasons to feel anxious. Something could just trip the fusebox of your feelings. Reflect, explore and find out the cause – then think about what you can do to set that right.

Nathan

Worry

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It’s Friday the 13th and I’m not worried. I’m not particularly superstitious, so when this date rolls around or a black cat crosses my path or I spill some salt I don’t worry that that means something bad is about to happen.

But I am, by nature, a worrier!

Before the pandemic I worried about train times, the distances between a hotel and a venue, and whether or not the seminar room I would be in would have what I needed. Now I sometimes worry about whether or not my broadband will keep going, or if an image choice for a slide will work in communicating what I want.

Most of the time, before the pandemic and in the present, my worries were a distraction. For all the worry, even when things went wrong, I still figured something out.

Mark Twain is often quoted as saying, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” He probably wasn’t the first person to say it, but it’s a helpful reflection. It helps me when I am tempted to imagine worst case scenarios or start problem solving before it’s even certain that there is a problem.

It’s natural to be nervous about your viva. It’s understandable to be anxious if you have a specific problem. But if you find yourself worrying, perhaps stop and ask if you really need to. Do you need to worry? Is there a problem or just something that’s getting in the way?

And if that’s the case, and perhaps the thing you’re worrying about isn’t that likely to happen, is there something you can focus on instead that will help more than worrying?

Nathan

The Busy Factor

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If you’re busy and you need to get ready for your viva:

  • Plan your prep. Take a few minutes to sketch out what needs doing and when you could do it.
  • Ask for help. Talk to your supervisors, friends and colleagues about what you need and how they could support you.
  • Spread the work out. Don’t overburden your plans. Give yourself space to do a little work regularly.
  • Be kind to yourself. Do the work – but remember that you have already done a lot! The years of work for your PhD all count towards your preparation.

If, for some reason, you’re not busy then all of the above still helps!

Nathan

Dealing With Doubt

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When doubts creep in before the viva they can be difficult to remove. By the time you recognise them for what they are it may feel like you simply have to feel them and feel bad. There is hope though: you can’t simply press a button and change how you feel, but you could do something or a series of things that would help the situation.

If you doubt that your viva will go well, then find out more about the viva. Look at the regulations, ask questions about other’s experiences and talk to your supervisor about what to expect.

If you doubt that you’re good enough or that your thesis is good enough then reflect on how far you’ve come. Write down a list of your successes. Write down a list of things that you know have improved in your ability as a researcher. Talk to your supervisor or others to get their reflections.

If you doubt you can speak in the viva, or if you doubt that you will be able to answer questions, then practise. Rehearse with a mock viva. Present your work and take questions. Do things, as uncomfortable as they might be at the time, to build up your confidence and comfort for meeting your examiners.

It’s very human to doubt. It’s not wrong to worry. But you’re not alone and you’re not without hope. If you feel doubts then act to remove them.

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