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Nathan

Margin Space

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In preparation for your viva you can use margin space to add to your thesis and make it as useful as possible for your viva.

You also need to balance.

Helpful but not overfull.

It doesn’t make sense to try to cram long sentences in.

Start by deciding on what you need from the space. What do you need to add to your thesis to make it useful? What does it make sense to put in the margin?

Keywords? Stickers and sticky notes? Things that draw attention to specific lines?

You have a lot of space in the borders. Your margins can be a useful space for viva prep, but don’t leave them cramped. The point is to make something useful for your viva.

A little thought and a little annotation goes a long way.

 

PS: viva coming up and an hour free tomorrow morning? Check out the details of 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva which is running at 11am tomorrow (Wednesday 24th September 2025). Find out why you can be confident, get access to a catch-up recording and my pdf guide to getting ready for the viva. Registration closes later this afternoon.

Nathan

Too Busy

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If you are too busy to prepare for your viva then you need a plan. Sketch one out at submission. Just a sketch. Can you spread the work over a month? What could you do in thirty minutes per day over three weeks and maybe an hour or so each day in the week before your viva?

If you are too busy to prepare for your viva then you need help. So ask for help! Talk to your supervisor, your friends, your family and make sure they know what you need with plenty of notice. Ask early so that anyone you live with can give you space and time to get ready.

If you are too busy to prepare for your viva then you need to make your working situation as good as you can. Get your materials together. Always know in advance what you will do with a chunk of prep time. Make yourself comfortable and perhaps find rewards for getting things done.

If you are too busy to prepare for your viva then you need to change how you feel. Reflect on and explore your progress to help you realise just how much you’ve done and just how proud you can be. Build up your confidence for the viva.

 

If you’re busy you still have to prepare. You can make a plan and make it nice but it’s still work. There are no shortcuts but equally it doesn’t have to be stressful.

If you’re busy: make a plan, ask for help, remove friction and build your confidence.

Nathan

Shifting Feelings

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“Don’t be nervous.”

“Cheer up.”

“You don’t have to worry.”

These are nice sentiments ahead of the viva, usually very well-intentioned. If only feeling better were as simple as stopping nerves or putting a smile on your face.

 

Maybe it’s not a lot harder. You can’t shift feelings directly but you can take action to change your mood. Reading over a chapter could help lower nerves you’ll forget something. A mock viva could make you happier for talking to your examiners. Reading the regulations could help you realise you don’t have to worry.

If you need to shift your feelings in some way for your viva you have to do something.

How do you feel? How do you want to feel? What will you do?

Nathan

The Deadline

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The viva prep deadline is technically ten minutes before the viva – that’s when you need to be in the room, ready to go!

Of course, you don’t need to do things so close to the deadline. You also don’t need to use all the time available between submission and ten minutes before your viva.

When you submit your thesis, sketch out a plan. What do you need to do? When works well for you? How will you break up the work to remove stress and give yourself space to think and rest?

What’s the better deadline to be ready that you can set for yourself?

Nathan

A Spare Day

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I’m fortunate enough to feel that today is a bit of a freebie.

It’s the end of the summer break. I have work to do but nothing pressing. Today feels like it could be all mine.

…well, if I wasn’t a parent and a small business owner. Alas, I do have things I have to do!

 

When you’re working towards your viva there is a lot you HAVE to do.

If you don’t, you’re leaving yourself open to the possibility of not being ready for your viva, stress and a lack of confidence.

Even so, find a spare day or two when you can rest and relax.

Maybe today! Maybe some time soon.

Viva prep requires reading, review and rehearsal. Don’t forget to rest.

Nathan

Understanding Limitations

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Every PhD journey has limits.

In research you might call them constraints. They could have been necessary choices. You might have found them frustrating at the time and their consequences could be disappointing depending on their impact.

 

Limitations can also be a gift: a constraining factor helps narrow possibilities for action. They could help when faced with overwhelming options.

When it’s time to get ready for your viva, understanding the limitations you face – in time, circumstances and even your preferences – can help you to plan out your prep and get the work done.

 

Reflect on your research and PhD limitations to help you explain and explore your research.

Unpick your limitations when it’s time to get ready to help you plan and do the essential work of viva prep.

Nathan

Unique Prep

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There’s a lot of viva help out there, particularly when it comes to ideas around viva prep.

Your PhD is unique. It’s reasonable to think your prep will be too. Take onboard suggestions and examples that you find when you look for help, then consider how you might need to adapt the idea to make it work for you.

The work to annotate a thesis by publication is similar but different to annotating a thesis which is a single project. Preparing to respond to questions about a creative work has similarities to preparing for questions about experiment-based research, but it will be different.

 

Your PhD, i.e., your research, your thesis, your process, your preferences, your situation, your knowledge, your skillset, your worries, your feelings, your plans and your hopes – all of it is unique!

It’s reasonable to think your prep will be too. Adapt ideas and good advice to fit your needs and circumstances.

 

PS: the latest issue of Viva Survivors Select, The Sparks Issue was released this week! It has twenty-five curated posts from the Viva Survivors blog archive and two original helpful resources as well. Your PhD and viva are both unique but you’ll find help in The Sparks Issue that you can apply to your situation, whatever it is and whatever you need. Please take a look. Thanks for reading! 🙂

Nathan

Five Times Five

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Make a list of five papers you could read as part of your viva prep.

Make a list of five pages you’d like to be able to find easily in your thesis.

Make a list of five people you could talk to about your research.

Make a list of five days you could take a small break (even an hour) in the coming weeks.

Make a list of five questions you could write about before your viva.

 

Five lists with five points on each. They won’t take long to think or record.

Twenty-five helpful actions or activities you could do as part of your viva preparations, ready to go.

 

PS: Looking for more practical viva prep ideas? Explore June’s issue of Viva Survivors Select, my monthly viva help zine where I curate posts from the Viva Survivors archive!

Nathan

Planning Ahead

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The viva is a big deal. Consequently viva prep can feel like a big deal too.

Viva prep isn’t trivial but the emotions and pressures of the viva and the end of the PhD – not to mention a busy daily life – could make viva prep time feel stressful.

One of the simplest ways to remove stress from viva prep is to plan it out. Sketch a plan when you submit. How would you space the work out? You can know what you need to do – there is a lot of information about it on this blog! – so by sketching a plan you can get a feel for how you can do the work given your situation and preferences.

Planning ahead isn’t the only way to approach viva prep. It is probably the path to getting the work done with the least stress.

 

PS: Looking for more viva prep help? Dig deeper into the topic with the third issue of Viva Survivors Select, my viva help zine of curated posts from the Viva Survivors archive!

Nathan

The Point Of Prep

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Remember that your viva prep isn’t the point. Being ready for your viva is the point.

You need to plan your prep but the plan isn’t the point. It mostly doesn’t matter what you use to annotate your thesis, except that it makes your thesis better for you and your viva. You’ll probably benefit from a mock viva but the conversation with your supervisor isn’t the point.

Being ready is the point. How you exactly get there is less important than getting there.

Figure out what you need to get you to “ready”.

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