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Tag: viva confidence

Nathan

Answers and Responses

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An answer is a kind of response. An answer is grounded in truth or a compelling argument. An answer could be what you offer after a question…

…if the question is part of a quiz. But the viva isn’t a quiz. It’s not an interview. It’s not even a question-and-answer session.

The viva is a discussion, steered by the questions of your examiners and the responses you offer. A response could be an answer depending on the question – but it could also be an opinion you offer, an idea that you share, a question to clarify a point or a hunch that you feel. There’s a place for answers in the viva, but you might not have an answer for every question.

However, given your knowledge, your skills, your work and your experience, it’s reasonable to expect that you could respond to every question.

Nathan

Several Steps Back

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You might have to take a step back when writing up to really ask yourself, “What else does this need?”

You might have to take a step back from your thesis at submission, to give yourself space to reflect before your viva.

You might have to take a step back from your PhD at submission, so you can rest and restore yourself.

And you might have to take a step back from yourself and your research in the viva. A question could seem unfair, it could seem too critical, but remember that any question in the viva is being asked for a good reason.

A step back helps to nudge your perspective. You might need to take several steps back as you finish your PhD, but they will all eventually help you move forward.

Nathan

7 Reasons, 3 Times

Update

I’m happy that over the last year I’ve been able to continue sharing viva help to universities, as well as opening up my 1-hour webinars to PGRs directly. It’s been great to take the opportunity of delivering short sessions over Zoom and to share my work with so many people.

I’ve tried to offer my 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva sessions as regularly as I can, but have been aware that my mostly-Monday morning slots were not always the most accessible time.

So! I’m delivering 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva three times in the coming weeks:

Despite delivering the same webinar for three days in a row there are no video recordings involved – I will be delivering the session live each time. An hour of viva help, key information, top tips, practical pointers, a chance to ask questions and get answers – plus a follow-up email summarising the session and sharing even more.

Registration for all of these sessions is open now: places are limited and until midnight this Wednesday there is a special earlybird ticket. If your viva is some time this year, if you’re looking for help or advice, if you need to know what you need to know about the viva process then this session is for you.

You can find links and details for all of the dates here, plus the date for another session in July (which is likely to be my final date until September). If you have questions about 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva just email or tweet and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading! I hope to share this session with you soon 🙂

Nathan

Playing For Confidence

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I’m going to share a secret today. I’ve hinted at it in webinars for the last year, but never completely revealed what I’m about to share with you: my secret playlist of songs that boost my confidence.

The five songs I listen to when I want to feel capable, confident and ready to get things done. The playlist is here on YouTube, and is a short burst of happiness and energy that helps me when I need it. I need it before each webinar to get me into the right frame of mind for the hour or three that will follow.

And it’s a trick.

Five songs I’ve built up a strong association with feeling confident and doing good work. Listening to it shifts me to feeling more capable for what’s ahead. If I feel tired, I wake up. If I’m uncertain because of something, it focuses me. If I felt good, I now feel great.

There’s no reason at all that my boosting playlist will work for you – but you can find your own. Five songs that help you feel good, talented, capable and more. Or a poem that you read that calms you before something important. A passage from a novel, a powerful video or a pair of socks. There will be something that you can find that boosts you.

You still have to do the work, but if you look you will find a confidence boost for your viva.

Nathan

Do I Need A Printed Thesis?

Daily Post

Over the last year a lot of PhD candidates have asked me variations on this question. Any response has to be layered, because there’s lots to think about. Often, the question is being asked because it has been more difficult than usual to obtain a printed copy.

Do you still need a printed thesis in the age of Zoom vivas?

  • The first thing to do is check what your institution and department say. Have regulations or expectations changed? If yes, you could consider having a digital copy, but if not you just might need to get a printed copy produced regardless.
  • If you need a printed copy but your institution print shop is out of action or has greatly reduced capacity, then Google is your friend: there are lots of online printing services that can produce this and ship to your door quickly.
  • If you don’t, according to the rules, need a printed copy, then you have to consider about what you need for the viva.

You need a copy of your thesis, in a format that is easy for you to read, search through and find sections. You need a copy of your thesis that you can annotate, both before and potentially during your viva. Annotation makes your thesis more useful for the viva and helps you to reflect on your thesis as you get ready. A digital copy of your thesis could do this, but you have to be sure that the format, the software and the device you are using is going to be enough for you in the viva.

My personal opinion is that a print copy of a thesis could, in many cases, be the best solution. But that’s my personal opinion, based on my needs, how easy I would find it to use a paper document and so on. I don’t have any needs that wouldn’t be met by a paper thesis. I don’t have any restrictions in terms of getting access to a printed 200-page document if I needed one for that purpose. I’m me, I’m not you.

If you need a digital copy, then it’s worth exploring how you would make that work well for you in the viva.

If you need a paper copy but that might be tricky to find, then it’s worth searching for a way to get one.

Nathan

The Longest Short Break

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The break at the end of my viva really wasn’t that long.

My memory tells me it was about 17 minutes, but it was a very long 17 minutes. It felt longer than the four hours I was in the viva.

I sat at my desk. I looked at things. Maybe I checked my email. My memory is hazy about that, but I remember it being a long time that was really no time at all. Then my internal collected me and I walked back along the corridor to find out the result.

You might have seventeen minutes or seven, a brief pause or an anxious wait, but you are very likely to have a short break of some description at the end of the viva. A chance to think about what’s just happened, to fret or smile, but time to fill nonetheless.

It’s a good idea to think in advance of something to do, just in case you are a little anxious when you come out, or in case there’s no-one around to support you (whether your viva is from home or in your department).

It won’t be long, but it might not feel that way at the time. Plan accordingly.

Nathan

Starting With A Presentation

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Examiners sometimes ask a candidate to prepare a short presentation to open the viva. They’re always clear about whether or not this is something they want: regulations might mention them, your department might have them often, but your examiners will be specific about whether or not they want one, and if they do, help set some expectations for what you could do.

“Ten to fifteen minutes summarising your thesis.”

“A short overview of each of your chapters and their key points.”

If your examiners ask for a presentation then prepare one in a style that works for you. Break your work down as best you can. Practise doing it so that you know you’ve got your points covered in the time you have, then go and start your viva in a good way.

If your examiners don’t ask for a presentation, there could still be a lot of value in preparing for one.

Summarise your work, connect ideas clearly and concisely, then practise delivering it with an audience of friends who can ask you questions and offer thoughts. There may be a little more work involved with this than with a lot of general viva prep ideas, but it can be a really useful way to help convince yourself you’re ready for your viva.

Nathan

Tomorrow’s Story

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Tomorrow is the best time to start building your confidence for the viva – assuming you didn’t do it yesterday and you’re busy today.

Tomorrow, take five minutes to write down a few thoughts about something that you’ve achieved in the course of your PhD. Capture a result, an idea, a paper, a chapter, a skill that you’ve developed, a knowledge-based competence – something you’ve done that has helped you get to where you are.

And keep going every day. Five minutes of reflection every day, building up a short story collection of the last few years. A collection of little story fragments that point to you being good at what you do. A story that, when combined, shows you can be confident you’re ready for your viva.

Nathan

My Story

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Where do I begin?

Do I start with my teenage dreams of being a teacher? How I left those behind when my father died? Or do I start with telling you about my undergraduate degree in maths and philosophy?

How much should I tell you of my Masters, or why I didn’t continue working with my first supervisor from there?

When I talk about my PhD, should I tell you about the big results from my thesis? And if I do, do I leave out the miserable months of my second year when I could seem to make no headway? Should I tell you that those miserable months returned in my third year too?

What are the lessons that stand out? What are the moments I should share? What are the details that you need from me?

How did I get here? It depends on the audience. It depends on my mood. It depends on the story.

And in some ways it doesn’t matter at all.

 

A PhD story – or a viva story – can be useful. Listening to someone else’s journey is valuable; trying to tease out nuggets of experience and insight can be really helpful in finding things to try for oneself.

Far more useful though is the story you tell yourself about yourself.

I told myself I was lucky during my PhD, and it made me feel that I hadn’t worked for what I had.

Afterwards, I realised one day that I was fortunate – and that change of word helped me realise the work I had done, the skillset I had built and the confidence I could base on it.

My story? It’s good. It’s true. It’s changed over the years and stayed true.

What’s your story? Get it right, and it’ll help you through the end of your PhD, through your viva and beyond.

Nathan

Level Up

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In some video games you defeat monsters or complete tasks and gain quantifiable experience that helps you to level up: over time you gain points to invest in making your character better. Stronger abilities, new equipment and perhaps completely new skillsets.

A webinar participant suggested to me that this was like the viva:

After much toil and many obstacles you have reached the hallowed halls of your destiny. You are the mighty wielder of the legendary Sword of Thesis! Only you can overcome the Terrifying Twin Dragons of Examination!!

For obvious reasons, I like the idea, but also I think the reality of the PhD presents something different to this fantasy viva micro-world. By the time you reach the viva, you – the brave hero – have levelled up so many times, and overcome so many great challenges, that the difficulties you face in the viva are not so terrible.

The Twin Dragons really aren’t so scary at all actually.

Questions can be managed. Fears can be resolved. You’re no longer a mere mortal.

There’s challenge for you in the viva, but your experience helps you overcome it.

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