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Nathan

Viva Prep & Getting Ready

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Viva prep starts at submission. You can do helpful tasks before then like searching for examination regulations or sketching out a prep plan, but the actual work of viva prep doesn’t start until after your thesis is submitted. Up to that point your focus has to be on finishing your thesis.

Getting ready for your viva, however, starts on day one of your PhD – or even earlier. From day one you are on a path that is helping you grow, nurturing your research and leading you to being a capable, knowledgeable researcher. Talent and expertise grow as you do the work and stay committed, helping you get closer and closer to being ready.

 

There’s prep to do after submission because the viva is a particular challenge.

Remember that you’ve been getting ready for your viva for a much, much longer time than the weeks between submission and your viva.

Nathan

Snapshots From The Journey

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If you think back on your PhD, all the work and effort, the success and setbacks and so on, you’re not going to remember three or more years of continuous story. You’ll remember moments: events that for matter to you and stand out for some reason.

Given the challenge of research and the difficulties you might face, it’s understandable if the standout moments skew a little negatively.

With a little help you can focus on the really helpful highlights. Consider:

  • When have you noticed getting better at a task?
  • When do you remember learning something for the first time?
  • When do you remember your confidence growing?
  • At what times do you remember feeling proud?
  • When do you remember thinking “I can do this”?

You don’t have to focus on everything as you prepare for your viva. When it comes to building confidence, it will help far more to focus on the snapshots of your progress and growth.

Nathan

How Many Times?

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How many times have you faced difficult challenges during your PhD journey?

Think about how many meetings you’ve had with your supervisor.

Think about how many times you’ve presented your work as a paper or poster.

Consider how many times you’ve shared your work in a departmental seminar.

Remember how many times you’ve had a discussion about what you do, particularly those times you’ve responded to difficult questions.

Think about how many times you overcame an obstacle in your work – and how many times you showed up to do the work of your research!

How many times have you already succeeded before you meet your examiners?

Nathan

Keep A Record

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From day one of your PhD keep a record whenever you achieve something.

  • Learn something new? Write it down.
  • Finish a project? Write it down.
  • Read a helpful paper? Write it down.
  • Complete a task even when it is difficult? Write it down and underline it.
  • Thrive in a challenging meeting? Write it down and add an asterisk.
  • Present your work in any format? Write it down, underline, asterisk and break out the highlighter!

From the start of your PhD, keep a record of your achievements – and by the end not only will you have a very impressive record indeed, but you’ll have a strong sense of confidence that your talent, capability and knowledge have grown.

 

If today is not day one of your PhD – if it’s more like day one thousand, say – you can still get some of these benefits for yourself.

Start keeping the record today and invest some time in looking back. Remember the times when you learned something, finished a project or read a helpful paper. Make note of the challenging tasks you persevered with, when you rose to the challenge of a discussion or presented your work.

Day one or day one thousand, there’s always time to build up your confidence for your viva. You always have an opportunity to do something to build the certainty that you’ve done something good in your research and that you are good enough as you are.

Nathan

Hitting The Target

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An archer doesn’t get close to the target consistently through luck. If their arrow flies and strikes the bullseye they have been fortunate: this particular moment of skill has been rewarded.

It takes time, effort and learning to build capability to the point where someone can consistently hit their target. An archer has a different skillset from a researcher, but both need to demonstrate a great level of commitment and growth tif they are to be good enough to meet the challenges that face them.

When you sit with your examiners, discuss your work and respond to challenging questions you will show yourself to be capable of hitting your target consistently. There’s no luck: it takes time, effort and learning, everything you will have invested in during your PhD journey.

Nathan

Hats & Rabbits

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A magician lays their top hat on the table after showing that there’s nothing inside.

They cover the hat with a silk handkerchief and wave a wand – and just like that a rabbit appears!

It’s magic! We are amazed!

And depending on our age, savvy and insight we might know that the rabbit didn’t just materialise. We may suspect hidden compartments, mirrors or misdirection, but the effect is all the same. However they did it, they pulled a rabbit out of their hat.

We might not know the exact methods involved, but if we think even for a moment we can surmise that it’s taken years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence to pull a rabbit out of a hat. It looks amazing. It looks impossible. But it’s the only way: they really worked to make it happen.

When we reflect on that level of commitment it seems all the more special I think.

 

Understanding how someone talented became that good, even if you can’t understand all of the steps along the way, helps you to appreciate them all the more.

Ahead of your viva, turn that reflection on yourself. Realise and remember that the magic you do, the special feats that you can perform in your work and in the viva, are the result of years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence.

You may not be pulling a rabbit out of a hat in your viva but you can create a suitably great impression all the same.

Nathan

No Luck Required

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PhD success is built on work.

The happy accident can happen. You can be in the right place at the right time. When all things are considered though, you put yourself in that happy place with the decisions, determination and dedication in your work.

Hard work takes you to the viva. You can’t pass by being lucky. You will pass through your own efforts.

 

PS: One way you can remind yourself of all the good you’ve done would be by playing How You Got Here, a reflective writing game about the PhD journey that’s part of the Viva Help Bundle – a collection of helpful viva prep resources on sale for £6 until Thursday 30th November 2023 – that’s today!

Nathan

Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy

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The viva isn’t hard to understand. You do the research over years, write your thesis probably over months and then talk with your examiners for a few hours.

In the viva itself you’re discussing what you’ve done, what it means, what you can do and how you think. You’re showing that your skills and knowledge are enough and that the work you’ve done makes a difference.

 

This is all simple to understand.

That doesn’t mean it is easy to do.

 

All that work and effort is hard. The viva is a difficult challenge despite being so simple to grasp.

Partly this is due to the level that you’re working at. Partly it’s the unknown aspect of the viva. And partly it is because you will probably be nervous at your viva.

Your viva will most likely be a difficult challenge for you – but only difficult. You’ve come so far by becoming good at what you do. After all, that’s the only way you could have written and submitted a thesis.

It’s quite simple really.

 

PS: If you’re looking for simple, easy-to-follow advice about the viva and viva prep then check out the Viva Help Bundle of ebooks. A collection of three helpful resources, on sale for £6 until Thursday 30th November 2023. Do check it out!

Nathan

Discovery

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What did you discover during your PhD journey? I don’t know if that’s a typical viva question, but reflecting in advance on your discoveries can help you realise just how fruitful your journey has been.

Discovery isn’t limited only to research ideas, methods, conclusions and questions. Discovery could be about you:

  • What did you learn you liked?
  • What did you learn you were good at?
  • What skills did you develop?
  • What talents did you discover in yourself?

Reflect on everything you discovered during your PhD. There will be a lot and everything will have contributed to the success of your research – and the growth of you as a capable researcher.

Nathan

Retell Your Story

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Once upon a time, the story I told people about myself was that I loved maths, really enjoyed learning more about all kinds of maths, and wanted to do a Masters and a PhD. And I was happy and lucky that my supervisor was so good and supportive.

And a few years later I told anyone who asked that I’d enjoyed the challenge of my PhD in maths and was looking for new challenges. I felt very fortunate to have had all the support I had to that point, but I was looking for something else.

Nowadays I’m far more likely to just mention that I did a PhD (a long time ago!) and that gave me a start in the more important part of my life as a researcher-developer. I’ve spent fifteen years learning ways to help PGRs become PhDs.

Over time my story changed: partly because I grew older and had a different focus but also because I was telling different people about who I was and what I did.

My story changed because I saw myself differently, I understood myself better and I gained a better appreciation of things. I wasn’t lucky to get my PhD, I was fortunate that my hard work had paid off.

What story do you tell yourself about your success so far? What do you highlight as being the things that have made you the capable researcher that you are?

Whatever your story, remember that you are not the person you were when you started your PhD journey. Your story changes over time but you can also change the way you tell that story, both to others and to yourself.

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