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Tag: personal circumstances

Nathan

Your Viva, Your Prep

Daily Post

There are regulations, trends for the viva process and departmental good practice which can give you an idea of what your viva might be like – but then your viva will be one of a kind, unique and never repeated.

There are a lot of well-founded good ideas for the general process of viva preparation, both in terms of what someone could do to get ready and when – but your situation is unique, your preferences are your own and you have to make it work well for you.

 

Vivas are unique to the individual, their research, their thesis and their circumstances – even while there are lots of things that can be certain or expected about the process.

Viva prep is the same: unique to the individual but grounded on good practice and useful ideas that are applicable by any candidate.

What do your PhD circumstances mean for your viva? What do they mean for your viva prep?

Nathan

Matters Of Context

Daily Post

Many aspects of the viva, viva prep, viva expectations and what to do in the many related situations depend on the circumstances.

  • Do you start to prepare two weeks or four weeks before?
  • Do you need to admit when you’ve spotted a mistake in your thesis?
  • Should you have an examiner whose work you’ve cited in your bibliography?
  • Can you challenge an examiner’s comment?
  • Should you invite your supervisor to your viva?
  • Is a mock viva necessary?
  • Do you need to focus on your methods, your results or your conclusions more?

So many questions. So many scenarios. No easy answers.

It depends.

Explore the context. What does that question mean in your situation? What do you need to do? What is the real issue that you are unsure about?