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Nathan

Summary & Memory

Daily Post

Writing a summary of some aspect of your thesis or research before the viva can do a lot of things to help you. It forces you to focus on something, to highlight the best parts or the most difficult sections and can really support you as you fine-tune your thinking.

It’s important to also recognise that creating a summary can help your memory too. It helps embed ideas. You don’t need to memorise your thesis, or a list or a page of notes, or anything like that. Your examiners want to talk to a person and hear their research, their story and what that means. They don’t need you to recite your work to them.

The focus of writing a summary can help boost what you remember for the viva. You know enough and have done enough or you wouldn’t be working towards finishing your PhD. A little more work can help you remember what you need for meeting your examiners.

Nathan

Swallow The Frog

Daily Post

What part of viva prep are you not looking forward to? What task do you wish you didn’t have to do?

An old piece of productivity advice centres on a sort-of analogy: “If your to-do list for a day included swallowing a live frog, wouldn’t you do that first to just get it out of the way?”

I.e., if swallowing a frog was the worst task you had in a day – and you had to do it – then doing it first would mean that everything else would seem easy by comparison.

When it’s time to prepare for your viva, what’s the frog in your situation? What do you have to do but not look forward to doing?

Do that part first. Get it out of the way or, if you really can’t, do something towards moving that task closer to completion. Don’t be simply frustrated. Don’t look away.

Get the frog task done and the rest of your viva prep is just work.

Nathan

Extreme Prep!

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Good advice about viva prep doesn’t include the following:

  • Read your thesis for twelve hours a day, every day!
  • Make notes on everything you can think of!!
  • Re-read every reference in your bibliography!!!
  • Have three mock vivas! Do one while balanced on a unicycle!!!

Of course, these are a little silly- but I have heard from candidates who push themselves way too hard or believe they’ll need to so they’ll be ready.

You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to memorise everything.

Keep it simple. Read your thesis, annotate it, check a few things out like regulations and key papers, and do make sure you rehearse a little for talking to your examiners.

Stay away from the extremes when it comes to viva prep.

Nathan

Three Easy Wins

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I start most working days with “three easy wins” for my productivity: before I get stuck into the harder stuff and deeper thinking I do three things that help me feel like I’m already making progress.

A walk is often top of my list. I’ll check accounts and spreadsheets to see if I need to do anything. And I’ll sort out newsletters and spam that have arrived overnight.

Nothing strenuous: easy or simple tasks that help clear my head, free up thinking space or help me to move on to tougher work.

What could you do to give yourself three easy wins when you sit down to prepare for your viva? Here are some ideas!

  1. Remember and write down one success from your PhD research.
  2. Write “You can do this!” at the top of page 1 of your thesis.
  3. Google the regulations for vivas at your university.
  4. Ask a friend to meet you for coffee and talk.
  5. Find a good page in your thesis and stick a bookmark in.
  6. Decide on one thing you will do to celebrate your success.
  7. Note down one question you think you’ll get in the viva.
  8. Take two minutes to write out a short summary of one result in your thesis.
  9. Attach sticky notes to the start of each chapter in your thesis.
  10. Underline what you wrote for suggestion 2!!

There are big tasks that you can do to help you get ready for your viva. There are lots of little things you can do too that will add to how you feel. Start small each time and do things that build you up for your viva.

 

PS: Number 11 on the list could be “Check out and back 101 Steps To A Great Viva on Kickstarter!“

Nathan

Prep Is A Workout

Daily Post

Viva prep is a series of tasks and activities that help you towards being ready for the specific challenge of your viva. From that perspective, I think it’s fair to think of it as a workout: you’re exercising specific mental muscles, getting in a good academic condition for the work you’ll do on the day responding to your examiners.

Viva prep is building on foundations you’ve created through your life and PhD journey; like many workout programmes it requires a little preparation itself, a little planning so that you space the work out.

(no pun intended)

Like a workout though, you have to actually do the work. You have to read your thesis, make notes and annotations, rehearse for being in the viva and more. And like a workout that work is personal to every candidate: every candidate has a unique set of needs they have to satisfy to reach the ready state they want, even if there are general principles that will help every candidate as they work towards being ready.

So: what are your needs? How are you going to workout in preparation for your viva?

Nathan

Another Little Announcement

Update

(The Big Announcement is coming on Tuesday 16th May!)

I’ve written a short and helpful guide to getting ready for the viva and you can help me publish it – in fact, I would be very grateful if you did!

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva!
My draft cover!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a 24-page zine packed with practical steps for any PhD candidate. I’ve been thinking about this for years while I’ve been writing the Viva Survivors blog and delivering webinars. For the last six months I’ve been planning, writing and rewriting and I’m really pleased with how it has finally come together.

The Kickstarter to produce a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva will launch on Tuesday 16th May. I need your help to make my little helpful guide a reality. Please go to the Kickstarter pre-launch page today and use the “Notify me on launch” button. This does not commit you to supporting the Kickstarter or paying any money, but it will help the project to be shared more widely and you’ll be emailed by Kickstarter when the campaign starts.

On Tuesday, when the campaign launches, you’ll be able to decide if you want to pledge money to back it. If you do I’ve got some great rewards to say thank you, depending on your level of support:

  • Signed print copies of Keep Going!
  • Your name in the thanks section of the zine!
  • 1-2-1 Zoom conversations with me!
  • And, of course, 101 Steps To A Great Viva sent through the post!

Thank you for reading. Please use the notify button on the Kickstarter pre-launch page and help me make a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva a reality 🙂

Nathan

Keep It Simple Smartypants!

Daily Post

To do research and write a thesis you have to be pretty smart. You must know lots and understand many complicated and complex facts. However, to get ready for your viva you don’t have to do anything especially complicated:

  • Make a plan of prep work.
  • Do the work.

That plan will involve reading, making notes, rehearsing for the viva and reflecting on your journey, but it doesn’t need lots of steps or interlocking to-do lists and flowcharts.

Just make a plan and do the work.

Nathan

Oxygen Mask

Daily Post

Make sure your oxygen mask is fitted before helping others…

It’s the instruction given in aeroplanes in case of emergency, and used as a metaphor to encourage people to make sure they have what they need before assisting others.

The metaphor applies to viva prep too. You can’t help yourself if you’re not in a good place to begin with.

You need rest. You need space. You need time.

You need to be able to breathe.

Make sure you have your oxygen mask on before you help yourself get ready for the viva.

Nathan

Can You Take A Day Off?

Daily Post

How about today? Or tomorrow, if you already had plans for today.

If not then, when?

Look at your plans for viva prep and make sure you have rest breaks built in. Time to relax and recover on the days you’re actively working, and rest days between busy periods.

As you get ready for your viva, can you be at your best without taking a day off?

Nathan

Viva Prep Heuristics

Daily Post

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to preparing for the viva. As every thesis and candidate are different, and every set of circumstances for viva prep are different too, so every person has to decide for themselves how best they are going to approach things – rather than listen to someone on the internet telling them what to do.

With all of that said, here are some general ideas from someone on the internet that might help you – or not!

  • Plan your prep in advance and allow two to four weeks to do the work.
  • Start your prep by reading your thesis.
  • Ask friends from your discipline about what helped them get ready.
  • Read the regulations to get a feel for viva outcomes.
  • Arrange a mock viva.

And very importantly: test any advice against how you feel about something. There is a lot of good advice, a lot of well-meant advice and support for the viva, but it doesn’t apply to every situation.

A mock viva is regularly seen as the gold standard, “best way to rehearse,” but it might not be what you need (for lots of possible reasons).

Read the rules of thumb, explore ideas that have worked for others and then square all of that with your experience, your preferences and your needs. It’s helpful when others share advice, but ultimately you have to find a way to do the work.

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