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Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

A Bit Nervous

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You might feel a bit nervous for your viva. You might even feel that for submission. It’s understandable. Your thesis, your viva and your PhD are all important, so of course you could be a bit nervous.

At the same time you could be a bit confident.

A bit certain of what to expect.

A bit sure of who your examiners are and what they might want.

And more than a bit talented, definitely good enough, to pass your viva.

Nervousness can make you a bit uncomfortable. Try to put that into perspective with everything else you can be, feel and know for your viva.

Nathan

Setting Expectations

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Happy New Year from Viva Survivors!

 

I’m often asked “What are vivas like?” I can help with that, as can a candidate’s friends and colleagues. No-one can guarantee what a viva will be like beforehand but there are enough stories that we can piece together expectations.

Vivas tend to be a certain length; they tend to start with these sorts of questions; vivas are structured, and so on.

That’s one kind of expectation. Another kind are the expectations you have for yourself at the viva.

You will be prepared. You will pause when you hear a question. You will take your time to respond. You will use every opportunity to share your research.

 

There there are the big picture expectations you set for yourself. What kind of researcher do you want to be? How are you going to get your PhD finished? And what kind of person do you want to be?

There are pros and cons for setting New Year’s Resolutions, but I think it’s a good idea to start a new year by setting expectations for oneself. What do you want to demonstrate and do as you go through the next 365 days? How could you do that? What kind of a difference are you trying to make?

Here’s to a good year, with very best wishes from me and my family to you and yours 🙂

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2021: Confidence

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I finished my look back over favourite posts last year with the theme of “surviving” – a break with several years of tradition.

2020 was a hard year, 2021 has continued to be challenging, but it feels right to come back to confidence. Confidence makes a real difference for the viva and how a candidate engages with it. Here are some thoughts from this year:

  • Confident or Arrogant – the difference between the two. (it’s a big difference!)
  • The Basics – a lack of confidence for the viva sometimes comes, very simply, from not having a good picture of what the viva is like.
  • A Few Thoughts On Survive – while confidence is the theme for today, it feels appropriate to share a few thoughts on this too.
  • Clearing Out Viva Doubts – confidence blossoms when we remove doubts.
  • Be Brave – a little extra step you might need to take.

Survive means “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances”. If you’ve made it through the last few years and your viva is some time in 2022 then you can be confident that you can rise to the challenge.

If you have managed to keep going so far, you can continue. You’ve not come this far by being merely lucky.

Keep going.

Nathan

Final Prep

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What’s the last thing you will do to get ready for your viva? What final action will leave you satisfied, a small smile on your face that you’ve done all you can?

When will it be? The morning of your viva, a final check of some detail? The day before, deciding what to wear? A few days ahead of your viva when you have a final chat with your supervisor?

Sketching out a plan for prep helps to make it real. Knowing the final step can give you something to guide you. Deciding for yourself what that final task will be really cements that this is for you.

Your research. Your prep. Your viva.

Nathan

Ready or Not

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When the date is in the diary your viva is going to happen whether you’re ready or not.

Don’t agonise over the date. Don’t fret about what might happen or what your examiners might ask.

Instead do the work. Do the work that’s needed to get ready.

The work will help steer you away from concern and lead you towards confidence. Preparing for the viva is a practical path and not a long journey – certainly not compared to your PhD as a whole.

Your viva is going to happen, ready or not. Choose to be ready.

Nathan

Taking Rest

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Rest before the viva is as essential as reading your thesis or having a mock viva.

Rest needs to be planned into your viva prep, even if that seems at odds with the work you’re doing.

Take time to rest and feel the benefits when you return to doing things to get ready.

Nathan

The PhD Is A Journey

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A long journey.

Tiring and stressful perhaps. At times the destination might have seemed uncertain – or perhaps even changed! But if your viva is somewhere in your near future then you’ve almost reached your journey’s end.

As you get closer, pause and take some time to reflect:

  • When has the journey been most joyful?
  • When has it been hard?
  • When have you been lonely?
  • When have you been supported?
  • When have you made the quickest progress?
  • When have you struggled the hardest?
  • When have you had to make difficult choices? (and how did you make them?)

And most importantly, what’s kept you going?

Reflecting on the PhD journey can bring up sensitive or upsetting memories sometimes. It can also help to show your progress, your success, your development.

You got this far. Now keep going. Your journey’s final destination isn’t too far away.

Nathan

The Big Pictures

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There isn’t a single big picture to consider before your viva.

Why did you want to do a PhD? That initial motivation is helpful to reflect on and share. It could help you to explain to your examiners what you thought was interesting about your research area when you started.

Why is your thesis research valuable? Insight into what makes your research significant can help you to describe why what you’ve done is worth a PhD. Reflecting on this can help you to find better ways to communicate your contribution.

Why did you keep going? Your response to this big picture question can help you – and your examiners – see your dedication, talent and effort. It can help boost your confidence.

There’s no single big picture way to reflect on your research for the viva. By considering different questions you can find what you need to engage well with the process and do what you need to succeed.

Nathan

In-Person or On-Video

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It used to be that an in-person viva was the right way to have a viva. Video vivas were anomalies, rare arrangements made out of necessity.

Then they were the necessary arrangement. For a time they were the only way of doing things.

 

And now some candidates might have choice over which format they would like for their viva. Which brings a new question: is it better to have an in-person viva or an on-video viva, if the choice is put before you? What are the pros and cons?

Having thought about it I don’t think there are negatives to either. They’re just different. The viva is the viva: a different medium allows some things and not others. It makes some aspects less of a challenge perhaps, but neither format is worse.

An in-person viva allows you to make more of a connection perhaps. It would be the best situation if you were looking to build a connection with your examiners.

A video viva would allow you to control the space that you’re in. You could make an environment that you would feel comfortable and confident in.

These are my general thoughts – of course, it’s a negative to you if you don’t like having a meeting over video. Or it’s a negative if meeting in public is something you don’t want to do just now.

Then you have to think: what are your pros and cons? How do you weigh it up?

A viva is a viva, in-person or on-video. If you have the choice, reflect on how you feel and consider how you could make the most of the opportunity of your viva.

Nathan

One Weird Trick For The Viva

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Alas! There isn’t one.

No shortcuts. No hacks. No loopholes.

No tricks. No weird little things that will just make it all better.

But you don’t need them.

You need someone who has done the work. Someone who has put in the time and dedication. Someone who takes things seriously. Someone who takes the time to get ready.

Someone like you.

You have all the magic you need for your viva.

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