Daily viva help for PhDs
Your thesis is proof that you did the work. It’s the best summary you are able to make of years of research you’ve done.
Your thesis is a talisman to hold on to. It’s one more thing you can look to for confidence in your capability and knowledge.
Your thesis is a resource to use in the viva. Read it in preparation and annotate it to make it more helpful..
Your thesis is one book, but can mean lots of things.
What’s the most helpful story you can tell yourself about your thesis?
A little exercise that might help with viva prep and getting ready.
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into quarters, giving yourself space to write notes in response to the following questions:
Read through your responses. Turn the page over and write: 5. So what have you learned during your PhD?
Respond to the question on the second page while reflecting on the previous four responses.
You’ll have lots of specific and personal learning from your PhD journey, but your response to the fifth question could be summarised as a lot.
PS: One more question! If you’re looking for more viva help, can you please take a look at and support my Kickstarter campaign, running until 31st May? 101 Steps To A Great Viva is a helpful little guide to getting ready and I’m crowdfunding a print run. Any support or sharing is greatly appreciated 🙂
What are you really good at?
What do you notice you have become particularly skilled at doing over the course of your PhD?
What topics do you know you’re particularly knowledgeable about?
How do you know you’re good? What’s your evidence?
How do you explain to yourself – and others – that you’re good at something?
Reflect and find the words to describe what you do well and how you know you do it well. Recognising that you are capable and knowledgeable is a helpful basis for feeling confident for your viva.
There really isn’t any other way to get to submission and the viva: you must be great at what you do. However, if you’re not feeling great, then reflect and find things you do well or things you know lots about.
If you already know that you’re capable, work to find words to tell yourself a good story about that so you really believe it ahead of your viva.
I’m still quite pleased with the Mini-Vivas Resource I made several years ago. I think it’s a nice little way to get ready for your viva with a friend; it doesn’t require a lot of preparation to use, and gives a little structure to having a conversation about research to help with speaking practice and confidence.
There are 7776 possible combinations of questions you can find by following instructions and rolling dice; here are three to save you a little time, indexed by the dice numbers!
Mini-Viva 61666
Mini-Viva 13551
Mini-Viva 25314
Are these typical of questions you might be asked in your viva? Yes and no!
Yes because these are all the sorts of things that your examiners might want to dig into. No because your examiners will have read your thesis carefully and examined it against what they know about your area of your research and what they know from their own experience.
A mini-viva is different from a real viva, because while a friend may know a little about your research, they won’t have read your thesis to prepare. They’ll be using the mini-viva questions to provide structure and listening to your responses to steer things.
Still, a mini-viva is a little help, a little practice, a little step closer to being ready for your viva.
Well, three little steps in this post – and 7773 more at the Mini-Vivas Resource post!
When you consider the viva, there’s not a lot you can be precise about.
The reasonable expectations of the exam describe a range of possible experiences. Vivas vary in length, examiners can have lots of different backgrounds and every thesis is unique. You can’t guarantee certain questions, though maybe you can have reasonable hopes and expectations of what your examiners will say. There’s a lot you won’t know until the viva is happening.
Being precise is difficult, but there’s a lot you can be sure of.
You can be sure that your examiners have prepared, just like you. You can be sure that despite the variety there is a core process at work: regulations, common expectations, norms in your department. You can be sure that your examiners will be fair with you.
And you can be sure of yourself. You can be sure that you have come as far as you have through hard work, a skillset and knowledge base that you’ve earned, and achievements that matter.
You can’t be precise about your viva. You can be sure.
A small piece of viva prep: think back over your PhD and pick a method you learned, a piece of software or equipment that you became familiar with or a process for getting things done that you put together.
Unpick the steps involved for what you’ve selected.
When you reflect on the techniques you’ve learned or developed you have to appreciate the talent, work and time you have invested in your journey. There’s always more to learn and more to do, but you could only have come this far by becoming good at what you do. Remember that as you prepare for your viva.
You might have corrections to complete after the viva, but between submission and the viva you don’t need to make any alterations.
Find a typo? Underline it or add it to a list.
See a reference that needs a tweak? Write in the margins or add it to a list.
Read a sentence that could be better? Underline it, write in the margins or add it to a list!
You don’t need to make changes to your thesis, but you might need to make changes to yourself between submission and the viva.
You might need to change your mind on what the viva will be like, if you hear more positive expectations than the worries you’ve been carrying around.
You might need to change your perspective on your examiners if you learn a little about their research.
And you might have to change the story you tell yourself about how capable you are, if you’re feeling a lack of confidence after submission.
After submission, change yourself – not your thesis.
Ask your family and friends to give you a little space, time and quiet in advance of your viva. You need a good environment to prepare in. They can help provide that for you. Let them know what you need and work with them to make it a reality.
Ask someone to drive you to university on the day of your viva, if you’re having your viva in-person. You need to arrive rested. Travelling by public transport or driving yourself could take away from your focus and energy; asking for a lift could help you to arrive at your viva in a great condition.
Ask yourself to believe something: to believe that you are good enough. To believe that you have come as far as you have through hard work, personal development and making something that matters.
The last favour might be the biggest you could ask, depending on how you’re feeling – but if you can grant the request you’ll find a confidence that will help a lot on viva day.
I’m a lapsed baker.
I like making bread, but it’s a practice I’ve fallen out with of late. I must get back to it. It’s a hobby I’ve let fall by the wayside for too long.
I’m not the world’s greatest at all, but I’ve mixed enough dough enough times that I feel competent. If I read a recipe for a style of loaf or roll I’ve not tried before, I feel capable enough to give it a go. If I look in the cupboard and see we only have half the flour I need, I feel confident to tweak the recipe or make a substitution. And if I decide I want the dough to prove for a long time, or even in the refrigerator, I will happily alter the ratios of different ingredients to compensate.
I haven’t baked once this year, but if you asked me to make a loaf tomorrow I’m sure I could do it.
When you get to your viva, you have more than proved yourself. You have done the work. You have experience. You have knowledge. You can rise to challenges. Your examiners might ask you about something new, something different or something hypothetical. Why should any of that disturb you? Given everything you have done, how could that be beyond you?
Like me and my breadmaking, go with what you know. Refer to how you did something before. Build on past experiences and understanding. Adapt and engage with the discussion your examiners present, rather than simply hope it will be everything you wanted.
Prove yourself in the viva, as you have proven yourself many, many times before.
Draw confidence from your past successes as you work towards your future achievement.
Smile! Enjoy yourself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
Things we don’t often say to someone when they have a viva soon…
But isn’t that a shame?
Yes, there’s work to do and an exam to pass, questions to respond to and a thesis to defend. Of course you have to share your research, discuss your thesis and demonstrate your excellence.
But who says that can’t be fun, enjoyable, a positive experience? Why don’t we encourage that more?
I’ll start: I hope you have a great time at your viva.